Red River Sport by TF Sport are delighted to announce that it will join the Asian Le Mans Series for the 2018-19 season which gets underway at Shanghai International Circuit 23-25 November.
The opportunity for TF Sport, in conjunction with Red River Sport, to compete in Asia opens a new chapter for the British-based team, building on success in British GT, Blancpain GT, European Le Mans Series and most recently the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Red River Sport, a motorsport mentoring and management agency, are delighted to be bringing two Clients in Bonamy Grimes and Ivor Dunbar to the Asian Le Mans Series alongside agency driver Johnny Mowlem. This is the next step for the group in taking Clients into an ACO run series and part of a stairway to competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future.
“This is a long-term project for Red River Sport and it’s an exciting opportunity for us to take two of our Clients to the Asian Le Mans Series,” said Mowlem. “We have been working on this for a while in conjunction with the series and the ACO and is part of a bigger programme for us to bring gentlemen drivers up through the ranks and to compete at the highest levels.”
The trio will compete in all four-rounds of the championship in the #5 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Mowlem is certainly no stranger to sports car racing, having competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 11 times, and won the GTE championship in the 2013 European Le Mans Series.
Dunbar competed in the Le Mans classic in 2014 before running in the GT Cup UK the following season. He graduated to the Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2016 and then into the International GT Open. Dunbar raced in LMP3 at Le Mans in 2018 alongside Grimes and Mowlem. Grimes had not even completed a track day before 2016, but he competed in the Britcar Endurance Championship in 2017 and with Mowlem won the Class 2 championship. They also competed in the Gulf 12H, finishing second in class.
“This opportunity to compete in the Asian Le Mans Series surfaced recently,” explained TF Sport Director Tom Ferrier. “It will be a new and exciting challenge for everyone at TF Sport. We’re very proud of our history and results and we’ve proven we can run at the front, take wins and challenge for championships at every level.
“In saying that, we never underestimate the competition and it is will be a pleasure to work with Red River Sport in helping them with their longer-term ambitions.”
The addition of Red River Sport by TF Sport to the Asian Le Mans Series is a welcome one for Managing Director Cyrille Taesch Wahlen. “We are pleased to welcome Red River Sport by TF Sport to the Asian Le Mans Series grid,” he said. “As a highly successful global GT team that is currently racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship they will make a very positive addition to our races. Their arrival marks another high-profile team entering the Asian Le Mans Series, and is further evidence of the high position the series holds on the global motorsport stage.”
The championship begins with the Shanghai round before traveling on to Fuji, Buriram and Sepang.