Kurtz started his first cybersecurity company, Foundstone in 1999, and sold it to McAfee in 2004 where he went on to become chief technology officer.

At around the same time, he began racing regularly, firstly in Radical sports cars at club level, then nationally, where he was runner-up in the 2013 SR3 championship.

By that time, La Sarthe was already beckoning. “I remember going to Le Mans when Audi was just dominating everything,” says Kurtz. “I thought, ‘Man, this would be an incredible race to come to’, but it was sort of a dream that was far away.

“One of the hoods came off the Audi, kind of bent back. I was actually in there getting a garage tour, and they ushered everybody out; me and another guy hid behind the tyres, and we watched them repair the whole car while we hid behind a big bundle of tyres… I think people would be shocked at how quickly this ballet takes place within the garage, and how quiet it is.”

Kurtz put himself on the road to Le Mans, moving up the sports car ladder with obvious flair. He won the 2017 GTSA championship in his first full season of the Pirelli World Challenge, racing a GT4 McLaren that he drove for the first time at the opening round.

His first GT3 victory came in 2020 and by 2021 Kurtz was in prototype machinery, winning the Sebring 12 Hours in an LMP3 Ligier. Two years later, he was stood on the top step of the podium at Le Mans, having won the LMP2 Pro-Am class in his first attempt at the historic race.

“When you’re in the lead you’re just kind of waiting for something bad to happen — hoping it’s not going to happen — but you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourselves,” he recalls.

“I was just hoping and praying on that last lap and when you cross the finish line and you’re celebrating, and you just… it sinks in that you won Le Mans. It was pretty special.

“I have the selfie of me up there with the other guys, standing on a podium with a packed grid of probably 10,000 people. It was just ridiculous: I’ll never forget that.”

What made the story more remarkable was that Kurtz was building Crowdstrike from scratch as he simultaneously advanced in his racing career. An achievement that he partly puts down to his training, such as starting the day with a few laps of his local karting circuit.

“I take it really seriously, do a lot of training, whether it’s simulators, go karts, or practising in the P2 car. I have a kart track by my house, which is not far away, so you can get out there early and knock out a few laps and just stay up to speed — trying to make up for lost time, I guess.”

Kurtz may be one of the big beasts of business but, on paper, he’s the junior member of the team, classed as a bronze driver. Each LMP2 entry at Le Mans must include a driver from this least-experienced category, or the next higher silver band.

His team-mates are professional, gold, drivers, and he knows his role in the team, where the other drivers, Alex Quinn and Laurin Heinrich are both less than half the age of the 55-year-old businessman.

“You have to figure out where to push and where not to push; where to where to risk, and where not to risk, and I think that’s a big part of a bronze driver’s job in an endurance race,” he says. “You’ve got to keep the car in the game, knowing that your silver, gold, and platinum guys are obviously going to be a bit quicker.

“The big thing is knowing your job being able to excel at it; I always try to be quick.

“When you look at [professional drivers], a lot of them are almost kids. You’re in awe of their talent, right? But then you also realize that these guys kind of look up to me and go, ‘Well, you’ve done a lot in business’

“There’s always something that we can learn from each other. Certainly, I learned from them in how they go about racing and techniques, and they spend more time asking me about business and investing and stocks. So we get along quite well.”

“I think you can get lost in a sea of data rather than what’s important”

It’s impossible to say how far Kurtz’s talent would have taken him at a younger age, but he does point out how the techniques that have brought him success in business also serve him well in racing.

“You’ve got to take in the data very quickly, understand what’s most important, prioritise it, and then be able to execute against it. Like, any lap can be bettered by anyone, it doesn’t matter who the driver is. But you’ve got to really prioritise: where’s the biggest gain, and where’s the biggest risk, and how do you manage that?

“A lot of it is like business risk management. If you could just get that to a point where you’re managing the risk for the biggest gains, I think that’s super important, and it’s also important not to get lost in the data as well, as you know, there’s a lot of data in motor sport.

“I think you can get lost in a sea of data rather than what’s important, like, how do I summarise this into the CEO version of the top three things? I have a top three rule; I care about three things. I can’t deal with more than that in terms of priority, and if you deal with top three, you’re gonna get to the biggest bang.”

He’s bringing a similar philosophy to Mercedes in Formula 1, where he says he’s helping the team to analyse its data more effectively: “How do you take all this data that is generated? How do you get insights out of it? How do you leverage AI? Those are the things that we’re diving into today… just trying to figure out where the best bang for the buck is, and how to make the biggest gains without going too far afield where you’ve got a winning formula.”

Kurtz is undoubtedly at home in LMP2 racing, Le Mans’ most competitive class where each team has the same chassis and engine; where fine margins, strategy and set-up will decide the winner.

The real appeal of the category, however, is a little more down-to-earth. “This is a proper race car,” he enthuses. “It’s a fantastic car. The thrill of driving it —  the amount of grip that you have, the amount of aero downforce and speed — I mean, it’s just incredible.”

Running in Crowdstrike livery, Kurtz has convinced his shareholders that the business should help bankroll his racing career, but insists that the revenue gained from the company’s sponsorships in Formula 1 and sports cars far exceeds the costs.

He’s also putting in the work throughout Le Mans week, thanks to a data connection supplied by two Starlink kits and a favourable time difference that means he can throw himself into the race week and then settle in for an evening of calls to the US.

It’s a schedule that must require meticulous planning. The one outcome he can’t fully control is his result this weekend.

“You never, you never come into Le Mans knowing if Le Mans is going to pick you to win, you know; we feel good, we’ve got a really good driver lineup and we’ve won here before.

“Endurance racing, is a great team sport because it’s not just one person, it’s a few people; there’s a lot of challenges that come up that you have to work through.

“Nothing ever goes right in a 24 hour race, nothing, and I think it’s the perseverance piece which is a big part of, I think, my personality, and how I focus life.

“Whether it’s CrowdStrike or whether it’s racing, if you persevere and put enough effort in, you know, you can make some of your own luck and get out with a win.”