Autosport
International
2008
RML AD Group Confirms 2008 Drivers. Issued January 10th
2008
RML
Confirms 2008 Driver Line-up
RML, in association with AD Group, is delighted
to confirm an unchanged driver line-up for the 2008 Le Mans
Series. Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos, current LMP2 title-holders,
will continue their unbroken partnership into a sixth successive
year.
Mike
Newton (on the left) and Brazilian Thomas Erdos
first joined forces to contest the FIA GT Championship in
2003. Erdos had clinched the British GT title the previous
year, co-driving with Ian McKellar at the wheel of one of
Newton’s own Saleen S7-R GT1s. Campaigned at that
time by Graham Nash Motorsport, 2003 also saw the Newton-Erdos
partnership sharing the Saleen in the Le Mans 24 Hours with
Pedro Chaves, only to retire after 23 hours. Later that
same year the link with RML was established when the duo
raced the Wellingborough-prepared MG Lola EX257 in the inaugural
event of the Le Mans Endurance Series, with Erdos setting
an impressive class pole.
2004 was an especially busy year for both
drivers. Not only did they contest a full FIA GT Season
in the RML-designed (and now also managed) Saleen, but they
also raced together in the Daytona 24 Hours, finishing 4th
in the Daytona Prototype class with Michael Shank Racing.
For the Le Mans 24 Hours, Newton and Erdos were joined by
Nathan Kinch, while their efforts in the LMES saw the MG
EX257 achieve its best ever results. 2005, however, was
the turning point for the partnership. The launch of the
MG Lola EX264 brought a memorable class win in the Le Mans
24 Hours, co driving with Warren Hughes, and was followed
by Newton and Erdos ending the year as runners-up in the
LMP2 class of the LMES. They missed the title by a single
point.
The following season, 2006, proved to be
an almost perfect carbon-copy of the year before. An LMP2
victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours, this time eighth overall
and partnered by Andy Wallace, was the herald to securing
another runners-up slot in the Le Mans Series, once again
by the narrowest of margins. Erdos took pole in every race
he and Newton contested for RML that year. Then, throughout
2007, they maintained their dominance of the LMP2 category,
finally securing that elusive championship by claiming the
Le Mans Series LMP2 crown with wins at Spa and the Nurburgring.
2008
Le Mans 24 Hours – 14th-15th June
In
June 2008 RML will participate in the 76th running of Le
Mans 24 Hours, with former outright winner Andy Wallace
(centre, above) joining Mike Newton and Thomas
Erdos for his third successive attempt at the Vingt
Quatre Heures with RML AD Group. One of the best known
and most successful sportscar racers of all time, Wallace
brings skill and experience to a squad that has already
tasted victory in the LMP2 class at Le Mans, and is looking
to redress the disappointment of missing the hat-trick in
2007.
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