Young Driver AMR: Brno race report

Darren Turner and Tomas Enge score first podium for Young Driver

Tomas Enge (CZ) and Darren Turner (GB) brought a first podium finish for Young Driver AMR in the GT1 World Championship. Enge/Turner finished second in their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 in Sunday's third round of the World Championship at Brno (CZ) and only missed the victory briefly with a gap of 0,7 seconds. Stefan Muecke (D) and Christoffer Nygaard (DK) had bad luck in the second Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9 and retired halfway trough the race after a technical defect.

The start wasn't trouble free for Tomas Enge. The Czech started from second position into his home race, but as the grid wasn't properly sorted out at the start, Enge expected another formation lap and pulled off the gas. Although the pole starting car made a false start, there was no second formation lap, and as Enge backed off the gas, he found himself in the middel of the field before the first corner. From 16th position, the former Formula One driver battled back to the front and was already in 11th, when the pit stop window opened halfway trough the race during a safety car period. During the pit stop and the mandatory driver change, the Young Driver crew worked perfectly and performed one of the quickest pit stop of the race. When Darren Turner went out for the second half of the race he was in second position, so Enge/Turner had gained an unbelievable nine positions just with the perfect pit work by the Young Driver crew. Turner chased the leading Ford GT until the end of the race and finally finished second, only 0,7 seconds behind the leader.

Stefan Muecke had bad luck at the start in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9. Due to a problem with the wheel hub, Muecke didn't make it to the starting grid in time and had to start from the pits. After the start he quickly battled through the field and set an impressive quickest lap of the entire race, but halfway through the race the problem with the wheel hub occurred again and Muecke had to retire.

Quotes:

Tomas Enge (#7 Aston Martin DBR9):
"The starting procedure was definitely not ok. I went already to the race director and told him about that. There was no green light, which means there will be another formation lap. But our fantastic pit work brought us to second position. The last laps were really thrilling with the great battle of Darren (Turner) with the leading car. It's a great comeback for the entire to finish second after our bad luck at Silverstone, and it's especially nice for me to come second in front of my home crowd."

Darren Turner (#7 Aston Martin DBR9):
"My car was really lovely through the race, just perfect. Our pit work is always great, but what our guys did today was unbelievable. Second place is great for the team that worked that hard, it's good to score points here."

Stefan Muecke (#8 Aston Martin DBR9):
"I had to start from the pits, but could quickly close the gap to the cars in front of me. I had some really nice fights and could make up some positions. It was a lot of fun, the car was really great. But unfortunately there was a problem with the wheel hub."

Christoffer Nygaard (#8 Aston Martin DBR9):
"Due to the retirement just when I should overtook the car from Stefan, there was no race for me. That's racing, next time we will attack again."

Hardy Fischer, team principal Young Driver AMR:
"Darren and Tomas drove a great race. But I'm even more impressed by our pit crew. We have a great team which does an absolute amazing pit work. I have really have to thank our mechanics and engineers for their work. The last weeks have been unbelievable busy for everyone. We had a damaged car at Silverstone and the crash at Spa, they had to work very hard and I'm really they have been rewarded with second place here. That wouldn't have been possible without their great work."