Keating: Winning is a “Great Painkiller” for Injured Arm

Ben Keating says winning is a “great painkiller” after triumphing in the LMGT3 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans upon his return from a broken elbow, but added that he wanted to “cut off” his injured arm at the shoulder following an intense quintuple stint at the wheel.

Keating secured his third class victory at Le Mans despite shattering his elbow in a cycling accident nine weeks beforehand, which forced him to miss both of the opening two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

He returned to the wheel of the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Le Mans and was able to secure LMGT3 class victory alongside Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar after completing his required six hours of driving in the first half of the race.

“When you have this result, it’s all worth it,” said Keating of the “terrible” pain that he felt.

“I did it for four hours in the sim [before the event] and there’s something extra when you’re driving a real car, in a real race with real competition. It felt worse after six hours so packed together.

“I tried lots of different things and I literally determined ice was the best thing for it. The team was always very ready to wrap my arm up in ice when I got out and that made it feel bearable.

“I think most people don’t have the experience of driving a race car but, when you’re steering the wheel of a race car, you don’t really bend your elbow.

“You bend at the shoulder and at the wrist but not at the elbow and so it was more the vibrations and the quick hand motions, trying to catch the rear, that over time eventually starts to wear you down and get pretty painful.

“I was in the car at midnight when we had the safety car and I did the whole thing with one hand.”

Keating’s quintuple stint at the wheel at the beginning of the race lasted for more than three-and-a-half hours and he said it was a planned strategy from the team.

“I started the race with five stints but I triple-stinted my first set of tires,” he explained.

“For whatever reason, my lap times weren’t much different depending on whether it was a new tire or a used tire and so I just said, ‘Hey let me take all the long stints on tires and leave the extra tires for the co-drivers.'”

The Texan added that he was “extremely nervous” after the second safety car was called with six hours to go that wiped out the Corvette’s hard-earned advantage.

“We had the whole field right on our tail,” said Keating. “But I cannot say enough about the job that Jonny and Nicky did in the race.

“I think it was a big advantage that it was very hot. Every car had to double stint and triple stint the tires and I think that gave us just enough of an edge to stay ahead.”

Edgar Also Completes “Unexpected” Quintuple Stint

Keating was not the only of the No. 33 Corvette’s drivers to spend five successive stints at the wheel, as Edgar also did so at the end of the race.

Catsburg hailed the FIA-graded Silver driver’s concluding spell as a “man of the match” performance while Edgar said completing the long spell at the controls was aided by the car being “great to drive.”

“There was a chance I would do five but the plan was to double stint and then they asked if I could do three,” Edgar explained of the quintuple.

“Then, because we were changing tires, they normally like to keep the driver on the same set, so it went from two to four stints very quickly and then there was only one left so they asked if I was happy to stay in.

“You don’t have to put too much effort into driving, which helps a lot over a 24-hour race.

“The A/C is quite good. You get a bit uncomfortable for being sat in the same position for just under four hours but it was easier than I expected.”

John Dagys contributed to this report