Time passing galleries - Part 9 Dane Train comes of age
Sunday, May 10, 2020
After the heartbreak and joy year of 2013, the next season of the World Endurance Championship again saw Aston Martin Racing return with four examples of their V8 Vantage GTE, with a pair of each running in both GTE Pro and GTE Am classes.
Having already answered the tragic loss of Allan Simonsen at Le Mans in the most emphatic style possible for any racing team in that position with the taking of the GTE Am Drivers Championship by the end of the season, 2014 was to see another mix of both new and returning faces as the squad prepared themselves for another seven rounds of endurance racing around the world.
Long term team pairing Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke would again crew the #97 Pro (joined by Bruno Senna at both Spa and Le Mans) whilst the #99 Pro would retain its three driver line up of Fernando Rees, Alex MacDowall and team newcomer Daryl O'Young through the season in their new Interush / Velero liveried car.
In GTE Am, a slight driver adjustment would see Kristiam Poulsen/Nicki Thiim and David Heinimeier-Hanson crew the #95 Round Driver (Dane Train) car with Christopher Nygaard crossing over garage bays to returning customer driver Paul Dalla Lana's car who would race alongside Pedro Lamy again.
Whilst both Pro cars endured something of a 'difficult' season, culminating in a DNS for the #99 car at Le Mans after significant damage was sustained to the car in an accident during Free Practice, the opposite was thankfully the case for the two Am class cars who between them dominated the class throughout the season leaving only one race where the race was not won by one the AMR cars!
2014 was to end up seeing the #95 Young Driver squad come of age to win and retain the GTE Am Class Drivers Championship for Aston Martin Racing from their #98 car counterparts after a brilliant year of racing.
Again, what follows is just a simple offering of some shots that we took at both the opening round at Silverstone as well as later at Le Mans. All is what's asked is for you to sit back and reminisce over them instead of being tempered to go out and mix with too many people in our continued state for lockdown.
As with all these posts our praise and thanks are extended to those working in the health emergency services around the world and hope that motor racing as we remember it can return to our local circuits when it is considered safe to do so!
#staysafestayhome #savelives #nhsheroes.
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