Ben Keating At Laguna Seca
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2023. #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by B. Keating, P. Chatin, A. Quinn and N. Lapierre were strong leaders during the first half of the race.
Ben Keating reported us: “I am racing in Laguna Seca this weekend. Unexpectedly, I am filling in for Patrick Kelly”
Keating will be in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen team alongside full season driver Paul-Loup Chatin. Kelly will be in the car with Paul-Loup Chatin for the two other LMP2 sprint races at Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
We share Ben Keating’s thoughts about his last year win of the Michelin Endurance Cup, his chances of winning it for a 6th time this year as well as his experience driving the Dpi Cadillac at Daytona.
CRR: Last year, you dominated the Michelin Endurance Cup in LMP2 with Scott Huffaker and Mikkel Jensen
Ben Keating: “I wouldn’t say we dominated! We won it because the #29 car didn’t come to Petit Le Mans. We had only one point lead going to Road Atlanta and it was going to be very very close. I love racing with Frits Van Eerd in the #29 car, I wish he would have been there and if he had been, I think there is a strong chance we would not have won it because I wrecked in that race. In the end, we won as we did last year.”
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2023. #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by B. Keating, P. Chatin, A. Quinn and N. Lapierre.
CRR: How do you see things going forward this season?
Ben Keating: “I don’t know. I won the American Endurance Cup in my class in 5 out of the last 6 years. I love racing in the Michelin Endurance Cup; it is my favorite trophy outside of a new Daytona Rolex and I love the structure of those races.
In the past, many teams were not running for the points attributed in the intermediates but for Victory. This year, it is very obvious that there are at least 4 teams who are running for those points. You get 4 opportunities to score points at Daytona, and 3 at Sebring. We just did the 12 Hours of Sebring where one gets points at the 4 hours mark, the 8 hours mark, and the 12 hours mark. 7 opportunities to get points are already gone and belong to the past. In the two races we have left, we only have 5 points opportunities left. So, over half of the championship is done. We are second with Paul-Loup Chatin and Alex Quinn on our #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, one point behind Scott Huffaker, Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen in #11 TDS Racing, one point ahead of John Farano, Scott McLaughlin and Kyffin Simpson with #8 Tower Motorsports as well as Ben Hanley and George Kurtz in #4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR. Giedo Van Der Garde, François Heriau and Josh Pierson with #35 TDS Racing are two points behind us. It is tight! We are not among the favorites to win the Championship, but we’ll continue to race for it as all the others are. I would be surprised if we win because we are not leading so far.”
CRR: Last year at the 24 Hours of Daytona, you ended third with a Dpi Cadillac and eighth in a LMP2. That is quite unique for a driver but definitely for a so-called “bronze driver”.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2022. Loïc Duval, T. Vautier, R. Westbrook and B. Keating driving the #5 JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillac ended third the 2022 ROLEX 24 after leading more than 100 laps.
Ben Keating: “In seven of the last 10 years, I have been in two cars at Daytona. Daytona is one of my best tracks number one; number two because there are 4 drivers at Daytona as opposed to 3 drivers at Le Mans, just as an example. The minimum number of driving hours in LMP2 is 4,5 hours and only 2 hours for Dpi at Daytona. Because I’ve proven through the years that I’m able to go around Daytona without making many mistakes and I’m able to drive two cars and stay at the wheel for a long period of time then I’m afforded the luxury by many teams to be allowed to be with two different teams. I also think a big piece of that is the fact that whoever the slowest driver is, in IMSA, usually that time doesn’t matter because when a safety car comes out all the time lost by that driver comes back. Because I was willing to bring some money to the table in the #5 Mustang JDC Cadillac and because I’d just won the LMP2 championship in IMSA, I was given the opportunity to drive the Cadillac on the conditions that #1: I was willing to go early and #2 I kept the car on the track.
I had to start the race in the LMP2 but as soon as I got my stint done, I went over into the Dpi. It was generally expected that I would not go down a lap but even if I would go down a lap, they would get that back thanks to the way IMSA races are structured.
As the only AM driver in the entire Dpi field, I felt like my only job behind the wheel of that race car was to not mess up. Nobody expected me to do well, to be fast. If I would wreck the car, everybody would say “Well what else did you expect from a 51-year-old car dealer?”
I got in the car in fourth place and as soon as anybody challenged me for the position, I let them ride through. The only thing I was going for is taking care of the car. So, I was a little bit more conservative in breaking or overtaking. It was still a lot of fun. I surprised a lot of people. At the end of a safety car, when all the cars were split with all the Dpi up front, I would be at the back of that group but surprised everyone because I was able to stay with the Dpi group. It was a lot of fun. What an incredible car to drive, and quite an honor that I was allowed to be in the class.”
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2022. Loïc Duval finished 4.420 sec. behind the winning Acura. completing the podium with his teammates T. Vautier, R. Westbrook and B. Keating driving the #5 JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillac.
CRR: I guess when your wife offered you a weekend track driving course as a Christmas present in 2006, both of you never imagined it would be such a success.
Ben Keating: “Yes, it’s true. I am grateful that we have been successful enough in business to do all of this and secondly, I’m super grateful that I have a loving wife who appreciates that I have found something that I’m very passionate about, and she lets me go out and do it.”
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Datona 2022. Loïc Duval, T. Vautier, R. Westbrook and B. Keating driving the #5 JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillac.
CRR: You have been successful in business starting from nothing, you also have been successful in racing starting quite late for a race driver. What would you say to teenagers is important for a man or a woman to be successful?
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2023. #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by B. Keating, P. Chatin, A. Quinn and N. Lapierre were strong leaders suffered different setbacks that saw them ending seventh, 4 laps behind the winning LMP2.
Ben Keating: “I’ll tell you the same thing I say to everyone asking the question and I don’t want to sound cynical but racing cars is very expensive. The only reason I am successful at that level of motorsport is because I can pay for it. I’m paying the bills and without that, I would not have that opportunity to be here. I’m not in WEC LMGTE AM and IMSA LMP2 because I’m a very talented driver but because I can afford to pay for it. Over time, I have developed the skill of driving.
So yes, in 99.9% of the cases, my recommendation to them is to figure out a way to be successful in business, figure out a way to make a lot of money, or find a sponsor who is willing to pay a lot of money on you because I really don’t see another way around that price of the puzzle.
I know a lot of people who are extremely good drivers; people who are really really good at driving and unless you have just some super outrageous talent, and they exist, a lot of those talented drivers out there never get a chance to be in the place where I am because they can’t afford a race. Most of the people that work at driving schools fit that description. They can’t afford to race and their only way to get time on track is to work for a driving school. It’s like most of the pilot instructors at airplane flying schools; they can’t afford to do it on their own so the only way for them is to be instructors.
I don’t want to disappoint a bunch of young people out there, but the cold hard truth is that you got to have money if you want to race. You can have a lot of fun on the computer, sim-racing is an all-time great level right now, that’s a way you can do a bit, learn the skills, the tracks, and the people without spending a lot of money. One can go-kart at a reasonable price but to go beyond that, it just requires money. When people challenge me on that I simply start to do the maths of how many tires we use for a 24-hour race, and they say “Ho! I understand now!”
Related news.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2023. Ben Keating among the fastest LMGTE AM drivers.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2023. LMP2 at ROLEX 24: what a finish!
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2022. IMSA 2022: ROLEX 24 at Daytona: DPi epilogue
