24 Hours of Le Mans

Epsilon Euskadi drivers announced but final line-up still unclear

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

Next weekend Epsilon Euskadi will take a major step in achieving a new milestone in the history of Spanish Motorsport. The team will be passing its two ee1 LMP1 prototypes through the preliminary administrative checks and qualifying the drivers for the 2008 Le Mans 24 hours.

There´re three major icons in World´s motorsport: Indy 500, Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the first time ever a Spanish constructor, Epsilon Euskadi, will be on the starting grid of one of them – The Le Mans 24 Hours-, a historical event for Spain comparable to the World Championships won by Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso

At the moment the presence of at least one of its ee1 LMP1 cars is assured. The second car, currently on top of the reserve list, is waiting for the green light from the ACO – Automobile Club de l´Ouest- to eventually be promoted to the starting line up. On Saturday at 15:00 hours, after the technical and administrative checks have been carried out, the Basque team will know about the clearance of the second unit. In anticipation of this likely possibility, the team led by Joan Villadelprat, carried out a successful shakedown last Monday at Vitoria’s Foronda airport prior to move to Le Mans.

An elite choice of top endurance and ex- Formula 1 racing drivers will be joining Ángel Burgueño and Miguel Ángel de Castro, the great Epsilon´s regular LMS drivers. The achievements of the team and the historical Le Mans 24 hours debut of a Spanish car, has called the interest of some of the most renown drivers in the Le Mans paddock.

Epsilon Euskadi is proudly announcing that the Swede Stefan Johansson – ex- Ferrari & McLaren driver- , Frenchman Jean-Marc Gounon and Japanese Shinji Nakano will be driving one of the Epsilon´s Le Mans ee1 LMP1 prototypes. One of them, Stefan Johansson, has already savoured the sweet taste of winning in Le Mans (1997, Porsche).

The name of the sixth and last driver, will be announced during this week. Epsilon management is considering either former ex-Formula 1 and Le Mans winner, or a promising young Spanish driver currently competing in GP2 or World Series. The final line up of each car has yet to be decided but will be announced shortly after the last driver is named..