LM24: “2015 has the potential to be one of the greatest races” says Audi’s Jarvis

Audi Sport driver Oliver Jarvis expects this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans to go down as a classic among the previous 82 runnings of the legendary endurance race.

"The racing has been phenomenal this year and I honestly believe 2015 has the potential to be one of the greatest Le Mans races we've ever seen," the 31-year-old Briton (LEFT) told RACER.

With the addition of Nissan to the top LMP1-Hybrid class, four major manufacturers will do battle for overall honors on June 13-14. The P2 class is loaded with 19 cars, and if recent history is a guide, they'll wage a tightly packed fight among themselves for 24 hours. And 23 GT cars – Pro and Am – are expected to follow suit as factory teams and privateers dodge prototypes and rub fenders from start to finish.

According to Jarvis, who replaced newly-retired Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the No. 8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, the 2015 edition of the race could also go down as the fastest on record.

• RACER's Le Mans 24 Hours Resource Guide

"The job that everyone has done at Audi Sport over the winter has been really incredible, and that's also true of the other [P1-H] manufacturers," he said. "I mean, I never would have believed that we could make a step forward of three or four seconds at a track like Silverstone as we have. Will that relate at Le Mans? I'm excited to find out. I think we could see one of the quickest, if not the quickest at Le Mans ever.

"Weather at the Test Day was not ideal, yet some impressively quick times were recorded, and speeds should improve as the conditions improve. Combined with the immense battle that I foresee and predict for pole and during the race, I think it's definitely going to be one to watch."

As the lone manufacturer using a diesel-powered car this year, Audi will take on cars using gasoline, single- and twin-turbos, and naturally-aspirated engines, not to mention hybrid systems deploying 2, 6, and 8 megajoules. Amid the technical diversity Jarvis credits Audi, which seeks its fifth consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans victory, and the other P1-H manufacturers, for creating close competition while following decidedly unique engine and hybrid energy paths.

"I'm a huge fan of racing, and even in Silverstone we were sort of three laps down but I was still glued to their TV screens because everyone is so evenly matched," he said. "There's such a close competition and for me it's credit to the three [experienced] manufacturers that all three have taken different philosophies and yet we are still discussing tenths of the second."