Bentley Motors Announces Drivers for Le Mans

Bentley Motors has announced the first of its drivers who will drive for the team at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Andy Wallace, James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger will team up to drive one of two EXP Speed 8s that Bentley will field at the legendary endurance race this summer. Together they will form one of the most experienced and successful sportscar crews on the grid, with 26 starts at Le Mans alone between them.



Driver profiles:

Andy Wallace
Born: 19 February 1961
Nationality: British
Lives: Oxford, England

Andy is one of the most accomplished drivers in the history of sportscar racing and the most successful British driver currently racing in the discipline. He marked his first season in sportscars (1988) by winning Le Mans outright and has never looked back. Since then he has won the Daytona 24-hours three times (1990, 1997, 1999) and the Sebring 12-hours twice (1992, 1993), making just one of a tiny group of the sportscar elite to have won all three of its premier races. His victory in the 1999 Petit Le Mans 1000 miles gives him the unique distinction of having won every one of the ‘big four’ in sportscar racing. Andy’s consistency is also unrivalled: in the 24 finishes he notched up in these events over 12 years, he was on the podium no less than 15 times.

James Weaver
Born: 4 March, 1955
Nationality: British
Lives: Wiltshire, England

Most drivers would consider themselves quite experienced with 87 races under their belts. James Weaver, by contrast, has won 87 races. In addition he has claimed 62 pole positions, 67 fastest laps, 34 lap records, 60 seconds and 41 thirds. James made his racing debut in Formula Ford in 1975, working his way up through the formulae and making his first appearance at Le Mans in 1983, when he came second in his class only to return in 1985 with Richard Lloyd Racing to place second overall. In 1989 he dominated his class in the British Touring Car Championship with 11 wins, finishing second overall. But it is his recent career that makes the most compelling reading. In 1995 he was the IMSA World Sportscar series vice champion and, in 1996, BPR Global GT Champion. In 1997 he won the Daytona 24 hours and received the rare and coveted Gold Star from the British Racing Drivers’ Club, given to the most successful British driver in international motorsport. In 1998 he won America’s CanAm championship and, last year the 2000 GrandAm championship.

Butch Leitzinger
Born: 28 February 1969
Nationality: American
Lives: State College, Pennsylvania

It is some testament to the talent of Butch Leitzinger and his aptitude for sportscar racing that, aged just 31, he has already won the Daytona 24 hours three times (1994, 1997, 1999), the World Sportscar Championship twice (1997, 1998) and the CanAm championship too (1999). As a result of these and his many other victories, the authoritative ‘On Track’ magazine chose him as their sports car racer of the decade.