Alex Müller and Tomas Enge second at Silverstone
Paderborn, 05.06.2011 [GT1 World Championship]
Young Driver AMR finished on the podium for the fourth consecutive race at the British round of the GT1 World Championship at Silverstone/England. After a brilliant victory in Saturday’s Qualifying Race, Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (CZE) finished second in their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 in Sunday’s Championship Race. Darren Turner (GBR) and Stefan Mücke (GER) experienced a tough weekend in England and retired after an incident halfway through the race.
The start of the Championship Race went really well for Young Driver AMR and starting driver Tomas Enge. From the Pole Position, Enge took the lead and maintained the lead despite a hard pressing Nissan in second place until the mandatory driver change halfway through the race. After the driver change, Alex Müller left the pits in second position, but chased the leading Nissan and retook the lead. A couple of corners later, the Nissan went past Müller, but the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin continued to set the leading car under hard pressure. In a dramatic end of the race, Müller ran several attacks on the leading Nissan and eventually saw the chequered flag with a brief gap of only 0,2 seconds in second position. The second place of Müller/Enge is the fourth podium finish for Young Driver AMR in five races and the second podium for the No. 7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin of the season.
Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke experienced a very hard weekend after they retired from the Qualifying Race and the Championship Race after incidents with Nissan-cars. The start went really well for Mücke. From the back of the grid, the No. 8 Aston Martin was already in eight place after the first lap. Mücke put a hard pressure on the cars in front of him, when he eventually got hit by a Nissan, which forced the Aston Martin DBR9 into a spin. Mücke could rejoin the race, but had to retire on the same lap after a second incident with the Nissan that spun him around.
“Again, I have some mixed emotions about this weekend”, Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer said. “Second place is a great result. Of course, we really would have liked to win here, but we saw a great race and a fair fight. Unfortunately Stefan Mücke made a mistake in the race, when he passed the Nissan too close. The car is badly damaged. We have a lot of work in front us and hope that we can repair the car in time for the next race. Our mechanics are the real hero’s of the weekend, they did an amazing job when they repaired the No. 8 car in time for the Championship Race and once again performed perfect pits stops.”
Driver quotes after the race:
Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “At the end of the race, I tried everything to pass the Nissan in front of me. It was a hard, but a fair fight. Tomas had a really good start into the race and we had a very quick car today. Yesterday we won the race in the pits, today the Nissan-crew was a bit faster in the pits, but this is racing. After we had bad luck at the past two meetings, I’m happy that we finally got rid of the bad luck and filled up our point score.”
Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “At the start of the race it was very difficult, as there was some light drizzle and the track was slippery in certain areas. So I couldn’t drive on full attack mode and I couldn’t build a gap on the other cars. But I think it was a really spectacular race and we delivered the spectators a great show.”
Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “I had a pretty good start, but then was held by a pair of Lamborghini. I couldn’t pass them without risk, so our strategy was to pass them in the pits with a better pit stop. But then there came the situation with the Nissan, which drove hard into by back at a corner, where one usually can’t overtake. I spun, but could continue and the car felt o.k. I was already back on the racing line, when I saw the Nissan very slow in front of me. I expected him to drive onto the gras, as he was really slow, but underestimated the situation and passed him too close. When I passed him, somehow my car clipped the Nissan at the back and I spun into the wall. It was of course not my intention to drive into the Nissan, I just underestimated the situation.”
Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „The weekend was very disappointed for Stefan and me. The Qualifying went really well, we were a bit surprised that we were so quick, considering we had a good amount of success ballast to carry around. The Qualifying Race was over before it really begun. In the Championship Race, Stefan had a cracking start and was in very good position. Then he was hit by Westbrook, which was a big shame. Stefan then made an error and drove too close to the Nissan, and after the made contact, he had to retire. I hope that this weekend didn’t blow our championship hopes away.”
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Two pictures for editorial use in the attachment, copyright Markus Berns
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Schedule GT1-World 2011
24. – 25. March Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi (VAE)
08. – 10. April Zolder (B)
06. – 08. May Algarve, Portimão (P)
13. – 15. May Sachsenring (D)
03. – 05. June Silverstone Supercar 2011 (GB)
01. – 03. July Navarra (E)
15. – 17. July HTTT Paul Ricard, Le Castellet (F)
02. – 04. September Ordos (CN)
21. – 23. Oktober Curitiba (BR)
05. – 06. November San Luis (ARG)
About Young Driver AMR
Young Driver AMR was founded by Hardy Fischer and his friend and long-time associate Jan Struve in late 2009 and is representing Aston Martin as one of only two teams in the FIA GT1 World Championship with two Aston Martin DBR9. The abbreviation AMR in the team name stands for Aston Martin Racing, Young Driver AMR is the only official German partner team of Aston Martin Racing. Young Driver AMR is a sister-team of Fischer Racing and based in Paderborn. In it’s first racing season 2010, Young Driver AMR took three victories in the FIA GT1 World Championship and finished on the class podium in it’s first ever outing in the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans in France.
Further information’s:
Young Driver AMR www.youngdriver-amr.com
Fischer Racing www.fischer-racingteam.de
GT1 World www.gt1world.com
Aston Martin Racing www.astonmartinracing.com
Stefan Mücke www.stefan-muecke.de
Alex Müller www.alex-mueller.net
Tomas Enge www.tomas-enge.cz
Darren Turner www.darrenturner.net
With best regards from Paderborn
Young Driver AMR GmbH
Max-Planck-Str. 3a
D-33104 Paderborn / Germany
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