Team

Located at the heart of the UK’s ‘motorsport valley’, Strakka Racing operates from high-tech workshop facilities on the edge of Silverstone village, just a mile from the Grand Prix circuit that is recognised all across the world as the home of British motorsport.

Established in 2007, the original aim behind Strakka Racing was to provide a platform for rising star Nick Leventis to compete in contemporary GT racing. The team’s first season centred on an ex-works BMW M3 E46, but in 2008 Strakka arrived on the international stage with an Aston Martin DBR9 GT1. A successful debut in the 2008 Le Mans Series was followed by an appearance in the Le Mans 24 Hours, in association with Vitaphone Racing.

Marking an on-going rise to prominence, Strakka Racing moved into the LMP1 category in 2009, entering a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S LMP1 in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours. With sportscar ace Danny Watts partnering Nick Leventis, it was an impressive first year in the top echelon of prototype racing, and included pole for Round 1 in Barcelona and a run to 14th in class at Le Mans.

A new partnership with Honda Performance Development in 2010 opened a new chapter for Strakka Racing, when it ran an LMP2 twin-turbo V6 engined HPD ARX-01c in the Le Mans Series with Jonny Kane joining Nick and Danny in the driver line-up. It took pole position in all five rounds and won all the races it finished – including an outright win at the Hungaroring, a series first for an LMP2 car, and set the fastest lap in all races. It narrowly missed out on the title due to two DNFs.

The highlight of 2010 was the Le Mans 24 Hours, when took LMP2 pole and won the class by setting five new event records along the way, including the highest-ever overall finish for an LMP2 chassis - 5th.

At the end of 2010, the team’s achievements were recognised by the British Racing Drivers Club, with the award of the prestigious Nigel Moores Trophy for outstanding achievement in international motorsport.

2011 was a character-building year for the entire Strakka Racing team, as new LMS regulations meant that the HPD ARX-01d had to run with an air-restricted performance disadvantage. Despite this, the team finished all rounds of the LMS, qualified on pole twice (Spa and Silverstone), finished on the podium twice (Paul Ricard and Spa) and finished runner-up in LMP2 for a second consecutive season.

In 2012, Strakka will race a new 3.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engined Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a in the FIA World Endurance Championship.