Injured Scherer Wanted LMP2 Win “No Matter What It Cost”

Fabio Scherer said he wanted to win the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans “no matter what it cost” after working through the majority with the race with a foot injury from a collision with Corvette Racing’s Nicky Catsburg in the pit lane.

Scherer, Albert Costa and Jakub Smiechowski took a breakthrough victory in the centenary edition of the French endurance classic.

The No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson beat out Team WRT en route to their first FIA World Endurance Championship class win.

The Polish-flagged squad’s quest for victory was complicated early on when Scherer suffered a foot injury in the pit lane during a driver change.

The Swiss driver came in to hand the car over to Smiechowski during the race’s first round of pit stops when he came into contact with the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Nicky Catsburg.

“I jumped out of the car and wanted to run to the box and then I got hit by the Corvette,” Scherer told Sportscar365.

“He drove over my left foot. I think I’m lucky that I still was capable of driving because when a splitter of a race car hits your foot it’s usually not that good.

“But after that we changed run plans and everything a bit around so that I had more time to rest my foot and prep it.

“Finally it worked out and when I was in the car after a couple of laps that adrenaline was more than the pain so it was okay.”

Catsburg, who piloted the Corvette that would go on to take class honors in GTE-Am, put the incident down to “miscommunication” between the two men.

“I was coming in and he ran into me,” he explained. “He ran in front of the car and that’s exactly where I pulled into the pit lane. I couldn’t really go anywhere because I was trying to go into my spot.

“I didn’t even see him. I just felt something and afterwards I heard that he broke his toe. But he still managed to win the race, so he’s alright.”

Scherer explained that he tried to keep the pain under control between stints through a combination of ice and massages and opted to continue racing despite the injury.

“I prefer to have some pain and the win from Le Mans than the opposite way around,” he said.

“I just had to change the approach. Usually you do it with the foot, now I had to do it with the leg. So pushing the leg forward.

“I knew already the whole week that we could have a chance for a solid result. But then in the race when I thought it could probably be our race, I forgot about the foot.

“I tried to just go for it because winning Le Mans is the biggest thing for me to achieve in Europe, in motorsport.

“I was a bit like, ‘I just go through, it doesn’t matter what it costs.’ Because I’m living for that and that’s my dream. That you don’t give up for a foot that gives you some pain.”

The Le Mans victory marked the first time Inter Europol stood on the top step in world championship.

It previously took overall victory in the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series last February, but its only podium finish in the world championship came at this year’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Scherer said the victory “smells even better” considering the high level of competition in the LMP2 category.

“For me the most teams are factory teams and not LMP2 teams,” he said. 

“It’s even better to show them how it works. For sure for the rest of the season the competition will be high, but I think we are now even in the fight for the world championship. So let’s see.”