Frentzen competed in 1992 at Le Mans and is now back with Aston Martin
This Saturday, German Heinz-Harald Frentzen will once again find himself at the starting line of the legendary 24 Heures du Mans, now in it's 76th edition. This legendary endurance test has been in partnership with Rolex as the Official Timekeeper since 2001 and this year marks the second time in his career that Heinz-Harald Frentzen will face up to the demanding challenge.
Born in 1967, Frentzen had his first experience at Les 24 Heures du Mans in 1992 when he had been employed by a private team and was given the opportunity to discover the track and drive by night. That year the rain came down in torrents, more rain than was seen at this year's test session on June 1st. To be alone in the car, face to face with the difficult circuit and the need to master the car's powerful engines is something that Heinz-Harald Frentzen will never forget. Frentzen is no stranger to poor conditions on the track and has participated in 157 Grand Prix Formula 1 races between 1999 and 2003, with victories at San Marino (Imola) in 1997, France (Magny Cours) in 1999, and Italy (Monza) in 1999. One of his favourite memories is his victory under pouring rain on June 27th, 1999 at Magny-Cours, where he was driving the Jordan Mugen… “After all these torrents of water, I found myself on the podium with Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello around me and it was one of the most beautiful moments in my career as a driver,” he remembers.
“I did miss participating in the 24 Heures du Mans. I always dreamed of doing the race again but I had never managed to get another chance until this year for the 2008 edition. After being put in touch with Aston Martin, preparing for the 24 Heures du Mans became a priority,” said Frentzen, who will be racing the 2008 edition in an Aston Martin DBR9 in LMGT1 with co-drivers Karl Wendlinger (Austria) and Andrea Piccini (Italy). “More over,” he continued, “I've begun participating in some other endurance courses. I drove an experimental concept car, a hybrid, for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. We were trying to find various substitutes and a way to reuse the energy of the brakes. Using a simple process to salvage the kinetic energy affected the car in many ways. The experiment worked really well even if the car did not end up finishing because of a minor gearbox breakdown. We need to keep going in this direction. We're not there yet for the 2008 24 Heures du Mans, but for next year's edition we certainly should be.”
Heinz-Harald Frentzen looks at the watch on his wrist. “A Rolex Oyster Perpetual Daytona in steel,” he says, “a gift from my wife on my 40th birthday. I could never be without it. It has become my talisman. But I will let you in on a little secret: my Rolex is never on time,” he says as he points out that he has set the watch 5 minutes ahead so that he is never late for a meeting. Punctuality is imperative to Frentzen.
Frentzen has great expectations for the 2008 24 Heures du Mans. “Discipline, teamwork, the magic of speed, robust partners, these are the things that keep us going. As for the car, it's ready, even though the June 1st test sessions in the rain on were not very significant. Everything is symbolic when talking about this machine. First off, the orange and blue colours of our partner Gulf Oil. Then of course, the mythical number '007'. On top of that, in 1968, Gulf Oil won its first 24 Heures du Mans victory with Lucien Bianchi and Pedro Rodríguez at the wheel of the GT40. This 40-year reference is particularly motivating for us. We hope we can repeat the achievement.”
“I'm impatiently waiting for the green light on the track at 3pm this Saturday,” he added. “And I hope I will arrive precisely at 3pm at the finish on the following day after 24 tiring hours,” finished Frentzen. A challenge to say the least!
On June 14th at 3pm, 55 teams will begin the 2008 24 Heures du Mans following the Rolex countdown.
Rolex has been the Official Timekeeper for Les 24 Heures du Mans and the Le Mans Series since 2001 and 2005 respectively. In North America, Rolex has been a partner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona since 1959.