The tenth and final round of the gruelling Nürburgring VLN endurance championship − the 36th DMV Münsterlandpokal four hour race − has seen Aston Martin’s Nürburgring Test Centre Team claim second and third in the SP8 class for GT cars over 4.0 litres, to round off a most successful 2011 season.

The number 122 Aston Martin V12 Vantage, driven by British trio Andy Meyrick, James Appleby and Ant Scragg, took a fine second in class and 28th overall finish from a field of 160 starters. Aston Martin Racing factory driver Meyrick had led the class in a fast and consistent opening stint before handing over to Scragg, aged 25 and Appleby, aged just 22, who drove the middle stints with impressive skill and maturity before Meyrick saw the car safely home in a short final stint.


The number 118 V8 Vantage driven by Aston Martin’s Nürburgring Test Centre Director Wolfgang Schuhbauer, experienced Nürburgring pilot Jurgen Stumpf and 2011 newcomer Beat Loretz took a podium finish with third place in the same class.

In the highly competitive SP10 class for GT4 cars, Mathol Racing continued their season-long dominance of the class, with Wolfgang Weber, Norbert Bermes and Rickard Nilsson taking their V8 Vantage to its seventh class win of the year.

Reflecting on the season, Aston Martin’s Head of Motorsport, David King said: “Since we first raced a factory-entered V8 Vantage at the Nürburgring in 2006, we have carefully grown our presence at the circuit. Not only have we taken engineering cars from our UK headquarters to race there every year as part of our engineering programme, but we also opened our own permanent test centre (in 2008) and commenced our customer racing programme under the leadership of Wolfgang Schuhbauer in 2009.”

“Now, three years on we have a strong group of regular drivers enjoying the experience of racing with Aston Martin and achieving some great results. Additionally in 2011 we have been able to give Nürburgring debuts to three of our AMR works drivers – Darren Turner, Harold Primat and Andy Meyrick, which maybe hints at our future intentions."



Wolfgang Schuhbauer added: “I have enjoyed another fantastic season racing our cars together with our customers who have all performed to a very high standard. I am particularly proud that we have seen the first graduate of our seven-stage Driving Academy, Aston Martin customer Joachim Kern, so confidently complete his first two races earlier this year. It just shows that with the right tuition and aptitude, it is possible to go from novice to Nürburgring racer with Aston Martin.”

The Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain is set to return in 2012 for its third successive season, with larger grids, longer races and the chance to race on the Le Mans 24 Hour circuit.

Building on the success of previous seasons, the Challenge will return to the classic circuits of Silverstone, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Donington, Snetterton and Spa Francorchamps. After feedback from last season's competitors, the 2012 Challenge will feature longer races with race length increasing to 2 hours and at least one 3 hour race on the calendar.

The Aston Martin GT4 Challenge sees competitors race in identical 445bhp Aston Martin Vantage GT4s based on the road going Vantage S and featuring race developed ABS, traction control and optional paddle shift.

In addition to the seven championship rounds Challenge competitors will have the opportunity to compete in the Aston Martin Le Mans festival, an Aston Martin exclusive 45 minuet sprint race held on the 13.6km Le Mans circuit the morning before 24hour race. Full season GT4 Challenge competitors will be guaranteed entry with additional competitors from national and international series already expressing interest in the one-off event.

Provisional 2012 calendar:

April 28 - Silverstone National
May 12 - Oulton Park
June 4/5 - Brands Hatch Indy
June 16/17 -  Aston Martin Le Mans Festival*
July (tbc) -  Donington
August 18/19 -  Brands Hatch GP
September (tbc) -  Spa
October 6 -  Snetterton

*Non GT4 Challenge event.

With the high level of interest already registered in next year's Challenge, Aston Martin is hoping to see grids in excess of 20 cars for each of the seven championship rounds, with more than 25 drivers trying the GT4 car for the first time at a recent test session.

Aston Martin Racing driver Harold Primat this weekend competed in the ninth round of the prestigious 2011 VLN series at the Nordschleife.

For the first time in his racing career, Aston Martin Racing factory driver Harold Primat raced on the mighty Nordschleife circuit.  The Swiss driver paired up with Nürburgring Test Centre Director; Wolfgang Schuhbauer in the Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage for the SP8 class.

From P9 in class on the grid, Wolfgang made a flying start to the race; overtaking almost twenty cars in the opening laps of the race.  Making steady progress through the field of 190 cars; the car was up to 4th in class by the time Harold came in to take over for his double stint.

Known within the motorsport world as one of the most challenging circuits in the world, Harold spent the first part of his stint racing hard but cleanly, and successfully kept the #112 car out of trouble, moving up through the field to lead his class.

Midway through Primat’s stint, the Aston Martin car suffered a slight electronic issue and Harold was forced to pit.  The team were able to locate and rectify the problem immediately but unfortunately lost time in the pits which put an end to their challenge for a podium finish.  After four hours of racing; Primat took the chequered flag sixth in class.

Aston Martin Head of Motorsport, David King said; “Our works driver Harold Primat has completed his first race miles on the Nordschleife with great success.  It is one of the world’s toughest race tracks and, despite being new to the track, Harold was able to race consistently and competitively.”

Harold Primat commented; “It’s been a great experience racing on the Nordschleife for the first time.  It is a really tough and challenging track but we made progress throughout the weekend and I was able to push much harder as the race progressed.”

Harold continued; “The whole team have made it a fantastic weekend and I have really enjoyed racing with them.  Although we didn’t achieve the result we wanted it has been a strong weekend all round and now I look forward to the next race which will be in China next month.” 

haroldprimat.com

 The last round of this year’s British GT Championship was a top quality event, with 30 fabulous GT racing cars contesting a two-hour race around the classic sweeps of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Barwell Motorsport was being represented by three Aston Martins across three different classes in the race – the Barwell-engineered Beechdean DBRS9 going for overall GT3 honours, joined by Paul Whight’s DBRS9 in GT3B and the Secure Racing with Barwell Motorsport Vantage GT4 entry. It was the Beechdean car – the oldest GT3 chassis on the grid – that brought home the bacon, however, with a resounding overall victory by 22 seconds after great drives from both Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam.

Barwell’s Mark Lemmer was confident that he had found a great set-up on Beechdean’s 2011-spec DBRS9, and the high-downforce machine is well-suited to the fast curves of the Silverstone GP track. Jonny Adam then duly delivered a stunning qualifying lap which planted the car on overall pole position, an incredible achievement for a chassis built in 2005 against much more recent cutting-edge opposition from Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, Ford, and no less than six new Ferrari 458s! It was also double-pole success for Barwell in qualifying, as the Paul Whight/Andy Ruhan DBRS9 machine also took the honours in GT3B (for older-spec GT3 machinery). This was a superb performance from Paul, who was having his first race of the season without the benefit of any testing, and blew off the cobwebs in style!

Meanwhile in GT4, by the time of Saturday morning’s qualifying session we were just thankful that we had an Aston Martin Vantage chassis to wheel out for the day! Unfortunately during Friday’s slippery first free practice session Peter Erceg suffered a big ‘off’ which badly damaged the front end of the regular Dtex-backed Vantage GT4 machine. There was insufficient time to rebuild the car in time for Saturday, and thus we immediately contacted our friends at Aston Martin Racing to see if we could hire in their GT4 ‘test car’ as a replacement for the race day! Thankfully they were able to help us out, but the car was on track day duty during Friday and we couldn’t get our hands on it until 8pm that evening. The Barwell mechanics then carried out an intense night of work preparing the car, and making some alterations to the fuel system to convert it for re-fuelling from our fuel rig during the two-hour race. Saturday morning’s half hour qualifying was thus little more than a ‘shakedown’ test for Peter and ‘celebrity guest’ driver, Tiff Needell, who was making his Vantage GT4 race debut.


There was hectic action throughout the field in the opening laps of the 2-hour race, as the packed 30-car grid put on some great racing. With the Aston Martin DBRS9 running on slightly harder compound Avon rubber, it is vulnerable in the early stages of the race as it takes longer to get heat into the tyres than its rivals on the softer compound. Both Andrew and Paul suffered from this and lost places as they were forced to tread carefully until their Avons were up to proper working temperature. Paul’s time loss was compounded when he was nudged off the track by a rival car, dropping him down to third in GT3B. Peter was suffering from a different reason for losing time – the replacement Vantage GT4 is a lower specification car and a good three seconds a lap slower than his 2011-spec machine! Unfortunately this left him and Tiff powerless to make any progress in the GT4 rankings, and thus all they could do was stay out of trouble and bring it home.

Andrew had done a good job of coping with the difficult first few laps, and when his tyres were hot he started to come back with a vengeance from fifth place and attack some of the cars that had passed him early on. He successfully reeled in and passed the Porches of Fisken/Bridgman and Ashburn/Westbrook, to claim third spot, and was then keeping pace with the second place Ferrari of Bateman/Lyons. The leading Audi of Osborne/Brown was, unlike the rest of the front-running pack, being driven by its ‘Pro’, Joe Osborne (a former British GT race-winner in Barwell’s Ginetta-Zytek!), and was thus a fair way in front. Andrew then suffered a quick spin and slipped back behind the Jones twins’ Mercedes, to lie in fourth position as the pit stop/driver change ‘window’ was about to open.

Another man on a charge was Paul Whight, who was absolutely flying on his 2011 race debut once his tyres had joined the party. After receiving the nudge he was carving his way back up the order, and after 40 minutes was back in the lead of the GT3B Class having overtaken the Lamborghini Gallardo of Atkinson/Pickford. His task now was trying to build a gap for Andy Ruhan (freshly crowned as GT Cup Champion) to defend against the Pros in the rival cars. Paul was clearly pushing hard and setting excellent lap times, but as he approached the pit stop period he started to feel unwell. This affected his concentration and unfortunately just one lap away from being in the ‘fuel’ window where he could come in and hand over to Andy, he spun and hit the barriers at Stowe corner. Sadly the damage was sufficient to put the Aston Martin DBRS9 out of the race on the spot, and denied poor Andy a shot at giving Barwell Motorsport a class victory in GT3B.



The Safety Car thus came out whilst they removed Paul’s car from the scene of the crime, and there was a flurry of activity in the pit lane as the field came in to re-fuel, change tyres and swap drivers for the final hour. Jonny Adam thus rejoined the fray in fourth spot, still under the Safety Car conditions, but had a string of backmarkers between him and the third place Mercedes. When the race was restarted he made short work of getting onto the tail of the big German machine, but he now had Westbrook in the Porsche breathing down his neck and had to tackle the notoriously hard-to-pass Jones’ Mercedes quickly. Jonny wasted absolutely no time in out-foxing Jones through the hairpins, however, and proved that you can squeeze two extremely big GT cars alongside each other on one of the tightest parts of the track! The Scotsman then pulled off a beautiful manoeuvre to pass the Bateman/Lyons Ferrari as they blasted into the high-speed Becketts section, before reeling in and overtaking the leading Audi. With just over half an hour to go he had earned himself a four-second gap over the Westbrook/Ashburn Porsche in second, but he never gave the Porsche a sniff of the exhaust of the big Aston as he stretched out his lead to over 20 seconds. So good were the combination of Barwell car set-up and driver that Jonny was able to set fastest overall race sector times during his final few laps!

In the Secure Racing with Barwell Motorsport GT4 entry, Peter Erceg had shaken off any nerves after his accident the day before, and put in a faultless stint to guide the Aston Martin Vantage through the first half of the race. Tiff took over and also settled into a consistent race pace, but like Peter was also unable to force the replacement machine to get anywhere near the pace of its front-running rivals. The former F1 driver was clearly enjoying his stint behind the wheel, however, and brought the car home for a sixth place points finish.

After nine hours and 35 minutes of intense competition and 332 laps of the 2.54 mile Road Atlanta track, the No. 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage finished fourth in the GTE-Am category of Petit Le Mans, the penultimate round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

The result is the best ever finish for the team and is all the more remarkable as its drivers Fabien Giroix and Mike Wainwright completed the race between them – the only team to use just two drivers instead of three in the notoriously challenging 1000 Mile Petit Le Mans event.

With a 52-strong field of the cream of international sports car racing, spread across six categories, there were multiple incidents and accidents and ten full course caution periods.  The Gulf Oil International liveried car avoided trouble and controversy, unlike so many of its fellow competitors, and took the chequered flag virtually unmarked.  The only delays experienced were attention to a brake problem early in the race and a stop for new brake pads in the final hour of the race.

The team’s quick attention to the brake issue in the first hour was, ironically, hampered by eventual race winners Peugeot Sport.  The Gulf Racing team was situated behind Peugeot Sport in the busy paddock and when the team returned to their garage area, they discovered their awning flooded with Peugeot diesel which required the attentions of the fire brigade to clean it up.  The lingering fumes were still adversely affecting some team members at the end of the race.

Team owner Mike Wainwright was delighted with the result:  “It was certainly an interesting experience!  Physically it wasn’t as hard to do the race between us as I might have expected, and we were lucky it was cooler than earlier in the week, but it did require a massive amount of concentration.  You have to spend so much time looking in your mirrors to avoid the fast prototypes, or even the faster GT cars, and we had one or two small brushes but the car looks pretty intact.  It’s a shame about the brake problems we had otherwise we might have finished on the podium, but I’m very pleased with the result.” 

Fabien Giroix echoed his team mate’s comments:  “It wasn’t so hard although the traffic was bad all the way through the race.  At the rear of the car we didn’t see so well, but physically it wasn’t a big problem.  We are pleased with the result but we weren’t as fast as we should have been and had a problem at the beginning of the race which lost us the chance for a podium, but we did the best we can do.  The car looks fresh and not so bad.”

The team’s next race will be the final round of the ILMC in Zhuhai, China on Saturday, 12^th November.

Nicholas Mee Racing rounded off its victorious 2011 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge winning season with a Class 3 victory and second overall in last weekend’s gruelling Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone. Drivers Karsten Le Blanc, Christiaen van Lanschot, Dan de Zille and Robert Nimkoff completed 560 laps of the 3.6604-mile GP circuit in the NMR Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 to finish behind the winning McInerney team’s Class 1 GT2 Ferrari 430 and just one lap ahead of the 3rd-place-finishing Class 3 Lotus Evora of Marcos Racing International.

NMR headed to Silverstone for this year’s 24hr race with high hopes of completing unfinished business after the team’s disappointment in 2010 when blighted by a crash late in the race while lying in 9th overall. Joining the team’s regular drivers for the 2011 24hr event was Robert Nimkoff who had purchased a V8 Vantage from NMR earlier in the year for SCCA racing in the USA.

With four classes based on power-to-weight ratios, NMR was one of 22 Class 3 entries among the total of 55 cars entered for this year’s race. NMR opted for a conservative qualifying strategy, concentrating on getting each driver to complete the mandatory three laps in both day and night-time sessions, and to allow Silverstone rookie Nimkoff ample time to learn the circuit.

In qualifying de Zille posted a time good enough for 16th on the grid, but rather than gamble on gaining a few positions the team parked the car up and prepared for the race. With the qualifying session completed, NMR was placed 20th on the grid.

The Britcar organisers had gone to great effort to generate a carnival atmosphere and deliver entertainment for the spectators, (rumoured to be in excess of 14,000 on Saturday), with a marching band, fly-pasts by Lynx and Apache helicopters and a drop-in by the Red Devils. Fans were also invited to the pits and the start line for a grid walkabout.

The race got underway at 16.29 on the Saturday with Le Blanc piloting NMR’s Aston. Each driver then rotated through the early hours of the race and into the night with 2-hour ‘double’ stints. The car would pit roughly every hour to refuel, with fresh tyres fitted every two hours or so.

Keeping out of trouble and with an excellent strategy, NMR climbed swiftly up the field and into the lead of Class 3 – a position it would maintain for the most of the next 22 hours. De Zille was the last driver to take his turn and at midnight started a heroic 2hr 53min stint, just 7 minutes shorter than the maximum allowed. During this session he posted some stunning lap times that moved NMR up into the top five overall.



NMR’s race continued unbelievably smoothly with zero car issues, a faultless performance by all four drivers and rapid and efficient pit-work by the NMR crew, ably headed by Giles Dawson. One of the most exciting features of the entire race was NMR’s epic duel with the Lotus Evora GT4 driven by a team of experienced professional and semi-professional drivers including sportscar veteran Cor Euser. The two teams battled it out for the lead of Class 3 and overall podium honours for over half of the race.

With all of NMR’s drivers having completed roughly the same distance, it was down to Le Blanc to drive the final stint to the flag. With the Lotus charging hard from behind it was an extremely tense period with just one lap, and sometimes, just seconds separating the two. Finally, at 16.32 on the Sunday, NMR’s V8 Vantage crossed the line in second position overall and first in the ultra-competitive Class 3.

During the race, held this year entirely in dry conditions, the safety car came out 10 times while NMR pitted 19 times, used 10 sets of tyres, two sets of front brake pads and 1,475 litres of fuel over 2,050 racing miles.

NMR would like to thank its fantastic sponsors and partners: TalentWorks International, GForces and ClassicDriver.com, as well as its various suppliers and support staff who have all contributed to this and indeed a whole season of success.



After the race NMR’s jubilant Team Principal Nicholas Mee said, “Heroes all! In 24 hours of racing we had no driver errors, no car failings, no time penalties, no damage and a dream result, all of which comes on top of five race wins and victory in this year’s Aston Martin Challenge series! I’m immensely proud and appreciative of the whole team’s achievements. Big thanks to our drivers, sponsors, pit-crew and supporters who have all helped make a great racing season even greater.

Photo credit: Will Belcher.

Barwell Motorsport was back on international racing duty last weekend, when we contested the latest round of the Belcar Championship at Zolder with the ‘Petronas-Barwell’ Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3. With a great set-up on the car and an excellent race strategy in place, we were very well positioned in the race to comfortably take third position and probably secure second, but then the race was stopped prematurely due to a serious incident in the pit lane where a person had been knocked over and injured by a Ferrari during its pit stop. The final results were then declared at this stage, which meant that we were classified in fourth position.

After a successful test day on the Thursday before the race, we knew that we had made good progress with the set-up of the Petronas/Aston Martin Brussels-backed DBRS9, and had better pace around Zolder than at our previous visit in April. We were thus confident of qualifying in the top two rows, and devised a strategy for the Saturday qualifying sessions that would minimise tyre wear on our Michelin rubber and give us tyres in great shape for Sunday’s 125 minute race. After the first 30 minute qualifying session we were satisfied with a strong lap from Jeffrey van Hooydonk that put us third on the grid at that stage, and thus kept to our strategy for the second session. During this Tim Verbergt only did the very minimum number of laps necessary for him to qualify, and circulated at a very sedate pace. For most of the session it looked like we would hang on to third spot, but then late on the Maassen/Longin Audi chipped our time by a mere 16/1000ths of a second!





After the opening lap of the race a Porsche had deposited a large amount of fluids out of its engine onto the race track, and this made for treacherous circuit conditions as it was extremely hard for the drivers (on slick tyres) to judge exactly how much grip they would have both when braking and during cornering. Jeffrey had several lurid moments when the slippery track surface sent the Aston sliding around in unexpected directions, but he managed to keep the big V12-engined machine on the track. Unfortunately the Vanthoor/Wauters Mercedes was not so lucky and suffered a big accident which brought out the Safety Car after only 10 minutes of racing. Jeffrey was running in fourth place at the time, but this was a ‘real’ third as the Maassen/Longin Audi was due to come in for a one-minute penalty due to a regulations infringement by the team on the grid. The Safety Car picked up the three leaders but the time lost behind it for us was minimised by quick thinking from Barwell chief, Mark Lemmer, who brought Jeffrey into the pits as soon as he came round to take one of our mandatory two pit stops.

With the leading Porsche and Mercedes not following this strategy and thus getting caught behind the Safety Car for another lap, we should have leap-frogged them in the running order but unfortunately delays surrounding the driver change (where Jeffrey had to get out and then back in again to continue his stint) cost us valuable time. This kept us behind the Porsche and Mercedes, but also behind the Audi of Verbist/Ide which had started from the pit lane and then had the extreme fortune of being able to come straight into the pits before it got caught behind the Safety Car, thus jumping it up from fifth place straight into the lead.




With the Maassen/Longin Audi having taken its penalty, Jeff thus re-emerged from the pits in fourth place right on the tail of the leading trio of Audi, Porsche and Mercedes. Unfortunately the Kumpen/Wauters Mercedes was now being driven by its amateur pilot, Koen Wauters, and he was clearly holding the Petronas-Barwell Aston up and losing ground to the front two. Koen is a quick amateur driver, however, and the combination of his pace and the strong power and braking ability of the Mercedes meant that Jeffrey just couldn’t find a way past. This was costing us in the region of one second a lap, which Jeffrey proved when the Merc pitted and he instantly lapped quicker with free air in front of him.

With just over 50 minutes to go Jeffrey pitted from third place for a full ‘service’ – re-fuel, four-wheel change and driver change to Tim. With the Kumpen/Wauters Mercedes having now suffered a problem and dropped out of contention, this meant that Tim should have re-joined in third and been able to start attacking the Verbist/Ide Audi for second. A broken right rear wheel nut on the DBRS9 caused a delay with the wheel change, however, and meant that Verbergt came out just under 10 seconds behind the Bouvy/Coens Ford GT in fourth.




A fired up Tim then set about hunting down the Ford, and was absolutely flying as our qualifying strategy was now paying dividends with Verbergt having a lovely fresh set of Michelins at his disposal. He set the second fastest overall race lap as he relentlessly closed down the Ford, which was now visibly on the ragged edge trying to keep our Aston at bay. With just under half an hour of the race to go, Tim had closed to within two seconds of his prey and it would only be a matter of a few laps before we reclaimed third place. By this time, however, the pit lane incident had occurred and once the serious nature of it had been established the event officials stopped the race and declared the result early.

Secure Racing, the motorsport team for the IT security industry, supported by Barwell Motorsport, today unveiled Tiff Needell as one of its drivers for the final round of the AVON TYRES British GT Championship at Silverstone next Saturday – 8th October.

As one of the best known faces in British motorsport Tiff brings a wealth of driving experience to the team for this, the final and most exciting stage of the British GT Championship. He will join principal driver Peter Erceg in the Secure Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 2011 as the team attempts to secure a second podium finish of the season.

“Tiff has raced just about everything with wheels,” says Peter. “Formula Ford, Formula One, Le Mans, GT1, Rallycross. You name it, he’s competed. That type of experience is going to be amazing for us at Silverstone. We are thrilled to have him on board for the day.”

The last round of the AVON TYRES British GT Championship represents a glittering end to a fantastic first year into British GT motorsport for Secure Racing. Finishing 5th at Brands Hatch – cheered on by more than 50 team supporters – and 3rd for a podium finish at Spa, the team couldn’t quite keep up the progress as gearbox troubles hampered performance at Donington last weekend. Secure Racing is keen to go out on a high, with a trophy in hand.

“We’ve reached the pinnacle of the season and everything seems to be working together for the last race,” said Mohan Koo from sponsor Dtex Systems. “The car is at its absolute best following some amazing work by the guys at Barwell Motorsport, all our sponsors are going to be with us on the day to cheer us on, and our driver line up couldn’t be better. It’s the ultimate position, in the ultimate race, using the ultimate team of drivers, on the ultimate UK track. We can’t wait.”

The Muscle Milk team saw what has been its winningest season in the American Le Mans Series come to an early end on Saturday during the running of the 2011 Petit Le Mans.

The team encountered engine problems on its Aston Martin Racing car on lap 64 just over one hour and 45 minutes into the race and had to call it quits shortly thereafter.

At the time, Klaus Graf was running in fourth place and things were looking up for the Pickett Racing crew, but sadly, as has been its luck these last few races, it just didn't go the way they had hoped.

However, the highlight of the day for the team was that team owner Greg Pickett enjoyed what will probably be his final race laps in a P1 car, jumping out with a huge smile on his face, having finished an impressive stint in sixth place overall ahead of two Peugeots and an Audi, after having started the race in 11th.

Despite the final result, the Muscle Milk team still finishes second in the team standings and second and third in the Driver Championship with Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr.

Over the course of the season, the Greg Pickett-led team scored a class - and team - high four wins along with a second place finish.

To show their appreciation to their fans, the Muscle Milk team would have liked to offer them a better end to the season, but as a big thank you to all of their incredible supporters, the team promises to come back with a vengeance next season.

Greg Pickett, team owner/co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"This will likely be my last drive in a P1 car, I'll probably test and play around but I think it's time for me to get out when the getting is good. I very much enjoyed my session. When I can start my race like this, with such this deep of a field and bring the car in after my stint in sixth place overall, obviously makes me very, very happy. I enjoyed it immensely.
"The car was great for me but then Klaus went out and we had to retire it from P4 and now we see these other cars having trouble, with everybody falling aside but that's what goes on here at a long race.
"We had changed everything on the car, as far as the transmission, the differential, the brakes - even though the Championship had been decided and my congratulations to the Dysons - we had kept putting the best stuff that we knew how to put on this car and so, the only thing that we don't do is build the engines.
"We're not going to feel terrible about this year. We won four races, so I consider that a successful year. I think the driver combination of Klaus and Lucas was great, we had a great spirit within the team, we kept a smile on our face through thick and thin and I'm just very appreciative of our fans, and of our company Muscle Milk who continues to thrive and help us to do this.

"We are going to come back next year with a vengeance. I'm saying it right now, we are running for a Championship. I haven't said that before. When we came out in 2010 against Highcroft, we wanted to get to that level and compete, maybe. This year we were in a transitional year and we wanted to see if we could do better and we did, we won more races. So now, I am saying point blank, all we are doing next year is running for a Championship and we are going to do that with everything that we can. We're bringing it next year, so everybody needs to get ready."

Klaus Graf, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"Sad ending to a strong season but it's really a shame because we had a really good car in the race and with a little bit of luck we could have been on the podium, for sure we could have been the quickest petrol car, we were the quickest petrol car by far in the race. It's too bad we couldn't finish it.
"The guys worked very hard all year and even here this weekend. We had a good car and the bright side of it is that Greg had a lot of fun today in the car and it seems it was his last P1 race and I think that's very rewarding for him. He had a big smile on his face getting out of the car and that is what we take from here.
"We didn't get a result but it's racing. We'll come back very strong next year, I'm confident about that. It was a great year and thanks to all the crew members, everybody on the team did a great job this year and I think this organization will just grow and get stronger every year."

Lucas Luhr, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"I feel sad for the Muscle Milk guys because they have worked so hard all season and this week and it would have been nice to offer them a great result to end the year. They have done an incredible job and it's been great to work with them.
"Greg did a spectacular job in his stint. It's pretty amazing to see him drive. It's too bad what happened with the car, Klaus was doing a great job and we were the fastest petrol car out there.
"It was a year with highs and lows but our four wins this season are what I will remember most. I want to thank Greg and Penny (Pickett) for giving me the opportunity to be part of their team, I really enjoyed my season with them."   

At the final round of the American Le Mans Series, and the penultimate Intercontinental Le Mans Cup round, Aston Martin Racing scored its second consecutive podium as it finished a superb third overall and the best-placed petrol car at Petit Le Mans. The 007 car finished just one lap behind the 2nd placed diesel car.

Despite a strong entry that included five competitive diesel racers, the petrol-powered V12 DBR1-2 ran flawlessly throughout the 1,000 mile epic to dominate the unofficial petrol category with a clear four-lap margin to the nearest challenger.

Mexican ace Adrian Fernandez powered the Aston Martin Racing machine over the finish line more than nine hours after the race got underway to score the team’s second consecutive podium result in the series, adding to its brilliant outright victory at Laguna Seca two weeks before.

Alongside teammates Stefan Mücke (D) and Harold Primat (CH), Fernandez performed as reliably as his LMP1 steed and kept firmly out of trouble despite the heavy race traffic for almost 400 laps of the 2.54 mile Road Atlanta circuit. In a race dominated by 10 safety car periods, the team’s engineers devised and executed the perfect strategy and responded decisively to the many safety car interruptions to exploit the production V12 machine’s impressive pace and dependability.

As the blazing sun dropped behind the trees and darkness engulfed the Road Atlanta circuit, engine oil from the extensive grid of prototype and GT racers and debris from the trackside clung to the DBR1-2’s windscreen, limiting visibility during Mücke’s final stint. The mechanics cleared the offending grime to enable Mücke to continue before handing the reigns to Fernandez to cross the finish line.

Aston Martin Racing Principal, George Howard-Chappell said: “I am very, very pleased with our result; the car ran impeccably along with a fantastic team performance.

“The drivers drove exceptionally well and we are delighted to be fastest petrol car. It is sad to see our sister car, Muscle Milk Racing, suffer an engine problem but obviously nice to see the Gulf AMR Middle East Vantage GTE car run faultlessly.”

At the podium celebrations, Fernandez said: “It was a great team effort. The drivers worked really well together; we were quick when we needed to be quick and we were conservative and smart when we needed to be. Conditions were tough, especially at night, and visibility was poor when the light was fading, but we stayed on track and that’s what racing is all about.

“Winning overall at Laguna Seca and now third here against the top diesel cars makes me so proud of the whole team. I’m very happy. It’s fantastic for us and I want to thank the team and my sponsor Lowe’s.”

Primat added: “I feel great, it is amazing to be on the podium after starting with five diesel cars in front of us. We never thought it was possible at the start of the race. Just fantastic.”

The near-ten hour race was characterized by mechanical woes and driving errors as many of the entrants failed to last the distance. Aston Martin Racing further proved its sporting credentials in the GTE AM category as the V8-powered Gulf AMR Middle East Vantage GT2 finished a strong fourth in class.

The 007 Aston Martin Racing machine will next engage in battle at the final round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Zhuhai in China on 12 November 2011

After 14 hours of racing the Aston Martin Vantage of Nicholas Mee Racing continue to lead their class and remain in contention for an overall podium. A faultless performance by #49 Vantage throughout the night and early morning saw the class3 car steadily move up the overall order.

Vantage Racing continue to battle on, problems caused the team to fall down the timing sheets early on with some 30 laps as a result of an ABS failure and subsequent trip into the gravel. A strong recovery drive brought the team up to 22nd overall only for a power steering failure to see them fall back down the timing screens .

The MB Racing Vantage suffered an ABS and gearbox failure and went off at Copse after running as high as 18th overall and 7th in class. The car was recovered to the pits and rejoined the race but with significant damage.

Results After 14hours
Nicholas Mee Racing 1st in Class / 4th Overall
Vantage Racing 10th in Class / 23rd Overall
MB Racing 12th in Class /29th Overall

Nicholas Mee Racing lead their class at the three hour mark, the 2011 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge champions have made an start to this year’s 24 hour race running as high as 7th overall.

Their fellow GT4 Challenge competitors Vantage Racing have suffered mixed fortunes during the first few hours of the race. Contact on Lap 2 forced the team to make an unscheduled pit stop early in the race, subsequently dropping them well down the order. A safety car to recover a stranded car allowed the team make up some of the lost ground. Alan Bonner set about making up the remainder of the deficit hauling the #50 Car to 4th in class by the end of the first hour. Disaster stuck the team again when an ABS failure on Tom Blacks outlap pitched him into the gravel with some 30 laps lost as a result.


MB Racing's 24 hour campaign also got off to a unfortunate start. Gear selection problems left them stranded on the grid with the car being pushed into pitlane during the formation lap. 7 laps were lost as the team battled to get their car back into the race. A solid performance by the team see them now residing 11th in Class and 30th overall.

Three Hour Results
Nicholas Mee Racing 1st in Class / 7th Overall
MB Racing 11th in Class /31st Overall
Vantage Racing 20th in Class /53rd Overall

You can find live timing and video of this year’s event Here

The Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team took part in qualifying on Friday for Saturday's Petit Le Man and placed 11th on the starting grid for the 10-hour/1000-mile race. Klaus Graf was aboard the Muscle Milk car for the session and placed fifth provisionally after his first timed lap. Unfortunately the German wasn't able to keep that position as he caught up to a slower car during what could have been his fastest lap. Graf did manage to go faster with a lap of one minute 10.948 seconds, but with a close group of petrol cars it placed him ninth. He went on to end up 11th on the grid when the checkered flag fell on the final qualifying session of the season. The final race of the season will see the green flag at 11:30 am ET on Saturday, October 1. The Petit Le Mans will be streamed live on ESPN3.com starting at 11:15 am and will be broadcast on tape-delay on ABC Sunday, October 2 at 4:00 pm ET.

Klaus Graf, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing "Certainly not the way we wanted to qualify today in 11th. On the lap that should've been our fastest, I caught traffic, which was really, really bad. Some guys really need to pay a little more attention. There are a lot of speed differences out here even within the prototype class, so if somebody comes up behind them they should pay more attention and get off line. That was very unfortunate it cost me a lot of time. It was close in the petrol class so it cost us several spots for sure." "However, it doesn't really matter for a 10 hour race, and the race is what is important. We had a good car yesterday evening in the night session and I think the car will be very consistent, more so than other petrol cars. I think it's all about Greg having some fun in the race here, he can enjoy himself and then after that Lucas and I will go like hell and that's what we'll try to do."