Running their longest race within the history of the Series at the Circuit de La Sarthe earlier today, proved itself to be another eventful one albeit not always in a positive way as far as the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s were concerned.

Qualifying was all sorted yesterday as the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman entry of Philipp Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot this time bucked the trend in beating the #10 Code Racing Development AMR Vantage of Sebastian Moreno and Ethan Ischer to be the highest placed Aston Martin on the Road to Le Mans grid fourth in class to the #10 cars P7.

 

The two Blackthorn AMR cars of #90 Charles Bateman and Kobe Pauwels as well the late crew replacements of Giacomo Petrobelli and Romain Leroux within the #91 car (who would replace both Claude Bovet and Tom Canning due to an apparent injury to Bovet) would figure towards the rear of the fifty-eight strong grid.

An early start to the three-hour race on Friday morning saw of the crews struggling to get warmth into their tyres and brakes with the inevitable contact between cars on the opening lap saw race hobbling damage for many. One of those was the #90 car of Bateman who would return to pit lane with what appeared to just be a rear puncture but was something obviously a bit more sinister as the car only lasted another seven laps before being retired.

 

Their #91 of Petrobelli was also seen with front quarter damage which appeared to be ‘raceable’ from what little viewpoint we had of the car but that also was retired from the race on only the next lap to their sister to make for a forgettable race weekend in France for the team.

Leaving just the #10 and #11 cars to the AMR name, the race never settled until about half an hour had passed after a quick sequence of slow zones during the opening laps had again spoiled the start but only at the hour mark did we see the Safety Car for the first time after a heavy off into the safer barrier at the Porsche Curves.

 

Sager and Moreno meanwhile were keeping out of trouble circulating P6 and P10 in class respectively as their stint length was coming to an end before their Pro or silver classed drivers took over to the end. Both Hasse-Clot and Ischer quickly made their mark as the elevated their cars up to P4 and P8 with little under an hour still to go and they were both forced to pit for their final time.

Losing time to the repositioning of the car relative to their refuelling rig, the #10 car re-emerged in third as the two leading McLarens were circulating faster than what the Frenchman could cut down so a lower step of the podium was looking probable. Last lap contact between the two class leaders, however, saw the long-time leader sidelined with terminal damage allowing the #10 car to easily pass for position.

 

At the flag, the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin took second in class whilst the #10 Code Racing Development go their first finish of the season with a post-race time penalty adjusted seventh in class – all subject to official confirmation.

 

The Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Sebastian Moreno has again showed his qualifying pace at least as he qualified the #11 car that he now shares with Ethan Ischer onto another pole position within the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series.

This time competing at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, the Columbian bronze driver did what he did at the opening round from Barcelona just few weeks ago to go nearly three quarters of a second quicker than anyone else within their ten strong GT3 class to claim his second pole position of the season. His teammate, Ischer also secured a fastest class lap of the event during an earlier Free Practice session

 

The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT3 of Philipp Sager (shared with Valentin Hasse-Clot) sadly could not replicate his qualifying pace of Barcelona as they eventually qualified P8 in class with the #91 Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR of Claude Bovet (and Tom Canning) had better fortune this time to make it through to the grid of this afternoons race in nineth after an earlier spin for Bovet.

They sadly had a heavy off in Spain that prevented them from racing in Spain, as did the #11 Code of Racing Development AMR during the opening laps of that race which eventually allowed the #10 RSLM car to come through to claim a season opening race win. It’s just now time for the teams to join together all those dots for the race.

 

The second two-hour round of the Le Mans Cup season is waved off at 18:20hrs local this evening.

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