JMW Motorsport take to the Silverstone podium

JMW Motorsport ended the 2010 Le Mans Series on the podium in front of their home crowd at Silverstone this weekend. The British team, featuring drivers Rob Bell and Darren Turner, took 3rd place in the six-hour race, to score their best result of the season.

From the onset of the weekend things were looking promising for the British team with strong showing in the free practice sessions. However, it was in qualifying that they really threw down the gauntlet with Rob taking the GT2 class pole position, the first time the Aston Martin Vantage GT2 had been on pole in the history of the series. As official development partners to Aston Martin for the Vantage, the pole position clearly marked the excellent progression JMW Motorsport had made since taking on the car at the start of 2010.

Rob started the race and made a great getaway. Getting into a good momentum, the team dropped one place to the AF Corse Ferrari in heavy traffic but soon regained the lead after the first set of pitstops. Both Darren and Rob had strong stints throughout the six-hour race, leading the class for the majority of the event. Whilst the team knew fuel consumption would require a ‘splash and dash’ towards the end which may cost the lead, it was to be a stop and go penalty within the last section of the race that was to drop them to 3rd position. Whilst the reasoning of the penalty will be long debated, the team still celebrated a memorable and richly deserved 3rd place finish.

"This was without doubt one of the best weekends I have had since starting in GT racing," said Jim McWhirter, JMW Motorsport’s Team Principal. "The team were confident that we could give a good account of ourselves after Algarve and Hungary, but pole was a real pleasure and brought huge smiles on everyone’s faces in the garage. The car was prepared perfectly, in fact it looked like a new car. Rob and Darren were relaxed and confident all through the sessions and our Dunlop tyres performed beautifully. We were in the mix the whole race and were the only threat to the Ferraris – a mistaken call for a stop and go robbed us of a secure second place and without a splash and dash it would have been a close call for the win.

"I take great pride in the team’s achievements and wish to thank Dunlop, AJ Power and all our sponsors for their support in 2010. We would also like to send out special thanks to our wonderful supporters".

"I am extremely proud of all the team this weekend" added Team Manager, Tim Sugden. "The car was prepared brilliantly, the drivers drove fearlessly, and our pitstops were consistently the best in the pitlane. Overall, it is a great reward for everyone to run at the front and end the season on the podium".

JMW Motorsport’s Chief Mechanic Named Mechanic Of The Weekend.
There were further accolades for the JMW Motorsport team when their Chief Mechanic, Davey Nicholas was presented with the Mechanic of the Weekend award. Sponsored by dreamcarhire.com, Davey will enjoy a day of driving luxury cars in the Cotswold taking him from under the bonnet to behind the wheel!

"I can’t quite believe this. I am very determined and committed to my job, as I always want us to win, but for me to get this prize is fantastic," said Davey. "I’ve never driven an Aston Martin before, so it will be very exciting to be able to get behind the wheel of that, as well as some other very tasty machinery!".

"This is a very well deserved reward for Dave’s leadership and dedication to his job," said JMW Motorsport’s Chief Engineer Steve Bunkhall. "He put so much effort into the preparation for this weekend and that was a big contribution to our success".