Team Bentley names British Formula One driver line-up for 2003

London, 4th February 2003... Team Bentley is delighted to confirm the drivers who will crew the second Bentley Speed 8 at both Sebring and Le Mans in 2003. It's a truly stellar line-up of Formula One talent with Britons Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell being joined by the Australian David Brabham. Between them they share 246 Grand Prix starts and while both Johnny and Mark are also previous Le Mans winners, David is one of just a handful of drivers who has proven able to compete successfully in the American Le Mans Series over the last four seasons.

Johnny Herbert
Born: June 25, 1964
Nationality: British
Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco

It is unthinkable that Johnny needs any introduction at all to any racing fan. A veteran of 161 Grands Prix and winner of three, Johnny has been part of fabric of global motorsport since he won his first Formula 3000 race back in 1988. That was also the year he had his horrific accident at Brands Hatch, which left people wondering whether he would ever walk, let alone race again. In the event Johnny made a miraculous recovery and went on to defy all those who said no racing driver ever reached the top after an accident like that. Still far from recovered, he made his Formula One debut for Benetton in Brazil the following year, coming home a superb fourth.

Even before that, it was clear that Johnny was going to be one of the superstars of the future. Like so many, Johnny started in karts before progressing to Formula Ford, winning the 1985 Formula Ford Festival and then becoming British Formula 3 champion in 1987. He progressed to F3000 in 1988 before his accident.

But despite such a promising F1 debut, it would take several seasons in uncompetitive machinery before Johnny's star was allowed to shine again, this time in the toughest job in F1, as Michael Schumacher's team-mate in 1995. Even so, Johnny still managed to claim his first and second Grand Prix wins that season, finishing fourth overall in the championship. A move to Sauber provided no more wins, but one more victory was to come at Stewart in 1999 at the European Grand Prix before a final season as part of the struggling Jaguar team in 2000.

In the light of such a record, it is often forgotten that Johnny is also a highly accomplished sportscar racer and former winner of Le Mans. In 1991, Johnny drove for Mazda at Le Mans, an unfancied team ranged against the might of the works Jaguars. But by putting in an heroic final triple stint despite food poisoning and a broken drinks bottle, Johnny held out long enough to provide Japan?s first ever win at Le Mans before being removed to hospital suffering from dehydration.

Most recently he has contested the 2002 ALMs series for Audi and came second at Le Mans for the marque and fourth overall in the championship.

Mark Blundell
Born: April 8, 1966
Nationality: British
Lives: Cambridge, England

Mark provides the proof that a childhood racing karts is not the only way to reach the very top flight of motor-racing; indeed Mark?s route to the top proved perhaps the most unorthodox of all. In fact it was on two wheels that Mark first made his name, as a 14-year old in motocross. Three years and many championships later, Mark decided his talents deserved a wider audience and turned his attention to cars. Contesting two Formula Ford championships in his debut season (1984), Mark won a staggering 25 races, an account to which he added the British Formula Ford 1600 championship the following year and the European FF2000 title in '86.

Again veering off the traditional route to the top, Mark moved straight from Formula Ford to Formula 3000 - effectively junior Grand Prix cars - and missing out Formula Three altogether. In an underfunded car he performed well enough to net a works drive for Lola in 1988.

In the following two seasons, he performed the twin roles of Williams F1 test driver and Nissan sportscar racer, jobs he did sufficiently well to earn a full time F1 drive in 1991. In all Mark would contest four seasons in Formula One and score podium places too, but when he was replaced at McLaren by David Coulthard, Mark thought it time to show his talents in another arena and duly went to America where he was to work for five seasons, the high point coming in 1997 when he won three races at Portland, Oregon and Fontana and was named by Autosport magazine as its British Competition Driver of the Year.

In his career, Mark has also proven to be a remarkable sportscar racer. He was first introduced to Le Mans in 1989, right in the thick of the fearsome Group C era though he was unable to drive in the race on account of a team-mate crashing his Nissan before his first stint. He made up for it in 1990 though, qualifying his Nissan on pole-position with a lap that is still talked about at Le Mans to this day. But his day of days came in 1992 when, driving the Peugeot 905 he won Le Mans at his third attempt.

Mark has also raced at Le Mans for the last two years in the fast but hitherto fragile MG-Lolas, proving to all there that he has lost none of his ferocious speed nor the will to win.

David Brabham
Born: 5 September 1965
Nationality: British/Australian
Lives: Maidenhead, England

David is a true stalwart of sportscar racing in general, having contested the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) for five years in succession, and Le Mans in particular with nine events already under his belt.

His surname alone reveals him as a member of one of motor-racing's most successful dynasties, but it is his achievements over the last 20 years he has been racing that make him stand out. A veteran of 24 Grands Prix (including for Brabham in 1990) and numerous Formula 3000, Formula 3, Formula 2 and sportscar races, David's talents have been seen at all levels of the racing discipline.

Yet, compared with some of his team-mates, David did not come to prominence until relatively late, winning the New South Wales Country Championship in a 100cc kart at the age of 18 in 1984. David started winning regularly in cars while contesting the Australian Formula Ford championship in 1987, and won the Australian F2 championship the following year.

Two years later and with his star really starting to shine, David won the British F3 championship with six wins and won the prestigious F3 World Cup in Macao.

It was enough to earn him a drive in Formula One with the Brabham team his father had started in 1962. Sadly by then the team was poor shadow of its former self, so for 1991 David found himself racing the formidable Jaguar XJR-14 sportscar winning the Nurburgring and Sugo 1000km races and also claiming his first 24-hour victory, at Spa in a Nissan Skyline.

The following year David drove for Toyota and won his class at the Daytona 24-hours and went on to share a Jaguar XJ220 with David Coulthard at Le Mans the following year. He duly won the class again, only to be disqualified due to a minor technical infringement.

A brief return to F1 in 1994 with the ill-fated Simtek team produced no meaningful results, and by 1996 David would be back in sportscars where he has remained.

Since then David has won all over the world, in Europe, Asia, Australia and America, claiming the Japanese GT Championship in 1996, winning the legendary Bathurst 1000kms with his brother Geoff and claiming the Professional Sports Car Championship in 1998, a year in which he also won his class in the Sebring 12-hours.

In 1999 he was second overall in the ALMS championship and has figured strongly in the series since, as one of just a handful of drivers proven to be capable of offering resistance to the all-conquering works Audi team.

Team Bentley believes that these three drivers in addition to the already announced team of Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo 'Dindo' Capello and Guy Smith will provide the team with the best possible chance of outright victory at Le Mans this year.