Guy Smith to drive new Zytek
Smith, aged 34 from Driffield, races for the Portuguese Quifel-ASM team for a second consecutive year at Le Mans but driving a brand new Ginetta-Zytek 09S LM P2 class sportscar.
2003 Le Mans winner Guy commented: “I’m delighted to be going back to Le Mans with the ASM team.
“I’ll drive a new Zytek which has already proven to be competitive and should give me a great chance of winning the LMP2 class. You cannot underestimate the challenge of the 24 Hour race but I know what it takes to win there and I’m confident that with the package we have we’ll be in good shape."
Zytek designs and manufacturers the entire car – the chassis, engine, gearbox and the electrics while the 3.4-litre powered “open top" sportscar is the most recent model of car manufactured by Derbyshire-based Zytek Engineering. Meanwhile the Quifel outfit finished runner-up in the Le Mans Series LMP2 championship in 2006 and ’07.
Smith finished fourth in class in last year’s rain-affected Le Mans race after gear selection problems with less than six hours to run deprived the Briton of a possible podium finish.
“We had a good run finishing fourth in class at Le Mans last year but I feel the Zytek option will put us in very strong contention," concluded Guy who will drive the Quifel Zytek for the first time in tests at Paul Ricard in France over 8-9 March.
This week Guy turns his attention to the start of the 10-race American Le Mans Series by testing his brand new Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda at Sebring (17-19 Feb) in advance of the 12 Hour race staged at the Florida track on 21 March.