Lucas Foresti and Harry Tincknell from the Fortec F3 team will team up in a Ligier JS49 at the opening round of the 2011 SPEED EuroSeries event at the Paul Ricard Le Castellet circuit.
The duo will take over the seats of the IF Motorsport Ligier following the withdrawal through illness of HiTech Racing’s Ryan Sharp and Pietro Fantin.
SPEED EuroSeries organiser, Oli McCrudden: “Fortec are another high profile team with quality drivers and we’re delighted to welcome them to the SPEED grid. Its another sign that great teams and talented drivers are looking at the SPEED package and I hope Lucas and Harry take a lot away from the experience. We’re sad to have lost the HiTech Racing drivers and wish Ryan a speedy and full recovery. We hope to see the team running SPEED cars in the championship in the future.”
Dailysportscar.com, the world’s leading English-language web resource for sportscar and endurance racing, is the official media partner for the 2011 SPEED EuroSeries.
Covering all races live, with free-to-view race reports, event updates and image galleries, Dailysportscar also offers free classified advertising to all SPEED EuroSeries entrants.
In addition, Dailysportscar is also offering discounted race photography for the 2011 season through our regular LMS, Le Mans 24 Hours, FIA GT and National GT photographer Peter May. Four distinct packages are available exclusively to SPEED EuroSeries entrants.
For more information download the dailysportscar.com flyer here: Daily Sportscar Flyer
The following are links to various articles on SPEED EuroSeries that have appeared across the web:
endurance-info.com (France)
planetlemans.com
dziennik.pl (Poland)
Paddocktalk.com
Planet Le Mans – December 21st 2010
MotorsTV
Racecar.com – December
Globalpost.com
Theautochannel.com – December
Motorstv – Gunn Racing report
Racecar.co.uk
esportsracer.com
Motorsport.com
MotorsTV – Robbie Kerr story
automobilsport.com (Germany)
Autodrom.pl – Polish website report on French-Polish driver Stefan Romecki taking part in SPEED EuroSeries
Dailysportscar.com
Visitors who have found other news stories about the SPEED EuroSeries are invited to send links through to media@speedeuroseries.com for inclusion on the site.
As announced previously (see archive news report), SPEED EuroSeries competitors have the opportunity to test at Spa Francorchamps on the Wednesday preceding Rounds 3 & 4 of the 2011 series.
There will be two sessions dedicated for SPEED cars, each of 90 minutes at 09.00hrs and 14.00hrs.
The cost is 800 euros per car entered.
There is a strict noise limit at Spa which is monitored by 3 fixed microphones. Cars must run at 103db or lower or face fines from the Spa authorities.
An entry form for this can be downloaded here: SPEED Spa Testing Session Entry
Return the form to SPEED EuroSeries organisers by 31st April 2011.
The SPEED EuroSeries paddock area has now been identified by the LMS organisers and can be seen on the map available on the Paul Ricard Events page marked as Honda in yellow.
On arrival, competitors should contact SPEED Organisers who will help co-ordinate transporter parking in the SPEED paddock.
SPEED EuroSeries Organisers’ Contact details:
Stuart McCrudden: +44 (0) 7802 278 161
Oli McCrudden: + 44 (0) 7887 53 52 51
Competitor passes will be made available for collection at the circuit on arrival. Details of the collection point will be made clear in the next few days.
Abu Dhabi based Speed EuroSeries team, HMR, have completed a successful day of testing in the newly acquired Ligier JS49 at Rockingham Speedway as part of their preparation for the 2011 FIA Speed EuroSeries Championship.
Team Technical Manager, Tom Maplethorpe explained. “We ran well on Tuesday, after a frustrating day on Monday, and got some useful mileage under our belts for both the car and drivers. We have some work left to do before the car gets shipped to France for the first round”
Humaid Al Masaood, Team Principal and driver, explained the team’s approach in 2011. “We want to build our experience of running a Sports Prototype car in in the Le Mans feeder series to develop and grow as a team.”
“The Speed EuroSeries is going to be a great challenge for us, but we will take a focussed approach to each race in turn and should be able to deliver some reasonable results through the season.” Masaood went on to explain, “We are also planning to do a couple of 24hr races in the Aston Martin GT4 to build on the success of our 2nd in class in the Dubai 24hr. That race was the inaugural outing for the team, so I was very pleased with the result, Tom and the team did a great job, I now want us to replicate that team orientated approach in Europe.”
Commercial Manager, Jonathan Tait, revealed “We are delighted to have secured Monster Energy Sponsorship on the car for the Speed EuroSeries. The team is based in Abu Dhabi but will run the Ligier from workshops in Brackley; Monster Energy’s support gives us a strong commercial platform that allows us to develop the necessary infrastructure for our first full season as a team.”
Experienced F3 and Touring Car racer, Steven Kane, has joined the team alongside Humaid; “HMR offer a great opportunity for me to develop my career into Sports Prototypes and endurance racing. I am vey impressed with the professionalism and dedication of such a new team; Humaid has a clear vision of where he wants to take HMR which is very exciting.” Kane went on to say “this season is going to be about developing as a team but I am confident we can get some good results along the way and might even surprise a few people”
Bourne Race Engines has joined the list of professional engine
builders for the 2011 season.
They will be supplying engines for IF Motorsport. Bourne Race engines have also teamed up with Life Racing and will be using the F88 Ecu along with the Life Racing paddle shift system for the 2011 season.
Bourne Race Engines managing director, Terry Radbourne said: “I am quietly confident that Bourne Race engines can become one of the front running engine builders in this series. With my engine build and mapping experience, teamed with the powerful Life Racing F88 Ecu, I feel that we can provide a good package to power our cars to the front of the field”.
For more information contact: 07825 818652
IF Motorsport will feature 2 Ligier JS49 cars on the SPEED EuroSeries grid at the opening event of the 2011 season.
The Fife-based outfit, who’s car won the 2010 UK SPEED Series with Warren Hughes and Jody Firth at the wheel, have signed up the British F3 pairing of Ryan Sharp and Pietro Fantin in the #7 car with erstwhile SPEED regular Massimo Vignali teaming up with the LMS ace, Dean Stirling.
The VdeV winning Norma driven by David Zollinger is available for sale and will be on display at the SPEED EuroSeries Honda Race Centre at Le Castellet, where the Palmyr team is expected to be running 2 Normas in the SPEED event.
More information on the car including costs and contact details can be found here: Zollinger Palmyr Norma Norma Sales Document
With just over two weeks to go before the opening rounds of the 2011 SPEED EuroSeries, 25 cars are showing on the entry list.
With 13 teams and 6 different manufacturers involved in 2011, the FIA Authorised International Series is proving to be a very popular format and, with a superb mixture of drivers throughout the grid, the racing is expected to be spectacular!
To download the provisional entry list, click here: Provisional SPEED Entry List – Le Castellet
