Young Driver AMR: Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner claim best result of the season

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.”