Bologna based team Rangoni Motorsport will run an LMP1 Zytek 09SH – featuring the manufacturer's latest hybrid technology – in all five rounds of the 2011 Le Mans Series (LMS), the team hopeful of adding an entry to the Le Mans 24 Hours to their plans.
The team say the car will be converted to use the hybrid system during the season. The pure race system is an improvement to the road based system used by Corsa Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series in 2009, where it took the first podium for a hybrid car in Le Mans rules racing anywhere in the world.
“We firmly believe that the collaboration with Rangoni Motorsport and also the introduction of the ground breaking ZPH hybrid technology is going to produce great success over the coming seasons,” says John Manchester, Zytek Engineering Operations Director. “We are honoured to have been chosen to supply our products to this exciting project and we will very much look forward to forming a long and successful partnership.”
Ragoni Motorsport was formed in 2004 by three brothers – Mirko, Luca and Michael Rangoni. Recently it has entered cars in the Superstars series for Luca and Nicola Larini. In their LMS campaign Luca will be joined in the cockpit by 2007 FIA GT champion Thomas Biagi and Ferdinando Neri.
“I'm so happy to be driving a Zytek LMP1 car after such a long time talking about this with John Manchester,” says Neri, who will also act as team principal with Mirko Rangoni. “I'm also very pleased to begin a relationship with a company as prestigious and serious in motorsport. At the same time the team is excited to start with this futuristic experience.”
