There have been events over the previous few years when Robert Kubica mentioned he had thought-about quitting motorsport. Not any extra. These ideas have lengthy gone.
“I believed it was perhaps time for me to search out new challenges,” Kubica mentioned in an interview in April. “Not that I don’t love racing, and I didn’t wish 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 Formulation 1 from 2006, 4 with BMW after which a yr with Renault, Kubica signed a contract to affix Ferrari. In February 2011, he was virtually 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.
“Formulation 1 was my life,” Kubica mentioned. “Not lots of people understood, once I returned to racing, why rallies. It was just because I wished to provide myself a giant problem. Rallying saved my head very busy, and I needed to check myself.
“I wished to see what I might do, how aggressive I may very well be. I didn’t wish to simply be a quantity.”
Kubica, who’s Polish, wished to return to Formulation 1. After a yr as a reserve driver with Williams in 2018, the staff gave him a possibility the following season. Kubica scored one level from a Tenth-place end within the German Grand Prix.
“My Formulation 1 comeback was one among my greatest, if not the most important, achievements of my life,” Kubica mentioned. “However it was a really disappointing yr, not just for myself however lots of people throughout the staff.
“It ought to have been very totally different. It was nonetheless particular. No person gave me an opportunity, however I labored laborious for it, and I by no means would have performed it if I had not felt in a position to be aggressive.”
Kubica continued as a reserve driver with Alfa Romeo for 3 years, however he knew the Formulation 1 dream was over. In 2021, he switched to endurance racing.
That yr, he gained 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 gained 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 potentialities,” 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 distinct 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 you need to deliver the automotive dwelling as quick as doable,” he mentioned. “In fact, you might be sharing the automotive, so the method is totally different. You need to have totally different abilities as a driver in comparison with Formulation 1.
“For instance, you need to suppose as a gaggle. My age in all probability helps me in that method. It’s not about being as quick as doable 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 operating the 499P.
“All of the drivers wish 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 we’ve got to handle, to acquire the perfect 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 an expert, successful mentality. He’s focused on each element, all the time pushing us in lots of instructions, specializing in particulars that weren’t deliberate.
“With Robert, his focus isn’t instantly on the perfect time, like a younger driver, as a result of we don’t want that. He’s focused on understanding the tires, the automotive, and utilizing all potentialities for the perfect end result.”
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 we’ve got 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 perfect 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 Workforce Jota final yr, Hanson joined AF Corse this yr.
In an interview in April, Hanson mentioned the staff “is likely one of the hungriest I’ve been with to win,” and referred to as Kubica “essentially 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.
“Whenever you suppose Robert’s been there and performed it in so many various championships throughout so many various disciplines of motorsport, to nonetheless have this degree of starvation at his expertise degree, is unimaginable,” Hanson mentioned.
“He’s not complacent. He’s the final one to go away the monitor, even when issues are performed, 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 end result.”
It’s the psychological capability of Kubica that has astounded Hanson. “Whenever you’re amongst visitors, preventing with different automobiles, that’s when errors occur since you’re multitasking to the fifth or sixth diploma,” he mentioned.
“For him, he’s serious about technique and different issues on high of that. It’s uncommon that you just achieve this many issues at this excessive degree the place there are such a lot of choices and so many various 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 discovered a lesson in 2011 to not plan too far ahead,” he mentioned. “Though the work may be very robust and the competitors very excessive, I nonetheless have a whole lot of ardour. It has develop into a life-style.
“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.”
