Le Mans Series

Walker wants Italian win in Ferrari 458

James Walker is back in action next week, behind the wheel of the JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 in the fast and furious Le Mans Series. The six-hour sportscar race gets underway on Sunday 3 July at Imola, one of Italy’s most famous race tracks.

Even though James’ single-seater career took him all over Europe he has never raced at Imola before but he is well-prepared for the challenges ahead of him.

“Imola is a track I have always wanted to go to,” he explained. “Sure I haven’t raced there before but I love going to new tracks and I pick them up pretty quickly. I’ve been kept busy in the last few weeks with driver coaching and simulator work so I have managed to fit in a few simulated laps of Imola, just so I know which way it goes before I head out in the Ferrari. It’s going to be a special event for me: racing a Ferrari in Italy is quite an honour and I hope my performance lives up to my own high expectations.”

James has already shown he has what it takes to do well in the Ferrari. After he and Rob Bell won the opening round at Paul Ricard they were set for another top result at Spa before the Ferrari was damaged and they had to settle for seventh place.

“Although Ricard was good I think I really got to grips with the Ferrari at Spa,” said James. “I was able to catch and pass Toni Vilander (AF Corse Ferrari 458) for the lead and by rights we should have won that one. The great thing is that we now go to Imola thinking we can win again. Rob’s pace is fantastic; I have learnt a lot from him and I will only get quicker as I continue to learn. Our car/tyre combination in the race should be right up there. What we have to be aware of though is that AF Corse will have great knowledge of Imola so we will have to hit the ground running.”

The JMW Ferrari has a brand new livery, courtesy of Dunlop’s traditional Le Mans livery contest. The winning design was applied to the car for Le Mans and the Ferrari is looking good. The 458 will take to the track at Imola for this first time next Friday for the first free practice session. Qualifying takes place on Saturday 2 July at 1355hrs and the race gets underway the following day at 12 noon. You can follow the action on Eurosport or at Radiolemans.com.