Why go back to a 'fickle' and 'damaging' race?

How would you deal with the crushing disappointment of losing the most important race in your world, the one you've chased more than any other, just three minutes from the chequered flag?

Anthony Davidson has been wrestling with that unhappy premise since the jaw-dropping final moments of Le Mans last year.

Toyota's role in the denouement of the 2016 24 Hours must surely be the most dramatic - and certainly the most heartbreaking - in the French classic's 94-year history.

Finally, the Japanese manufacturer looked certain to lift the hex on its bid to conquer Le Mans after more than 30 years of trying. Davidson and long-time endurance racing partner Sebastien Buemi watched from the pits as Kazuki Nakajima reeled off the final miles - only to stutter and stop on the line.

The time was 2.57pm. Close, but not close enough. He needed to do another lap.

The team would later explain that it was a defect in the airline between the turbo and the intercooler that stopped the TS050 HYBRID - and left Davidson and Buemi, the whole crew, and Toyota's executives who had gathered in the pits ready to celebrate, in various states of distress.

Meanwhile dear old Hugues de Chaunac, of team partner ORECA, wept openly. For this writer, de Chaunac's face in that moment was the lasting image of Le Mans 2016.

Twelve months on, Davidson and co are preparing to head back to Le Mans for another 24-hour trial, on June 17/18. For all, this has to be a test of character. Deep breath... how does it feel going back?

"I'll obviously never forget what happened last year, for the rest of my life," says Davidson on the phone, speaking to me at the end of a test day at Spa.

"But in terms of current racing I'm over it and I'm just looking forward to the race this year.

"What happened last year doesn't really affect how I feel going into this race. I don't think it really changes anything."

But it's clear there has been a lot of personal soul-searching and internal discussion among the Toyota crew to get everyone back on an even keel.

Davidson has processed the cruelty of that lost victory last year and it has entirely changed his attitude to Le Mans as he approaches his 10th start at the great race.

"I've learned to emotionally detach myself from Le Mans and just to treat it like the fun race it should be," he says.

"I loved every lap I drove there last year, I felt great in the car. I enjoyed a great track and the great car we had that day, and I hope I get that same feeling and buzz again this year.

"But what people hang on that race, what they put themselves through emotionally trying to win something that basically is very fickle, is quite damaging. I have emotionally detached myself so I can go there this year and look forward to purely driving the car on a nice circuit and enjoy the spectacle."

It's a logical and entirely understandable position for the 38-year-old to take. Whether he can realistically hope to remove emotional responses, when push comes to shove in a high-stress competitive arena, remains to be seen. And if he really has removed the emotional need to win from his psyche, why go back at all? It's a sports psychologist's dream.

"If I don't win this year I can comfortably take defeat, as long as it's not from my own doing," Davidson insists. "If it comes from my bad driving, then that's obviously a different story.

"But if I do everything in my power, like I did last year, to make sure my part of the race goes well then the rest of it is just c'est la vie.

"It's a bit of a silly race to put so much pressure on yourself to try and win because so many things can happen. As a driver two-thirds of it is out of your control anyway, because the other two drivers are doing the work."

Does it sound to you like he's working extra hard to convince himself Le Mans can't affect his mental balance? It does to me. But then it's instinctive to look for a comfort blanket in the face of such disappointment.

"I'm happy with where I am now in my head, going into the race," he says.

Davidson is saying the words to me, but he could be talking to himself - and probably has done over the course of the past year.

"I used to put so much pressure on myself to try and win it. If anything, last year has made me stronger going into this race, because I feel even more prepared as never before to basically enjoy it and drive at my best. And if anything goes wrong you almost have to accept it at that race. It's not going to hurt me if it does."

His reasoning has taken him further. At least he knows he is returning to Le Mans with another great chance of victory, certainly based on what we have seen so far.

He, Buemi and Nakajima are on a roll, having won the opening two six-hour races in this year's World Endurance Championship, at Silverstone and Spa.

"That's the thing, I know the car is going to feel nice to drive at the track and that's what I'm already looking forward to," he says.

"I can't say that our car is definitely going to be faster than Porsche's, but if we aren't as fast as them I find it hard to believe we'll be too far away.

"All you want is to be in the fight and have the equipment to be so. I can't see any reason why after winning the first two races that won't be the case."

In the past Davidson has headed to Le Mans knowing that victory would require a huge dose of fortune, that the car he's driving doesn't have the pace to win on pure merit.

"The worst thing you can have going to Le Mans is a car that's not fast enough," he says. "They are the races that actually hurt the most. I can think of 2011 in the Peugeot, 2013 and 2015 with Toyota when we weren't in the fight at all, and didn't have a chance to win.

"Knowing that going into the race is awful. Last year, although it ended in a really bitter way, there were certainly a lot of positives to take from it."

Talk about looking on the bright side! But again, who can blame him? How else would he have the strength to come back and try again?

Then again, confidence has never been something you could accuse Davidson of lacking. And to his credit, he's not afraid to back himself - just as top racing drivers should.

"The thing is, apart from that last lap, we were basically the victors last year," he says. "I take from it my performance, the team's performance. I can think of individual laps I've done there and overall stints where I've been really pleased with the job I've done.

"I said a few years ago that I know how to win Le Mans as a driver. I was kind of laughed at for saying such a thing when clearly I hadn't won it before, but last year proved that I do know how to win Le Mans. You just need all your stars to align to allow you to win it."

So, from what he's seen so far in the WEC, how does he think Toyota vs Porsche is shaping up for Le Mans this year?

One added bonus is that Toyota has finally seen fit to enter a third car. The extra resource required for the addition was enough for the powers-that-be to veto that decision in the past - but after last year the penny appears to have dropped that the insurance of a third TS050 is worth a stretch. Davidson says he didn't notice any impact in the operational capacity of the team with three cars to run at Spa.

As for Porsche, he's resisting any predictions despite Toyota's unbeaten record in 2017 so far.

"It's pretty difficult to compare because obviously we've been running two different aero kits," he points out.

"Our focus has been on the [low drag] aero kit for Le Mans. It's the one big thing the team hasn't won and it's natural that the main focus is on winning that race. So it's quite hard to know what to expect.

"What we saw in Monza at the pre-season 'prologue' test is probably the best indication we have, in terms of both cars running in similar aero configuration. There we looked pretty close. The long runs were competitive from both sides."

But on the back of Silverstone and Spa, the wind is surely in Toyota's sails - and particularly the trio who are unbeaten this year and most obviously have unfinished business at Le Mans.

"We desperately needed a race victory," says Davidson on those first six-hour skirmishes this season. "Probably more so from Kazuki's side, because Seb and I had a great relationship from winning the world championship together [in 2014].

"We all got along anyway, but it was really nice to stand on that top step together and feel like our moment had come as a trio. Sportscars is all about the camaraderie between team-mates and sharing the successes.

"We've been through our fair share of defeats, which is awful, but it does help to bond you as drivers.

"I think we feel quite complete. We all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and we are all completely open with each other.

"I really feel like we're in a good direction at the moment and confidence is quite hard to stop sometimes."

There was some element of good fortune in the trio's Spa victory: caution-period strategy helped them to overcome the sister Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway, who had the edge on pace in Belgium. Davidson would have no problem if he and his team-mates continue to enjoy the rub of the green in France.

"I don't think anyone would begrudge us in the slightest if we fluked a victory at Le Mans! I would quite happily take it that way as well."

Fair enough.

One final question: for a man who has clearly been one of the finest Le Mans drivers of the modern era, but has yet to win the race, what does he love about it and what does he hate?

"I love the responsibility as a driver," he says. "Driving in the night-time you feel quite alone. Your other two team-mates are trying to get some kip and it's all down to you. I like that feeling of responsibility.

"And the one thing I hate about it? Breaking down on the last lap when you're about to win!"

Redemption could be on the horizon. If it's not, Davidson's new-found serenity will be sorely tested, whatever he might say.