Mixed results again for the two Aston Martin GT3s running in the Asian Le Mans Series
Monday, February 05, 2024
The #95 TF Sport AMR of John Hartshorne, Jonny Adam and Ben Tuck had made better progress at the opening two races of the season from Sepang, yet it was the #77 D’Station Racing AMR of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson making better pace once the series had arrived at the Dubai Autodrome.
Starting Sundays four-hour race from P15 and P19 respectively out of a GT3 class grid of twenty-two cars, unfortunately it was the #95 car of Hartshorne who would ‘suffer’ first having picked up an early puncture following an opening lap incident that took out several cars. Dropping an early lap as a result, it took the full driving capacity of both Adam and Tuck – along with a bit of luck with strategy and further on track incidences for the trio to eventually finish P10 as a result.
The #77 D’Station car meanwhile had run much of their race within the top ten in class only for a misjudgement coming out of the third hour of the race with Fujii behind the wheel that would quickly cost them a finish. Then running in P12, side to side contact was made between the #77 AMR and the #66 Attempto Audi that would break the Aston’s steering that would in turn result in further, heavier contact between the two cars.
With clear wheel and suspension damage, the #77 would not make it back to pit lane leaving the Japanese driver no choice but to stop on track and retire the car. Post-race, the car was excluded from the official results and had a five-place grid penalty imposed for the next round.
That leaves just two more rounds of the series still to come this weekend coming as the paddock is packed away again into their containers ready for the short journey up to the Yas Marina Circuit in neighbouring Abu Dhabi.
Photo credits – Teams / Andrew Lofthouse
