Services for Nigel Stepney to take place Friday, May 23

The funeral of Nigel Stepney, JRM’s Racing Team Manager and Technical Director, will take place on Friday, 23 May.

The 56-year-old was killed in a road accident on 2 May. He is survived by his partner, Ash, and his children Sabine, Laura, Cassie and Joshua.

Colleagues and friends that would like to attend Nigel’s funeral are advised to contact JRM for further information. Flowers are welcome. These can be sent to:

Hunnaball of Colchester York House 41 Mersea Road Colchester Essex CO2 7QT

Nigel’s family has also established a trust fund in the name of his seven-year-old daughter, Sabine. Donations can be made to this via JRM. Nigel’s family plans to donate all monies raised to a charity of their choice. Please contact JRM’s Steve Smith for further information at ssmith@jrm-group.com.

After a distinguished career in Formula One with the Shadow, Lotus, Benetton and Ferrari teams, Nigel Joined JRM in 2010 and was the driving force behind the development of the Nissan GT-R GT car in JRM’s role as the Official Partner of Nissan Motorsports International (Nismo).

Nigel’s engineering prowess steered JRM and the GT-R to the FIA GT1 World Championship title and the coveted RAC Tourist Trophy in 2011. A year later, Nigel guided JRM to third place in the World Endurance Championship LMP1 category and sixth overall at the legendary Le Mans 24H race.

In 2013, Nigel continued to mastermind the development of the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 – a car that Nissan’s GT Academy team, RJN, drove to both the PRO AM Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Nigel had most recently plotted the continued development of the 2014-specification Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 and was scheduled to head up the JRM engineering team that will support the many customers using the car across the world this season.

Many tributes have been paid to Nigel since his death. Former F1 driver, Jean Alesi, who Nigel helped engineer to victory at the 1995 Canadian GP, told Autosport: “I was really sad to hear of this bad news. Nigel was such a hard worker – someone who would really push for the team. I didn’t spend much time with him but he was part of my success in 1995 and did a super job for the team (Ferrari) when I left and Michael (Schumacher) joined.”

JRM owner, James Rumsey, said: “It’s been an extremely difficult time since we heard the news about Nigel’s accident but the hundreds of kind-hearted messages that we’ve received in the last 10 days have been a big support to us, Ash and Sabine. He was clearly a very popular man and someone that will be remembered fondly by those who truly knew the man behind the reputation."

JRM