JMB Racing
is a racing team from
Monaco
that competes in
sports car racing
. It was founded in
Nice
,
France
, in 1995 as
JB Racing
by Jean-Michel Bouresche and
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
. It was renamed JMB (Bouresche's initials) in 2000 after Jabouille left the partnership. JMB relocated its headquarters to Monaco in 2004, racing with a Monegasque license since then.
The team first raced in the
Andros Trophy
and the
Porsche Pirelli Supercup
in the 1995 season, winning the 2 litre class in the first with
Jean-Pierre Malcher
and
Jacques Laffite
, and taking the title in the second with Malcher, repeating the win the following year with
Emmanuel Collard
.
For 1997, Bouresche and Jabouille went international, purchasing a
Porsche 911 GT1
to race in the brand new
FIA GT Championship
, with Emmanuel Collard and Jurgen von Gartzen, also taking part in
Le Mans
. The team was backed by the primary sponsor
Marlboro
.
The increased presence of factory teams drove JB Racing away from the FIA GT Championship, so instead the team purchased two
Ferrari 333 SPs
to race in the
International Sports Racing Series
from 1998, dropping Marlboro as a sponsor in place of Italian manufacturing firm Giesse. The French team stayed in this
sports-prototype
championship for three years, winning the drivers titles with Collard and
Vincenzo Sospiri
in 1998 and 1999 and
David Terrien
and
Christian Pescatori
in 2000, in addition to taking the teams titles for three years in a row. The team ran one Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
1998
and
1999
.
In 2000 JB, now called JMB, also made a return to GT racing with the new
Ferrari 360 Modena
as the official Ferrari demonstrator, taking second place overall in the
6 Hours of Vallelunga
. In 2001 they switched full-time to GTs, winning the N-GT class in the FIA GT Championship, once more with Terrien and Pescatori, who also won the title in 2002. On both occasions, the team title was also retained. JMB also ran two cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Bouresche created the JMB Racing USA operation to run cars in the international American races, such as the
Daytona 24 Hours
and
Sebring 12 Hours
.
In 2003, in addition to taking second place in the N-GT category with
Andrea Bertolini
and
Fabrizio De Simone
, JMB Racing graduated to the main GT category with a
Ferrari 550 Maranello
. However, the French team used the car developed by
N.Technology
, more troublesome than the
Prodrive
version, and drivers Pescatori and
Boris Derichebourg
were only competitive after upgrading to the
575 GTC
.
In 2004, JMB Racing changed its address to
Monaco
and began racing under the Monegasque flag. The team however retained their workshops in Nice. The team scored third place in the FIA GT Championship with two 575 GTCs, in spite of a lack of consistency due to several drivers changes, but still won the Donington race with
Karl Wendlinger
and
Jaime Melo
. JMB also took the Drivers title in the
Le Mans Endurance Series
with
Roman Rusinov
in a 360 Modena and was third in the
Italian GT Championship
, with the old 550 Maranello.
JMB was one of the first teams in the FIA GT to race the brand new
Maserati MC12
in 2005. Wendlinger and Bertolini won at
Magny-Cours
but missed the win at the
Spa 24 Hours
by two laps, taking third place at the end of the year for the driver's championship, with the team reaching second place. The 575 was also used in the LMES as well as at Le Mans. In 2006, JMB went back to the GT2 class with the new
Ferrari 430
, but in spite of a win in Silverstone, were outclassed by rivals Scuderia Ecosse as well as the Porsche teams and managed only fourth place in the team's championship at the end. JMB also entered three cars in the new
FIA GT3 European Championship
.
In 2007, JMB divided its time between the FIA GT, European GT3 and the
Le Mans Series
. The highlight of the year was
Ben Aucott
's win of the Citation Cup, a series within the FIA GT for gentleman drivers. The team also won one race in the European GT3 series and took second and third in the final round of the LMS at Interlagos.
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