Down at Greaves Motorsport there was a definite air of spring and it wasn’t just their team’s PR – John Brooks getting frisky in his freshly quarantined baby grow.
Jacob Greaves was overseeing his impressive pool of driving and engineering talent that will continue in the ELMS for a ninth consecutive season.
Tom Kimber-Smith did the initial running in the #41 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan before handing over to the astonishingly assured 16-year-old Matthew McMurry. The youngster, who is the inaugural Dyson Racing Junior Development Program driver, established himself quickly with a succession of consistent laps that improved steadily during his morning stint.
Seasoned and respected engineers Peter Weston and Ricardo Divila were also impressed with the way McMurry conducted himself throughout the day. Matthew’s father Chris, who himself competed at Le Mans in 2010 in an Autocon run Lola, watched on proudly as his lad took to the wheel of the Zytek Nissan.
Over at the other side of the Greaves garage, 2012 Radical SR8 champions Tony Wells and James Littlejohn settled themselves in well to the LMP2 pack with both relishing their chance of lappery in the #28 Greaves Zytek-Nissan.
Remarkably, Wells is only in his third year of racing and almost accidently stumbled across competing when he went to Silverstone in 2010.
“I wasn’t meant to do my ARDS test that day but got talked in to it and one thing led to another really,” recalls Wells. “I met James, who was my instructor, and from there we partnered up and eventually won the SR8 title in 2012. Last year we did some European races but were time penalised heavily so we didn’t really stand a chance.”
On prospects for 2014 the pair is relaxed and realistic in what they can achieve should they decide to make their LMP2 debuts. Wells continues: “We are just going to see how these few days go and then sit down and see where we are and if we go racing. These things are quick, but actually physically I found the Radical tougher because the LMP2 has power steering and the steering input is much lighter.”
Jon Lancaster also got some laps in the #28 Greaves Zytek-Nissan today. The Yorkshireman drove for the team at the FIA World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain last season and is keen to dovetail more outings in LMP with a full GP2 programme with Hillmer Motorsports this year.
There will be more from Chris Dyson and Matt McMurry tomorrow.
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