JMW Motorsport had a tough start to their 2010 Le Mans Series campaign, which sees them sport the AstonMartin GT2 for the first time. Though their race was to be cut short by a fuel pump issue, the team showedthroughout the weekend at Paul Ricard that the pace of their Aston Martin V8 Vantage puts them forward ascontenders 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 ofpractice the team were comfortably at the ‘business end’ of the timing sheets. By the third and final practicesession the top nine contenders in the class were within three quarters of second of one another, whichboded 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 ofthe session to put in a flying lap. An attacking lap saw Rob put the team 5th on the grid, but with 3rd-5thcovered 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 waspushed aside (racing incident) which saw him drop to 7th. Fighting back up to 6th, and on to the tail of thelead GT2 group, the Dunlop shod Aston’s pace was once again impressive, posting the best lap time of theclass.
However, the JMW Motorsport car was to return to the garage with a high pressure fuel valve problem in thefuel pump. The diligent work by the team saw the car back out, with Darren behind the wheel, after 20minutes. 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 tomaintain 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 couldcomfortably run with the pack in what was a great GT2 battle, it was wonderful out there. Not to finishtoday is disappointing, but we are coming away with the knowledge we are contenders for this class. Wehave 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.
