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RML, in association with AD Group, is delighted to confirm an unchanged
driver line-up for the 2008 Le Mans Series. Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos,
current LMP2 title-holders, will continue their unbroken partnership into a
sixth successive year.
Mike Newton and Brazilian Thomas Erdos first joined forces to contest the FIA
GT Championship in 2003. Erdos had clinched the British GT title the previous
year, co-driving with Ian McKellar at the wheel of one of Newton’s own Saleen
S7-R GT1s.
Campaigned at that time by Graham Nash Motorsport, 2003 also saw the
Newton-Erdos partnership sharing the Saleen in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Pedro
Chaves, only to retire after 23 hours. Later that same year the link with RML
was established when the duo raced the Wellingborough-prepared MG Lola EX257 in
the inaugural event of the Le Mans Endurance Series, with Erdos setting an
impressive class pole.
2004 was an especially busy year for both drivers. Not only did they contest
a full FIA GT Season in the RML-designed (and now also managed) Saleen, but they
also raced together in the Daytona 24 Hours, finishing 4th in the Daytona
Prototype class with Michael Shank Racing. For the Le Mans 24 Hours, Newton and
Erdos were joined by Nathan Kinch, while their efforts in the LMES saw the MG
EX257 achieve its best ever results. 2005, however, was the turning point for
the partnership. The launch of the MG Lola EX264 brought a memorable class win
in the Le Mans 24 Hours, co driving with Warren Hughes, and was followed by
Newton and Erdos ending the year as runners-up in the LMP2 class of the LMES.
They missed the title by a single point.
The following season, 2006, proved to be an almost perfect carbon-copy of the
year before. An LMP2 victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours, this time eighth overall
and partnered by Andy Wallace, was the herald to securing another runners-up
slot in the Le Mans Series, once again by the narrowest of margins. Erdos took
pole in every race he and Newton contested for RML that year. Then, throughout
2007, they maintained their dominance of the LMP2 category, finally securing
that elusive championship by claiming the Le Mans Series LMP2 crown with wins at
Spa and the Nurburgring.
2008 Le Mans 24 Hours – 14th-15th June
In June 2008 RML will participate in the 76th running of Le Mans 24 Hours,
with former outright winner Andy Wallace joining Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos
for his third successive attempt at the Vingt Quatre Heures with RML AD
Group. One of the best known and most successful sportscar racers of all time,
Wallace brings skill and experience to a squad that has already tasted victory
in the LMP2 class at Le Mans, and is looking to redress the team’s
disappointment at missing the hat-trick in 2007.
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