POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, APR. 15, 2004 — Former Le Mans 24-Hour race winner Jan Lammers today announced that Chris Dyson, the 2003 American Le Mans Series LMP675 champion, will join Lammers` Racing For Holland team at the June 12-13 running of the sportscar endurance classic. Dyson recently completed a two-day test of the team`s Dome S101-Judd at Le Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France.
“I want to take the strongest possible team to Le Mans this year,” said Lammers, whose victory at the Sarthecame in 1988. “The results of our test earlier this month convinced me that Chris would make an excellent addition to the Racing For Holland team. And I am pleased to have him join me in our lead car.”
“Chris was quite quick in the car at Paul Ricard, and he gave our engineers useful feedback,” Lammers noted in explaining his decision to add the young American to his team. “In addition to being fast, Chris was consistent. And he was like that with new and old tires and on light and heavy fuel loads. Over the whole two days,he never made a mistake. I was quite impressed.”
Lammers had an advanced look at Dyson when the two shared a Dyson Racing entry at last month`s Sebring 12-hour race. Engine failure knocked the team`s Thetford / Norcold Lola out of the race, but not before Lammers had the chance to watch Dyson closely behindthe wheel of the car.
“It is a pity that we had a mechanical problem there, because we were for sure headed for a podium finish otherwise,” Lammers said. “But I saw that Chris did a great job while the car was running. That is what first gave me the idea to have him join me at Le Mans.”
“I am honored that Jan would want me to join his team for Le Mans,” said Dyson,who at the age of 26 is in his third year of professional racing following an adolescent karting career and three years of amateur sportscar competition. “I think that every sportscar racer dreams of driving at Le Mans. I know I have since I was a kid. It is great to have the opportunity to go there with a team that has the capability to win the race. I am really looking forward to this. I had not necessarily expected to have the chance to race at Le Mans so early in my career, but I have always believed that when you have a good opportunity, you ought to make the mostof it.”
Lammers, 47, is the reigning FIA Sportscar Champion, both as a driver and as principal of the Racing For Holland team. In addition to his 1988 Le Mans victory for Jaguar, Lammers twice won the Daytona 24-hour race for Jaguar, triumphing in 1990 as well as 1988. His career includes stints in Formula One, Indy cars and touring cars as well as mastery of sportscars.
