Marc Gene is targeting success at the Le Mans 24 hour race over the weekend as he drives for Audi, a team he used to view as his major rivals.
The 38-year-old Spaniard drove for Audi's adversary Peugeot between 2007 and 2011, winning the iconic endurance race in 2009.
But Peugeot have now pulled out of the sport, with former Formula One racer Gene then signing as a reserve driver for Audi before being promoted to a race seat following an injury to Timo Bernhard, something Gene saw as a welcome extra.
"When I first started talking to them I wasn't thinking about racing, Timo hadn't had his accident by then," he said.
"I was just happy being part of the Audi team and me getting to know them and them getting to know me, that was my main objective."
Gene first stepped into the Audi R18 Ultra in a racing environment last month in Spa and subsequently won the second round of the World Endurance Championship to further integrate him into a team that already feels like home.
He said: "When we finally signed the deal Timo had his accident and when they told me I was driving in Spa - I thought great.
"I needed a race this year as I didn't want to a go a year without racing and then Le Mans was just a bonus.
"Because I have raced since I joined the team I have done all the program so far, so I don't feel like a reserve driver at all. I have felt like a racing driver from the very beginning so I feel no extra pressure.
"The first time I looked at the car close and put the Audi overalls on that was a strange feeling. Now I'm used to it, time goes by and human beings always adapt to things.
"I adapted very quickly. It helped me lots that it is a close car, like the Peugeot. On my first long run my pace was already good so it didn't take me long."
The Ferrari F1 test driver, and his co-drivers Romain Dumas and Loic Duval, performed well in qualifying and will start the race tomorrow second on the grid, beaten only by one of Audi's hybrid e-tron quattro teams.
Despite their impressive showing, Gene is all-too-aware that over a 24-hour period qualifying has little to do with the final outcome of the race.
"I know qualifying here counts for nothing but it is nice to see that the gap is not big, they have more pace than us but we will be good in the race," he said.
Gene has occupied both the first and second steps of the Le Mans podium in his two finishes during his Peugeot years, and would like to replicate that come Sunday afternoon.
"I'd be very happy with a podium," he said. "We have everything in place to try and win it but if I end the race on the podium I will be happy."
The e-tron quattro driven by Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer occupies pole position while the sister car qualified fourth with Toyota's TS030 hybrid, with Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin, starting third.
