Aston Martin Racing leads Le Mans at eight-hour mark

At the eight-hour mark, Aston Martin Racing is leading the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its #99 Vantage GTE driven by Bruno Senna (BR), Rob Bell (GB) and Frédéric Makowiecki (FR), with the #97 of Darren Turner (GB), Stefan Mücke (D) and Peter Dumbreck (GB) close behind in second place.

The third Vantage GTE in the Pro line-up, the #98 car of Pedro Lamy (PT), Bill Auberlen (US) and Paul Dalla Lana (CN), is in eighth overall and the #96 Am is ninth in class.

The team made the decision to continue to race following an incident that took the life of the #95 driver Allan Simonsen, at the insistence of his family, who have been flown home to Copenhagen by Aston Martin Racing. The team now intends to lead the race to its conclusion and take victory for Allan.

CEO of Aston Martin Racing, David Richards, comments: “Incidents like this are very rare but when they happen you have to make decisions based on a number of factors – in this case the wishes of the family were paramount. We spoke with Allan’s family who were insistent that we continued to compete in the 24-hour race. The team is, of course, deeply saddened by the loss of one of our drivers, however we are as focused as ever to win this race, but we are now racing to win for Allan.”

Aston Martin Racing
Image - Richard Leach