BAM Motorsport head to the 88th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with multiple roles and interests. Most notably the conclusions of the project with Nobuya Yamanaka, who will this weekend fulfil his ambition to compete in the most prestigious sports car race in the world courtesy of a carefully orchestrated and managed plan developed by the UK-based sporting and commercial motorsport management agency, BAM Motorsport.
In addition to Nobu’s debut, BAM will be supporting Eurasia Motorsport in their fourth entry into the great race, acting as programme managers for the Asian-based team and completing the driver line up with drivers from the BAM Management stable with Nick Foster and Roberto Merhi.
Added interest comes from Renger van der Zande, with the BAM-managed driver returning to race for the DragonSpeed outfit in the LMP2 category and Nielsen Racing who will receive promotional and media services from BAM during both the main event and for the supporting Road to Le Mans LMP3 category.
Nobu and BAM put together a programme over the last two years to deliver on his dream. From club racer in Japan, to Le Mans 24 hour-competitor. BAM has, over the course of the programme, brought together all available resources from within their management network to maximise the sporting and commercial opportunities to get Nobu up to speed.
This has been achieved on a reasonable and well-spent budget, with the best and most suited coaching and training at each step of the journey. A journey that has crossed the World in ever-increasing levels of competition which has stepped up massively with Eurasia late in 2019 with the Asian programme and has carried through to the summer of 2020 and a debut in the World Endurance Championship. Every aspect of the project has been managed by BAM.
The story is about to unfold this coming weekend at Circuit de la Sarthe, where Nobu will share his car with Ex F1 and sometime LMP2 Le Mans lap record holder Roberto Merhi and talented Australian Formula, GT, and Prototype driver Nick Foster.
David Madgwick, BAM Motorsport Group Managing Director
“It has been a long road since an initial meeting at Fuji in 2016 first mooted the project, to arrive at Le Mans with Nobu. It has been an immensely pleasurable and enjoyable journey, one that we are proud to have been part of. There have been some moments along the way – both good and bad – as you would expect, but at each step of the way Nobu has been an absolute gentleman, totally applied and professional. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with him, get to know him as both as a client, but also as a friend.
“It has also been a pleasure to have introduced him to others in our stable of coaches and teammates, Eurasia Motorsport of course, Nielsen Racing, Aidan Read, Roberto, Nick, James Littlejohn who have added so much to the project, along with the New Zealand contingent that formed an integral part of the philosophy of the programme, Nick Cassidy, Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Gaunt.
“All that remains is for Nobu to take the start of the race on Saturday and hopefully the chequered flag on Sunday for the journey to be complete.”
