Following hard on the heels of last Thursday's much anticipated announcement by Risi Competizione that they will enter the new Ferrari F430GT in the GT2 class American Le Mans Series this year, comes the news that French outfit JMB Racing will be running a pair of the new GT2 compliant racers in the 2006 FIA GT Championship. For the first time in several seasons, Porsche's complete stranglehold on the GT2 class in international racing categories on both sides of the Atlantic will now come under serious threat from the Maranello-based sportscar maker's latest weapon.

Just like Texas-based Risi Competizione, Monaco-registered JMB Racing have a long standing and highly successful relationship with Ferrari on the racetracks. They also have had much success in the FIA GT Championship, especially in the category into which they will now return in style this year. In 2000, JMB's Ferrari 360GT was at the heart of the inception of the new European sportscar series, and they went on to win the FIA N-GT Championship (as the GT2 category was then known) in 2001, and were runners-up in both 2002 and 2003. With the 360 Modena coming to the end of its shelf life, JMB's focus shifted away from the class during the last couple of seasons, although they have continued run these cars in the Le Mans Endurance Series last year.

JMB Racing have very ambitious plans for 2006. They have already announced a programme with the Ferrari F430 Challenge in the inaugural European GT3 Championship, and now comes news that they will campaign the new F430GT in the GT2 class, taking head on the dominant, factory-supported Porsche teams. One crew, made up of JMB regulars Peter Kütemann and Antoine Gosse, will target building points this season towards the teams' rankings, while a second soon to be announced crew, will focus on the drivers' title.

Three Ferrari F430 Challenge-based racers will be out in the new European GT3 series, which will see cars such as the Maserati Light GT, Lamborghini Gallardo and Lotus Elise driven by 'gentleman' drivers in a series of double-header races which will support the FIA GT Championship. JMB Racing boss Jean-Michel Bouresche commented: "Since 1998 when we embarked on our journey with Ferrari, we have received ten titles.