There have been events over the previous couple of years when Robert Kubica mentioned he had thought-about quitting motorsport. Not any extra. These ideas have lengthy gone.
“I believed it was possibly time for me to seek out new challenges,” Kubica mentioned in an interview in April. “Not that I don’t love racing, and I didn’t need to race, however I simply thought that as I used to be getting near 40, which I’m now, and I used to be not tremendous proud of the place I used to be.
“In the long run, I knew if I ended, I’d miss racing, so I saved going. What endurance racing has given me is recent air.”
The route Kubica, who will drive within the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Saturday, has taken to the hypercar class of the F.I.A. World Endurance Championship is worthy of a Netflix documentary.
After 5 years in System 1 from 2006, 4 with BMW after which a yr with Renault, Kubica signed a contract to hitch Ferrari. In February 2011, he was nearly killed in a crash within the Ronde di Andora Rally in Italy.
A number of surgical procedures and intensive rehabilitation adopted. Kubica rebuilt his life and profession, returning to racing in 2013 and successful the second tier of the World Rally Championship that yr.
“System 1 was my life,” Kubica mentioned. “Not lots of people understood, after I returned to racing, why rallies. It was just because I needed to provide myself an enormous problem. Rallying saved my head very busy, and I needed to check myself.
“I needed to see what I might do, how aggressive I might be. I didn’t need to simply be a quantity.”
Kubica, who’s Polish, needed to return to System 1. After a yr as a reserve driver with Williams in 2018, the staff gave him a possibility the subsequent season. Kubica scored one level from a Tenth-place end within the German Grand Prix.
“My System 1 comeback was one in every of my largest, if not the largest, achievements of my life,” Kubica mentioned. “However it was a really disappointing yr, not just for myself however lots of people inside the staff.
“It ought to have been very completely different. It was nonetheless particular. No one gave me an opportunity, however I labored laborious for it, and I by no means would have finished it if I had not felt capable of be aggressive.”
Kubica continued as a reserve driver with Alfa Romeo for 3 years, however he knew the System 1 dream was over. In 2021, he switched to endurance racing.
That yr, he received three races en path to successful the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Sequence. After eight years he was a champion once more. In 2023 and 2024 he received the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship, and final yr, he repeated his E.L.M.S. success.
“I by no means doubted my prospects,” Kubica mentioned of his 2021 triumph. “I used to be 36 on the time, and it took me again to my days in karting, when every little thing was like discovering one thing new. It was one thing particular.”
Endurance racing has allowed Kubica to find a unique side to his driving. If it’s a six-hour race or 24 hours, he has to share the automotive with one or two different drivers.
“The DNA is similar as a result of it’s a must to deliver the automotive house as quick as attainable,” he mentioned. “After all, you’re sharing the automotive, so the strategy is completely different. You must have completely different expertise as a driver in comparison with System 1.
“For instance, it’s a must to assume as a gaggle. My age most likely helps me in that strategy. It’s not about being as quick as attainable on each lap. I can sacrifice myself for the group.”
This yr, Kubica is driving for AF Corse within the hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship, alongside Phil Hanson of England and Yifei Ye of China. The staff is affiliated with Ferrari, which can be working the 499P.
“All of the drivers need to win,” Giuseppe Petrotta, the managing director of AF Corse, mentioned in an interview in April. “We don’t want a loser. It’s one thing now we have to handle, to acquire the most effective for Ferrari.”
After the primary two races of the yr, the Qatar 1812 km in February and the 6 Hours of Imola in April, Kubica and his teammates are second within the standings.
Petrotta mentioned the expertise of Kubica had been invaluable to the staff: “He has knowledgeable, successful mentality. He’s targeting each element, at all times pushing us in lots of instructions, specializing in particulars that weren’t deliberate.
“With Robert, his focus will not be instantly on the most effective time, like a younger driver, as a result of we don’t want that. He’s targeting understanding the tires, the automotive, and utilizing all prospects for the most effective consequence.”
Petrotta mentioned he was shocked by Kubica and the resilience he has proven over his profession.
“He’s very passionate,” Petrotta mentioned. “You’ll be able to hear that in a few of his radio communications.
“It’s one thing now we have to handle, to research after a race. However the important thing level is, he’s quick and constant when wanted, which helps us and him discover the most effective resolution for every race.”
After a profitable six years with United Autosports, successful the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 class in 2020, and shifting to Hertz Staff Jota final yr, Hanson joined AF Corse this yr.
In an interview in April, Hanson mentioned the staff “is among the hungriest I’ve been with to win,” and referred to as Kubica “probably the most hungry racing driver I’ve met to win and carry out.”
Hanson, 15 years youthful than Kubica, is amazed by the older driver’s ardour and stamina at 40.
“While you assume Robert’s been there and finished it in so many alternative championships throughout so many alternative disciplines of motorsport, to nonetheless have this stage of starvation at his expertise stage, is unimaginable,” Hanson mentioned.
“He’s not complacent. He’s the final one to depart the observe, even when issues are finished, simply because he’s so fastidious in wanting to take a look at all the small print, which exhibits how dedicated he’s to getting that consequence.”
It’s the psychological capability of Kubica that has astounded Hanson. “While you’re amongst site visitors, combating with different vehicles, that’s when errors occur since you’re multitasking to the fifth or sixth diploma,” he mentioned.
“For him, he’s fascinated about technique and different issues on high of that. It’s uncommon that you simply achieve this many issues at this excessive stage the place there are such a lot of choices and so many alternative points that go into it. That’s when it begins to separate the drivers.”
After coming near quitting motorsport, the “recent air” Kubica spoke of has reinvigorated him.
The horizon to his profession is distant. “I realized a lesson in 2011 to not plan too far ahead,” he mentioned. “Though the work could be very powerful and the competitors very excessive, I nonetheless have quite a lot of ardour. It has grow to be a way of life.
“I don’t know what’s going to occur sooner or later, however I do know one factor for sure, and that’s while I’m having fun with what I’m doing, and so long as I’m wholesome and succesful, I’ll proceed. I’ll by no means go to a race and see it as work. That is one thing distinctive, one thing that life has given me.”
