Highs and lows for Y​oung Driver AMR at t​he Nürburgring​

Difficult weather conditions at the ADAC GT Masters round at the Nürburgring ensured a turbulent weekend for Young Driver AMR. In difficult conditions, with heavy rain and a drying track in both races, Kristian Poulsen and Christoffer Nygaard finished 13th and 9th in their Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. The Stuck-brothers Ferdinand and Johannes had to start from the back of the grid, after missing the qualifying due to an engine issue and demonstrated a strong, but unrewarded comeback when they finished 15th and 26th.

Success in the ADAC GT Masters always comes with a handicap: After winning the race at the Sachsenring, Poulsen and Nygaard had to start with 30kg success ballast at the Nürburgring. Not an easy task for the Danish duo, which showed a promising performance in Qualifying in the Eifel mountains despite the weight handicap. In the first race, Poulsen was on wet track among the top-ten, but then made contact with a Corvette. Poulsen was penalised with a drive-trough-penalty, which eventual cost him the victory in the amateur championship, when he lost some positions due to the penalty and eventually finished 13th with Christoffer Nygaard.

Sunday’s second race was more successful for Poulsen and Nygaard, despite mixed weather conditions with a torrential downpour halfway through the race and a drying track at the end. In the difficult conditions, the two Danes sailed to a 9th place finished and scored two points. Two second places in the amateur championship rounded up the weekend for Poulsen.

Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck were chased by bad luck at the Nürburgring. After an engine issue in free practise, the V12-engine had to be changed in the night to Saturday. Thus the Stucks had to miss qualifying. With the fresh engine, the Stucks drove a great race and managed to finished 15th after starting from 40th position. In the second heat, the Stucks repeated their great performance from the day before and finished 26th after a gearbox issue late in the race.

"A mixed weekend for us," concluded Young Driver AMR team boss Hardy Fischer after the two races, which were held at the ADAC Truck Grand Prix. "Kristian Poulsen and Christoffer Nygaard had to start with 30kg ballast this weekend, which made it very difficult for them. The Stucks had unfortunately a lot of bad luck, but showed a great comeback in both races. Big thanks to everybody in the team, who changed the engine of the #32 Aston Martin during a night shift on Friday until 7 ´clock in the morning. Although we took part in the Nürburgring 24 hour race, the track layout this weekend was new to us and we may not forget the car is very new and still under development. We are going now to prepare intensively for the next race at the Red Bull Ring.“

Driver quotes after the race:

Kristian Poulsen: "The drive-through penalty in the first race was a little bit too hard, that cost me the victory in the amateur championship. I’m not so happy about my second race, as the tires weren’t the best any more when I stepped in the car, so there was not much more possible.“

Christoffer Nygaard: "In these conditions it was very difficult for us, unfortunately we had no chance to score a podium finish. We hoped in the second race for a dry track, but the opposite happened, so our car hadn’t a set-up for heavy rain. But even despite this, we lacked a bit of pace this weekend.“

Johannes Stuck: "I got hit and turned around by a competitor in the first lap, this seams to have a tradition this season. At the end of my stint, I had some issues with the gearbox, that got even worse in the latter part of the race."

Young Driver AMR