Tom Kimber-Smith once again proudly stood atop the Le Mans 24 Hours podium on Sunday, after another stunning performance which produced his third class victory and second LMP2 win in a row at the event. This gives the 27-year-old Englishman a 75% win to start ratio for his four outings at Le Mans so far! For this year’s race he was making his debut in the Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX-03b, sharing with the car’s regular World Endurance Championship (WEC) drivers, Enzo Potolicchio (Venezuela) and Scottish professional driver Ryan Dalziel. Starworks had already tasted major success in the WEC in 2012, having clinched LMP2 victory in the Sebring 12 Hours.
As soon as Tom and the team hit the Le Mans circuit for free practice last week the car was fast, notching up the first sub 3m40s lap in the LMP2 class since the new cost-capped rules. Some niggly little issues interfered with the team’s progress during official qualifying, however, and the car recorded a 3m40.4s best to put it ninth on the grid in class out of the 20-strong LMP2 contingent.
Tom then posted an extremely strong opening stint to move the car up to third place after only three hours of running. The LMP2 class was phenomenally competitive this year, with the top 10 cars all running very close on pace and with very good reliability. After six hours the Starworks HPD had moved up to second place and had taken the LMP2 lead (and 7th overall) by the half-way point, ahead of the Pecom Racing and Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca-Nissans. At this stage both of these were still within one lap of the Starworks car, and the Thiriet machine kept the pressure on for the entire remainder of the race. In the end Enzo, Ryan and Tom eked out a one lap advantage over their LMP2 opposition to take the victory, and claim a superb 7th overall as the third non-factory entry to finish.
“This was a very tough race. It was absolutely flat out from the word go and I was doing qualifying laps all the time!” explains Tom, “The car ran perfectly for the entire 24 hours, with only two small issues which was amazing. The Starworks team was faultless all week and they truly deserved this win. Enzo drove so well in his stints, he stepped up and was quicker than many of the pro drivers out there during the early morning stints. Ryan was outstanding, fast and consistent all race despite being a Le Mans rookie. I have to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Peter Baron and Enzo for giving me this opportunity, Starworks Motorsport and HPD for giving us a perfect car, and also to Greaves Motorsport for allowing me to take up the drive.”
Source : Tom Kimber-Smith