Return to the home page Contact the team Privacy policy on this website RML Lola Mazda B08/86
RML AD Group racing with Lola and Mazda
Click here for the latest news from RML AD Group
Information about racing with RML AD Group
Information and galleries for the motorsport media
Sponsorship opportunities with RML AD Group
Shop, downloads and merchandising from team RML AD Group
Ideas and innovations from RML AD Group

CHRIS DYSON

Lead driver and Sporting Director of Dyson Racing, Chris was familiar with the Lola-Mazda B09/86 Coupé even before he joined RML for pre-season testing in 2009. At the time he was sharing a similar chassis with Yorkshire's’s Guy Smith in the American Le Mans Series.

They went on to have a good 2009 season, finishing on the LMP2 podium in three out of the first five races, including second at St Petersburg and Long Beach, and a third in Salt Lake City. Technical problems sidelined the Mazda-powered Lola at Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Road America and Mosport, but hit the high notes once again for Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, where Chris and Guy took a deserved class win.

They then rounded off the year by finishing a technical second in the final race at Laguna Seca, although didn't score points as a result of agreeing to experiment with a new biobutanol fuel formulation - which clearly worked. For a while they'd even been in conmtention for an overall win.

Born in 1978, Chris has been involved in motorsport since he was a child. Dyson Racing was founded in 1985, 26 years ago, by Rob Dyson, father to Chris, and the team has been a prominent competitor in the ALMS since 1999.

Until signing a deal to run the Mazda-engined Lola at the end of 2008, Dyson Racing had campaigned a pair of Porsche RS Spyders in the ALMS, finishing third in LMP2 in 2008 and helping Porsche to the manufacturer’s title. The year before they had finished as runners-up in LMP2, with Chris Dyson and co-driver Guy Smith claiming fourth in the individual driver’s championship.

Chris had finished fifth in the LMP1 championship in 2006, following on from his second place in 2005, on both occasions driving a Lola AER. In 2003 Chris had won the ALMS LMP 675 championship with four wins, including the class at Sebring. In sixty-eight starts in the ALMS, Chris has sixty-seven top ten finishes and twenty-nine podiums to his credit.

In 2008 Chris finished third in LMP2 at Sebring, but despite a promising front-row start to the 2009 race, the #16 BP Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda B09/86 he shared with Guy Smith retired after 127 laps. The team’s second car in 2009 was co-driven by Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchiiti.

Before signing to drive with RML Chris had raced at Le Mans once before. In 2004 he joined Jan Lammers and Katsumoto Kaneishi in the Racing for Holland Dome-Judd LMP1 to finish seventh overall; the highest-placed American.

Chris and Guy were back together again in 2010, competing in the American Le Mans Series once more, and sharing the cockpit of the updated Dyson Racing Lola Mazda with a third driver; Briton Andy Meyrick, for the year's major endurance races at Sebring, Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca.

Please note: This biography has not been updated since 2010.

Chris Dyson driving with RML AD Group, Le Mans 2009


Birthdate 24th February 1978
Nationality
American (Born Poughkeepsie, NY)
Status
Single
Helmet
Red, white & blue
Race Debut
1993 (Karting)
Highlights

2000: Rookie of the Year, SCCA
2002: Runner-up, Grand Am SR1
2003: Champion LM675, ALMS
2005: Runner-up ALMS (8 podiums)
2006: 5th LMP1 ALMS
2007: 4th LMP2 ALMS, 2nd LMP2 Petit Le Mans
2008: 6th LMP2 ALMS
, 3rd LMP2 Sebring 12 Hrs
2009: 1st LMP2 Petit Le Mans

Le Mans
2004: Racing for Holland Dome, 7th overall
2009: Lola Mazda (RML) retired (engine)
Notes
Chris Dyson is Sporting Director of Dyson Racing in the United States, and the son of Dyson racing's founder, Rob Dyson


Click here to visit the Dyson Racing website