In the world of endurance racing, the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans, approaching its 100th anniversary next summer, is still in a class by itself. For Richard Mille Racing Team members Sébastien Ogier and Charles Milesi, it’s an experience they’ll never forget
Sébastien Ogier: I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true—us drivers, we have a need for speed. There’s adrenaline when we get in the cockpit of a car like this that nothing else matches.
Charles Milesi: It’s a cliché for a reason. You need to love speed, because if you don’t crave it, you will simply not perform. It has to come from deep inside of you—you have to be chasing that joy.
SO: There’s joy in endurance riding. Don’t get me wrong, the adrenaline is higher in rally driving, and you feel the speed even more there, but true satisfaction as a racer comes when you know you’ve hit the limit. In rally, that feeling comes when you know the car cannot go any faster than you have just pushed it. In endurance, you hit your limit in so many different ways.
CM: When I’m pushing to those limits, I forget everything. That’s the joy for me—letting go of everything else. I just focus on driving, and being the quickest. With endurance however, there’s a lot you have to manage.
SO: There’s so many different types of cars on the track at endurance races like Le Mans. There’s hypercars, LMP2 racing cars like ours as well as top Ferraris and Porches in the LMGTE Pro category, all crowding the field at the same time. Sometimes it’s hard to manage the distance. At times, you think you can go for it, but someone is too close, and that can cause a crash. Or you can get too conservative, and get left behind. It’s all about finding your limits.
CM: We search for our physical limits before the race even starts. We have physical trainers, physiotherapists, and we do exercises that seem crazy until you’re a few hours in and you finally realize what that was all for.
SO: We even have to train ourselves to sleep. Everything is mapped out—when we’re going to sleep, how long we’re going to sleep, and plan to the minute how long we’re awake before we jump in a car. We even stay in the dark before the sun goes down so our eyes don’t have to adjust on the track. After a while, it all becomes automatic.
CM: Endurance, honestly, is helping me grow as a person. As a driver, you want to be the fastest every time, but a race like this teaches you it’s not enough to be fast. Over these long hours, it’s more important to be consistent. It’s discipline. Even now, I still feel I have much to learn.
SO: I’ve been a rally champion for decades. If I take care of myself, I may be able get another 10 years in my career and retire near the age of 50. I’ll be honest, I never understood Le Mans fully I was here. I knew the legends, but now I know the legends are true. To drive with Richard Mille in a prototype car in a race like no other—that was one of the hardest, and best, days of my life.