DOUBLE PODIUM FOR ASTON MARTIN

Aston Martin took a double podium finish at this weekend’s Six Hours of Silverstone, making for an exciting start for the brand at this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The #95 V8 Vantage GTE finished third, while GTE Pro and the #98 GTE AM entry claimed second-place in the first round of the endurance race season.

Driven by Darren Turner, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim, the #95 model enjoyed a trouble-free run throughout the entire afternoon. Overall, it managed to claim the Aston Martin team a huge amount of points, which puts it in an extremely comfortable position as it moves forward to the next round of the championship.

Giving his thoughts on the race, Turner said: “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.”

Sorensen was heavily encouraged by the team’s overall performance, commenting that the car felt great but that the good weather also played an important part in the team qualifying so highly in this early stage of the WEC.

Regardless of how much the weather helped, Sorensen and the rest of the team have said that they’re “already looking forward to Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans”. When it came to the GTE AM #98 team, comprised of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda, they outperformed even their own expectations and were thrilled to walk away with second place. The cars themselves performed better than expected and lived up to the new custom-made wing-tipped badges that adorned their sides, as they flew around the track hour after hour.

Lauda commented that the team had a tough time with qualifying, but it was the tyres and conditions that really helped to pull the team through the race and continue their strong form from last year. Paul Howarth, principal of Aston Martin Racing Team, felt that overall the teams gave performances and results that he and the brand were happy with. He did say that there is still progress to be made, but that they’re “comfortable at this stage of the season”.

The FIA WEC returns for the Six Hours of Spa, which is the penultimate race before the 24 Hours of Le Mans: We’re setting the flags waving for Aston Martin.

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