24 Heures du Mans

JRM Racing finishes first Le Mans 24 Hours in sixth overall and second non-works car

JRM Racing achieved its ambitious objective today when it finished the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt. The British team, led by team principal James Rumsey and team manager Nigel Stepney, passed the flag after 24 hours of hard-fought racing, 357 laps and over 4,800km in an impressive sixth place and second of the privateers’ class.

Drivers David Brabham, Peter Dumbreck and Karun Chandhok delivered faultless performances to finish the race at the team’s first attempt

David, the 2009 Le Mans winner, took the start in the team’s Honda HPD ARX-03a LM1 car and immediately gained one place from the starting slot of 11th. The Australian set a consistent pace to hold 10th position overall before handing over to Karun Chandhok just after 17:00.

Karun, who made history as the first-ever Indian to compete in the race, had a baptism of fire with an immediate quadruple stint in car #22 and had moved from P10 to P8 by the end of his time in the car. He then handed over to Peter, who started to exchange positions with the #13 Rebellion – gaining a position when the latter pitted and losing it when he himself refuelled. Peter later graduated to sixth when the #7 Toyota spent a significant amount of time in the pits.

However on lap 114 Peter had a puncture coming through the Dunlop Curves and went off into the gravel. The Scot subsequently had to negotiate almost the entire lap with a puncture, and was pulled into the garage to check for suspension damage. No major damage was found but the delay dropped the #22 back to 17th overall. During the stop David took over from Peter for his second session in the car and the fight to gain positions began.

The Australian made a charge through the LM2 cars and was back to 9th overall by the time he handed over to Karun Chandhok on lap 158. Karun soon went up to 8th and set about chasing the #44 Starworks car for 7th overall. Then, on a stop on lap 169, Karun reported a problem with the clutch and was pushed into the garage. He rejoined in 12th overall but brought the car back to the pits in 9th when he handed over to Peter just before dawn.

Peter then put in a long stint as the sun came up, completing 42 laps. When he came off shift a little after 07:30hrs the Scot had put the team back into 7th overall, clear of the LM2 cars and three laps from 6th. David took over from Peter and consolidated the sixth position before handing back to Karun for another quadruple stint.

Peter concluded the race for the #22 JRM Racing, crossing the line in an incredible sixth overall in its first Le Mans and only its third-ever endurance race.