Le Mans Twenty Hour Report - Aston Martin Holds Third at Le Mans With Four Hours to Run

Sunday, June 17, 2012


As the 24 Hours of Le Mans enters its closing stages, Aston Martin Racing is on course to finish on the podium in the GTE Pro category. Having completed 277 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe, the #97 Vantage GTE lies third in class on its first visit to Le Mans.

An accident at the 16-hour mark cost the team its second position in class. Although the technicians worked quickly and efficiently to get the Vantage GTE back out onto the circuit within ten minutes of the initial impact, the time loss was sufficient to drop the #97 machine out of sight of the leading GTE Pro challenger.

At the 20-hour mark, the V8-powered racer sits three laps adrift of the class leader and a single lap behind the second-placed GTE Pro car. Nonetheless, the team will continue to push hard in a bid to improve its position; indeed, factory driver Darren Turner (GB) set the fastest time of the entire GTE field at the 18.5-hour mark, logging a benchmark lap of 3m 56.132s, before team-mate Stefan Mücke (D) went even quicker after 20 hours with a time of 3m 54.928s.

Following a strong double stint early on Sunday morning (17 June), Adrian Fernandez (MX) said: “Just before I got into the car this morning, Stefan had a moment of misfortune and ended up in the wall. The car didn’t sustain heavy damage so the team was able to repair it within three laps. When I jumped in I was surprised that the car was actually fine; the team did a fantastic job.

“I was running pretty quick laps. At the time I was the fastest guy in the class without taking any big risks. We are currently third in class, so we need to make sure that we don’t make any more mistakes before the end of the race.”

Keep up to date with the 24-hour race on Aston Martin’s official website at www.astonmartin.com/racing, or on its social media platforms at www.twitter.com/amr_official and www.facebook.com/astonmartinracing.

Aston Martin Racing
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