JMW Motorsport: Tough but promising Le Mans Series opener
Monday, April 12, 2010
JMW Motorsport had a tough start to their 2010 Le Mans Series campaign, which sees them sport the Aston Martin GT2 for the first time. Though their race was to be cut short by a fuel pump issue, the team showed throughout the weekend at Paul Ricard that the pace of their Aston Martin V8 Vantage puts them forward as contenders in an exceptionally competitive GT2 class.
With the new driver pairing of British stars Rob Bell and Darren Turner at the wheel, from the onset of
practice the team were comfortably at the ‘business end’ of the timing sheets. By the third and final practice session the top nine contenders in the class were within three quarters of second of one another, which boded well for a qualifying session which did not disappoint.
Rob took the qualifying duties, and like the majority of his GT2 rivals, waited till the last seven minutes of the session to put in a flying lap. An attacking lap saw Rob put the team 5th on the grid, but with 3rd-5th covered by just 0.074secs the class was looking wide open.
An impressive start from Rob saw him make up places to take 2nd position by the end of lap one, but he was pushed aside (racing incident) which saw him drop to 7th. Fighting back up to 6th, and on to the tail of the lead GT2 group, the Dunlop shod Aston’s pace was once again impressive, posting the best lap time of the class.
However, the JMW Motorsport car was to return to the garage with a high pressure fuel valve problem in the fuel pump. The diligent work by the team saw the car back out, with Darren behind the wheel, after 20 minutes. Darren’s times further echoed ability of the car.
“I joined the track right between the two Porsches that were in first and second place. I was able to
maintain that position throughout my run which illustrates the pace we have” Darren noted.
Handing back to Rob, the run was providing valuable track time when a further fuel pump issue surfaced, sadly this time bringing the team’s day to an end.
“The pace of the car all weekend has been very good” reflected Rob. “I had a great start, and could
comfortably run with the pack in what was a great GT2 battle, it was wonderful out there. Not to finish today is disappointing, but we are coming away with the knowledge we are contenders for this class. We have work to do, but today just sets the determination in further”.
The next race is the 1000kms of Spa taking place 7-9 May 2010.
JMW Motorsport’s progress can be followed on their website at www.jmwmotorsport.com. People can also keep in touch via social networking with the JMW Motorsport Facebook group and on Twitter
(www.twitter.com, @JMWmotorsport).
With the new driver pairing of British stars Rob Bell and Darren Turner at the wheel, from the onset of
practice the team were comfortably at the ‘business end’ of the timing sheets. By the third and final practice session the top nine contenders in the class were within three quarters of second of one another, which boded well for a qualifying session which did not disappoint.
Rob took the qualifying duties, and like the majority of his GT2 rivals, waited till the last seven minutes of the session to put in a flying lap. An attacking lap saw Rob put the team 5th on the grid, but with 3rd-5th covered by just 0.074secs the class was looking wide open.
An impressive start from Rob saw him make up places to take 2nd position by the end of lap one, but he was pushed aside (racing incident) which saw him drop to 7th. Fighting back up to 6th, and on to the tail of the lead GT2 group, the Dunlop shod Aston’s pace was once again impressive, posting the best lap time of the class.
However, the JMW Motorsport car was to return to the garage with a high pressure fuel valve problem in the fuel pump. The diligent work by the team saw the car back out, with Darren behind the wheel, after 20 minutes. Darren’s times further echoed ability of the car.
“I joined the track right between the two Porsches that were in first and second place. I was able to
maintain that position throughout my run which illustrates the pace we have” Darren noted.
Handing back to Rob, the run was providing valuable track time when a further fuel pump issue surfaced, sadly this time bringing the team’s day to an end.
“The pace of the car all weekend has been very good” reflected Rob. “I had a great start, and could
comfortably run with the pack in what was a great GT2 battle, it was wonderful out there. Not to finish today is disappointing, but we are coming away with the knowledge we are contenders for this class. We have work to do, but today just sets the determination in further”.
The next race is the 1000kms of Spa taking place 7-9 May 2010.
JMW Motorsport’s progress can be followed on their website at www.jmwmotorsport.com. People can also keep in touch via social networking with the JMW Motorsport Facebook group and on Twitter
(www.twitter.com, @JMWmotorsport).
