Successful debut for Young Driver AMR at the Nürburgring
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The first test for the team Young Driver AMR in their preparation of the 24h Race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (19th/20th May) finished successfully. The new Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 made its debut at the 4 Hour Race of the VLN endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring Nordschleife and the team Young Driver AMR was very happy last Saturday about a very promising debut at the most beautiful but at the same time most demanding race track of the world. Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck (both from Austria) together with Dennis Rostek (Porta-Westfalica/ Germany) finished into position 13 in their class and became 18th overall from amongst the just below 190 starters.
Under partly difficult track conditions with rain showers in some sections of the almost 25 kilometres long circuit, the Stuck brothers and Rostek had a race without any mistakes or problems. Main focus for the debut of the V12-Aston Martin at the Nordschleife was hereby put on gaining experience and collecting basic data on fuel consumption, suspension set-up, tyre wear and the specific conditions at the Nordschleife. “Everything went like clockwork”, said the happy Young Driver AMR team manager Hardy Fischer. “We completed the very first meters in the Aston Martin at the Nordschleife during the qualifying session on Saturday morning only and managed to finish the race without any kind of problem. It was a very good first test for the 24h Race and I am really happy.”
In preparation of the 24h Race in May, Young Driver AMR will contest another race at the ”Green Hell”, the third round of the endurance racing championship on 28th of April and their final test for the marathon race at the Eifel track.
Johannes Stuck: “I am very happy with today’s race. It was the first time for Ferdi to be the start driver at a round of the endurance racing championship and he has done a very good job. We have today completed the distance which we needed to get the right feeling with our car at the Nordschleife. I am positively surprised as the car has already achieved the level of performance which it should have. A big compliment to Aston Martin Racing and the team Young Driver AMR. We will now analyse and evaluate the collected data and have to work on some details.”
Ferdinand Stuck: “This was my first time to start a race at the Nordschleife. I must admit that this was something different compared to the ADAC GT Masters. The race itself was not easy. The weather conditions had been very difficult, furthermore there was some oil on the track, yellow flags and accidents. It took me some laps to get used to the new Aston Martin at the Nordschleife but I gained more and more confidence lap by lap. The distance covered under race conditions today was very important and we have gained a lot of experience.”
Dennis Rostek: “The Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 has a big potential, we were able to set very satisfying lap times right from the beginning in today’s race. This was a significant performance. We have to concentrate and work now on the usual details. I am, however, very happy and I am already looking forward to our next race. A big compliment to the Young Driver team around Hardy Fischer which has done a brilliant job for our first start at the Nordschleife. We have furthermore received a perfect support this weekend by our suspension partner KW. We were pretty close to the top ten today and even though we didn’t make it yet, we are not far away. If Aston Martin Racing and the team Young Driver AMR will be able to implement the experience gained this weekend until the next race, and I am convinced they will, we will move another big step forwards.”