Another Kiwi for Le Mans?

At the BRDC lunch in January, held between the two Hampton Downs meetings, I shared a table with Richie Stanaway, the Kiwi up-and coming racer whose rapid rise to the top of European single seater racing was interrupted last year when he suffered a fractured vertebrae in a massive accident in his Formula Renault 3.5 at Spa.

Managed by the Lotus F1 team, Richie was on the way to Formula One and he still has time to make it. This year his management team decided to put him in the Porsche Supercup, the series which runs in support of the European Formula One Grands Prix rather than going back to something he has already done, the Renault 3.5 series.

The latest talk (yet to be confirmed) is that he has been signed by the works Aston Martin team for the Le Mans 24 hours, driving a V12 Vantage GTE alongside former Grand Prix driver Pedro Lamy. He drove for the team at the recent Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and this was seen as a precursor to an entry in the 24 Hours.

Don’t think this will be the end of his Formula One dream either. Mark Webber arrived in F1 from the Mercedes sports car programme and Force India driver Paul Di Resta was driving in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) and probably the best known sports car racer to end up in F1 is none other than a certain Michael Schumacher, another to come from the Mercedes-Benz sports car team.

2013 seems to be a standout year for Kiwis and Aussies in the legendary 24 hour race. As well as Stanaway, Brendon Hartley is back in the Murphy Prototypes LMP2 Oreca-Nissan and our own contributor Roger Wills will be in the historic support race in one of his cars. Australia is represented by former A1GP driver John Martin in Russian-entered LMP2 OrecaNissan, Indycar star Ryan Briscoe will be at the wheel of an American LMP2 HRDHonda and V8 Supercar Star, winner of the Jason Richards trophy at the V8 round at Pukekohe will make his debut at the Sarthe circuit in the GTE-class with a Ferrari 458 Italia. It looks like those on the Classic Driver tour to Le Mans will have plenty to cheer for!

The race is on June 22 and 23, if you are looking for live commentary, Radio Le Mans is streamed live on the internet (in English!) and that is what I and the rest of the Classic Driver tour group will be tuned to at the circuit!