Matthieu Vaxiviere is Ready to be France's Hero

Great, good at the end. We are really happy with the result of the season. All the objectives are done, but also, there are still two races, and we hope that we will get one win. I mean, we will go for it, so this will be a good year. We did some perfect races; one was a bit more difficult but, at the end, we did a nice race. And we finished on the objective that was the podium.

The new era will be awesome. I mean, [it] will be great for all the endurance fans, and all motorsport. Also us, as a driver and for all the team. All the private teams, that were like in an LMP2. They will make this step. It's wonderful for a lot of people, and it's great to see 25 cars fighting for overall victory in Le Mans. We can't believe it, it's awesome.

My family was in the motorsport world already. And then I started go-karting because I love all the engine stuff, motorbikes, karting. Karting and motorbikes are the thing that you can do when you are really young. And I did one year of karting, then, after I stopped doing [it for] five years, we [played] football. I was really out from motorsport because of budget and stuff like this. But, I was really bad in football in the end – so I didn't like it anyway.

Then I came back in 2010 with some races in Mitjet, and then after Formula 4, I became a champion, and then I got the opportunity to go higher and higher. I mean, I love my single-seater times; it was really nice as well. But, for sure, endurance is more where you can have a job and a nice career as well.

And sharing some nice moments with some other guys – three different drivers – you become older and older, and you enjoy even more this moment together. Because, at the end, when you got nice teammates, like Nico and Andre, at the end you're not going to work on like on the weekend. I mean you work – but you work on the proper condition. And you go with a big smile to work and to share with your teammates.

I mean, at the beginning, when you start, it's a bit of family for sure. But [...] in the past, it was a lot less money. I compare the same championship that I was doing now, and in the past, I mean half price in the same championships. And, for sure, it was a bit of family, a bit of sponsorship, and then I got a bit lucky, and I met someone that would help me in my career from single-seaters until endurance where I work. So, it's really hard – there is not one way to say to the young kid, "OK, we need to do this, you need to do this." We know that it's a barrier for certain [people], but again I can say that everyone knows this, and for sure it's harder.

I mean, for me, I would change some stuff. I'm really happy about where I end up now. I'm really happy in hypercar; the best category, it's good. But I will maybe change some racing decisions that I did, to win some championship or even more races. But if not, I was pretty happy. I mean it's, it's really difficult to change anyway, this is the path, and you cannot change anyway. So, at the end, now, you are looking in the future.

I don't have one name to give. I mean, there is a lot of a good drivers as well, and then in different series, they are different. So I mean, it's hard to put a name, and I don't want to. And also, I'm racing against them still! I got a lot of teammates as well that were really good. I don't have a name, there is a lot of good drivers I raced against, like [Esteban] Ocon, [Pierre] Gasly...

If there aren't prototypes, because the question wasn't endurance, it was WEC – I would go to IMSA, or ELMS! There are a lot of competitive series that are high level and professional.