News Archive March 2010

 March 2010

JMW Motorsport: Le Mans Series Official Test

Day One

Turning a wheel for the first time on track, the brand new JMW Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT2 debuted today (Sunday 7 March) at the Le Mans Series official test, held at Paul Ricard HTTT, France.

Driven by Rob Bell and Tim Sugden, the team are using these two test days as a continuation of the Dunlop tyre testing they began in Portugal last month which was heavily disrupted by rain. Though there were intermittent rain showers at Paul Ricard HTTT, and it was bitterly cold, the team made great progress with the added bonus of being the quickest GT2 car in the morning session. This promising pace continued into the afternoon session, with the team posting the second fastest GT2 time.

Tim Sugden echoed the feelings of the team after the day’s sessions: “We are all very pleased. This is the first time we have run the car and there have been no issues, it has run beautifully. We are using this test to continue our work with Dunlop. The different compounds and constructions are proving very promising and we’ve certainly identified a number of solutions and areas to work on. We have the second half of tyres to try out tomorrow.

“There’s lots to do, and whilst at a test such as this you can’t draw direct comparisons with your competitors, I think it’s fair to say our pace today is encouraging and stands us in good stead as we approach the season’s opener”.

Day Two

DARREN TURNER TO PARTNER ROB BELL IN THE 2010 LE MANS SERIES

A successful two days at the Le Mans Series official test at Paul Ricard HTTT, has been further enhanced for JMW Motorsport with the confirmation that British driver, Darren Turner will partner Rob Bell for the 2010 LMS season. His joining the JMW Motorsport ranks comes as a welcome addition after a weekend of much speculation.

As the official GT2 Development Partner of Aston Martin, and in their first year with the Vantage GT2, JMW Motorsport welcome Darren, who certainly boasts superb Aston Martin credentials and working knowledge! Team Principal, Jim McWhirter looks forward to Darren’s contribution:

“We are delighted to announce that, with the support of Aston Martin Racing, we have secured the services of Darren Turner for the full five-race LMS championship. This underlines our commitment to this championship and adds yet another strength to our very motivated team ethos” said McWhirter.

Darren has partnered Rob Bell in previous events and relishes the opportunity to team up with his fellow Brit once more:

“It’s good to be teaming up with Rob again as we have won together before. I’m also looking forward to working with Dunlop who have a very competitive tyre in GT2 and have already achieved great success with JMW.”

And indeed, it has been the very promising Dunlop tyre testing undertaken by JMW Motorsport at HTTT that has done the ‘real talking’ over the last two days, as the team prepares for the season opener at Paul Ricard on 11 April.

Chief Engineer, Steve ‘Doc’ Bunkhall reports back that this first outing for the JMW Aston Martin GT2 has been particularly promising.

“The car has run very well straight from the box. We’ve been able to identify solutions and areas to work on, as we look to the long term development of the car. The tyre data has been very encouraging and Dunlop have provided us with some very strong choices for this season”.