F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg plays down Le Mans hopes with Porsche
Force India Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg has downplayed his chances of winning next month's Le Mans 24 Hours following his World Endurance Championship debut at Spa last weekend
The 27-year old finished sixth at Spa sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, coming home three laps down after Tandy crashed early in the race after a clash with a GTE-class Porsche 911 driven by Kevin Estre.
Hulkenberg believes it would be too optimistic to expect to win on his Le Mans debut next month despite the progress he and his team-mates made at Spa.
Analysis: Why Hulkenberg's WEC debut was hard to judge
"I have seen now in a six-hour race how much can happen and how tough that is and that's only a quarter of a 24-hour race," said Hulkenberg.
"So me going there as a rookie, not having any experience, I just want to go there open minded and do a good job and enjoy it.
"Of course, we want to do well and I'd love to win and it would be a dream come true, but we should be realistic."
Hulkenberg was pleased with his own progress at Spa even though his Porsche was out of contention by the time he took the wheel.
"It was good," said Hulkenberg of Spa. "Obviously, it was a bit of a shame to have the clash early on.
"We were still in it, but we were not fighting at the front with the Audis and the other Porsches.
"Otherwise, I learned a lot. There were a lot of first impressions of everything but I'm happy with how it went."
Hulkenberg added that he had to worry less about tyre management than in Formula 1, despite having to double-stint a set of Michelins.
He added that the tyres were consistent, something that is assisted by traction control.
"You have to worry a little less," he said. "The tyres are pretty consistent and you don't think about it constantly.
"They also have traction-control systems, which obviously help a great deal because they kick in when you overdo it with the throttle.
"Spa is quite demanding on the tyres, so you also had to do some tyre management.
"But when people think of endurance racing, people think it's cruising and you have to look after everything, but it's actually pretty full-on pushing.
"I was impressed with that and didn't expect it to be quite like this."
Hulkenberg returns to F1 with Force India for this weekend's Spanish GP, but is scheduled to return to action for Porsche in the pre-Le Mans test at the end of the month.
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