Young Driver AMR: Third in Qualifying Race at Zolder

Sunday, April 10, 2011



Young Driver AMR will start from a good third place into the Championship Race of the Belgian round of the GT1 World Championship at Zolder. Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (CZE) finished third in Saturday’s Qualifying Race in the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9. Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner had bad luck in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin, when Mücke was hit by a Lamborghini in the first corner and had subsequently to retire from the race.

A start incident robbed Young Driver AMR the chance for a possible win in the Qualifying Race. Stefan Mücke started from second position into the Qualifying Race and was already in front after the first corner, when the Lamborghini, which started from Pole Position, hit hard on the left rear wheel, which caused Mücke to spin. Luckily, Mücke survived the spun without further damage to the car, but in the third lap the suspension broke as a result to the first lap incident.

Tomas Enge started from fourth into race and had to drive through the gravel to avoid damage to the car after the first lap incident, but still managed to stay in fourth place. In the latter part of the race, Alex kept the fourth place and gained one position in the final minutes of the race, finishing third.

In tomorrow’s Championship Race, Alex Müller and Tomas Enge will start from the second row of the grid in third Position, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner had not only the bad luck to be victims of the starting incident, but as a result of the DNF, they have to start from the back of the grid into the Championship Race.

Driver quotes after the race:

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “I was really lucky to survive the first corner incident almost trouble free. I was hit by a Nissan and thought the race was over, but I was able to continue the race. The car was the really fast, but as everybody could see it was quite difficult to overtake today. But the third place is a great result and a very good starting position for the Championship Race.”

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “When Tomas gave me the car, he already told me that the steering wheel is not in the correct position after the first lap incident. I had some bad understeer due to that and struggled a bit when I followed the car in front of me very close. Hopefully we will have abetter start in the Championship Race tomorrow, but third place is solid foundation for the race tomorrow."

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Nicky Pastorelli in the Lamborghini hit my left rear tire quite badly at the start. Immediately I noted that there was something not ok with the car and after three laps the suspension broke as result to the contact. It is really a shame, tomorrow it will be a really hard to job when we have to start from the back of the grid."

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „We have to start from the back into the Championship Race, that will not be an easy job. But we had a similar situation in Abu Dhabi and finished with a good result, so I hope the same for tomorrow.”

Hardy Fischer (team principal): “The incident in the first corner was a shame, that prevented us to score an even better result today. But I’m not too unhappy with the third place. That is a excellent result and gives all chances for tomorrow.”

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