Final Three Bentley Boys Confirmed for Le Mans 24 Hours

Bentley Motors today revealed the names of the drivers who will pilot the second Team Bentley EXP Speed 8 at the Le Mans 24 hours race in June. Martin Brundle, Stéphane Ortelli and Guy Smith will join the already established team of Andy Wallace, James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger to form one of the strongest driver line ups to take the start of the world’s most challenging race.


Driver Profiles:

Martin Brundle
Born: 1st June 1959
Nationality: British
Lives: Kings Lynn, Norfolk, UK

Twelve seasons in Formula One and a place alongside Murray Walker in the commentary box have made Martin Brundle one of the most well known and respected faces in racing. And Martin’s record in sportscars is, if anything, more impressive still. His first big win was for Jaguar at Spa in 1987 and his first 24-hour victory came at Daytona the following year as he helped Jaguar to the World Sportscar Championship in both years. He returned to F1 for 1989 before coming back to Jaguar in 1990, first coming second at Daytona and then winning Le Mans outright for the marque.

Martin continued to win for Jaguar during 1991 when his F1 commitments allowed but thereafter Formula One would keep him away from Le Mans until 1997. His return with Nissan was marred by a lack of reliability so he turned to Toyota in 1998 and 1999 and soon proved he had lost none of his speed. In 1999, he set the pole position time, was by far the fastest driver on the course and led the race with ease before retiring.

Stéphane Ortelli
Born: 30 March 1970
Nationality: French
Lives: Monaco

Stéphane Ortelli’s Le Mans record may not be that long, but it is envied. By rights he should have won the race twice in the last three years; he claimed outright victory for Porsche in 1998, retired in 1999 and was leading comfortably in 2000 until delayed by a precautionary gearbox change to his Audi. He still came home second overall.

Guy Smith
Born, September 12, 1974
Nationality: British
Lives: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK

Although only 26, Guy has a tremendous track record although he has taken part at Le Mans just once, driving a Reynard 2KQ-LM with former Ferrari F1 driver, Stefan Johannson last year. This did not stop Guy recording the 18th fastest lap in qualifying in what was far from the quickest car on the grid. Not only did this make him the fastest of all 37 newcomers to the race, his time also put him 20 places higher than the next quickest driver making their debut at Le Mans. This performance earned him the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ award.