JMW to run Aston Martin in 2010

JMW Motorsport to switch to Aston Martin Vantage GT2 for the 2010 season JMW Motorsport has announced that it will run an Aston Martin Vantage GT2 in the 2010 Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours after being named as Aston Martin Racing's official global GT2 Development Partner. The Essex based team, headed by Jim McWhirter, will work closely with AMR on a three-year programme to help develop the Vantage GT2 having campaigned a Ferrari 430 during its first season of racing in 2009.The core team, which took JMW Motorsport to fourth at Le Mans and took second in the LMS GT2 standings, remains the same with Tim Sugden as team manager and Steve Bunkhall as technical director, ably backed by Davey Nicholas, Duncan Ritchie and Ian Jones. Rob Bell, twice GT2 Champion in the LMS, will once again form part of the driver line-up with his team-mate to be announced in due course.“This is a very exciting development for our team and reflects the efforts invested over the past seasons,” McWhirter said. This may be a new car for JMW, but the same desire, commitment and perseverance is still there and we are confident we shall be in the mix from the start. “Dunlop have been an integral part of our success and it is extremely rewarding that they are joining forces with JMW and Aston Martin Racing in this challenging new adventure.” George Howard-Chappell, Aston Martin Racing team principal, said he was delighted to partner with the team for 2010. “We have focussed considerable engineering resource on improving the performance of the Vantage GT2,” he said. “While we offer cars in every class from LMP1 to GT4, the GT2 car is probably the most important customer car and the one where we can make the most improvements. Working with a top professional team like JMW with their resources and commitment will mean we will be able to really challenge for GT2 honours in 2010.”