Photo: Team Essex

Poulsen & Elgaard to do Le Mans

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After 6 months out of international racing, Team Essex Invest are to make a comeback with the sole purpose of winning the Le Mans 24 hour race. At the helm of the driver line-up will be former DTC champion Casper Elgaard, joining him will be WTCC driver Kristian Poulsen and Porsche factory driver Emmanuel Collard.

The cooperation between Poulsen Motorsport and Team Essex Invest, has secured Kristian Poulsen a third-driver position in the team. Poulsen already drives a BMW 320si for Engstler Motorsport in the 2009 WTCC series.

The effort will feature full factory support from Michelin and Porsche Motorsport, including factory driver Emmanuel Collard.

Team Essex Invest will run two tests together with Porsche. The first will take place at Paul Ricard the 7/8th March, and later on the Bugatti track at Le Mans the 25/26th April.

Once completed, the first race will be the Spa 1000 km race which is the first in the Le Mans Series calendar on the 9/10th of May. Then the finale of the effort will be the 24 Hour race of Le Mans the 13/14th June.

Elgaard and Collard will drive the main part of the race, driving almost 20 hours. Poulsen will after a career in rallying and touringcars debut in sportscars. He will as a preparation drive the 24 hour race at Nürburgring on the 23/24th of May.

“Kristian Poulsen will arrive at the test together with Casper Elgaard and Emmanuel Collard, and the two drive will teach him everything they can about the Porsche, and then Kristian will need to prove, that it was the right choice to bet on him as the third driver at Le Mans,“ team owner Peter Halvorsen explains.

”We think that we can do it one better than last year, where we were second, and with this setup we will have good chances to reach the top. It is also nice to see, that the two other Porsche racers will participate, together with the other LMP2 class teams, despite any financial crisis – so the excitement will be high, and once again this year will be very exciting.”

Former DTC driver and Le Mans winner, John Nielsen, will not be a part of the Le Mans effort. He is still an employee of Team Essex Invest, but he announced earlier that he has retired from driving at Le Mans.