Aston Martin Racing has taken a double podium finish at this weekend’s 6 Hours of Silverstone, as the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) gets underway. The #95 GTE Pro trio of Darren Turner (GB), Marco Sørensen (DN) and Nicki Thiim (DN) enjoyed a positive afternoon at the British round of the WEC. With each driver double stinting, the #95 entry enjoyed trouble free running to achieve a strong haul of points at this early stage in the championship.
Turner commented, “That was a huge change from yesterday and after starting the race in the #95 I had a good two hours in the car. The car ran perfectly and I’m both happy and encouraged by the performance of our new Dunlop tyres. With the strategy working in our favour and Nicki, Marco and I all avoiding trouble on the track, we were able to work our way back up towards the podium places.”
Alongside Turner, teammate Marco Sørensen was also encouraged by the team’s performance.
Sørensen said, “The car felt good and the weather helped us in comparison to qualifying yesterday. We were able to show the pace that we’re capable of, and I am quite sure that we will continue to learn and develop as we move onwards throughout the season. I’m already looking forward to Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
In GTE Am, the #98 entry of Paul Dalla Lana (C), Pedro Lamy (P) and Mathias Lauda (A) also kicked off their season with a strong finish with second.
Again focussing on a double stint driving strategy, the team avoided trouble throughout and continued their strong form from 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwR4Ybn4OM
Lauda commented, “I’m really happy with the end result. We had a tough qualifying but I knew that Pedro, Paul and I would be really strong as a team. Dunlop did a good job and the tyres were very consistent. It’s great to start the season like this and to bring two Aston Martin Racing entries on to the podium is fantastic.”
Speaking of the team’s performance at the season’s first event, Paul Howarth Aston Martin Racing Team Principal said, “With the team learning and continuing to develop the V8 Vantage GTE with new partners TOTAL and Dunlop, a third place in GTE Pro and second in Am constitutes a result that we’re happy with. There’s more progress to be made but we’re comfortable with our performance at this stage of the season.”
The result tops off an impressive showing for Aston Martin Racing this weekend. Competing with TF Sport, Jonny Adam (GB) and Derek Johnston (GB) took victory in their V12 Vantage GT3 at the opening round of the British GT at Brands Hatch.
Alongside the WEC at Silverstone, Beechdean AMR also tasted victory in the European Le Mans Series with Andrew Howard (GB), Alex Macdowall (GB) and Darren Turner (GB) at the wheel. A second podium position was claimed by ROFGO AMR, who took third with Roald Goethe (D), Stuart Hall (GB) and Richie Stanaway (NZ).
The FIA World Endurance Championship returns at the 6 Hours of Spa, the penultimate race ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
