The young, ambitious Czech MENX team, led by Robert Pergl and Ivo Horn, will be racing in the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series with a Care Racing owned Ferrari 550 Maranello. 

Since lawyer and businessman Robert Pergl first raced the car at the Spa round of the LMES last year, under the guidance of Larbre Competition, he was determined to find a way to race the car under his own banner. He, together with his fellow countryman, Tomas Enge, finished that race 2nd place in GTS.

Pergl will compete in each round of the LMES and will be partnered for 3 rounds by Enge who brings to the team three years’ intimate knowledge of the Prodrive-engined 6-litre V12 race winner – including GTS victories at the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. A replacement for Enge, who is unable to be at Silverstone in August due to a clash in his racing schedule, will be announced in due course.

Dominique Falque of Care Racing Development expressed his delight at the deal. “We are very pleased to have reached agreement with Robert and MENX. The team already has experience of racing a Ferrari in the FIA GT series [an F360 in 2003] and we are certain that their hunger for success, together with their great drivers, will mean they achieve that in the LMES.”

Robert Pergl commented “I am looking forward very much to the season because the Ferrari 550 Maranello has proved it is really the top car of the GT1 class.
 

"Of course, I will have to learn a lot of new things but I am happy that we have Tomas in the team because he knows the car like second to none.

"I drove the car at Spa last year and it was a real pleasure, but I am well aware that I need to do a lot of kilometers to better understand the car. There is very hard competition in our class this year but I think that with Tomas we can aim for podiums.”

Tomas Enge said “The idea of the Czech team in a series like LMES is a great way of pushing forward Czech motorsport, especially with a car like the Prodrive built Ferrari 550 Maranello.

"I have never hidden that I really love this car. I would like to help Robert and the team to make progress and quickly adapt to new series and car, which is a proper racing car.”

The Ferrari 550 Maranello’s track record speaks for itself. Since its racing debut in 2001, the car has recorded 32 victories in the GTS or GT categories of international sportscar races (ACO or FIA regulated series accordingly), a remarkable achievement for a privately funded programme.