Hughes ‘Loving Every Minute’ of Sports Car Switch

Jake Hughes says he’s “loved every minute” after switching from FIA Formula E to sports car racing for this season in the European Le Mans Series and is now targeting a Hypercar drive.

The 31-year-old Briton was a rising junior single-seater star, including taking victories in GP3 and FIA Formula 3, before spending six seasons in Formula E as both a race and reserve driver.

But he opted to make the move into endurance racing for this year, sharing an Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 machine with Matthias Kaiser and Tristan Vautier in the ELMS.

Hughes was instantly on the pace as he topped the timesheets at the Prologue — saying “to have that flag in the sand so early was nice” — and was then in contention for a podium in the Barcelona opener before suffering a puncture.

The second event at Paul Ricard was more of a struggle after finding it more tricky to establish the right setup on the car.

“Really enjoyable apart from not being on the podium yet, which especially in Barcelona looked like it was a strong possibility, I’ve loved every minute of it,” Hughes told Sportscar365 about his LMP2 experience so far.

“It’s been so much fun just driving the car and racing with APR. The test sessions, the practice, everything that goes around the race weekends, having two teammates in the car that you can bounce ideas off and spend some time with in and around the weekend, that’s all new to me.”

Although Hughes, who is also a simulator driver for the McLaren F1 squad, has not ruled out a future return to Formula E, he is now targeting a progression up the prototype ranks.

“Absolutely, I would very much and am looking to try to get into Hypercar,” he said when asked if Hypercar was the goal.

“There’s a lot of fluidity in the market right now with a few of the manufacturers leaving and coming in so there’s options, but there’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot of dominoes that would have to fall into place.

“The fact I’m going to be here at Le Mans in a good car, with a good team, with good teammates (Enzo Trulli and Michael Jensen) trying to win the race, is good timing in that sense and I’m sure after Le Mans we will find out more.

“I always knew I wanted to do Le Mans, and I always wanted to do the big 24-hour races at Nürburgring and Spa and endurance racing and it’s just been my career has taken me in a certain path and being in Formula E for five or six years meant that was the priority and that was the focus.

“I wanted to be world champion and wanted to win races and did everything I could to make that happen and I still could in the future.

“But I’m in endurance racing right now and I want to make the most of it. I want to do these races, I want to win and I know I’m good enough to race in these series.

“Endurance racing just feels like its own entity in a really positive way, it sucks you in and it’s got a lot of character to it.

“Whether I’m in the car or out the car, I’ve loved it. I’m here now and I’m very much focused on making a success of it.”

APR has previously won the LMP2 Pro-Am division twice around the Circuit de la Sarthe and Hughes is optimistic about his chances of mounting another class victory bid this year.

He feels the different specification that the LMP2 cars run at Le Mans compared with the ELMS — including having reduced top speed, less downforce and a heavier weight — will boost his prospects.

“Although it looks very much the same, the car drives very differently and there’s about three seconds a lap difference in lap time,” he explained.

“We’ve had four days of testing in the Le Mans-spec car together and we’ve been working very hard at it. I think we’re in a really strong place looking ahead to the weekend.

“The Le Mans-spec car, I’m not quite sure why as of yet, perhaps having less load helps, but it’s easier to get the front and rear in and it’s easier to get the front into a place I’m happy with it.

“In some ways, it feels, I wouldn’t say nicer to drive, but in terms of pure balance it’s easier to drive.”