Cadillac Signs JJ Lehto and Confirms Christophe Tinseau for Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans
FOR RELEASE: January 24, 2002Cadillac Signs JJ Lehto and Confirms Christophe Tinseau for Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans
DETROIT, January 23, 2001 - Team Cadillac announced today that Finnish driver JJ Lehto and Frenchman Christophe Tinseau will join the team at this year's classic endurance races in Sebring, Le Mans and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans). Lehto will team up with Eric Bernard and Emmanuel Collard, while Tinseau will partner Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli, as he did last year.
"It's great to have someone like JJ onboard," said Cadillac General Manager, Mark LaNeve. "Having a former Le Mans winner and multiple ALMS race winner sign for Cadillac proves that drivers of JJ's stature are convinced that we have what it takes to go for victories this year. We will do our utmost to do so."
JJ Lehto (Jyrki Jarvilehto in full) started making a name for himself in the mid-eighties when he was crowned Finnish, Scandinavian and European FF1600 Champion in 1986. The following year he won the British and European FF2000 Championships before storming to the British Formula 3 title in 1988.
After a brief spell in F3000 in 1989 he started a Formula 1 career that would see him race in 62 Grand Prix for Onyx, Dallara, Sauber and Benetton. In 1995 and 1996 he scored many podium finishes racing for General Motors' Opel brand in the German and International Touring Car Championships. In 1997 he finished second in the FIA GT Championship, scoring four wins for McLaren. After a season in CART he returned to sportscar racing with BMW in 1999, scoring six overall wins, four class wins and a further eight podium finishes in three seasons. His biggest sportscar win came in 1995 when he won the Le Mans 24 Hours for McLaren in a team managed by current Team Cadillac Director Jeff Hazell.
Christophe Tinseau has been part of the Cadillac sportscar program since its inception, racing for the DAMS team in the FIA and ALMS Championships in 2000 and for Team Cadillac in the 2001 ALMS program. Together with Emmanuel Collard he scored Cadillac's first podium finish in Mosport in August last year.
Team Cadillac presented its new Northstar LMP 02 in Sebring, Florida, one week ago. Between now and the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, the team will run a 26-day test schedule which includes several 24-hour endurance tests. On March 16th, the team and all six drivers will give the Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 its race debut.