Adderly Fong will start this weekend’s 82^nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours as part of the first ever all-Chinese driver line-up.

The 24-year old completed a successful programme with the Oak Racing Team Asia team and will start the event in 15th position in the highly competitive LMP2 class in the Michelin-shod Oak Racing Team Asia Ligier-HPD.

“It’s pretty difficult out there. The speed differential between the classes isn’t massive, except for the LMP1 cars which are faster than anything else,” said Fong. “This means that if you catch a GT in a corner you’re compromised on your braking as we can brake later with the greater downforce we have.

“With Le Mans being so high speed you don’t want to take too many risks. It can be quite aggressive out there – everyone’s trying to do their own thing.  Some parts of the track aren’t as wide as they seem on TV. Taking an unnecessary risk can be quite costly as we’ve seen so far this weekend.

Fong, who was born in Vancouver but schooled in Hong Kong was also looking forward especially to the physical and mental demands of endurance racing, saying: “Endurance racing – certainly for a 24 hour race – means you’re not pushing at 100% all of the time. You’re not on single lap pace the whole time so it’s easier to jump in the car and race at any time over the 24 hours in this condition. To prepare for a stint you’ll drink a bit of caffeine, maybe throw a ball around to get your motor-neurone connections working and up to speed. It’s just a case of ensuring you’re up and awake plenty of time before getting in the car.