Muller homing in on points

After an eventful opening round in Abu Dhabi, the Young Driver AMR squad go in search of further points at Zolder.

In the past, the FIA GT Championship, predecessor of GT1 World, was a frequent visitor to the track near to the German border.

For the Aston Martin DBR9, the Belgium track has been a happy hunting ground. One of the team members particularly looking forward to the challenge of Zolder is Alex Muller, who pilots the No.7 car.

The German considers it a home track given that his hometown is less than two hours away. "I expect many friends from my hometown coming to Zolder and cheering for Young Driver, that will definitely give me some extra motivation," he said.

"Zolder is my home track, I could almost sleep in my own bed. I like to drive there, not only because it’s near to my home, it should also suit our car quite well. In the past, the Aston Martin was always a very quick car at Zolder.

"Usually the Aston Martin likes quick tracks with fast and flowing corners, the opposite of the narrow Zolder track. But somehow, the Aston Martin is always quick there.“ Muller's driving partner Tomas Enge began his career at the Belgium track. "During the winter of 1995-1996, I drove thousands of kilometres there, when I tested Formula cars," he said.

"Since then, I have only occasionally visited Zolder. After the performance and the speed we showed at Abu Dhabi, I hope that we carried over our speed to the second round.

"In the past, the Aston Martin was always quick at Zolder, but we have to be careful. Since the car raced there last time, the rules have changed, and we don’t know yet how that will influence the performance of the car.”

Meanwhile, Stefan Mucke, who shares the No.8 car with Darren Turner, is looking forward to the challenge. "I really like to race at Zolder, the track should suit the car. The technical configuration of the Aston Martin DBR9 will be a little bit different as it raced there in the past and I expect a really strong competition.

"But I suppose that in terms of speed, we will be as quick as in Abu Dhabi. The track suits Darren and me very well. After we failed to score a podium result in the first round, our aim is to finish on the podium at Zolder.” Turner also believes the Aston Martin will adapt well. "I’m looking forward to scoring some good points there," he said. "If everything goes well during the two races, I suppose we can achieve an even better result than in Abu Dhabi. I like to come to Zolder, the races there are always very entertaining.

"The track is very narrow, but is a lot of fun with all these chicanes and our car should be reasonably competitive there.“

Foto / Info: FIA GT Championship/ Media