DAMS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DAMS is a racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsports. DAMS (an acronym for Driot-Arnoux Motorsport) was founded in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and former Ferrari Formula 1 driver René Arnoux. Its headquartered in Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti circuit.
Right from its inception, the French team entered the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, which they won in 1990 with Érik Comas, 1992 with Olivier Panis and 1994 with Jean-Christophe Boullion. DAMS were one of many French teams that were part of the Elf young driver sponsorship program. They stayed in F3000 until 2002, the following year switching their effort to the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, which they won that same year with Argentinian Jose Maria Lopez.
Aside from F3000, DAMS tried joining the Formula 1 World Championship in 1995, with a car developed by Reynard, but lack of funds prevented the team from advancing. Starting from 1997, Driot's team diversified into sports car racing, entering the FIA GT Championship in partnership with Panoz. Splitting up in the following year, DAMS ran a Lola-Judd B98/10 in the SportsRacing World Cup, winning four races, as well as participating in the American Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours. In 2000 and 2001, DAMS associated themselves with General Motors, preparing the works Cadillac Northstar LMP prototypes for the American Le Mans Series, FIA Sportscar Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, but once again failed to get any results. DAMS helped the Michel Vaillant movie crew in the 24 hour race in 2002, and then switched their effort to the FIA GT. In 2003, they tried entering two Nissan 350Z, but once again funds prevented the French team from developing the Japanese car. In 2004, they teamed with Lamborghini and entered two Murciélago R-GT cars in the final rounds of the FIA GT Championship.
In 2005, DAMS is servicing three teams in the newly-created A1 Grand Prix series: A1 Team France, A1 Team Switzerland and A1 Team Mexico. DAMS' owner Jean-Paul Driot is also one of the franchise owners for A1 Team France.
