Lietz revealed that he at first “had no thought” in regards to the significance of his cross 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 power 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: “Truthfully I had no thought.”
Dutch 19-year-old Schuring had been nearly handy over to Lietz when the purple flags have 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 following 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 group thought “we have been combating for nothing”, however confirmed sturdy tempo over a stint after making use of data realized in a current take a look at at Interlagos to rise by means of the order.
As others working low on power got here into the pits within the closing minutes, Lietz superior into podium rivalry however was “shocked” to seek out himself within the combine for victory.
“The engineer stated ‘okay, you’re P5 now, perhaps we’re combating for a podium’,” he recounted.
“After which instantly it was like ‘okay, now that is the cross for the victory’ and I used to be like ‘okay, I didn’t get P3 or anything’.
“So from the motive force viewpoint within the final stint I used to be shocked by the end result.
“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 mainly a second time on this race, I’m actually completely satisfied.”
Lietz revealed that he initially thought Bachler “had a tyre concern” because of the success ballast on the championship-leading #92 automobile co-driven by Alexander Malykhin and Joel Sturm as he quickly closed on his fellow Austrian.
“I had no info from the group, it was probably not clear what occurred,” he added.
Bachler defined that he had little selection however to permit Lietz by means of as a result of his precarious power state of affairs.
Requested by Autosport if he’d have fought the problem more durable if it had been anybody apart from a team-mate, he replied: “I may determine to cease or to take the P2.
“For certain if it wouldn’t be the sister automobile, I’d attempt it.
“However I feel I’d haven’t any likelihood, as a result of we ran out of power.”