Inside line: Simon Pullan

The 21-year-old British GT racer finished third on his Le Mans Group C debut

How did the Group C drive come about?

My uncle Kevin Pullan is mad keen on Porsches and has always wanted me to race one. Through Phil Stott he found this car in California, went over there, fell in love with the 962 and bought it. That was in April. He bought it not realising about the Le Mans race and Jim Graham managed to get us an entry.

What was the Le Mans experience like?

I’d never even been to Le Mans as a spectator before. I was definitely still learning the car and I had to learn this amazing track. I camped at the circuit on Friday night rather than go to the hotel, just to make sure I didn’t get caught in traffic and miss the race. It was unbelievable! I had gear selection trouble at the start and dropped to 12th, and then had to fight back up to third. I had a fantastic battle with Nigel James. We then went to the Nürburgring and had two second places. Putting the car on pole against the Kremer team was pretty amazing.

How have you adapted to the 962?

It is a really easy car to drive. It is actually really responsive to everything you ask it to do, because it is a proper racing car. The main thing was getting used to the aerodynamics. Learning to carry enough speed into the corners was quite difficult to start with.

What comes next?

I’m definitely keen to carry on with the Porsche in Group C races, but I want to get Kevin into the car as well. He’s ecstatic about what we’ve done so far. But my number one aim for 2005 is to go back to Le Mans, this time for the 24 Hours, in a prototype.