Andy Meyrick arrived back home from his Le Mans debut on Tuesday evening having had time to recover from the biggest race any driver can do, and he was able to give some insights into the experience. "It was immense, the preparation by Oreca was great as you would expect. The physios even take you on a boxing session before you get ready to get in the car. I tell when you have a physio aiming punches at you it sharpens up your reactions very quickly! Certainly to finish 4^th and best petrol car was incredible but at one time we thought we might even get on the podium, when one of the Audis hit another car and went off. Unfortunately the Audi got going again. Even so, on the final lap to have everyone, the whole team, the drivers & everyone who had worked so hard over the 24 hours, on the pit-wall was unbelievable. It was a honour to be able to bring the car home. Especially when you have experienced team-mates and they turn to the rookie, the little foreigner in the corner to take over for the final stint. Bearing in mind what had just happened to the teams other car, it was an incredible opportunity." Asked if he had recovered yet Andy said " I feel absolutely fine. Obviously I felt tired after the race, but from then on it was a bit of a whirlwind, we had commitments to meet all of Orecas sponsors & guests. I didn’t get to bed until midnight but I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 or 4 in the morning as my brain was still going at 200 mph., so it took a little while for me to come down. On Monday I was just with the team and the mechanics and I had some family over.

We had some fun with the mechanics and I drove the motorhome back on Tuesday morning, and as I was going down the road I could here some really bad rattling. So I pulled over on the motorway to have a look around underneath, but couldn’t find anything, so I drove on but the rattling got worse, so I stopped again. This time I went to look around the back and the mechanics had put a load of Coke cans on a string with a banner saying "Thank you from everyone at Oreca for your superb drive" That was lovely. I left on for a little while before I took it down!"

Andys next scheduled drive is in October at Road Atlanta in the USA for the Petit Le Mans race in the American Le Mans series, but with such a major result to his name he may find other opportunities coming his way. (report by Rob Allender)

Stop Press Andy Meyrick preveiws Le Mans on The Back Page on BBC Radio Wales  Listen to his radio interview which gives a fantastic insight into the preparation for the race. - Link via your pc to http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/

http://www.andymeyrick.com   for more insights

http://www.oreca.fr/UK/tousnossites.php

http://www.lemans.org/en 

http://www.dysonracing.com/

http://www.americanlemans.com/

Live Commentary from Radio Le mans http://rlm08.0157.org