Shinji Nakano Joins the Team
The 4 hour race at Imola this weekend is the second ELMS event this year – for the Swiss Race Performance Team it is also the dress rehearsal for the 24 hours of Le Mans in June. Winning the Asian Le Mans Series 2015/2016 Race Performance again received an invitation for LMP2 of the ACO for this most classical international motor racing event at all – and wants to continue an impressive series there.
Five starts at Le Mans so far, five finishes, last time there, in 2014,  the team finished in 8th position. And the great reliability of Race Performance was shown also recently: No retirement during the four Asian Le Mans races 2015/2016 as well as in the first ELMS race 2016 at  Silverstone.
Race Performance #34 LMP2:
No wonder that the “actors” at the dress rehearsal will be the same drivers who will also be raging at LeMans, led by Niki Leutwiler, who this winter won the Asian Le Mans Championship for the team. For the Swiss a good result at Le Mans of course “would mean another highlight of my career.”
But before at Imola he is looking forward to an improvement of the sixth place reached at the start of the season at Silverstone: “Something that should be possible for us especially with a better qualifying.”
Joining the car number 34 line-up is Shinji Nakano. The 45-year-old Japanese from Osaka was racing in Formula 1 for Prost and Minardi in Formula 1, scoring two points in his year wit Prost. From 2000 onwards he focused more on the US racing scene, starting mainly in the Champcar Series.
Since 2005 he turned to sportscar racing, looking back to three Le Mans finishes in eight starts: “So this will be my ninth time at Le Mans and I am really glad to be able to do it with such a reliable team as Race Performance. Niki Leutwiler has already been my team mate last year during the Asian Le Mans Series. He has got a very stable and consistent driving style, which will be a great asset to the team at the upcoming Le Mans 24 hours. With Jamie I am driving here at Imola for the first time and I am really looking forward to getting to know his driving style. There will be fierce competition in LMP2 as usual, but I am excited to work with the team to achieve an excellent result overall.”
James Winslow already sat in the Race Performance car at the ELMS race at Silverstone and is looking forward to the upcoming events, especially Le Mans: “I can´t wait to do the 24 hours of Le Mans this year with Race Performance. To be successful in this great race, you need a great team. And this is exactly what we have at Race Performance: a fantastic team, fantastic people. We all work very, very hard to reach a podium at Le Mans.”
Race Performance team manager Michel Frey is also already looking forward to the big challenge: “Le Mans is simply the greatest race on earth.” 180 TV stations are covering it each year, 300 000 spectators regularly are coming to the circuit to see the action live. “It will be a huge event also this year. We are proud to be able to take Oreca 03R Judd to the Sarthe for the last time. Together with our well experienced drivers Shinji Nakano and Niki Leutwiler, who already shone together at the Asian Le Mans Series, as well as James Winslow we want to succeed by reliability, experience and good strategy.
Race Performance #8 LMP3:
Race Performance is also competing in LMP3 this weekend at Imola, bringing in the same driver line-up that raced already at Silverstone: Marcello Maratteoto, young Swiss Giorgio Maggi and the experienced Belgian Bert Longin. Sixth place at the start of the season was already quite promising for the three, now, knowing the car quite a bit better, “we hope of course to have a better set-up from the beginning, not losing important practise time for ´trial and error´,” says Marateotto. “Then maybe even a further step forward should be possible.”
Then the big adventure Le Mans is also waiting for the Italo-Swiss and for Maggi. They will take part in a support race to the 24 hours on Saturday morning. “Road to Le Mans” is the name of this event, set up by the organizers for possible future “real” Le Mans starters.
Allowed in are the LMP3 cars of the ACO´s continental series as well as the GT3 cars of the GT3 Le Mans Cup – two drivers per car permitted. Currently it looks like there will be a field of 50 to 60 cars. Maggi is already fascinated by the idea of being able to compete in a race in this exceptional atmosphere: “For sure this will be a highlight of my career so far. And who knows, maybe I soon will be able to be part of the real 24 hours as well.”
