The 24h Le Mans race approaches

#81 Tom Kimber-Smith / Tom Milner / Danny Watts
#82 Lawrence Tomlionson / Richard Dean / Rob Bell

European Panoz agents and last year’s GT2 winners at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Team LNT, are back for this year’s main event with a two-car attack on the 24-hour race.

Last year’s triumph at Le Mans and the runner-up spot in the 2006 Le Mans Series gave the Leeds-based outfit two automatic entries into the world’s most prestigious motor race.

Team LNT memorably emerged as GT2 class winners in 2006 after a nail-biting final hour, and are now at La Sarthe for an all-out attack to defend their title.

“We had to pull out all the stops last year,” said LNT Automotive Managing Director Richard Dean. “This year we’re having to pull in extra resources to cater for two cars. We’ll have close to 50 people at Le Mans working at this years race!”

Former Porsche Carrera Cup racer Danny Watts and ALMS driver Tom Milner will partner 2006 winner Tom Kimber-Smith in the #81 car, while fellow winners – team owner Lawrence Tomlinson and Richard Dean – return with Rob Bell in the sister #82 car. Bell is back with Team LNT for Le Mans having driven for the Leeds-based outfit in the 2006 Le Mans Series Championship, scoring two wins and third in the series.

A complete rebuild of both cars after their two outings at Monza and Valencia in the LMS prepared the American V8 cars for the demanding race.

“We don’t expect it to be an easy run going up against the might of the factory teams of Ferrari and Porsche,” added Dean. “We secured the first ever Le Mans GT win for Panoz and Pirelli last year but the opposition has been very strong. 

“Porsche and Ferrari have taken a step forward over the winter and we need to respond.”

Pre-qualifying all went to plan, and signs of the engine problems from Monza and Valencia had gone (touch wood). Although the final practice times suggested the cars may be a couple of seconds a lap of the GT2 frontrunners, Team LNT have proved in the past that a win is possible and after all, pre-qualifying is just a test day.

Consistency, reliability and teamwork are the key elements. In about a week’s time, the curtain will lift on the 75th 24 hours of Le Mans and the story of 2007 will be told…

TeamLNT.com will be regularly updated during the week from Tuesday with news, views and photos to try and encapsulate the atmosphere including updates during the race itself.

The Team LNT 24h Le Mans timetable is here

To re-live 2006, click here