GREAVES MOTORSPORT (GBR)

Directeur : Tim Greaves
Team Manager: Jacob Greaves
Technical director: Phil Traves
Base: Yaxley (GBR)
www.greavesmotorsport.com

2015 ELMS results:
Silverstone 4 Hours: 1st Hirsch/Wirdheim/Lancaster) (SUI/SUE/GBR) no. 41 Gibson O15S-Nissan.
Imola 4 Hours: 4th Hirsch/Wirdheim/Lancaster) (SUI/SUE/GBR) no. 41 Gibson O15S-Nissan.

 

2016 ELMS results:

4 Hours of Silverstone: 8th Rojas / Canal / Giermaziak (MEX/FRA/POL) Ligier JS P2 Nissan #41

Imola 4 Hours: 8th Rojas / Canal / Giermaziak (MEX/FRA/POL) Ligier JS P2 Nissan #41 

 

     This team, formerly called Bruichladdich, made an impressive debut in the 2006 Nürburgring 1000 kms with a Radical-AER. It was owned by Tim Greaves who was the main shareholder in the Radical firm between 2000 and 2009 when he sold his shares in the company. His main occupation is making Bruichladdich whisky. In 2007, the works Radical finished third in LM P2 in Valencia, but did not fulfill its early promise and crashed out in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 2008, the English squad finished fifteenth in Barcelona (7th in LM P2) and then thirty-first at Le Mans.
Pierre Bruneau (PiR Competition) raced with the team in 2009. After a good race at Barcelona ( tenth overall , fourth in P2 and winner of the Green X Challenge), the Radical-AER was penalised at Spa for a minor offence. At Le Mans , Bruneau-Greaves-Rostan retired in the night, following a collision with a Lola-Aston Martin. In 2010, Karim Ojjeh replaced Pierre Bruneau, bringing with him the race number 41 (Swiss telephone code ) and his Ginetta-Zytek (ex- Barazi Epsilon , Trading Performance, GAC) in its fourth participation at Le Mans. Rapid Norwegian driver Thor-Christian Ebbesvik came from F3 to reinforce the driver line-up. A tenth place finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours (5th in LM P2) and fifth in the Le Mans Series punctuated the 2010 season.

A Zytek-Nissan Z11SN was entered in 2011 and finished 3rd in the Le Castellet 6 Hours (1st in LM P2) and ahead of several LM P1 cars. Spa was a disappointment for the team with 38th place but good fortune returned at Le Mans, where the trio of Ojjeh, Lombard and Kimber Smith won their class against all odds and finished 8th overall. Nothing could now stop Greaves Motorsport who won at Imola and Silverstone in the LMS, taking a well deserved title in LM P2. It was after this fantastic season that Karim Ojjeh decided to retire from competition.

     In 2012, Greaves Motorsport entered a Zytek-Nissan for the full FIA World Endurance Championship and another in the ELMS. There was a new driver line-up for the FIA WEC ( Zugel / Gonzalez / Julian ) but they lacked competitiveness. In ELMS the trio of Alex Brundle/ Kimber-Smith/Ordonez proved its speed. At Le Mans , two Zytek -Nissan Z11SN were entered to defend the title. Martin Brundle joined his son Alex and Lucas Ordonez in a driver line-up that attracted a lot of media attention. The two cars finished 12th and 15th overall and 5th (No. 41) and 8th place (42) in LM P2. They ended the FIA WEC Championship in 5th place after a season that did not live up to expectations.

     For 2013, the English team retained Tom Kimber-Smith, winner at Le Mans in 2011 and 2012, and American duo Eric Lux and Alexander Rossi for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Greaves Motorsport also too part in the first two races of the ELMS with Chris Dyson and Michael Marsal at Silverstone. At Imola it was the turn of David Heinemeier Hanson share the driving with Tom Kimber-Smith. The No.41, entered in the FIA WEC, finished 5th at Silverstone but withdrew from Spa after Dyson's accident in qualifying. The second Zytek at Le Mans (No.42) was driven by Ordonez , Krumm and Mardenborough and carried the colours of Nissan, the experienced Michael Krumm mentoring his two young team mates from the Nissan GT Academy. The 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours proved to be a hectic race for Greaves Motorsport, which has to burn the midnight oil to repair no.42 that had a big accident in practice. It went on to finish a solid 10th place overall and 4th in LMP2, which became third when the third-placed Oreca 03-Nissan was disqualified. The team missed the rest of the ELMS but continued in FIA WEC with one car and finished fifth at the end of the season.

    In 2014, Tim Greaves was no longer involved in whisky production, but in racing fuel rigs, especially in the FIA WEC having created the company Greaves 3D Engineering, which received an immediate vote of confidence from the major manufacturers. Greaves Motorsports also used these systems and entered one car in the ELMSr. A second Zytek Z11SN-Nissan that was on the list of reserves for the Le Mans 24 Hours under the Caterham Racing name was quickly promoted to the entry list after some withdrawals, but was run by Greaves Motorsport.

No.42 was driven by Chris Dyson and Tom Kimber-Smith and the youngest rookie ever in the Le Mans 24 Hours of Le Mans, Matthew McMurry just 16 years old, whose father Chris had two outings in the event in 2003 and 2008 . After racing single seaters in the USA, McMurry made his debut in endurance racing in the Silverstone 4 Hours.

Paradoxically, no.42 was in the colours of Caterham Racing colours and not No.41, as Chris Dyson is the importer of the make in the United States. No.42 had the usual Greaves Motorsport livery and was in the hands of three young British drivers: James Winslow seen in the Asian Le Mans Series , Michael Nunemann and Alessandro Latif champion in VdeV Endurance who has dual British-Italian nationality. The car was quickly eliminated in an accident and no. 42 saw the flag in 25th place (11th LM P2) after a low-key race. The remainder of the ELMS season was in the same vein so it was a year to forget for Greaves Motorsport.

     In 2015 the team has restarted on the same base with a car in the ELMS and at Le Mans. Like Jota this is the previous year’s Zytek rebaptised Gibson. The season got off to a brilliant start for Greaves Motorsport as Hirsch-Wirdheim-Lancaster won the first round of the ELMS at Silverstone after a thrilling finish in which the Gibson snatched victory by 3/10sec from the Jota Sport entry! At Imola the trio saw the flag in fourth place a lap behind the winners. Greaves’ last win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in 2011, but the team came a promising fourth in the qualifiers. Well placed early on, the Gibson 015S - Nissan #41 ground to a halt at the Forest Esses. Gary Hirsch spent almost two hours trying to repair the car’s electrical problems but eventually had to give up and retire. The team clinched fourth place at the Red Bull Ring, then victory at Circuit Paul Ricard and second place at Estoril—enough to give them the team and driver ELMS titles with a two-point margin.

    In 2016, Greaves Motorsport is fielding a Ligier JS P2-Nissan in ELMS. Three new drivers have been taken on board: Jakub Giermaziak, Memo Rojas, who won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2008, 2011 and 2013 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2014 and Julien Canal, three-time winner of Le Mans in GT and winner of the LM P2 FIA WEC drivers trophy. The team came eighth at Silverstone, the first round of the season. They equalled that result at Imola after contact with another LM P2 in the first few laps. This will be the sixth Le Mans 24 Hours for Greaves Motorsport.