A buoyant Eurasia Motorsport team welcomes 24 Hours of Le Mans victor, Richard Bradley, to the fold as the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) enters its fourth and penultimate round – the 4 Hours of Le Castellet – at Circuit Paul Ricard (5-6 September).
Eurasia Motorsport took a controlled and methodical approach to its maiden season in the ELMS after achieving countless championship titles in the Far East and the Asian outfit has shown its clasy steadily gaining on the series’ stalwarts.
It really flexed its muscles in Round 3 at the Red Bull Ring, where Dutchman Nick de Bruijn and mainland China’s Kevin Pu Jun Jin scythed their way up from a lowly and entirely unrepresentative grid position to head the pack.
Sadly, Eurasia was resigned to eighth position in the final classification by ill-timed Safety Car interventions and driver penalties, but all involved with the programme were buoyed by the team’s pace, knowing what could have been achieved if it had had an uneventful, unimpeded run to the flag.
To date, both de Bruijn and Pu Jun Jin have been at a disadvantage while having to acclimatise to unfamiliar racetracks, but the pairing would be on a relatively even keel when the ELMS calls at Circuit Paul Ricard (5-6 September), having tested Eurasia Motorsport’s ORECA 03R Nissan LMP2 at the French venue prior to the start of the season.
Business commitments may yet prevent Pu Jun Jin from competing at Paul Ricard, but de Bruijn and Bradley – the LMP2 class winner in the 2015 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours – are confirmed and there are high hopes going into this weekend’s four-hour enduro.
Eurasia Motorsport Team Principal, Mark Goddard, said: “We are delighted to welcome Richard Bradley to Eurasia Motorsport’s European Le Mans Series driver line-up. It was the obvious place to introduce him, as both Nick (de Bruijn) and Kevin (Pu Jun Jin) know Circuit Paul Ricard and will need less track time to get up to speed.
“Kevin is yet to be confirmed for the race due to important business commitments in China and it would be a shame to not have him in the car, especially as he performed so remarkably well last time out at the Red Bull Ring. Nevertheless, a top five result is our minimum target and we hope for better than that.”
European Le Mans Series first and second practice will get underway at 10.30 and 15.00 respectively on Saturday (5 September), while qualifying is scheduled for 9.00 and the 4 Hours of Le Castellet for 13.00 on Sunday (6 September).
