JMB Racing is a racing team from

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

that competes in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

. It was founded in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in 1995 as JB Racing by Jean-Michel Bouresche and

Jean-Pierre Jabouille Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille (born 1 October 1942) is a French former racing driver. He raced in 55 Formula One Grands Prix, collecting two wins during the first years of Renault's turbocharged programme in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Jabou ...

. 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 The Andros Trophy (''Trophée Andros'') is the French national ice racing championship. History The idea of an ice racing series first became an idea when professional racer Max Mamers (French Rallycross Champion 1982 and 1983 with Talbot Ma ...

and the Porsche Pirelli Supercup in the 1995 season, winning the 2 litre class in the first with Jean-Pierre Malcher and

Jacques Laffite Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1. ...

, and taking the title in the second with Malcher, repeating the win the following year with

Emmanuel Collard Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques. Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Serie ...

. For 1997, Bouresche and Jabouille went international, purchasing a

Porsche 911 GT1 The Porsche 911 GT1 is a car designed and developed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street-legal version for homologation (motorsport), homologation purposes. The ...

to race in the brand new

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

, with Emmanuel Collard and Jürgen von Gartzen, also taking part in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

. The team was backed by the primary sponsor

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

. The increased presence of factory teams drove JB Racing away from the FIA GT Championship, so instead the team purchased two

Ferrari 333 SP The Ferrari 333 SP is a sports prototype race car that was built by Italian race car manufacturer Dallara and later Michelotto to compete in the World Sports Car championship for Ferrari. Unveiled at the end of 1993, at the behest of amateur rac ...

s to race in the

International Sports Racing Series The FIA Sportscar Championship was a sports car racing series created by John Mangoletsi and was eventually taken control of by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a series similar to the FIA GT Championship, concentrating ...

from 1998, dropping Marlboro as a sponsor in place of Italian manufacturing firm Giesse. The French team stayed in this

sports-prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

championship for three years, winning the drivers titles with Collard and

Vincenzo Sospiri Vincenzo Sospiri (born 7 October 1966) is an Italian former racing driver. Early career In 1981, at the age of 15, Sospiri started racing in the Italian 100cc karting championship. In a karting career described by Michael Schumacher as 'dominati ...

in 1998 and 1999 and

David Terrien David Terrien (born 27 October 1976 in Nantes) is a French racing driver. He has competed in such series as International Formula 3000 and the French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for ...

and

Christian Pescatori Christian Pescatori is a professional racecar driver from Italy. He was born in Brescia, on 1 December 1971. Pescatori started his career in single-seater racing, becoming Italian Formula 3 Champion in 1993, before moving up to Formula 3000. He ...

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 and . In 2000 JB, now called JMB, also made a return to GT racing with the new

Ferrari 360 Modena The Ferrari 360 (Type F131) is a two-seater, mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car manufactured by Italian automotive manufacturer Ferrari from 1999 until 2005. It succeeded the Ferrari F355 and was replaced by the Ferrari F430 in 2004. Deve ...

as the official Ferrari demonstrator, taking second place overall in the

6 Hours of Vallelunga The 6 Hours of Vallelunga (''6 Ore di Vallelunga'' in Italian), also called 6 Hours of Rome (''6 Ore di Roma'' in Italian), is an endurance sports car racing event held annually at the ACI Vallelunga Circuit in Vallelunga, Italy. First establishe ...

. 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 The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

and

Sebring 12 Hours The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second rou ...

. In 2003, in addition to taking second place in the N-GT category with

Andrea Bertolini Andrea Bertolini (born 1 December 1973, in Sassuolo) is an Italian professional racing driver currently driving for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the official test driver of the Maserati factory. Bertolini began racing a ...

and

Fabrizio De Simone Fabrizio De Simone (born 30 March 1971) is an Italian racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since ...

, JMB Racing graduated to the main GT category with a

Ferrari 550 Maranello The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ...

. However, the French team used the car developed by

N.Technology N.Technology is an Italian auto racing team, founded by Mauro Sipsz and Monica Bregoli. Team history N.Technology (originally named Nordauto Squadra Corse or Team Nordauto) were set up to manage the worldwide sporting activities of the Fiat Gro ...

, more troublesome than the

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile, cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advan ...

version, and drivers Pescatori and

Boris Derichebourg Boris Derichebourg is a former racing driver and current President of Derichebourg Multiservices, born on March 16, 1978, in Enghien-les-Bains (Val-d'Oise). Career Boris Derichebourg began his career as a car driver and competed in his first k ...

were only competitive after upgrading to the 575 GTC. In 2004, JMB Racing changed its address to

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 Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver. Mercedes Juniors Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 C ...

and

Jaime Melo Jaime Melo, also known as Jaime Melo Jr. (born 24 April 1980), is a Brazilian professional racing driver best known for his success in grand tourers as Ferrari driver. In 2006, he won the FIA GT Championship in the GT2 class driving for AF Co ...

. JMB also took the Drivers title in the

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

with

Roman Rusinov Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver who competed in the FIA World Endu ...

in a 360 Modena and was third in the

Italian GT Championship The Italian GT Championship (''Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo'') is an Italian sports car series founded in 2003 and organized by the Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) and the Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana (CSAI). It replaced a ...

, with the old 550 Maranello. 2005 Maserati Lotus ZIC

JMB was one of the first teams in the FIA GT to race the brand new

Maserati MC12 The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. ...

in 2005. Wendlinger and Bertolini won at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is of ...

but missed the win at the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was ...

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 The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled at ...

, 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 The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

. In 2007, JMB divided its time between the FIA GT, European GT3 and the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. 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.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jmb Racing French auto racing teams Monegasque auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1995 1995 establishments in France 24 Hours of Le Mans teams FIA GT Championship teams FIA Sportscar Championship entrants European Le Mans Series teams International GT Open teams Porsche Supercup teams Red Bull sports teams Auto racing teams disestablished in 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series teams