Eng said stepping to the other side of Le Mans’ pit wall has given him a fresh outlook on how BMW M Team WRT runs a race, a viewpoint he believes could prove useful for his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP program.
The Austrian, who with Marco Wittmann has strung together two straight podiums, enters this weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen sitting ninth in the standings.
While their IMSA GTP teammates Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde competed at Le Mans, Eng and Wittmann were also present in reserve roles, which allowed them to approach the event from a different angle.
“I did the test day on the Sunday before the race, and I was there serving as a reserve driver,” Eng said.
“And during race week, I was also on standby, working with the engineers, always looking at the timing, always looking at all the data, and I was there for the drivers, for the performance engineers.
“I was just using my experience with the car, with the program, and I really hope I could help I could help the whole team.
“It was a great experience to see the other side of the fence, not driving, but listening to all the intercom and to all the strategy in the background.”
Asked to expand on his duties during the event, Eng said he hoped to contribute to the overall effort, which saw the No. 20 BMW driven by van der Linde, Rast and Frijns finish second overall, less than 11 seconds behind the winning Toyota TR010 Hybrid in the closest-ever timed finish in race history.
It marked the German manufacturer’s best Le Mans result since its last overall win in 1999.
“Obviously, it’s always nicer to be racing, but there are six extremely talented drivers in the WEC program, so, for Marco and me, it was very clear that we were reserve drivers, we are on standby in case anything happens,” Eng said.
“And for me personally, it was very cool to listen to all the intercom traffic in the background.
“We basically had the same outfit as the engineers in the background. So, we saw all the data, we saw the whole timing, and we had direct intercom contact to the race engineers, to the performance engineers.
“Anything I saw, I felt like I could have a positive impact on the race, on the performance of the car, or of the drivers.
“I was not trying to jump in, because the cars are very complicated, the systems are very complicated, so whenever I saw anything where I had the feeling that I could contribute something.
“I think it was pretty helpful for all the engineers on site. It was very interesting to hear all the traffic on the intercom in the background, and it was just interesting to hear.
“As a driver, when the engineers tell you the strategy, it’s the strategy, but you don’t really get to know all the background story and what’s behind it.”
Eng believes some of the newly learned knowledge could be translated into this weekend’s third leg of the Michelin Endurance Cup, the site of the BMW M Hybrid’s maiden win in global competition in 2023.
“It’s the approach, how you are going into a race and what your plan is going into the race,” he explained. “Also, since, since WRT is running the IMSA program, I feel like that I have a much better understanding on how the IMSA races work basically, and how everything pans out.
“I don’t always want to be a reserve driver, because I would much rather be behind the steering wheel and drive the car myself, but it was very cool to spend a week at Le Mans together with the team.”
The experience, however, has opened Eng’s eyes to a potential career once the 36-year-old’s driving career comes to and end.
“I’m still too young to be there full-time, and I think I’m also still too quick. But one day, I can definitely imagine myself being on the pit stand,” he said.
“I don’t know, [maybe a] sporting director or [something] because this was really a big, a big eye opener. In maybe in ten years’ time, but it was cool to see, really cool.”
