Hexis AMR Aston Martin duo Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp will be on maximum attack when the GT1 season resumes at Silverstone next weekend.

The duo currently lie fourth in the Drivers' Standings, and have one Championship Race victory to their credit following their triumph in the opening round at Abu Dhabi.

The last two rounds have been less successful however, with their No.3 DB9 taking just six points from the last four races. Bad luck has been largely to blame, with the duo qualifying on the front row at the Sachsenring before falling victim to the opening lap melee which forced them to retire - and to start Sunday's race from the back of the grid.

Heading into Silverstone, a track well suited to the Aston Martin DB9, Piccione and Dusseldorp insist victory is their main aim as they look to extract the maximum points from the weekend.

"For me, my objective is clear - we have to fight for the win in both races and bring the maximum points back," Piccione declared. "We have no ballast, and I expect the Aston Martin to be really fast on its home ground.

"I love Silverstone and I'm really looking forward to going there - it is a track you can really attack every lap. I'm also looking forward to seeing the hard work they have put into building the new facilities.

"It is home for Aston Martin, and also a bit for me as I spent four years racing in the UK."

Piccione's bullish attitude was mirrored by his young Dutch team-mate Dusseldorp, who said: "Our objective is as always; score as many points as possible. Silverstone should be a good circuit for Aston Martin, so we go for victory in the Championship Race!

"I've never driven there before, only on my PlayStation, so it will be a new experience for me. Luckily Clivio knows the track and we have the data, so I'll have to learn quickly.

"We showed good speed in Qualifying at Sachsenring, but got eliminated in the first turn for the Championship Race. We could have finished on the podium and scored a lot of points, so we have positive feelings about our pace but not about the points we got."

You can follow the progress of Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp and the rest of the GT1 field when the season resumes at Silverstone on 3-5 June. Live streaming of qualifying and both races will be available via GT1TV.

GT1 World

Aston Martin’s new V12 Zagato endurance race car concept has completed its first running under race conditions in the 53rd ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN race at the Nürburgring, just one week on from its first public appearance at the Villa D’Este Concours.

The typically eventful four-hour race amongst more than 150 other competitors formed part of vital preparations ahead of a two-car V12 Zagato entry at the Nürburgring 24-hour race in late June. The new V12 Zagato was joined by four other Aston Martins in the field, including the factory supported V8 Vantage (‘Smurf’) and V12 Vantage (Kermit).

The V12 Zagato completed useful development laps during the four-hour race and while experiencing some inevitable teething issues, accrued valuable data which can be used to hone the car ahead of the 24-hour race next month.

Aston Martin’s Head of Motorsport, David King said: “For V12 Zagato today was all about working on our race setup and developing the car ahead of the 24-hour race. Clearly, the car is still in the very early stages of development having only been unveiled a week ago and it was important for us to take as much learning and data as possible from today and give our drivers chance to familiarise themselves with the car.

“In terms of our other runners, the V12 Vantage was very unfortunate to be caught up in an incident on the first lap but managed to limp to the pits where the team heroically made the necessary repairs to get it running and back in the race. Today’s major highlight though proved our V8 Vantage with Darren (Turner) and Jurgen (Stumpf) who drove superbly to a second in class finish.”

Making its world debut at the Villa D’Este Concours last weekend, the Aston Martin V12 Zagato won the Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes on the shores of Lake Como, Italy.

Introduced as a modern interpretation of the famous Aston Martin and Zagato collaboration in the 50th anniversary year of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, the V12 Zagato was shown for the first time at the prestigious international event, sparking great interest amongst visitors and customers.

Reviving a collaboration which has produced some of the most beautiful and sought-after cars in the world, the partnership takes inspiration from the past, to create a modern descendent of classics such as the DB4GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and DB7 Zagato based on Aston Martin’s ultimate performance interpretation of the Vantage range: the V12 Vantage.

Following further development work in the UK, Aston Martin’s pair of new V12 Zagato’s will return to the Nürburgring on 11th June, competing in the next ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN race as final preparation for the gruelling Nürburgring 24-hour race, to be held over 25th – 26th June.

Aston Martin

The GT300 class got off to a good start with no major trouble. The pole-sitting No. 11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP 458 (Tetsuya Tanaka) led the pack through the first corner. Chasing No. 11 in the early stages of the race was the No. 66 triple a Vantage GT2 driven by Kazuki Hoshino. Some distance behind these two machines came the No. 87 RIRE Lamborghini RG-3 (Manabu Orido) in third, followed by a four-way battle for 4th place between the No. 4 HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW (Nobuteru Taniguchi), the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), the No. 26 Verity TAISAN Porsche (Hideshi Matsuda) and the No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama) that saw the positions change numerous times.

As Tanaka in car No. 11 tried to maintain a good margin of lead, he was chased in the middle stages of the race by Hoshino in car No. 66, who gradually narrowed the gap to within one second. No. 66 (Hoshino) was the first to make a decisive move, returning to the pit at the end of lap 21 for an early pit stop. As the second driver for No. 66, Hiroki Yoshimoto drove hard until No. 11 made its pit stop on lap 28. When No. 11 returned to the track with Hiranaka at the wheel, No. 66 (Yoshimoto) was right behind it. With his tires not yet warmed up on the first lap out of the pit, Hiranaka was helpless as Yoshimoto went past him. Yoshimoto continued to push hard and open up the margin over Hiranaka to 10 seconds at one point.

This appeared to put the No. 66 triple a Vantage GT2 in good position to take its first-ever GT win. But, an unexpected pothole waited ahead. On the 55th lap, the GT500 class No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Kohei Hirate) bumped No. 66 (Yoshimoto) as it was trying to pass it and sent it into a spin. This allowed No. 11 (Hiranaka) to slip by into the lead again.

A determined Yoshimoto pushed hard to recover, however. Unable to match Yoshimoto's pace, Hiranaka in car No. 11 was overtaken by him with five laps remaining in the race. Back in the lead again, Yoshimoto drove the No. 66 triple a Vantage GT2 on to victory. It was a first victory for Yoshimoto and for the team and the Aston Martin in SUPER GT competition. For the No. 11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP 458 it was the second consecutive 2nd place in the new season following the result at Fuji earlier in the month.

Finishing 3rd after running much of the race alone came No. 87 RIRE Lamborghini RG-3 (Orido > Atsushi Yogo). After the fierce multi-car battle for 4th in the early stages of the race, it came down to a dual between two "itasha" (cars with anime or manga characters painted on them) cars, the No. 27 PACIFIC NAC IKAMUSUME Ferrari (Yutaka Yamagishi > Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 4 HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW (Taniguchi/Taku Bamba), of which No. 4 emerged to claim 4th place and No. 27 finished 5th. This meant that the first five places in the GT300 class went to European makes, while the first Japanese make to finish was the No. 74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Morio Nitta > Yuji Kunimoto) in 6th place.

The new Aston Martin V12 Zagato will make its racing debut on Saturday 28th May at the 53rd ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN race at the historic Nürburgring racetrack in Germany.

Based on the acclaimed V12 Vantage and sporting a beautifully handcrafted aluminium body, the V12 Zagato was unveiled last weekend at the renowned Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa D’Este ,Italy. After a public vote the V12 Zagato saw off tough competition from other manufacturers and was honoured with winning the Design Award for the Concept Cars and Prototypes class.

50 years has gone by since the creation of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, the first collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato. In this special anniversary year it seemed appropriate that the two companies come together once more to create a stunning modern interpretation.

The first DB4GT Zagato shown to the public in late 1960 spent much of its life as a racing car after launch. Later perhaps the two most famous DB4GT Zagatos, registered ‘1 VEV’ and ‘2 VEV’ were raced with success by such names as Jim Clark and Roy Salvadori. The fascinating story of these cars and the nature of high performance and low weight which drove the Zagato projects gave the inspiration for the first two V12 Zagatos to be created as endurance race cars.

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato will make its race debut at the 53rd ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN race at the Nürburgring on Saturday 28th May at 1200hrs (Central European Summer Time).

Following a successful first round of the Aston Martin Owners Club-organised 2011 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge series where Nicholas Mee Racing finished in a combative 4th position, the team is now preparing for round 2 to be held on the new 3-mile Snetterton 300 circuit on Saturday 28th May – sixty years after the AMOC staged the Norfolk track’s first ever motor race meeting.

NMR’s Talent Works-sponsored V8 Vantage GT4 will be driven by team regular Karsten le Blanc, and he’ll be partnered by Dan de Zille (24) who rejoins the team following an impressive and successful début in last October’s Britcar 24hr at Silverstone. Dan is also competing in the 2011 British Formula Ford Championship where he currently lies 5th in the standings.

Fourteen Aston Martins took part in round 1 of this year’s GT4 Challenge and among the drivers were Aston Martin’s Design Director Marek Reichmann, Aston Martin Chairman David Richards, and Christian Horner, Team Principal of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. At Snetterton the AML-entered car will again be driven by Marek Riechman, who’ll this time be joined by motoring journalists Gary Watkins and Andrew Frankel.

“It’s great to be back with NMR,” commented de Zille, “I can’t wait to get back in the car again, not least because it will be comforting to have a roof over my head after the craziness of Formula Ford!”

Testing will take place on Friday 27th May, with the 3hr GT4 Challenge race starting at 1pm the following day.

Our first British GT outing of 2011 was Round 2 (we didn't go to the first round at Oulton Park). This was a 120 minute, single pit-stop round on the new Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk.

As last year, the Vantage Racing car is our DBRS9 GT3 which will be driven by Tom Black and Stuart Hall in three of the six rounds. Although there are several newer cars on the grid, our performance in early season testing had given us confidence that we could put up a strong showing. We lost the first Saturday practice session to a broken drive shaft and the very changeable weather conditions for the second session meant that we had numerous changes from slicks to wets and very limited time in the car as a result. Despite this, Stuart qualified us in fourth place in an impressive 1:51.8, behind the CRS Racing Ferrari 458, the United Autosports Audi R8 and Hector Lester's Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

In the race, we ran a contrarian strategy, putting our pro driver out first, in contrast to most other teams who kept the best for last. Stuart quickly took advantage of the less experienced drivers around him and went from P4 to P1 on the first lap. He then set about building up an impressive lead of over 7 seconds which, unfortunately, was eliminated by a safety car on Lap 10 following a nasty collision between the two Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3Rs which saw them both retire. As a result of the long safety car, our lead was only 1.6s by the time Stuart pitted on Lap 30.

After a faultless pit-stop Tom took over in P7 and quickly found himself under assault from the impressive field. Despite falling back to P8 on Lap 35, he had recovered to P7 by Lap 44 and had managed a string of laps around 1:58, comfortably ahead of his best in practice. With 30 minutes to go we were beginning to look fairly solid in P7 when our luck changed. Tom was involved in a collision with Mat Griffin's Ferrari 458 which resulted in his retirement with suspension damage. Although not the result we had hoped for, we did put up a very respectable performance on which we should be able to build at Brands Hatch on 19th June.

Image copyright Richard Leach

Exclusive incar and pit action from the 1000km of SPA race in Belgium, see the engine change at high speed, Fabien letting a Ferrari driver know his feelings and much more...



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Aston Martin will unveil the stunning new V12 Zagato endurance racer concept on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Villa D’Este Concours tomorrow.

Reviving a collaboration which has produced some of the most beautiful and sought-after cars in the world, the partnership takes inspiration from the past, to create a modern descendent of classics such as the DB4GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and DB7 Zagato based on Aston Martin’s ultimate performance interpretation of the Vantage range: the V12 Vantage.

Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin said: “The Zagato design language is a perfect complement to our design and engineering expertise. After 50 years of the two companies being associated with each other the partnership has produced some of the world’s most iconic cars.

“Of course, fifty years ago Italian design houses were widely seen as leading the way with new designs but now and supported by our independency, Aston Martin has its own in-house design ability so this new venture with Zagato is more collaborative than it perhaps would have been in the past.

“The task for us has been to create a concept that is a natural successor to those iconic cars that have gone before. Matching the technology of the age with the traditional skills vital to deliver such a bespoke and exclusive sports car will lead to a strictly limited run of road going V12 Zagatos.”



Work began in 2010 with initial meetings between Aston Martin and Zagato where sketches incorporating the design DNA of both companies were discussed and a decision was made to proceed with the project.

Director of Design, Marek Reichman added: “The Design team at Gaydon spent time refining the concept using a mixture of the latest computer based modelling techniques along with crafting traditional clay models to give a real world idea of proportion, stance and detail.”

"The V12 Zagato is an elegant yet brutal design which reflects the great balance between race performance and pure Aston Martin style. The original DB4GT Zagato was a true icon, powerful and graceful; the new design is a true representation of the spirit of DB4GT Zagato. The muscular organic forms define the thoroughbred nature of the car’s racing credentials."

Working alongside the initial design team was a dedicated group of Aston Martin engineers led by Chris Porritt - previously responsible for the engineering of the One-77. With the skills and knowledge gained from such specialised projects this team has worked to bring the unique design of the V12 Zagato to reality in a very short period of time.

Featuring a new handcrafted aluminium body, the V12 Zagato delivers a beautiful and muscular design not possible using pre-formed panel techniques. Using the influences and skill of nearly 100 years of heritage in the craft, every aluminium panel was formed using an English wheel and traditionally crafted body bucks. Each front wing alone comprises seven separate pieces of aluminium, combined and then hand finished to give one flowing form. Another iconic Zagato design cue is the double bubble roof created in this case from five separate pieces illustrating further the intensity of craftsmanship involved in the construction of the V12 Zagato.

Designed for the focused driver, the V12 Zagato has been honed with pure driving enjoyment in mind. The V12 Zagato combines Aston Martin’s most dynamic bonded aluminium platform with the power of the 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 510 bhp (380 kW / 517 PS), and 570 Nm (420 lb ft) of torque.



The V12 Vantage which forms the basis of the V12 Zagato has been proven on the race track as early as 2009 with a class win in its debut race at the 24 hour race at Nürburgring in close to production specification. In 2011 the car has gone on to form the basis of the new Aston Martin GT3 race car unveiled last month.

The first DB4GT Zagato shown to the public in late 1960 spent much of its life as a racing car after launch. Later perhaps the two most famous DB4GT Zagatos, registered ‘1 VEV’ and ‘2 VEV’ were raced with success by such names as Jim Clark and Roy Salvadori. The fascinating story of these cars and the nature of high performance and low weight which drove the Zagato projects gave the inspiration for the first two V12 Zagatos to be created as endurance race cars.

The racing debut of the V12 Zagato will be at the 53. ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN round at the Nürburgring on 28th May with a view to two cars racing at the 24 hour race on 25/26 June. The cars will be driven by an experienced driver team, led for the sixth year by Chief Executive Dr. Ulrich Bez.

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato will be shown for the first time at the Villa D’Este Concours on Saturday 21st May 2011.

Aston Martin V12 Zagato Endurance Race Car Specification

Body:

Two door, two seat coupe body
Bonded aluminium structure
Bespoke steel roll cage.
Hand crafted Aluminium body

Engine:

All alloy quad overhead cam 48 valve 5935cc V12
Compression ratio 10.9:1
Front mid-mounted engine, rear wheel drive

Transmission:

Rear mid-mounted, six-speed automated manual gearbox with auto shift manual/select shift manual (ASM/SSM) electric hydraulic control system
Magnesium alloy torque tube with carbon fibre propeller shaft
Twin Plate competition clutch.
Limited slip differential.

Suspension:

All round independent double wishbone with fully adjustable Multimatic DSSV dampers.

Brakes:

Front: Ventilated floating grooved discs with 6 piston callipers
Rear: Ventilated floating grooved discs with 4 piston callipers

Fuel System:

120 litre endurance racing fuel tank

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has now confirmed that the #22 Lola Aston Martin entered by Kronos Racing will participate in the 79th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11th and 12th June, following the withdrawal of the American Highcroft team's HPD LMP1.

"It's both a great relief and a great pressure," says Marc Van Dalen, team director of the operation. "There are only three weeks left to set up everything and the count down is going to run fast! But thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Marc VDS Racing Team from the preliminary practice and the unfailing support of Orbello Racing, the car owner, everything has been planned as if our participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in no doubt. We are happy that ACO has accepted our application and we are going to do our best to represent with dignity Belgium in Le Mans, in the tradition of the national Belgian team and in memory of the Francorchamps team."

The collaboration between Kronos Racing and the Marc VDS Racing Team will give three Belgian drivers the opportunity to contest the LMP1 class at the most prestigious endurance race in the world with a competitive package. For Vanina Ickx, Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin it will be a unique experience, as they battle for the podium with the other petrol-powered prototypes, such as the Pescarolos and the Orecas. The aim of the Belgian team is simple; to qualify close to tenth position and then take advantage of reliability and consistency to secure the best result possible in the race.

"This will be our second appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans," explains Jean-Michel Delporte, the program team manager. "Last year we raced our Ford GT, so we are still rookies really, as we move up to the LMP1 class this year with the Lola Aston Martin. Nonetheless we'll try and make a good race. We have reinforced the team in all areas over the winter, which has paid dividends for our GT1 campaign already, so we know we have a harmonious crew. The collaboration with Kronos Racing - who will manage the project and all communications, as well as the relationship with ACO and Michelin - allows us to focus completely on the technical development of the car, which is already a big challenge."

On the other hand, Count Marc van der Straten-Ponthoz, president of the Marc VDS Racing Team, showed his usual enthusiasm: "The chance to partner with Orbello and our friends from Kronos Racing on this project emerged spontaneously and we agreed right away, because the opportunity to be part of something that is both a great sporting and human adventure was too good to miss. Le Mans represents the height of endurance competition and to play a part in it with such an iconic car makes us very happy. We will be supporting our 100 percent Belgian crew throughout the 24 hours, wishing them a successful outcome, even if we are aware of the hazards of this mythical race."

Marc VDS

Official partner Team Hexis Racing scored a sensational victory with their Aston Martin DBR9 at the fourth round of the GT1 World Championship Race at Sachsenring, Germany this weekend. It secures the team’s placing at the top of the championship with 107 points, 17 points clear of the next team. Drivers Andrea Piccini and Christian Hohenadel drove the no. 4 Hexis DBR9 from fifth on the grid and stayed clear of a spate of early incidents to secure their first win of the 2011 season.

Christian Hohenadel
nr4 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9
"I saw that there was a bit of a mess at the start and I ended up second. The car was very good and I was able to push a lot to get passed the No.8 (Young Driver Aston Martin) and then when I got the lead I pushed again to open up the gap as I was quicker than him. It's my first win in GT1, I didn't expect it so soon. To win in Germany with all my friends here is just fantastic."

Andrea Piccini
nr4 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9
"It's never easy when you are first because so many things can happen, and the weather was unpredictable. Christian did a good job and he did most of the work for me. The car was OK, the tyres were fine and the pit stop was fantastic. I just got the car to the end. It's very nice to be leading the (drivers') championship but there is still a long way to go."

Young Driver AMR had a great home race in the German round of the GT1-World Championship at the Sachsenring in front of 45.000 spectators. Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR) claimed their second consecutive podium finish, when they came third in their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9. For Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (CZE) in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9, the streak of bad luck continued in the Championship Race, after Enge had to retire following a contact in the first lap.

Stefan Mücke had a good start into the Championship Race. The Aston Martin works driver decided to take the inside line after the light went green. That proofed to be a good decision, when some competitors made contact and spun at the outside of the first corner. Mücke found a trouble-free way trough the corner on the inside line and could take the lead. The contact of some competitors in the first corner caused a safety-car-period. After the restart, Mücke could successful defend his lead. But during the safety-car-period, the tires of the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin lost temperature and wouldn’t go back to temperature as expected. Due to that, Mücke lost the lead to another Aston Martin and a Lamborghini. After a good pit stop, Darren Turner finished the race in a good third place and secured the second podium finish in a row of the #8 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin.

For Alex Müller and Tomas Enge, things didn’t got better in the Championship Race, after they already had bad luck during the Qualifying Race. In the first lap, Enge fought with a competitor, who finally spun and touched the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin at the back of the car during the spin. The rim of the Aston Martin broke and Enge had to retire.

The next race of the GT1-World Championship takes place on 5th June at Silverstone/England, the home track of Aston Martin.

Driver quotes after the race:

Alex Müller, #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „I hope that our streak of bad luck finally has come to an end now and we will have more luck in Silverstone. After much bad luck in Portugal, this weekend was also one to forget very quick.“

Tomas Enge, #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „I had a good start and gained three positions in the first corner. But in the second corner, I made contact with another competitor. He went very wide and spun, unfortunately he contacted my car during the spin at the rear, a rim broke and I had to retire. That wasn’t a successful weekend for us. For the second weekend in a row, we had bad luck and didn’t score any points. We will fire ourselves now up for the next race in Silverstone and will fight back on the Aston Martin home track.“

Stefan Mücke, #8 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „At the start, I tried to stay at the inside line. I expected that this would be the best way through the first corner and that worked out well. After the first corner, I could take the lead. But then there was a safety-car-period and my tires lost temperature due to that. After the restart, I struggled to bring the tires back to temperature again and lost two positions. The race was very hard, as we also had some success penalty weight in the car, after we also had a good result in Portugal one week ago. The third place finish means some very good points for us.“

Darren Turner, #8 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „When I went into the car, I was directly behind the second placed Lamborghini and saw that he struggled a bit with the tires. I pushed and tried to attack him, but then the Lambo got his tires up to temperature and pulled away. Third place is a great result and brings us further up in the points ranking.“

Hardy Fischer, team principal Young Driver AMR: „I have some mixed emotions about this race. I’m quite happy with the third place finish of Stefan and Darren, the points help a lot in the drivers ranking. In the team championship, we are lacking some points, as our second car had again some bad luck. After the hard trip from Portugal to the Sachsenring, the team once again did a very good job. We had good pit stops today, I’m really proud of my team. The next race is at Silverstone, the home track of Aston Martin. We will attack again and hope to score good points with both cars.“

Young Driver AMR has all chances for a great result in their home race at the Sachsenring in Germany this weekend. Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR) provided themselves with a good starting position for the Championship Race, when they finished third in the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 in the Qualifying Race. Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (GER) were en route to a top 5-finish, when a Ford GT hit the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin und forced Müller into a spin. Müller/Enge eventually finished in 10th position.

Darren Turner started from third position into the Qualifying Race and defended his position until the mandatory driver change halfway through the race. After the pit stop, Stefan Mücke lost two places, but immediately gained one position back and finally took third place back when he overtook a Nissan two laps before the end of the race.

Alex Müller had a perfect start in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin and was in fifth position in the first half of the race. Just before the driver change, a Ford GT made contact with Müller and spun the Aston Martin. Müller lost several places and dropped to end of the field. After the driver change, Tomas Enge fought his way back and finished in 10th position.

Young Driver AMR will start into Sunday’s Championship Race from third place on the grid (Mücke/Turner) and from the fifth row (Müller/Enge).

Driver quotes after the race

Alex Müller, #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „I had a really good start and was much quicker then a Nissan in front of me. But I couldn’t pass him, as was my aero wasn’t good when I was too close to him. Then I noted a Ford GT was coming from the back, and I’m very disappointed about his move. It’s very poor from that other driver that he drove into my car and forced me to spin. Without this issue, third or fourth position would have been possible today. In the Championship Race, we will start from 10th position, that will be very hard.”

Tomas Enge #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „I didn’t had any big dramas during my stint, the car was fast und very consistent. It’s a shame that somebody drove into our car, as we lost a top-5 position due to that. But what goes around, comes around.“

Stefan Mücke, #8 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „I was very surprised when I headed out of the pits and saw two Nissan right in front of me. I could directly overtake one Nissan and the other one two laps before the finish. A third place finish at our home race is just great, that provides us with all chances for the Championship Race.”

Darren Turner, #8 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9: „At the start I couldn’t see the lights and the Nissan of Bernoldi nearly passed me. But I could keep him behind me and had a nice fight with him before I could build a gap. After the driver change, Stefan had a really good stint and I’m really pleased with the result.”

Hardy Fischer, team principal Young Driver AMR: „For the Championship Race, we have a really good starting position. It was a very poor move of the Ford driver Makowiecki to spin our car, without this we could have both cars in the front for the Championship Race. Stefan and Darren lost a little bit of time with the pit stop, but you can’t always be the quickest team in the pits. I’m quite satisfied with the result and I hope we can even do better in the Championship Race.”

Image Markus Berns

This year Barwell Motorsport will be returning to the great Spa 24 Hours event, which is part of the new Blancpain Endurance Series, with its Petronas-Barwell Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 entry.

This year for the first time ever, GT3 is the top class in the race and the fully-upgraded 2011-spec Barwell Aston has a very strong opportunity to claim outright victory. In 2009 we were running 2nd in the GT3 class before a small accident cost us time in the pits for repairs, but we still claimed 4th place and the car ran absolutely faultlessly. The fast Spa track is ideally suited to the powerful, high-downforce Aston, and with Barwell’s experience of running the car regularly at the track in the Belgian GT Championship we will have the upper hand over our rivals.

This year we have an incredibly strong driver line-up already in place, with three top professional GT drivers including former Le Mans GT2 winner Tom Kimber-Smith, and Belgian stars, Jeffrey Van Hooydonk and former Belgian GT Champion Tim Verbergt.

There is one seat still remaining for this very high-quality entry, and all interested parties with suitable funding available should contact Chris Needell at Barwell Motorsport on 01372 457788 / 07860 633971 / chris@barwellmotorsport.co.uk.

Young Driver AMR finished in a great second place in the Championship Race of the third round of the GT1 World Championship at Portimão/Portugal. Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR) scored with their first podium of the season in the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 with the second place at the demanding track at the Portuguese Algarve coast. Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (GBR) had bad luck and retired with a technical problem.

Once again, it was a strong performance of the Young Driver AMR pit crew, that made the difference. Stefan Mücke started fourth and chased the three leading Nissan until the mandatory driver change. A quick pit stop elevated Darren Turner into third position. When the leading Nissan suffered a technical problem, Mücke/Turner were promoted to second position and finally finished second and scored their first common podium finish in the GT1 World Championship.

For Alex Müller and Tomas Enge in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9, a streak of bad luck in Portugal continued in the Championship Race. Enge had to start from the back of the grid after Müller felt victim of an incident in the Qualifying Race and charged through the filed. But an issue with the alternator belt finally forced Müller to retire the Aston Martin in the second part of the race.

“I haven’t expected a podium finish here, as this is a track, which is not well suited for your car”, Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer was very pleased with the result. “Our pit crew did an excellent job today and I’m really happy for Darren and Stefan. Stefan is now one and a half years in the team and had much bad luck in the past, so I’m really happy for him to score his first podium with us. Stefan and Darren will receive some success ballast now for the next race, but I hope they can also shine in our home Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. Alex and Tomas had really bad luck this weekend, but I have no doubt that they will fight for top positions again in our home race next weekend.”

The next stop for Young Driver AMR is now at the Sachsenring in Germany next weekend. To make sure cars and equipment will arrive in time at the Sachsenring, is a matter for the boss. Team principal Hardy Fischer will drive one of the trucks with the valuable freight by himself together with the Young Driver truckies back to Germany.

Driver quotes after the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „We had some issues with the alternator belt. I really don’t know how I managed to start the car again after the driver change, as the battery was very low on power. I went out of the pits and the problems continued, the power steering was gone and I had misfires, so I had to retire.”

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “During the middle of my stint, the alternator belt came loose and I lost battery power. I’m really happy with the result of our sister car, but for Alex and me, it was a very frustrating weekend. We are now looking forward to the next race and will be very good prepared at the Sachsenring.”

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „During my stint, I was very close to the Nissan in front of me and I noted that he had a bigger drop in tire performance at the end of the stint. But even with that, I had no chance to overtake him. The team did then a brilliant job in the pits and gained us one position, this was a very good team effort today.”

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Our pit crew did an great job, the stop was perfect, even if I almost stalled the engine. I had then a very good fight with David Brabham in a Nissan behind me, but could manage to stay in front of him. We can be very happy with the fact that our car was the only car which could take on with the Nissan this weekend.”

Gulf AMR Middle East’s Fabien Giroix, Roald Goethe and Mike Wainwright suffered from the slings and arrows of technical misfortune today at the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, but battled back brilliantly to finish the 6-hour race and get some valuable racing laps under their belts before the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

An engine problem on the Aston Martin Vantage was detected just before morning warm up which resulted in an engine change – the first time the David Price-managed crew had had to perform the task within such time confines. With just four hours available, the team did a magnificent job to complete the work and get Fabien Giroix out on the track, albeit six laps down. Unfortunately an alternator issue delayed the team further but, when the No. 60 car – bearing the iconic blue and orange racing colours of Gulf Oil International – finally entered the race it continued trouble free to the chequered flag. The team were not classified, however, as the lost time in the pits meant they were not able to complete the regulation 75% of the overall winner’s race distance.

All three drivers had competed at the famous 7km Spa track previously, and used that experience profitably to produce consistently competitive lap times throughout the race. Above all, everyone within the Gulf AMR Middle East team was happy to have made their race debut in the ILMC, as Mike Wainwright explained.

“It was nice to get some miles under the belt,” said the Swiss-based businessman who drove the final two hours of the race. “It was great to be racing here at Spa and, in terms of grip levels, the car was good. This was the first time for us amongst such a big field with substantial speed differences between the classes, but the marshals were great and you could see the blue flags easily. It was mostly the Peugeots and Audis you had to get out of the way of, but other than that it wasn’t too bad.”

German driver, Roald Goethe, completed the middle section of the race (which included the only safety car period) and was equally happy to have raced at Spa. “I think you could say it was a practice session in competition, as we had nothing to compete for other than laps having unfortunately missed the first 90 minutes of the race. The moment you are out there, you forgot about the frustration of the start and it only took me 2/3 laps to get into a rhythm and ‘taste’ the ILMC race. It was great to get these laps and we now feel much more confident for Le Mans.”

Final word goes to Team Manager, David Price, who was fulsome in his praise for the Gulf AMR Middle East crew. “Everyone tells me you can’t change an engine in one of these cars in less than 7 hours and I told them they had four. It was the first time we had this group of mechanics together, including three new crew members, and it was the first time we’d done an engine change in the field. They did a sterling job and, as Roald says, performed some magic.”

Young Driver AMR finished the Qualifying Race of the Portuguese Round of the GT1 World Championship in Portimão at the Algarve coast in a promising fourth position. Darren Turner (GBR) and Stefan Mücke (GER) drove a strong race in their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin and finished fourth after starting from 13th position. Tomas Enge (CZE) and Alex Müller (GER) in the second Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 had bad luck, when Müller felt victim of a incident in the first lap and subsequently had to retire.

The starting point into the Qualifying Race wasn’t easy for Turner and Mücke. The german-british duo qualified for the fourth position, but was set back in the starting grid due to an engine change and a rule infringement in the qualifying and therefore had to start from 13th place. After a brilliant first lap, Darren Turner was already in sixth position and subsequently overtook a Lamborghini and a Corvette. He handed the Aston Martin over to Stefan Mücke in fourth position halfway through the race, Mücke finally secured the fourth place finish for Young Driver AMR after 60 minutes of racing.

The Qualifying Race of Alex Müller and Tomas Enge had a very early end. Müller was stuck between two competitors in the third corner of the first lap. He got a push from a Ford and couldn’t avoid contact with a Lamborghini, which spun in front of him. The front right suspension of the Aston Martin broke in that contact and Müller had to retire on spot.

In Sunday’s Championship Race, Mücke/Turner will start from the second row of the grid, while Müller/Enge have a hard job, as they have to start from the back of the grid after the early retirement in the Qualifying Race.

Driver quotes after the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „I was lucky to avoid contact in the first corner. But then in the third corner, a MarcVDS-Ford pushed me and I crashed into a Lamborghini, which was standing still in front of me after a spin. That was our race then, let’s hope for better luck tomorrow.”

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „I’m the starting driver in the Championship Race tomorrow and after the bad luck today, the race tomorrow will be a very hard job.”

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „In general, I’m satisfied with the fourth place, we made the maximum out of our starting position. We found a consistent set up and we were very good with on the tires. The Championship Race will be hard with the Nissan in front of us and the Lamborghini in the back. I hope for a Top-5 finish in the Championship Race.”

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „My start was average, I wasn´t too aggressive. I then lost a few places, as I was on the inside line and a few cars passed me on the outside. Then there was a carnage in Turn three and I was lucky to be on the inside, as I could slip through to sixth position. Then I passed a Lamborghini and had a really nice fight with a Corvette, which I could finally out-brake in Turn 1. Our team then did a very good job in the pits. Considering our Qualifying and the grid penalty which set us back, fourth place is a very good result.”

The first round of the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain was held on the National Circuit at Silverstone, Saturday 29th April 2011. The team had carried out intensive testing prior to the meeting but utilised the Friday to carry out some final preparations and pit-stop practices, which would prove beneficial due to an unexpected brake issue that would have severely impacted on our chances had it occurred on the race day. The JCAM backed pairing of Mark Poole and Richard Abra were well prepared for their first race of the year in their brand new 2011 specification Aston Martin Vantage GT4 race car, so with scruitineering and sign-on out of the way on the Friday, and the driver’s brief held first thing in the morning, the drivers prepared themselves for qualifying on a sunny but cold day at Silverstone.

Qualifying
The team and drivers had a dedicated strategy for qualifying and started the session at 0903hrs for the first run. Mark Poole had the most of the traffic in the early part of qualifying but continued to warm the tyres on a very cold track. On lap 8 he put in a very respectable time of 1:02.334, putting us on a provisional pole at that time. Mark knew that with a clear track he would be in the low 61’s but for now his job was done and we knew that the times would continue to fall, so Mark came in and handed over to Richard.

Richard took over with all systems fully warmed and a good set of tyres on the car. He soon brought himself up to speed and tried to attack the clock, with pole now set at a low 61 second lap. His first 2 attempts were hindered by traffic. The Vantage Racing pairing of Tom Black and Alan Bonner set a very respectable time of 1:00.820, so it was now time to attack. Richard stepped up to the challenge brilliantly, with the team spotting a gap in the traffic and he posted a time of 1:00.692 to take pole with 6 minutes of the session to go. With a quick change of tyres, Richard set-off again to gently circulate while others chased his time as hard as they could. In the end, no one could beat his time and so the team went into its first race of the season in pole position – a perfect start as front row was our target to avoid any possible issues when it came to the race.

Race
Mark was nominated as the starting driver, so after a relaxed lunch break and with plenty of fluids on board, the team pushed the car into the pit lane on time and prepared for the race start. The Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain has a quick start procedure, unlike some endurance series, where the cars proceed to the grid, form up, and then go straight into a green flag lap behind the safety car before the rolling start. Mark focussed on warming his tyres and settling down as quickly as possible so that come the start he was a ready to go. In endurance racing, unlike sprint racing, it is rarely the car that leads through the first corner that wins the race – after all you’ve got 90 minutes to go and anything could happen! So on the start, Mark gave way to both the Vantage Racing car and the Aston Martin Racing Team car, being driven by Christian Horner, Team Principal of Red Bull Racing F1 fame! In doing so, Mark avoided any potential damage and slotted nicely into P3 for the first lap. From this position the lead 3 quickly built a gap from the rest of the grid, with Mark reporting on the radio “Horner’s an animal!” So it was a case of sit tight and wait for the race to unfold.

As Mark kept pace with the leading pair easily, the team watched the timing monitors and waited for the flags to come out for what was predicted to be a “good one” when the lead pair took each other off! Thankfully, this didn’t occur but in pushing so hard at the start, we knew that our competition would suffer early on, while we conserved the car for the bigger game. Sure enough, having taken the lead, Christian Horner suffered from hot brakes and tyres, soon falling off the front pace whilst he waited for his tyres to stabilise. So it was that Mark capitalised on the moment, over taking Horner with a beautiful move that saw us back to 2nd place. As Mark began to push and chase the leader, so his tyres began to degrade as expected. This is always a tricky moment for a driver as it is a fine balance between pushing too hard and maintaining a good race pace. So whilst Mark’s pace fell away for a couple of laps as the tyres came back to him, he entertained the crowds with some expert “rallycross” manoeuvres around Luffield! However, it wasn’t long before the tyres stabilised and Mark was back on the same lap times as the leaders and then began to catch them. With Mark now reining the leaders in, the Team Manager, Jeremy Doncaster, analysed the best window to carry out the mandatory pit stop. On Lap 35, Mark came to box and the team did what it does best – another perfect pit stop! We refuelled the car, cleaned the windscreen, changed 2 tyres and carried out the driver change in 1 min 32 seconds, leaving us plenty of time to check the in-car radio link and we released the car after 2:01.128 minutes of stationary time, just 1.128 seconds over the minimum time and the car did not exceed the overall pit time of 140.1 seconds. So Richard headed out for the second part of the race, slotting perfectly back into a track position of 2nd place, with others yet to stop. The lead No.24 car from Vantage Racing pitted after us, and so when they returned to the track, Richard was just 4 seconds behind them, as we had taken over 4 seconds out of their lead in the pit lane – that’s how important a good pit stop can be. Richard saw his target and reeled in the leader within 4 laps; then with pure class out manoeuvred them to take the lead.

From there on, Richard steadily extended his lead, keeping clear of some excellent battles further down the order, to finish the race with a winning margin of 13.577 seconds after 90 minutes of superb racing. Second was Vantage Racing and the Aston Martin Lagonda Team an excellent 3rd.

Summary
The team as a whole performed superbly throughout the day, with Mark and Richard showing great potential in their first ever race as team mates. No performance is without scrutiny, so a full debrief has been carried out to make sure that we continue to improve in all areas possible. The next round takes place at Snetterton at the end of May with a 3 hour race on the new 300 Circuit, so the team will prepare for this while working on those areas that will give us the optimum performance in this important race. The season has started; we’ve set a standard – now we aim to exceed that standard at all the remaining rounds!

Generation AMR

And from sprint to endurance racing with the same aim – victory! At Monza for the first long-distance race in HEXIS AMR’s history, one of the team’s two Aston Martins led the race for a long time, and the second DBRS9 was in with a chance of a podium finish with ten minutes to go to the flag. In both cases, the team’s hopes were dashed by mechanical problems, but this performance said it loud and clear - the French squad, the current FIA GT1 World Championship leader - is not in the Blancpain Endurance Series just to make up the numbers. HEXIS AMR is starting a 3-week journey that will see the team travelling from its base in France to Portugal and then Germany for two rounds of the world championship, before tackling the second Blancpain endurance event of the season at Navarra in Spain.

Monza: HEXIS AMR fights at the front in its first endurance race!

In qualifying for the inaugural round of the new Blancpain Endurance Series, the Aston Martin DBRS9 driven by Swiss Henri Moser and Frenchmen Fred Makowiecki and Gilles Vannelet set the third-quickest time. Yann Clairay associated with Pierre-Brice Mena and Julien Rodrigues put the team’s second car in fifth place on the grid. On lap 5, Clairay took the lead of the 32-car field. Seventeen laps later, Stéphane Ortelli nipped past him to take first place. However, the Audi driven by the former Le Mans 24-Hours winner punctured, and the no. 3 Aston Martin went back into the lead before its first refueling stop, which the HEXIS AMR team carried out with its customary brilliance! Once the round of refueling stops had finished, Mena was back in front with a lead of 25 seconds. Unfortunately, just as he was about to hand over to Julien Rodrigues, he saw the warning lights flashing on the dashboard and he was forced to stop with an oil leak in the radiator. This dashed the French team’s hopes of victory after 1h 45m racing.

The no. 4 Aston Martin driven by Moser and then Vannelet held its own in the top ten during the first two-thirds of the event. Several of its nearest rivals were hit with problems, which put the French Aston in the running in the final hour for a much-coveted place on the podium. Makowiecki upped the pace and took third on lap 69 out of 94. A ding-dong battle raged between the Aston, the Porsche of the future winners, a Ferrari, an Audi and a Ford GT. But no. 4 failed to come round at the end of lap 89 after ‘Mako’ went off in the Parabolica due to defective brakes.

Philippe Dumas, the team manager, sums up after this eventful race: “We did a lot of work this winter on the GT3s to make them as good as new and to adapt them to endurance. The regulations don’t leave us much room for manoeuvre, but we concentrated on a host of small details, in particular concerning the driving position. Given the number of points that still have to be improved, I’m fairly satisfied with the way things have gone during the first weekend in this very tough championship. We didn’t score a result but the cars are 100% reliable apart from that glitch with the oil radiator, which keeps recurring on these cars, and for which AMR has to find a solution quickly. Concerning the problem that led to Fred going off, we knew that Monza would be very hard on brakes. The solution we tested in practice was not the right one and both cars started the race with different pads. The ones on the car driven by Yann, Pierre-Brice and Julien was the best. I’m happy with the performance of our six drivers who all listened to our advice, and whose comments we also took into account. We’ve managed to become as professional as we are in GT1, and the two lead drivers, Fred and Yann, were impeccable both in the car and outside. We still have to continue working on the setups and fine-tune wheel changes, but the key point is refueling. No. 4’s third stop went on forever because of a problem with the refueling rig. We can gain time for free in the pits. Overall, it’s better to be positive as we got to within sniffing distance of the podium after good qualifying performances and very promising lap times in the race.”

Crisscrossing Europe!

Here follows the schedule of the next three weekends’ racing, which the HEXIS AMR team will have to cope with almost without time to draw breath in this merry month of May!

3rd round of the FIA GT1 World Championship in Portimao in the Algarve (7/8 May): At last HEXIS AMR is going to find itself on a circuit where it can use the date gathered last season, as the Abu Dhabi layout was modified between 2010 and 2011, and the team had only raced in GT3 at Zolder. The Aston Martin isn’t really at home on bumpy surfaces although HEXIS AMR scored a sixth place in Portugal last year. But the no. 3 DB9 driven by Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp, currently lying second in the world championship, will have to carry 25 kilos of ballast. Third-placed drivers Christian Hohenadel-Andrea Piccini will have 10 kilos in no. 4.

4th round of the FIA GT1 World Championship on the Sachsenring (14/15 May): In the extreme south east of Germany, HEXIS AMR can rely on the experience of a round in the ADAC GT Masters (German GT3 Championship), which the team won in 2008 thanks to Frédéric Mackowiecki and Christian Hohenadel.

2nd round of the GT3 Pro Cup –Blancpain Endurance Series at Navarra (21/22 May): Unlike the Sachsenring HEXIS AMR is entering its Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3s on a circuit that it knows from GT1. In 2010, Fred ‘Mako’ and Yann Clairay finished second in the world championship round on the Spanish track, and this year the latter has become part of the team’s endurance squad. “Navarra will once again be a great test session for the team, which is competing in its first season in endurance,” says Dumas. “Our aim is to see our two cars at the finish after three hours’ racing.”

Over the bank holiday weekend, Aston Martin entered Vantage-based race cars at the 36th DMV VLN 4 hour race at the Nürburgring and at the first round of the GT4 Challenge of Great Britain – the factory’s one-make race series.

In Germany, despite an eventful race with two punctures and some contact damage the factory race team still managed to achieve a win and a second place in class.

The bright green Aston Martin V12 Vantage (Kermit) won the SP8 class with Aston Martin Chief Engineer, Chris Porritt, journalist Richard Meaden and experienced sports car driver Peter Cate at the wheel. Porritt in 20th overall, was forced onto a raised kerb on the last lap of the race causing damage to the steering rack, but despite this managed to bring Kermit home at reduced speed to secure the class win.

The second V12 Vantage (Woody) driven by Nürburgring Test Centre Director, Wolfgang Schuhbauer and journalists Horst von Saurma and Matthew Marsh suffered a puncture far away from the pits, and despite losing much time achieved 2nd in class.

A third car, a V8 Vantage was entered for Aston Martin Racing works driver Darren Turner who was taking his first steps to learn the daunting Nordschleife circuit and for Canadian journalist, Mark Hacking. A puncture resulting in subsequent transmission damage halfway through the race resulted in a retirement.

David King, Aston Martin Head of Motorsport said: “The race pace was really fast and we pushed harder than before suffering a couple of dramas along the way. However the fact that we still achieved this result is a testament to the team. The result today was well deserved; this second round of the season is another step in preparing us for the Nürburgring 24 hours in June. We are in good shape, and look forward to the main event of the season.”

Aston Martin customer team Mathol Racing with drivers Wolfgang Weber, Norbert Bermes and Rickard Nilsson continued their success in the SP10 class for GT4 cars crossing the line in first place and 34th overall in their V8 Vantage.

Meanwhile at Silverstone, UK, Aston Martin entered a 2011 Vantage GT4 (Alec) in unique livery with journalist driver Owen Mildenhall and Design Director Marek Reichman. Owen completed some quick qualifying laps on the National Circuit to qualify the team in 4th position. Following a difficult start owing to traffic, the team lost some places however recovered, resulting in the car crossing the line 90 minutes later in third position with a celebration on the podium.

The Oerlikon Graziano and Concept International sponsored factory Vantage GT4 will be contesting the GT4 Challenge of Great Britain with various journalist guest drivers throughout the season. Silverstone saw the car nicknamed ‘Alec’ owing to its chassis number ‘006’, liveried in an X-Ray motif showing the VH architecture beneath and its strong relation to the road going V8 Vantage.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Motorsport's return to the Nurburgring Nordschleife for the second round of the 2011 VLN championship was again marked by freakishly warm and sunny weather, apart from a brief rainshower in the middle of the Friday test session. The team was fielding the usual modified V12 Vantages, driven by Chris Porritt, Richard Meaden and Pete (#126 "Kermit"), Wolfgang Schuhbauer, Horst von Saurma and Mathew Marsh (#122 "Woody"). In addition, the team entered a GT4 V8 Vantage piloted by Darren Turner and Mark Hacking (#118 "Smurf"), with Chris Porritt also driving this car to help set a benchmark time.

After making significant damper set up changes to correct some car instability issues identified on Friday, Saturday mornign qualifying saw the car complete its fast ever laps of the Nordschleife in near-perfect conditions. First Richard dipped under the nine minute barrier, and then Pete was able to slightly better that with an 8:57.202, both laps being slightly compromised by traffic. "I'm pretty sure the car could get into the low 8:50s with a clear lap and a draft down the main straight, and this is great progress!" Pete smiled afterwards. That lap put the car forty-seventh overall on the grid of two hundred and eight starters, but importantly second in class behind the Farnbacher Ferrari F458.

Richard Meaden would take the first stint in Kermit with the race starting at mid-day in rising temperatures. A scorching couple of first laps amongst the front runners saw an impressive 8:56.645 from Richard, but a few laps later, a complete side window flew off from a Porsche ahead and tore off the right hand end plate from Kermit's rear wing, compromising high speed rear grip. The lap times dropped a little in sympathy, but at the pit stop it was determined not to be worth a change to a spare wing and the main wing elements were secure. Pete set off not knowing exactly what to expect: "I anticipated there would be a loss of rear downforce but to be honest, it was manageable with a few tweaks of the line at critical places like Flugplatz or Klostertal."

A more significant symptom showed itself on Pete's second lap, the paddle-shift gear change apparently beginning to misbehave. "This is a new system on the car, and whilst it is bullet-proof on the V8, on Kermit the airflow management is entirely different and the system was getting hot." Under those conditions, the system became more and more reluctant to close the clutch on upshifts, losing significant time on corner exits. Again, a modification of driving style had to be adopted, avoiding gearshifts wherever possible, taking second gear corners in third, or third gear corners in fourth. The immense torque of the 6 litre V12 was up to the challenge however, and Pete was able to get down to a 9:01.392 lap despite these handicaps before handing over the Chris for the final stint. "There were the usual yellow flags around the track and at Schwedenkreuz on my second last lap, an Astra went off, giving me a "Days of Thunder" moment, driving blind through a cloud of dust across the track at around a hundred and fifty miles an hour! Those moments are pretty memorable!"

In the meantime, Wolfgang had endured another scary moment as Woody picked up a rear left puncture at Pflanzgarten, a very fast right hander. Wolfgang did exceptionally well to keep the car out of the barrier and back to the pit lane, enabling the car to continue unscathed. Mark in Smurf was however not so lucky. Exiting the twists and turns of Hatzenbach, an over-enthusiastic move by another car resulted in a big impact on the right rear tyre, forcing Mark to stop a short distance later at Adenauer Forst. Nevertheless Smurf showed impressive pace in the early laps with Chris at the wheel and gave Darren and Mark valuable Nordschleife experience for future events.

Back with Kermit in the final laps, once again the team was obliged to make a final "splash and dash" pit stop, the pace of the car meaning that two fuel stops is simply not enough over a four hour race. Chris roared out of the pits in 22nd place overall (an incredible achievement given the very fast pace of the field) and leading the class from Woody. The Farnbacher Ferrari had endured an early crash, losing a lot of time with two long pitstops on lap 5 and lap 17, and finally crashing out on the last lap. Still, this can happen even to the best! As Chris negotiated a backmarker in Hatzenbach on his final lap, he was compromised on the dirty side of the track and forced over the kerb, spinning the car into the barrier and breaking the steering. Getting the car to the end of the race seemed impossible, the wayward front left steering the car in unwanted directions. Kicking the wheel straight and one point, Chris was able to cross the line at thirty fifth position overall, maintaining first in class, much to the relief of the team! Woody completed the class podium result in forty-first place overall, a great recovery after that early puncture.

The race was eventually won by the GT3 Mercedes Benz SLS of Chris Mamerow and Armin Hahne.

petercate.com

The GT1-World Championship travels all the way down to Portugal this weekend for the third round of the season in Portimão at the Algarve coast. After a good performance in the first two rounds and the first podium finish of the season in the last race in Belgium, Young Driver AMR hopes for more podium joy in Portugal. Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (CZE) aim for their second consecutive podium finish in the #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9, while Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR) want to execute their brilliant speed into a good amount of championship points. With the German round of the GT1-World Championship at the Sachsenring scheduled only seven days later, the Portugal event is the start of a very busy week for Young Driver AMR.

„We showed a good speed in the two opening rounds of the championship in Abu Dhabi and Zolder, on two very different tracks“, Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer says. „So I see no reason why we shouldn’t be quick in Portugal. Last year, we were running in second position, when we had some tires issues. I hope that we will have two trouble free races in Portugal. Alex and Tomas showed a very good performance at Zolder and Darren and Stefan had one of the quickest cars in the opening two rounds, but had bad luck in the race. I hope our Aston Martin will have two trouble free races, then we have a good chance for further improvement in the championship rankings.“

During the first visit of the GT1 World Championship in Portimão last year, Young Driver AMR was en route to a podium finish, when tire issues prevented Darren Turner und Tomas Enge from scoring a top result. Due to the earlier date of the event and the cooler ambient temperatures, it’s expected that this will not be an issue like last year.

Once the Portuguese round is finished, the Young Driver AMR team will busy load the trucks and head to back to Germany for the „home race“ of Young Driver AMR. The scenic Sachsenring near Chemnitz will host the GT1 World Championship for the first time only seven days after the Portugal event.

Driver quotes before the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Portimão will certainly be a very hot race. The track is amazing, it’s a bit like the Nordschleife in Germany and I’m always very happy to race at Portimão. Tire wear will be an issue there, the key for a success in the race is to have a consistent tire performance. I expect that we will have a good speed there. A podium finish is our goal.“

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Our Aston Martin showed a very good performance in the first two races of the season, so I see no point why we shouldn’t be competitive in Portimão. Before the Zolder event I would have been cautious to say something like this, but we were on the pace there and so I expect us to be on the pace also for the remaining tracks this season. But nevertheless it will be hard, although it will be not as warm as last year due to the earlier date. This will be helpful for the tire performance and also help our aero. I don’t expect a drop in the tire performance like we had last year, because this season we have two sets of tires more for the free practise, that helps our tire strategy for the two races.“

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Portimão is a great track, though one which not necessarily favours the Aston Martin. The track is very hard on tires and the key will be to find a set up, which is consistent and not hard on tires. Considering the performance we had in the two opening rounds, a podium finish will not be easy, but should be possible.“

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „I’m really looking forward to Portimão, it’s a very challenging circuit and I love this track. Last year we were ok in Portugal and this season we were ok in the first rounds, so I’m quite optimistic for Portimão. In the first two round of the championship, we had a good pace. If we will have a weekend without any issue, I’m confident we can grab a big bag of points.“