Kinch joins RML for Le Mans.

RML have today [Friday] announced that Nathan Kinch will join the outfit for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, linking up with Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos in the team's Lola MG Prototype.

Kinch is familiar with Le Mans having tested and qualified for the race in 2003 with Lister Racing.

His Le Mans race debut was curtailed though when his team-mate crashed the car during qualifying, sustaining too much damage to repair for the race.

"We are very pleased to have Nathan as part of our Le Mans programme," commented RM commercial director, Daryl Cozens, "Last year he proved that he has the ability to win at an international level and I think he will fit in well with the RML team."

At 21 years old Kinch has an impressive track record in sportscar racing. This includes 16 wins and 6 pole positions in the 2001 European Ferrari 360 Challenge and the UK Ferrari Maranello Challenge.

In 2002 he drove a Saleen to victory in the British GT Championship and also had three podiums from five rounds. He won his first race in a Historic Group C Jaguar XJR-16 at Silverstone in 2001 and went on to win two of the three races he entered in the 2002 Historic Group C Championship.

The recent appointment of Peter Elleray meanwhile has further strengthened the engineering group on the project and will see the team benefit from his extensive Le Mans experience. Elleray was chief designer of the 2003 Le Mans winning Bentley Speed 8 and will oversee the engineering of the RML Lola MG Prototype.