ALMS
Barron Connor Racing complete 2004 driver lineup
Deletraz, Hezemans and Barde join Bosch, Sullivan and Biagi Barron Connor Racing completes 2004 driver line up The Barron Connor Racing team has signed former Le Mans class winner Jean- Denis Deletraz, GT star Mike Hezemans and the reigning ...
Published: Mar 9, 2004, 9:20 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Deletraz, Hezemans and Barde join Bosch, Sullivan and Biagi
Barron Connor Racing completes 2004 driver line up
The Barron Connor Racing team has signed former Le Mans class winner Jean- Denis Deletraz, GT star Mike Hezemans and the reigning European Ferrari 360 Champion Ange Barde to drive one of the two Ferrari 575 GTC cars that the team has entered for this year's Sebring 12 Hours, the Le Mans 24 Hours and all the Le Mans Endurance Series races.
Barron Connor co-founder and driver John Bosch said: "After signing Thomas (Biagi) to join me and Danny (Sullivan), we spoke to over 30 drivers, so making a decision took time. We are happy with the result, for both cars now have a strong driver line up, with a good mix of experience and success. Jean-Denis brings a lot of endurance racing success with him, including wins with the Ferrari 550, while Mike is arguably one of the best GT drivers around. I also know how good Ange is, having raced against him in the Ferrari championship. He won that title in 2001 and last year, while I won it in 2002. I think it is also great for Ferrari to have its 360 champions move up like this. In addition, Jean-Denis, Mike and Ange have all raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours, which is very important."
Deletraz (CH, 40) is a highly experienced GT racer, who raced McLaren-BMW, Lotus and Porsche GT1 cars in the late nineties, before winning 4 FIA GT races in a Ferrari 550 in 2002. In between, he also won the Le Mans 24 Hours twice in the LMP 675 class. Last year, the former F3000 and F1 driver stepped on the FIA GT podium again, this time with the Lister Storm. Jean- Denis says: "This is a great opportunity with a great team. We have the same goals and we all share our passion for Ferrari."
A former international karting star, Mike Hezemans (NL, 34) is now one of the world's most experienced GT drivers with a massive 67 FIA GT starts (including 6 wins) and many outings at Le Mans and in America. The Dutchman joins Barron Connor after 8 GT racing seasons in which he drove the Porsche GT2, Lotus Esprit V8 and GT1, Lister Storm, Pagini and Chysler Viper. Mike says: "I chased Ferrari's all year last season, so it is great to finally drive one myself. Barron Connor is a fantastic team, which has facilities and capabilities similar to a works team. It will be a tough year, for sure, but I am very much looking forward to it!"
Ange Barde (F, 35) is the 2001 and 2003 European Ferrari 360 Champion. The Frenchman also drove the sole Ferrari 550 that was entered in the GT class at Le Mans last year and commented: "Thanks to Barron Connor, which has a great team spirit, technical ability and remarkable professionalism, I will be able to realize my goal to race at the level that I always aimed for."
The Barron Connor team will travel to Sebring at the end of this week. "The Sebring 12 Hours will of course be a challenging test for the cars and for our team, for the race is long, hard and hot", John Bosch concludes. "Due to the tight schedule, the cars have been prepared in Italy and are ready just in time. We are going to Sebring to learn as much as we can. It is a place where you learn the hard way, which is the best way to prepare for Le Mans. This is a long term project and to achieve our goals, I believe it is good to start with one of the toughest endurances races in the world."
-bcr-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article PK Sport announces 2004 driver lineup
Next article Team Bucknum relishes parity of LMP2 class
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Mike Hezemans
Marc VDS aim for the championship in Spain
Endurance
Endurance
Marc VDS aim for the championship in Spain
Top ten for Marc VDS at the Nürburgring
Endurance
Endurance
Top ten for Marc VDS at the Nürburgring
Hard fought fourth for Marc VDS at Spa
Endurance
Endurance
Hard fought fourth for Marc VDS at Spa
Latest news
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
10 min
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
Verstappen charges from 24th to ninth as GetSpeed wins Portimao GTWC finale
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 2 h
Verstappen charges from 24th to ninth as GetSpeed wins Portimao GTWC finale
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 6 h
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe