On Sunday, one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of motor racing reached it’s conclusion. One day, when a great Polish film director makes a movie of the life of Robert Kubica, crossing the finish line, first overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ferrari will be when the credits start rolling.
The road to racing glory has been rough for Robert. In junior open-wheel series, Kubica came up against future F1 World Champions like Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. He progressed up the ladder and in 2007, Kubica’s dream of becoming Poland’s first Formula 1 racing driver came true with a seat at the BMW Sauber F! Team. The high-water mark of Kubica’s Formula 1 career came at the 2008 Canadian GP where he took his first and only Grand Prix victory.
Legend has it that Kubica performed so well in inferior equipment, that he was signed to race for Scuderia Ferrari for the 2012 season. But the racing gods intervened, and Robert would never get the chance to drive those top-tier red cars. During the off-season, Robert Kubica was competing in the Andora Rally and suffered a life-altering injury that fateful February. A crash on the rally stage saw a guardrail penetrate the car, and partially amputate Kubica’s forearm. He suffered compound fractures to his elbow, shoulder and leg, and underwent a seven-hour operation to save his life and his body.
It would take 8 years for Kubica to return to the Formula 1 grid, albeit with back-marker Renault team. Despite the perseverance it took just to return to the pinnacle of motorsports, Kubica could not keep up with his old peers, and fell behind younger drivers. He would never get the chance to race a Ferrari in Formula 1.
On Sunday, when Robert Kubica crossed the finish line to claim the overall 24 Hours of Le Mans victory with Ferrari, it proved he was destined to win with the ‘prancing horse‘ even if it wasn’t in Formula 1.
At 40-years-old Robert Kubica is in the twighlight of his career. But he’s not nearly the oldest racer at Le Mans, and with his landmark win, Kubica is suddenly an in-demand driver. He has the experience and credentials to earn a top-flight seat until the day he decides to hang up the helmet. He decides his own future now..
Next to Kubica on the podium were teammates Philip Hanson from the UK and and China’s first Le Mans overall winner Ye Yifei, who has now become a national hero.
It’s almost poetic that Kubica would win the world’s biggest ‘endurance’ race. 14 years ago, most people wrote off Robert Kubica. The injuries he sustained in that rally crash would have killed lesser men, would have crushed weaker men’s spirits. All it took was 387 laps of Circuit de la Sarthe to show the world he’s still got the stuff to compete.
This is an inspiring story; Kubica truly deserves a movie about his life. I remember his name from the time he competed in F1, but I never paid much attention to him. Little did I know.
Agreed. I remember him from F1, and his big win at Montreal (and this big crash at Montreal the the following year). It was tragic when he was injured, and I respected that he tried so hard to get back to F1. But seeing him unable to compete was depressing.
.
Now the movie of his life will have a happy ending. If there was ever a driver who embodied the word endurance, it’s Kubica.