Tom Kristensen THE MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW
TOM KRISTENSEN WON THE Le Mans 24 Hours at his first attempt, having never seen the circuit until his practice laps in 1997, and went on to win the race another eight times, a record that still stands today. ‘The Great Dane’, as he is affectionately known, has also won the Sebring 12 Hours six times, another record. In 2014 the Queen of Denmark appointed Tom ‘Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog’ in recognition of his international success. Having won the German F3 championship in 1991, and the Japanese title in ’93, he narrowly missed out on the Japanese F3000 title in 1995. He seemed destined for grand prix stardom but, despite a testing contract with Tyrrell, he opted for endurance racing and was world champion in 2013. From his home in Hobro on the Jutland Peninsula he reflects on a record-breaking career.
Motor Sport: When you first started racing, Denmark was not what you’d call a motor racing country, so how did you take your first steps up what Jackie Stewart called ‘the staircase of talent’?
TK: Yes, you’re right, it was very humble beginnings, growing up at the family’s gas station but my dad was racing touring cars, on both gravel and asphalt circuits, so I grew up in a racing environment. I got an old, rather unreliable and not very fast kart when I was eight years old. We used to run it round the gas station before we took it to the local track at Mou [a kart track near Aalborg in Denmark] to make sure it worked.
The first year we raced at Mou and here I was very happy, racing with my dad. It was where I wanted to be. My mum, she was not so happy. As a teenager I got some support from a
