Nigel Stepney

Daventry UK: Nigel Stepney, was killed in a car accident this morning.

Kent Police reported “Emergency crews were called to the M20 at just before 1.30am and the carriageway was closed for eight hours. Police said the silver VW van had stopped on the hard shoulder before Mr Stepney got out and left it unattended – before being struck.”

He was team manager and chief mechanic of JRM Racing. He started in Formula One as a mechanic at Shadowin 1977, then Team Lotus before moving to Benetton for the late 1980s and early 90s and then to Scuderia Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn. He was Chief Mechanic at Ferrari and later became Race and Test Technical Manager.

Nigel Joined JRM in 2010 after a long and distinguished career in Formula One. He was the driving force behind the development of the Nissan GT-R GT car in JRM’s role as the Official Partner of Nissan Motorsports International (Nismo).

Under Nigel’s excellent stewardship, JRM won the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship with Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr – a success that was also rewarded with JRM receiving the coveted RAC Tourist Trophy.

A year later, Nigel led JRM into the World Endurance Championship with an LMP1-specification Honda. The team finished the season third overall in the LMP1 category and also claimed sixth place at the Le Mans 24h.

In 2013, Nigel continued to mastermind the development of the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 – a car that Nissan’s GT Academy team, RJN, drove to both the PRO AM Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

James Rumsey, the owner of JRM, paid tribute to Nigel. He said: “From the moment Nigel joined JRM in 2010, he was a vitally important member of the team and brought a level of engineering experience to us that was unrivalled.

“A man that engineered Ayrton Senna at Lotus and helped to guide Michael Schumacher to five Formula One world championships with Ferrari was the perfect candidate to establish JRM as a serious team in circuit-based motorsport and the role that he played in achieving that standard will never be underestimated or forgotten.

“Nigel was an intense and fierce competitor and always strived for excellence in our racing. We certainly could not have achieved our level of success without his leadership and experience. Away from the track, he was a focused, driven and passionate member of the JRM Group, and a loving father to his family.

“The rest of the engineering and race team here at JRM learned an unimaginable amount from Nigel in the four short years he was with us and his death this morning has shocked everyone to the core.

Today, the motorsport world has lost one of its greatest characters and competitors. He will be sorely missed and we send our sincere condolences to his family and the many friends he leaves behind. Our prayers and thoughts are with Ash and Sabine.”