With only a week to go until the 2016 European Le Mans Season opener at Silverstone, SMP Racing paused yesterday to celebrate the beginning of a new race year.
The team confirmed their full-season entry, officially announcing its new multi-national driver line up - Andreas Wirth of Germany, Julian Leal of Columbia and Stefano Coletti of Monaco. Despite having no previous LMP2 experience, this multi-national trio forms a strong driver line-up, each climbing behind the wheel with their own history of success.
The #32 BR01 Nissan-powered LMP2 entry was presented in its 2016 livery, showcasing their new partners in the presence of the team, sponsors, supporters and the local media
SMP and its new drivers took this special opportunity at the Monaco Automobile Club to enjoy the historic motorsport atmosphere, connect and welcome their valued sponsors and supporters as they look forward to what they hope will be a very successful year.
After the event Andreas Wirth commented, “I want to personally thank a couple of my long-time sponsors - KBE and Pilot Pen – KBE was with me way back in 2004 when I won the Formula BMW Championship in North America, so it’s great to have them with me. Pilot has been with me for quite a few years in the ADAC GT Masters Series, and I’m very happy that they’ve decided to continue with me on this new journey. I also have to say a big welcome to digiBET – I’m very happy that they see and appreciate the new opportunities ahead for us both in the ELMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans – and from what it sounds like, we’re going to have a lot of fun together this year – so stay tuned! For now though, it’s hard to believe that our first race is just a week away. We’ve seen some solid results in testing over the last couple of months and we’re eager to go racing! I’m very excited for this new challenge, and we’ll for sure be giving it all we’ve got this year – we want to produce the very best results possible for the team, our sponsors and all of our fans that believe in us – so keep cheering for us and as I always say … ‘fingers crossed!’”
About SMP Racing:SMP Racing is a very ambitious and successful motorsport development program which spans all stages of a developing race car drivers’ career.
The primary purpose of the program was to promote motorsport in Russia. Since 2013 this impressive organization has been helping dozens of young pilots find their way in everything from karting to Formula 3, Formula 4, Formula Renault, Touring Cars, Indy Car, GP2, GP3, ELMS and WEC.
SMP doesn’t stop at training drivers, they teach racing technology, how to work with and communicate with mechanics and engineers, how to interact professionally with the media and press officers, and a gamut of other skills necessary for professional racers.
Not only is there a lot of racing passion in this big, family oriented team – there’s talent – and they’ve been proudly represented on the top step of the podium in the prestigious FIA World Endurance Challenge, European Le Mans Series and IndyCar.
