JMW Motorsport are one of the usual suspects in the European Le Mans Series, so it’s no surprise that they are part of the 2019 edition as well.
The 2019 line-up will be a very international one, with an Italian, a Canadian and an American will share the Italian Ferrari 488 GTE, running for the British team.
The team started 10 years ago, and has participated in the Le Mans Series, at the subsequent European Le Mans Series. The first few years were done in a F430 GTC, before it was swapped to the newer 458 Italia GT2. That car was sent into retirement with a victory at the ELMS round at Monza in 2017. They travelled to Le Mans with a brand new 488 GTE – and won the race!
Matteo Cressoni is the Italian member of the team. He has a great experience in Ferrari cars, and is probably the closest you get to a Ferrari works driver, without him actually being employed by them. He travels all over the world, when a team needs a fast driver in a Ferrari.
Photo: JJ Media
Canadian Wei Lu and American Jeff Segal has a connection from the USA, where the pair shared a Ferrari 488 GT3 car in the Pirelli World Challenge Sprint-X Championship, USA. While Lu is the Bronze rated driver in the line-up, he has been racing a lot of laps in Ferrari’s since 2013. Segal has done thousands of laps in a Ferrari, but also other brands. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 in the GTE Am.
Jeff Segal actually raced for JMW Motorsport at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018, when he was hired by WeatherTech Racing as their third driver during their French visit.
It’s not clear if those three drivers will race at Le Mans 2019 too, or if the seats will be sold to other drivers. Jonny Cocker is currently the only driver named for the squad on the official ACO list. But that could be changed, if the team wants to do so.
The European Le Mans Series has the start of the season in just over 14 days time at Paul Ricard.
