Its 05:25am as I write and I am glued to the TV screen. Our good friend, Olly Bryant has just finished another session in the Aston Martin Vantage in the 24hr Le Mans. Last year was his first drive in the endurance race and even though I follow Formula One, I never thought that I would be as interested in other car racing as I found myself watching the race for a very unhealthy proportion of the 24 hours. But it was great entertainment and in the end, the whole family were watching. We had one screen with the live coverage and another screen with the live statistics for all the teams. We were totally addicted.  So when Olly asked me if Henley Finance would like to get involved this year and sponsor him, we jumped at the chance.

The Beechdean Aston Martin Racing team are doing really well at the moment, an incredible 3^rd in LMGTE-Am class, with two other drivers, the team owner, Andrew Howard and Aston Martin youngster, Ross Gunn. As I write, Andrew Howard has just put in the fastest lap time in the class of 3:53.797 which if they keep this up, could translate to 2^nd place. This would be fantastic as during the test, the team completed a portion of the 8,469 mile circuit and came sixth. We are long time followers of Olly’s achievements, so wherever they finish we will be raising a glass to him.

My regret is that I am not in the pit lane with them, still, I will have plenty of opportunity to wander around Henley with my Beechdean AMR/ Henley Finance team jacket, sporting the logos as I don’t think the novelty will wear off for a while.

This is the first sponsorship of its kind that Henley Finance has become involved in and it is a privilege to be associated with Olly Bryant, the Beechdean AMR team and Le Mans 24 Hour and we wish them every success.