Oxford racing driver James Walker and his JMW Motorsport team-mate Rob Bell took an outstanding victory in round one of the 2011 Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard this afternoon.

This was Walker's first European sportscar race, driving the No.66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 in the GTE-Pro class, the top GT class of the Le Mans Series.

It was Bell who took the rolling start from third place and, after managing to avoid the carnage when the lights went green but the safety car was still on track, he found himself in fourth place. He set off after the Ferrari ahead of him and took third just before the one-hour mark.

Soon after it was time for Walker's debut and he didn’t disappoint: “I really enjoyed that,” said James when he stepped out of the car. “I had a good battle with the Felbermayr Porsche and learned a huge amount about sportscar racing, especially when I lost my right side mirror, which makes turning into a corner blind very interesting!”

At the halfway mark Rob was back in the Ferrari and up to second place after the car in front received a stop-go penalty.

The No.66 Ferrari took the lead when the dominant AF Corse team’s No.51 Ferrari of ex-F1 drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni suffered a problem. Walker jumped in and didn’t relinquish the lead throughout his run. Then a final stint from Bell would see him take it to the flag and take an historic victory; the first win for the brand new Ferrari 458. “For my first sportscar race in Europe that was one hell of a start,” said Walker after the race. “We’ve only had the car for a week and it’s so special for us to have taken the first 458 win. The car was great throughout the six hours.

"Rob did a top job, the team didn’t miss a beat and Dunlop gave us a great tyre. I’m working hard to keep learning as fast as I can and I couldn’t have asked for a better start than this.”