Phil Hanson, Le Mans winner.
That assertion was true earlier than final weekend in fact. The 25-year-old from Berkshire had already stood on the highest step of the rostrum on the Circuit de la Sarthe, going through empty grandstands after conquering the LMP2 class in a 2020 version held with out followers. Nevertheless it has held a special that means since final Sunday, when Hanson added his title to the pantheon of British sportscar greats who’ve gained endurance racing’s crown jewel outright, alongside the likes of Derek Bell, Allan McNish and Ferrari stablemate James Calado.
His victory alongside Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei, aboard the #83 buyer AF Corse Ferrari 499P, had no scarcity of narratives. There was the climax of Kubica’s redemption arc from his life-changing 2011 rally crash, and the candy vengeance for Kubica and Ye for shedding their 2021 LMP2 class win to a freak digital fault on the ultimate lap. Ye is the primary Le Mans winner from China, Kubica the primary from Poland. It was additionally Ferrari’s third consecutive Le Mans triumph.
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Provided that Kubica set the #83 automobile’s headline occasions and had been the person on board for the final 5 stints, whereas Hanson had stepped out of the automobile for the final time with eight hours to go, it was simple for his contribution to be neglected. But he was the driving force who took the beginning and, by eking out higher gasoline mileage than these round him and persistently operating 13-lap stints, set the tone for automobile #83’s ascent of the leaderboard after beginning thirteenth.
Apart from a short gravelly second through the night time at Mulsanne Nook, Hanson’s efficiency whereas managing a downshift difficulty was faultless, as befitting a driver making his ninth look within the nice race. The one penalty his automobile incurred, a five-second maintain within the pits for gaining an enduring benefit by leaving the circuit, was right down to Kubica.
It’s maybe becoming that Hanson has earned fewer column inches than his team-mates, for that’s fully in line with his strategy to motorsport. For Richard Dean, Hanson’s staff boss for six seasons whereas serving his apprenticeship at United Autosports, it comes as no shock that Hanson hasn’t had the identical share of the limelight. “He’s at all times fairly understated, he’s not the self-promotion type of man,” Dean tells Motorsport.com.
Hanson made his Le Mans debut aged 17, having began to race in vehicles only one yr earlier
Photograph by: Karun Chandhok
Maybe the most important distinction between Hanson and the esteemed names he now joins are his lack of a single-seater background. For all his success in sportscars as a champion of the World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Collection and twice over in Asia, Hanson has by no means loved the identical type of profile that comes with being an ex-Formulation 1 driver, not to mention a bone fide nationwide hero within the ilk of 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Kubica.
“There’s a pure mind-set from most individuals that the perfect drivers come from high-level karting or single-seaters and transfer throughout, however I feel he’s proof that [doesn’t have to be the case],” displays Dean. “He began fairly late, he did a little bit of karting, nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy earlier than he was in LMP3 after which LMP2. He’s not gone the obvious route, so he hasn’t constructed up a profile within the junior system. He’s in some way gone a bit underneath the radar, however then his file speaks for itself.”
Hanson’s rise was meteoric. He solely began racing vehicles in 2016 however was already on the Le Mans grid the next yr, aged 17, with a Tockwith-run Ligier having earned an automated berth within the LMP2 ranks for successful the 2016-17 Asian Le Mans Collection LMP3 crown. He started an extended affiliation with United Autosports in 2018, making his staff debut on the Daytona 24 Hours alongside two sportscar rookies. Solely they weren’t your typical newcomers, however Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris.
“We’ve had an enormous quantity of success with Phil, however when you will have these unhealthy days which naturally motorsport brings, he’s the primary one to rally round and elevate the staff up” Richard Dean
Being paired with well-known drivers from which he may be taught would turn into a daily theme of Hanson’s United profession, throughout which he matured right into a well-rounded and revered prototype racer. After beginning the 2018 ELMS marketing campaign alongside Bruno Senna, he cast a profitable partnership with former Audi LMP1 ace Filipe Albuquerque that might proceed till 2023.
“He’s very a lot the type that can take the perfect bits, taking a look at find out how to behave and the way to not behave, and that’s what you’re beginning to see immediately on the high degree,” observes Dean.
Collectively, Hanson and Albuquerque swept the ELMS and WEC in 2020, successful 4 consecutive races within the latter spanning the 2019-20 calendar years. That included Le Mans glory joined by Paul Di Resta, one other ex-F1 title with whom Hanson had added the 2018-19 Asian LMS P2 title in preparation for his maiden WEC foray.
Hanson took the chequered flag for United Autosports of their LMP2 victory at Le Mans in 2020
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Photographs
Entrusting Hanson with the closing stints at Le Mans in 2020, with Jota’s Anthony Davidson able to pounce on any misstep, demonstrated Dean’s religion in his younger cost. However he didn’t let the event overawe him.
“He wasn’t, in some folks’s minds, the apparent alternative to do this,” relates Dean. “We had been in an actual combat with Jota and we put him in. We had been tasked with giving him a sportscar training in each facet, and that Le Mans in 2020, a part of that [decision] was the promise that we might give him each alternative to show himself. There was some danger concerned, however he completely didn’t allow us to down and withstood all of the stress.”
Few are higher certified than Dean to appraise what Hanson brings to a staff. So how did he get on at United?
“He is aware of all people’s title, he doesn’t come throughout like typically let’s say an elite driver may,” explains Dean, who confirms Hanson was “massively fashionable” at United. “He’s very a lot one of many boys, he’s acquired nice empathy across the staff. We’ve had an enormous quantity of success with Phil, however when you will have these unhealthy days which naturally motorsport brings, he’s the primary one to rally round and elevate the staff up.”
Dean can also be optimistic about what Hanson brings within the automobile. He regards “tremendous clever” Hanson’s selflessness as one in all his huge strengths, alongside being “actually reliable” and possessing glorious health ranges that meant United didn’t hesitate to offer him triple and even quadruple stints.
“He’s at all times ready to sacrifice the highlight on him for the nice of the staff,” Dean remarks. “Typically which means he can simply get neglected, due to doing the staff participant job. However he’s tremendous clever, so any process you give him, he’s at all times ready to have a go at it. If he understands and buys into the explanation, then he’s the person for it.
“He’s extraordinarily hardworking and eager to be taught, at all times desirous to push himself. He’s very self-critical and that’s what’s pushed him alongside to enhance. So, an awesome all-rounder, tremendous reliable, good staff participant and a pleasant child who’s determined to do what he’s doing to the perfect of his capability.”
Hanson’s development from Silver to Gold in 2021 did not cease his studying curve
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Photographs
That a lot was clear to Dean in 2021, when Hanson’s driver grading modified from Silver to Gold. Fairly than take the view that he had accomplished his training, Dean says “he’s at all times had the strategy that he’s nonetheless acquired loads of studying to do” and utilized himself to his subsequent goal.
“He’s not that type of driver that claims, ‘Proper, watch me as a result of I’m doing every thing proper’,” Dean notes. “It was extra, ‘Okay, who am I up towards? Now I’m a Gold-grade driver, who’re my contemporaries and am I at that degree?’ And the following step is, ‘Let’s take a look in any respect these Platinums’. He’s at all times difficult himself.”
Profitable no less than as soon as in each ELMS season he spent with United (regardless of spending two years within the unfancied Ligier) and twice ending as championship runner-up, Hanson had by the top of 2023 set his sights on the following step. When it turned clear LMP2 could be dropped from the WEC for 2024, amid an explosion of curiosity within the burgeoning Hypercar class, Dean reckons it was inevitable that Hanson would fly the nest. Whereas United has needed to look forward to a crack at Hypercar, with affirmation that it’s going to run McLaren’s 2027 LMDh programme coming final week, Hanson stepped right into a seat with Jota’s privateer Porsche 963 for 2024 and managed a finest end of sixth at Fuji alongside Oliver Rasmussen and Jenson Button.
“He’s gained every thing, not many drivers have gotten that type of file” Richard Dean
“We didn’t have a Hypercar deal, he desperately needed it and the chance got here up,” says Dean, who continues to maintain tabs on Hanson in races. “We couldn’t have been happier for him. I feel all of us hoped we’d do it collectively, however you’ll be able to’t get what you need on a regular basis, are you able to?”
Every part fell into place for Hanson this yr. Working with the Greenlight Sports activities Administration company of Andy Meyrick and 2003 Le Mans winner Man Smith, who’ve each raced for United with gents drivers in LMP3 and P2, Hanson secured the vacant berth within the buyer Ferrari when Robert Shwartzman departed for IndyCar. That meant he had what turned out to be the perfect device at Le Mans to enter sportscar racing immortality.
“He’s gained every thing, not many drivers have gotten that type of file,” concludes Dean. “And if you have a look at that, you’d say it is not shocking that he’s able to successful within the high class.”
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