Former British government minister Paul Drayson has entered into a joint venture with Barwell Motorsport to create a new team that will contest the 2008 American Le Mans Series.
The team, Drayson-Barwell, will run a new Aston Martin Vantage GT2 in the ever-growing GT2 class of the series with the team benefitting from becoming an official partner team of Aston Martin Racing.
As was the case during Drayson's 2007 British GT campaign for Barwell, the car will run on E85 bio-ethanol as the team continues to ‘go Green' for its maiden season in the ALMS.
“The ALMS will be a serious challenge for both the tam and me,” Drayson said. “2008 will be a development year for us racing with a brand new GT2 car running bio-ethanol fuel. The two major concerns of our time are the environment and energy. But how can we be green without being boring?
“As we enter the 21st century, the car is at the heart of the debate around energy and climate change. We at Drayson-Barwell believe these circumstances present a timely opportunity for a new type of motor racing team. Endurance sportscar racing – with its emphasis on stamina, reliability and speed – is the perfect platform to showcase new ideas in marketing and technology that aim to address the central dilemma of our time and answer it; to make being ‘Green' cool and exciting, not boring and dull, and to do this by being competitive and getting results.
“The ALMS is a world-class series and shares our vision for green racing, allowing bio-ethanol fuelled cars for the first time in 2008. I'm really looking forward to driving this beautiful new Aston Martin Vantage GT2 on some of the most challenging and iconic circuits in the world.”
Barwell managing director Mark Lemmer added that the team was looking forward to the challenge of competing in the ALMS, where it will go up against a wide variety or machinery including entrants from
Ferrari, Porsche, Panoz and Ford.
