A fanastic performance at Sebring for the No.44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX 03b Honda bodes well for Le Mans. The team won in LMP2 and finished 3rd overall in a car driven by Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel and ex factory Peugeot driver Stephane Sarrazin.
Sarrazin has since been recruited by Toyota Racing and drives the No.8 this weekend. The team have replaced him with Tom Kimber-Smith a class winner at Le Mans last year in the LM P2 Greaves Zytek. Long term Grand-Am entrant Peter Baron has new Venezuelan backers and although the team had a disappointing time at Spa they should contend for a class win. The test day ended unfortunately as Venezuelan Potolicchio had an accident at the Dunlop Chicane but the team was able to repair the car quickly and go on to test on the Bugatti circuit in the time between the test day and scrutineering.
2011 LMP2 class winner on his drive with Starworks and the chances of winning for a second consecutive time, Tom Kimber Smith: “To do a double in LMP2 is going to be pretty hard this year as it’s definitely the class to be watching. There’s 20 cars and 10 of them can win it on pace but as you know anything can happen. It’s great to be at Starworks and I’ve got two brilliant co-drivers. Ryan Dalziel calls himself an amateur round here which is funny; he did Le Mans two years ago in the Jaguar but never got to race so he’s definitely not an amateur/rookie! Enzo is a very fast gentleman driver so we’re good. They’ve been doing the Grand Am race at Mid-Ohio so they’ve taken the red-eye overnight and arrived a little bit late but are here now. They’ve got a couple of days to acclimatise to European time and will be all ready for Wednesday."
Joining the Briton later in the afternoon were Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio, both having flown overnight from the USA from a race in Mid Ohio. Florida-based Scottish driver, Dalziel, is looking forward to actually racing at Le Mans as his last appearance in 2010 was not so successful. “I did 12 laps here in total last time and it was spread out through all the practice sessions as the car broke multiple times. I think the most I did was 5 laps at one time so I wish I had my rookie stripes a little bit as I never got to compete in the 2010 race. I’m considering myself a rookie but I guess I’m not!
“Just looking at Tom’s [Kimber-Smith] record from last year, he was the best pick for us. Not only has he experience at Le Mans but also in an LMP2 class and who better than last year’s race winner. He’s going to be a big asset to us and someone from who we can soak up his experiences here. It’s going to be tough for both Enzo and I, but Starworks has put together an unbelievably good team as we’ve proved in the first two races. We really are a contender for the class win here.”
