Le Mans 24 Hours

JMW MOTORSPORT: LE MANS 24 REVIEW

Rob Bell, Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Sugden Take 4th LMGT2 Place at Le Mans 2009

JMW Motorsport put in an impressive debut at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hour race taking 4th position in the LMGT2 class having run in 2nd for much of the prestigious event. With Rob Bell, Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Sugden taking the wheel it was certainly a race to remember.

The hard work started early in the week for the JMW Motorsport squad led by Chief Engineer Steve ‘Doc’ Bunkhall with the team arriving the preceding weekend.

Adding to the excitement of an already adrenaline packed week was the unveiling of the new JMW Motorsport livery which was designed by Christian Baur of Germany as part of the Dunlop Art Car Competition. Everyone was in agreement that the car looked stunning.

Qualifying was very promising and whilst from the outside 8th place on the LMGT2 grid may not have seemed exciting the team knew this promised great things as unlike other teams, JMW Motorsport qualified on race tyres!

The Dunlop race tyres were a great asset to the weekend. Recent tyre work proved very fruitful and all three drivers praised the consistent handling of the car.

It wasn’t long until the team were up into second in the LMGT2 class, which was proving to be arguably the most competitive and exciting class of the race from start to finish. After 18 hours and in second place, the team were keeping in touch with the leaders when disaster struck. With Rob at the wheel there was a minute of confused disbelief in the pits as the coverage showed him up what looked like a country road! A small, steady leak had emptied all the clutch fluid! Immediate thoughts were this would be the end of the race, but Rob got the car back to the pit and in an extraordinary display the drivers drove the remainder of the race without the clutch!

Having dropped back to 4th, and seemingly finding no clutch = no problem!, the team clawed back 2nd and hopes were high again for that much dreamed of Le Mans podium. As the hours counted down and the end was in sight a rear bolt on the suspension failed dropping the car back down to 6th. A fantastic last ditch effort saw the team get back to 4th as the chequered flag fell – who would think after 24 hours the team would be begging for just a bit longer.

Naturally disappointed that the podium eluded them after showing such great pace and ability, JMW Motorsport can take great satisfaction from finishing the world’s most famous motor race and having been at the business end of the battle for the majority of the time.

One aspect that came in for universal praise from all three drivers and Steve Bunkhall was the Herculean effort put in all by all the team. With faultless preparation, smooth pitstops and sleep defying hard work, the team lived up to their image as one driven by passion and expertise.