Professional racing driver, Tom Kimber-Smith, has been in action recently testing an Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 car for Barwell Motorsport and Avon Tyres. Tom, who is currently leading the LMP2 class of the Le Mans Series with team-mate Karim Ojjeh, was asked by Barwell to join them for the official Spa 24 Hours test in July and then for a tyre test with Avon at Pembrey.

Barwell Motorsport was attending the Spa test with a car for the drivers of the Ecurie Ecosse entry into the famous 24 Hour race, in which they finished an excellent 9th in Pro-Am class and 20th overall at the wheel of the Barwell-run Aston Martin DBRS9. Tom was able to use his experience of the DBRS9 to set some benchmark times and data for the Ecosse drivers to use, which undoubtedly helped with their progress during the event.

In addition, as part of the team’s build up to the Spa event, tyre supplier Avon organised an exclusive test at Pembrey race circuit in Wales, where they soaked the track in order to try some different options of the wet tyres that would be used. Tom was again enlisted to carry out the driving duties for the day, and to give both Avon and Barwell the benefit of his experience and feedback.

“This was a new and exciting experience for me,” commented Tom afterwards, ” I have done many tyre tests before, but have never experienced a wet tyre test on a day which would normally be dry. The car ran perfectly and I was able to gather some useful information for Avon during the day.”

Looking forward to the latter stages of this season, Tom’s next outing will be back in the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan LMP2 car in the Silverstone Le Mans Series event on September 10/11. A successful result there could see him being crowned as 2011 LMP2 Champion, to add to his success in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Additionally, several GT teams have been in contact with Tom with regards to him joining them for some rounds of the Blancpain Endurance Series and British GT Championship.

Source : Tom Kimber-Smith