Le
Mans Series 2007
Championship Press Release
Issued November 16th 2007
Newton
and Erdos LMP2 Champions 2007
The
waiting is finally over. When the chequered flag fell at
the end of this season’s final round of the Le Mans
Series at Interlagos in Brazil last Saturday evening, RML’s
Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos could at last be honoured as
LMP2 Champions 2007.
Not until the running of the 1000-mile event on November
10th could confirmation be made of the final points standings
for the year. With 36 points, Newton and Erdos take the
title by six points from the Quifel ASM Lola trio of Miguel
Amaral, Angel Burgueno and Miguel de Castro. A win at Interlagos
gave the Barazi Epsilon squad of Juan Barazi, Karim Ojeh
and Michael Vergers third in the championship with 25 points
each, narrowly snatching the position from the absent Saulnier
Racing drivers.
AD Group RML had taken the decision not to attend the distant
sixth and final race in Brazil in mid-September, immediately
after the Silverstone round. It was a choice shared by all
but three of the regular LMP2 competitors in the Le Mans
Series. Only the drivers from the Quifel ASM squad could
catch Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos, but with neither team
able to attend the Brazilian event, the title was effectively
decided.
It
is third time lucky for Newton and Erdos. For the past three
seasons they have dominated the LMP2 category, winning the
class in the Le Mans 24 Hours twice but narrowly missing
the Le Mans Series title in both 2005 and 2006 by a single
point. This year they continued to set the pace, winning
at Nurburgring and Spa and finishing a close second at Monza.
Their victory at Spa also saw the RML MG Lola third overall
– the first time in Europe that an LMP2 competitor
has finished on the outright podium. “I’m really
delighted that we’ve finally managed to secure the
title at the third attempt,” said Mike Newton, CEO
of CCTV giant, AD Group, the principal sponsor of RML's
sportscar programme. “We’ve been so close for
the past two years, and this goes a long way towards making
up for the disappointment of missing out on the hat-trick
at Le Mans.
Although characteristically modest about his own contribution,
Brazilian Thomas Erdos was elated to be confirmed as champion.
“We’ve been knocking on the door of this title
for three years, since the very beginning of the series,
and I think we truly deserved to win. Several of the other
cars were very quick this year, but we had the consistency
of pace and we out-ran them all. Knowing that we took more
wins against a full field of competitors than anyone else
makes the title even more satisfying."
Racing
against an increasingly competitive line-up, Newton and
Erdos took advantage of AD Group video technology in the
form of the X-PRO Digital Imaging Recorder to squeeze every
last millisecond of performance out of the car and both
drivers. Installed aboard the MG Lola, the system complements
the conventional vehicle telemetry to allow detailed analysis
of driver performance and engine data, and the strategy
has clearly paid off.
Ray
Mallock, founder and Chief Executive of RML Group, said:
"This is a huge achievement for the team and for RML
Group as a whole. Under Phil Barker, our Race Team Director,
we have now enjoyed major success in each of the past three
seasons, with back-to-back victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours
in 2005 and 2006, and now the Le Mans Series LMP2 championship
itself.” Over the years RML has been at the forefront
of world motorsport and has won titles in many categories.
The company has not only prepared race cars for some of
the biggest names in manufacturing, including Vauxhall,
Chevrolet, Aston Martin, Nissan and Mercedes, but has also
designed cars from the ground up, including this year’s
championship-winning Saleen S7R, GT1 title-winner in the
Le Mans Series for Team Oreca.
By
taking the title, AD Group RML is assured of an automatic
entry to the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours, where the squad will
be hoping to repeat their successes of 2005 and 2006.
More
information about the Le Mans Series from www.lemans-series.com
More information on RML is available at www.rmlmallock.co.uk.