RML’s sportscar team are preparing for the 4th and final round of the Le Mans Endurance Series which will see them travel to Spa, Belgium next week with the MG Lola EX257.
The team will benefit from the same driver line up of Mike Newton, Tommy Erdos and Miguel Ramos and are hoping to make use of the wealth of knowledge which they have accumulated in the recent 24 Hours of Spa.
The team contested that race with the Saleen S7R’s as part of the FIA GT Championship.
The MG Lola EX 257 first came to RML in late 2002 where they carried out a development programme on the car. The teams race debut took them to Le Mans for the 1000km race on the Bugatti circuit last November. A strong performance in the race and subsequent testing has proved the cars potential and a reliable run in the 1st round of the LMES at Monza earlier this year saw the team finish in a credible 7th position.
The team then travelled to France for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours where Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton were joined by Nathan Kinch in the MG. The team started the race from the 7th row of the grid and the first 8 hours saw the team working tirelessly to rectify an exhaust manifold problem. Time was lost and with darkness fallen the MG rejoined quite a way down the leaderboard until all three drivers put in some superb lap times and climbed their way back up to 10th position in class by dawn on Sunday. The race continued and with the car running strongly and over 255 laps of the famous circuit completed, the team were hopeful of a race finish. Shortly after noon on Sunday however their hopes were dashed when an engine failure caused the cars retirement. It was not the finish the team were hoping for but they were pleased to have recorded the MG’s endurance record with over 20 hours of the race completed.
The 2nd round of the LMES was held at Nurburgring in July and Miguel Ramos was back behind the wheel with Mike and Tommy. The team were running in a very strong 2nd position before a wheel nut problem forced them to pit. With track time lost all three drivers worked hard to regain places during their stints but changeable weather conditions enforced more pit stops for the team to revise their tyre options. The MG ran strongly for the remainder of the race and crossed the line in 7th position.
The 3rd Round saw the MG classified 8th after an eventful race on Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit in July. The team endured a frustrating 5 ½ hours with contact from other cars and a loss of power hampering the teams chances of finishing higher up the order. A loss of drive on the penultimate lap and a resulting fire in the engine bay forced the car to stop on track where Miguel safely evacuated. However with enough race distance covered at the chequered flag the team still gained an 8th position classification.
For further information, please contact:
Tim Compston, RemGuard Visual Management, Tel: 0870 5736 482 Fax: 0870 6030416, email:
.
