Created two years ago, JMB Racing USA is now recognized as one of the leading American GT teams in the Rolex Sports Car Series.

After an initial Rolex Series season learning, JMB Racing USA is getting ready to race in its third Rolex 24 at Daytona in a row. 2005 will mark the eighth season of collaboration between JMB Racing and Ferrari and to continue this tradition, the team will race the Ferrari 360 Challenge model in the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Immediately following the new GT rules announcement last fall, JMB Racing USA was the first team to – no pun intended - take the challenge of converting a Ferrari Modena Challenge car into a Ferrari Grand American GT for 2005. The conversion was done by JMB Racing USA in the team’s 9,000 Sq. Ft facility in Miramar, Florida. JMB USA technicians spent over 1,000 hours of dedicated work to build a quick, reliable car, hopefully ready to race competitively twice around the clock!

 “It is difficult to understand the amount of work that was put in to prepare this car for Daytona” announced JMB Racing USA co-owner Ludovico Manfredi. “Our crew has worked almost 24/7 since the announcement of the new GT rules and I am proud of them. Thanks to the flexibility of Grand American officials we were able to build a car following the new rules.

"Our team brought that car for the first time to the Homestead test last December then came back a month later for the Rolex 24 tests and over the last 30 days, lots of progress was made on the engine and chassis to make it reliable and competitive for Daytona 2005. The engine was prepared here in the United States by Shelton Ferrari and thanks to their experienced technicians, we believe we have a car ready for this new challenge” said Manfredi.

On the driver side, JMB Racing USA elected to have a combination of pro and non-pro drivers for this 43rd edition of the Daytona 24-hours. Nevertheless, the four drivers have 14 years of combined experience at the Rolex 24. JMB Racing USA 2005 drivers’ lineup for the Ferrari no 11 includes American Matt Plumb, Peter Boss, Jim Michaelian and British driver David Gooding.

“It is always tough to find the right combination of drivers for Daytona when you are a young team coming to a 24-hour race with a new car” announced Emmanuel Lupe, team manager of JMB Racing USA.
 

“This year we decided to give the leading roles to two pro drivers; American Matt Plumb, who already drove for us last year at Homestead, scoring the first ever podium for JMB USA and American, Peter Boss, one of the only American drivers with international open-wheel and endurance racing experience. Jim Michaelian, the well-known President and CEO of Long Beach Grand Prix already drove for our team last year at the Glen and Briton, David Gooding was added to the lineup just before the test. Like Jim, David brings to the team extensive endurance racing experience including three previous participations at the Rolex 24 and we believe that the four-driver combination will do well. Their primary objectives will be to be cautious with the heavy traffic and stay away from any unnecessary confrontation with DP cars, preserving the equipment and finishing the race as high as possible”, said Lupe.

When the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona green flag waves, JMB Racing, founded by Jean Michel Bouresche 10 years ago, will celebrate the first race of its 10 years anniversary season.

Since its inception in 1995, JMB Racing has won 14 titles, among which were three Sports Car World Cups in 1998-1999-2000 with the Ferrari 333 SP and one title as FIA N-GT World Champion in 2001 with the Ferrari 360 Modena. 2005 will mark JMB Racing’s eight season of fidelity to Ferrari. The spirit of partnership and the close cooperation of the JMB race team with Ferrari have been instrumental in the team’s racing achievements including 41 victories, 43 podium finishes, 24 pole positions and 18 track records!

JMB Racing reached a new high with Ferrari in 2004. Six Ferrari cars were entered by JMB Racing and JMB Racing USA in four different series including three Ferrari 575 GTC in the FIA GT championship, one Ferrari 360 Modena in the LMES and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one Ferrari 550 Maranello in the Italian GT series and one Ferrari 360 Modena in four races of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series including the Rolex 24.

On the other side of the Atlantic, JMB Racing Europe is getting ready for their 2005 program that will start April 10 with the first race of the FIA GT championship in Monza.