Lietz revealed that he at first “had no concept” concerning the significance of his move on team-mate Klaus Bachler into Les Combes, which secured victory for the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche he shared with Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring, as he had begun the ultimate tour in third place.
Franck Perera’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini was pressured to pit for gasoline with only one lap to go, however crossed the start-finish line to begin the ultimate lap quickly nonetheless within the lead. That handed Bachler the benefit, however he too was low on vitality and put up little resistance as Lietz loomed in his mirrors.
Requested if he was conscious of the state of affairs unfolding round him, four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class-winner Lietz replied: “Actually I had no concept.”
Dutch 19-year-old Schuring had been nearly at hand over to Lietz when the purple flags had been proven following a heavy accident involving Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Sequence.R LMDh and the WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael, for which the previous has been given a five-place grid penalty for the subsequent WEC spherical at Le Mans.
When the race finally resumed with 1hr44m on the clock, Schuring was pressured to pit instantly after the restart, which initially appeared to have scuppered their prospects as Lietz rejoined ninth and deep within the pack.
He mirrored that the staff thought “we had been combating for nothing”, however confirmed sturdy tempo over a stint after making use of information realized in a latest take a look at at Interlagos to rise by means of the order.
As others operating low on vitality got here into the pits within the closing minutes, Lietz superior into podium rivalry however was “stunned” to search out himself within the combine for victory.
“The engineer mentioned ‘okay, you’re P5 now, perhaps we’re combating for a podium’,” he recounted.
“After which abruptly it was like ‘okay, now that is the move for the victory’ and I used to be like ‘okay, I didn’t get P3 or the rest’.
“So from the motive force viewpoint within the final stint I used to be stunned by the consequence.
“However I feel that team-wise, and particularly with these team-mates right here, we deserved to be on the rostrum or combating for the victory.
“After the purple flag taking the victory principally a second time on this race, I’m actually comfortable.”
Lietz revealed that he initially thought Bachler “had a tyre challenge” because of the success ballast on the championship-leading #92 automotive co-driven by Alexander Malykhin and Joel Sturm as he quickly closed on his fellow Austrian.
“I had no info from the staff, it was not likely clear what occurred,” he added.
Bachler defined that he had little alternative however to permit Lietz by means of attributable to his precarious vitality state of affairs.
Requested by Motorsport.com if he’d have fought the difficulty more durable if it had been anybody aside from a team-mate, he replied: “I might determine to cease or to take the P2.
“For certain if it wouldn’t be the sister automotive, I might strive it.
“However I feel I might haven’t any probability, as a result of we ran out of vitality.”