Tom Kimber-Smith is delighted to announce that he will be returning to Le Mans for the 24 hour race this season, an event he has previously won his class in twice, in 2006 (GT2) and 2011 (LMP2). He will be driving for full-time World Endurance Championship (WEC) team, Starworks Motorsport, in its LMP2 class HPD (Honda Performance Development) ARX-03b as a replacement for the Toyota factory team-bound Stephane Sarrazin.
Starworks Motorsport is based in Florida, USA, and kicked off its 2012 WEC season in style by taking a stunning LMP2 win and third place overall (behind the two factory Audi LMP1 diesels) in the Sebring 12 Hours with drivers Enzo Potolicchio (Venezuela), Ryan Dalziel (Scotland) and Sarrazin (France). Tom will thus join Potolicchio and Dalziel in the HPD ARX-03b for Starworks’ assault on the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Tom will get his first taste of the ARX-03b at the official Le Mans test day on Sunday June 3rd, which he is very much looking forward to: “I am extremely excited to be taking part in Le Mans again this year. I’ve known Peter Baron (Starworks owner) for several years now and he always runs highly professional and successful teams. I saw first hand at Sebring this year how good Starworks Motorsport is, when they scored such a great result after only knowing the car for a short amount of time. Enzo and Ryan are great team-mates and I cannot wait to get out there! I must also say a big thank you to Greaves Motorsport – Tim, Jacob Greaves, and also Nissan – who have put me in a position to get this drive after the great 2011 season we had.”
Peter Baron, Starworks Motorsport: “We had a opportunity to place a driver in the car for Le Mans…When we were looking for drivers we put a strong emphasis on many criteria. When we factored in Le Mans results, prototype experience, professionalism, and flexibility plugging into an existing program, Tom was at the top of our list. No doubt our goals are to win both Le Mans and the WEC Championship, and we feel strongly that Tom is the driver that can help us best. ”
Source : Tom Kimber-Smith