Trials and Tribulations for AMR at VLN2

In full preparation for the 24Hrs at the Nurburgring in just three weeks time Aston Martin Racing fielded two V12 Vantage GT3's for their two factory driver line ups at this weekends VLN2.

In the familiar Bilstein liveried #27 car were Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke joined this time by Pedro Lamy whilst in its sister #29 car were Jonny Adam, Richie Stanaway and Mathias Lauda. Being so close to the N24 race many of these drivers were still short of race mileage/experience that the team were hoping for after the curtailment of the VLN1 event due to the tragic incident that saw the race red flagged.

With practice over for the day, minds were set for qualifying the next day and it was to be Mucke and Lamy in the #27 together with Stanaway and Adam in the #29 doing the 'honours'. With all drivers struggling with optimum  setup due to the ever changing weather conditions the final qualification times for the leading SP9 class cars were not stabilised until the very end of the session.


At the end of qualifying it would be the #27 that would be starting ahead of its younger rivals in P3 whilst the #29 would be starting in P13. Whilst the opening few laps were relatively dry, allowing for both cars to change onto slicks bad weather turned out to be just another corner away.

Racing on any circuit in the rain on slicks calls for great car craft however this undulating, twisting and turning circuit proved to be too much for  some causing the #27 to sustain accident damage whilst trying to avoid others who had faulted. Despite making it back to the garage the car was retired on lap 11.


Co-incidentally the #29 car was a victim of misfortune collecting itself a puncture half way around the circuit. By the time it had made its way back to the pits the car was also retired as again too much time had been lost on track and the track conditions themselves we worsening all the time.

Photo Credits - VLN / Aston Martin Racing / Social Media