A mythical, intense, unique experience : the most famous endurance race in the world celebrates its 80th running this year. There is only one month left before the launch of the legendary event of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will debut on June 3rd with the test day. An international trio of drivers has joined our team to promote its colors; namely Bastien Brière, a French driver from Le Mans , who will be accompanied by Jens Petersen, a German driver (they both just participated to the WEC race at Spa) and former Formula 1 driver, the japanese, Shinji Nakano! Bastien Brière has participated to the 24 Hours three times, Jens Petersen has good experience in prototype racing – he won last year the 12 Hours of Sebring race, in the LMPC class – and Shinji Nakano, former F1 driver, is also a regular at Le Mans having 6 race entries recorded. On June 3rd, our team will also be present at Silverstone for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance series, with the orange and black McLaren ..
Olivier Lainé (team manager) : “It is a challenge today to participate in this major event in motorsports. It is also the achievement of work that began in 2000 when I launched our team. We climbed the ladder step by step to get there. After Bastien Brière and Jens Petersen, we are very happy to welcome Shinji Nakano in our team. See you at Le Mans on 16 & 17 June !”
Shinji Nakano: « It is a great honor and pleasure for me to join the Boutsen Ginion team, for the coming 80th anniversary of the 24 hours of Le Mans race, in such a ceremonious occasion. We had a great disaster in Japan last year, but I had such great support frompeople backing me. Despite being in the midst of vast confusion and chaotic condition, they gave me an opportunity to be the sole Japanese national to enter as a driver in Last few years great Le Mans race. There are a few more Japanese drivers who have announced their participation in this year’s Le Mans race. I wish to show how we all are determined to deal with the aftermath of the disaster as a Nation, through our racing effort, to signal our collective spirit to the rest of the world. This will be the 6th 24 Hours of Le Mans entry for me personally, and I hope to drive towards a better outcome than last year, by fighting together with all of our Boutsen Ginion teammates and members. »
Jens Petersen :“I really like to welcome Shinji Nakano to the team Boutsen Ginion, and I feel very happy to race with him and Bastien Brière at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both Bastien and Shinji already have a vast experience at Le Mans and I am sure they know exactly what it takes for a 24 Hours race. But I never comment on a race before the job is done. I think we must keep our feet on the ground now and everyone in the team needs to be very dedicated to his job. These are the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most important sportcars race in the world. Keep racing..”.
Bastien Brière : “We are really on track to produce a very good result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after the race of 6 Hours at Spa-Francorchamps. I also would like to thank all the Sarthe people who support our “Sarthe-Objectif 24″ project.”
Source : Boutsen Ginion Racing