Aston Martin Racing leads Le Mans at sixteen-hour mark
Sunday, June 23, 2013
With 16 hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans complete, Aston Martin Racing is leading the highly-competitive GTE Pro class by more than a minute with its #99 Vantage GTE, while the identical #97 car is in third place. Its nearest challenger is 1 minute 14 seconds behind.
In the early hours of the morning a long period behind the safety car, due to barrier repair, gave Aston Martin Racing the opportunity to complete a brake change on all of its three Pro cars. This was shortly followed by a period of heavy rain which made conditions difficult, but all the cars came through unscathed in a testament to the drivers.
As the sun rose over the Circuit de la Sarthe the third Vantage GTE in the Pro line-up, the #98 car, is in ninth and the #96 Am is seventh in class.
Team Principal of Aston Martin Racing John Gaw comments: “There have been some tricky conditions throughout the night but the drivers have all performed solidly and we’ve had no major issues with the cars. The team have used the safety car to our advantage and adapted quickly and sensibly to the changing conditions. We just need to continue pushing on for the next eight hours.”