Triple Header Drivers Weigh In on Schedule Demands

Triple header 24-hour racers Loek Hartog, Kelvin van der Linde and Luca Stolz have weighed on the demands of running three consecutive major endurance races in a row, laying out the challenges and pitfalls as they tackle a grueling June schedule.

This month’s endurance racing calendar is dominated by 24-hour races, with this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans followed by the Nürburgring 24 and the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Hartog, van der Linde and Stolz are part of an exclusive club of just seven drivers that are set to contest all three 24 races in a row, joined by Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus, Mattia Drudi and Maxime Martin.

Out of the seven, Hartog could to some extent be considered the only rookie out of those drivers for all three races, as his Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was eliminated from the 24H Spa last year before he had a chance to drive.

“We run such a busy season that all of a sudden it’s in your calendar,” Hartog told Sportscar365.

“Even I think for many people they don’t realize that for me it will be nine weeks in a row at the racetrack.

“This will be the busiest period of the year but it’s it’s really at the beginning of the weeks where you can basically take a little bit of rest but from especially 24-hour weekends from Wednesday onwards it’s full of track activities.

“Tuesday in some cases you already have to be there but it just happens. It’s not really something I was taking too much into consideration how physical it would potentially be.

“So I just try to focus on the basics eat well,  sleep well, rest well.

“Don’t do crazy things like drive to the track at unorthodox times, for example. So I just take good care of everything but I also don’t try to make it too big.”

When confirmation of a schedule with three straight 24-hour races first came through last year, it was met with criticism from manufacturer bosses, who labeled it ‘unsustainable’.

When asked about the weeks ahead, van der Linde pointed that while demanding, the prospect of three back-to-back races feeds into an already packed schedule for factory GT3 racers, who have been “flat out since April.”

“It’s an interesting question which I’ve heard a lot this year, which surprises me because in essence nothing has changed for the GT3 drivers,” said the South African.

“I think it’s a lot more attention on it now because it’s three 24-hour races in a row, but I think for the past ten years, the majority of the factory GT3 drivers have been doing 12, 13 races in a row.

“That is daily business for us.

“Yes, the fact that it is 24 hour-races in a row makes it tough. But what people tend to forget is there’s race weekends before those three and not just one or two. We’ve been flat out since April, pretty much.”

Van der Linde went on to express concerns over an increasingly packed schedule in various disciplines of racing, which he points out also affects other members on a team.

“I think the physical, mental demand is as high as it’s ever been,” van der Linde said.

“But at the same time, we’re used to doing back-to-backs, that’s part of the business.

“The fact that it’s the three back-to-back 24-hour races this year just brings more attention to it, but that’s what we’ve been doing for the last ten years and I’m glad that it finally gets the attention it deserves.

“Because I think at some point we’re going to get into a position where people are just burnt out.

“Us drivers, we’re lucky to travel in a luxurious way. But the mechanics, they are here two days longer. They are one day here earlier for build up, one day later for build down.

“These guys, how is it sustainable for them in a ten, fifteen year period?

“That’s also to be honest that’s why I feel a lot of the young generation they just stop earlier, because you’re burnt out by the time you get to 35.

“It’s not that the racing is more physical or different to before, I just feel like it’s so much that people are burnt out by the time they get to their mid-30s.

“So it’s like, where do we draw the line? Because I feel like every big championship whether it’s MotoGP, Formula 1, they are just putting more and more events on.

“But there needs to be some sort of like give and take for the human beings that are putting on the entertainment.

“Because if we don’t come to the track feeling motivated and we don’t come to the track feeling like we’ve prepared sufficiently, then we can’t deliver the way we should.”

Stolz, who is set for his second Le Mans appearance as part of the crew for the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, similarly spoke about the schedule demands across a wider season and said he places a focus on recovery in between to stay as fit as possible.

“Usually my year has 25, if not more, race weekends so I’m used to race a lot,” said Stolz.

“Obviously I always train in between the races but I think here it’s just about to recover really good.

“We have proper sleep, good nutrition, we have really good catering at Iron Lynx. I think it’s more about this than about doing special training.

“It’s not an easy task, I think, because obviously it’s really demanding. Especially here as a pro, you usually have to run a lot.

“The good thing is though you do Le Mans first which is not the most physical track, we have always long straights to recover, that’s good.

“But the days are long here and you’re always at the track. So you just try to stay healthy, eat well, drink a lot of water and just have a good time.

“But I think the main issue will be that you have to learn all the rules because they are so different.

“This is ACO, then next week you go to Nordschleife which is completely different and then you go back to GT World Challenge where I do race a lot but still you have to remember every procedure.”