Although the season starts in earnest this weekend with round one of the FIA GT Championship at Monza, Thomas Erdos has already enjoyed a very promising start to 2004.

It is a rare treat for the Brazilian to head into a new year knowing exactly what he’ll be racing, when and where. Following on from a secure season in FIA GT last year, co-driving with Mike Newton in the Graham Nash run Saleen S7-R, he rounded off 2003 with an impressive prototype debut at Le Mans with RML. Driving the their MG Lola EX257, he placed the car on pole for the inaugural Le Mans Endurance Series 1000 kilometers event. With only testing experience in the nimble prototype before the day, this was a typically impressive performance from the Brazilian, confirming his natural talent. Unfortunately, a couple of minor technical problems denied the squad a top finish, but it was a promising beginning.

This was followed in early January by official testing for the Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in Florida. In a break from their normal routine, Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton joined Michael Shank Racing in one of the new Doran JE-4 Lexus-powered Daytona Prototypes, with Tommy emerging as quickest of all the team’s drivers as they prepared for the race proper at the beginning of February.