Le Mans 24 Hours 2007
Driver Line-up. Issued January 11th 2007

Andy Wallace Reunited with Newton & Erdos for Le Mans 2007

RML confirmed today that Andy Wallace is to rejoin the team’s sports prototype driver line-up for the Le Mans 24 Hours this June. The announcement was made on the main stage at just after noon on the opening day of the Autosport International show at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.

The former outright Le Mans winner (with Jaguar in 1988) took the stage alongside RML’s regular pairing of Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos, thereby reuniting the squad that took the LMP2 class win in the Vingt Quatre Heures last year. Having been victorious in the category for the past two seasons in succession, RML is now under pressure to give the MG Lola EX264 its hat trick in 2007, and securing the talents of an experienced driver such as Andy Wallace can only enhance their chances.

“It’s great to have the winning team back together again,” said a beaming Ray Mallock, team principal and founder of RML. Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director of AD Holdings, the team’s main sponsor, had brokered the deal. “After Andy drove with us last year he seemed happy with the arrangement. It was the first time he’d stood on the top step of the Le Mans podium since 1988, so he must have felt we had something more to offer him, and he certainly has something to offer us. It’s like a deal made in Heaven. It’s perfect,” said a very satisfied Wiseberg.

“I spoke to Adam straight after last year’s race!” admitted Wallace. “It had all gone so well, and I’d been enormously impressed by the level of professionalism from everyone in the team, and everything they did. You can’t go into a race like Le Mans unless you’re fully prepared, and RML spent months making sure that the car was just right. Perhaps I’m a bit greedy, and when I go into a race, I want to be sure I have a fair chance of winning, right from the start. I get that kind of feeling with a team like RML.”

Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos (middle and right in the photo above) will be sharing the car throughout the rest of the season, contesting the Le Mans Series, and have been driving together for five years. Introducing another driver to such an established partnership is never easy, but both expressed their delight at having Andy Wallace back in the MG for Le Mans. “Driving with Andy is just Heaven!” grinned Erdos, independently continuing the theme begun by Adam Wiseberg. “It’s fantastic. Sharing a car still seems a little unnatural for me, coming from a single-seater background, but it’s so much easier with a guy like Andy. He’s a genuine team player, and we all know he’ll not only be very quick, but he cares for the equipment, just like Mike does, and that’s so important in an endurance race.”

Mike Newton was “chuffed to bits” to have Andy back in the car. “I’m very fortunate to have these two as co-drivers. It’s terrific to work with Tommy, a real pleasure, and then when Andy joined us for Le Mans, the whole team gelled together immediately. You can learn so much from drivers like Andy and Tommy, and I’m delighted.”

Apart from Le Mans, Andy will be maintaining his links with the Dyson squad in America this year, co-driving one of the team's new Porsche RS Spyders in the American Le Mans Series. It is hoped, however, that he will be able to join RML for their first full test of the MG Lola at Valencia in Spain in early March. That will be followed at the end of the month by the official Le Mans Series test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.

High resolution images from the Autosport Show are available from this gallery.