Young Driver AMR pairing Tomas Enge and Darren Turner enjoyed a perfect weekend at the Nurburgring with two wins in the FIA GT1 World Championship.
The Aston Martin Factory Drivers won the qualifying race and the main championship event at the German venue after a dominant performance.
Starting from pole position in the main event, Turner held the inside line into the first corner to lead ahead of the Corvette of Marc Hennerici (Phoenix Racing / Carsport) and was 6.5 seconds clear as he pitted on lap 14.
As the pit window shook out, Enge boasted a comfortable 13-second advantage and although a brief rain shower threatened to spoil the Czech driver’s day, he was able to manage the slippery conditions to bring the car home for Aston Martin’s first victory at GT1 World Championship level.
The Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago of Peter Kox and Christopher Haase finished second after jumping the Phoenix Racing car during the pit stops, leaving Mike Hezemans, who took over the Corvette from Hennerici, to complete the podium places.
The Hexis AMR Aston Martin of Clivio Piccione and Jonathan Hirschi claimed fourth ahead of the second Young Driver AMR DBR9 of Stefan Mucke and Christoffer Nygaard in what was a fine race for Aston as the second Hexis car also scored points in seventh.
Championship leaders Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini where sixth in the Vitaphone Maserati, while the top eight was rounded out by the Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes.
“I think I had 5-6 laps to go when it started to rain, so I slowed down,” said Enge. “But I think that everybody did the same because the gaps did not change.
“I want to say that we probably had the fastest car of the weekend but not as fast as it was obvious at the end of each race. I think that we just had two very clean races, we did not make any mistakes, we were very consistent and we had the fastest pit stop too.”
FIA GT1 World Championship result – Round 6, Nurburgring
1 Young Driver AMR, Darren Turner / Tomas Enge, Aston Martin DB9, 30 laps, 1:00:59.709
2 Reiter, Peter Kox / Christopher Haase, Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV, +9.547
3 Phoenix Racing / Carsport, Mike Hezemans / Marc Hennerici, Corvette Z06, +13.018
4 Hexis AMR, Clivio Piccione / Jonathan Hirschi, Aston Martin DB9, +14.182
5 Young Driver AMR, Stefan Mucke / Christoffer Nygaard, Aston Martin DB9, +15.109
6 Vitaphone Racing Team, Michael Bartels / Andrea Bertolini, Maserati MC12, +16.492
7 Hexis AMR, Frederic Makowiecki / Yann Clairay, Aston Martin DB9, +19.925
8 Sumo Power GT, Warren Hughes / Jamie Campbell-Walter, Nissan GT-R, +24.834
9 Triple H Team Hegersport, Bert Longin / Nico Verdonck, Maserati MC12, +25.098
10 Swiss Racing Team, Karl Wendlinger / Henri Moser, Nissan GT-R, +40.343
11 Marc VDS Racing Team, Maxime Martin / Bas Leinders, Ford GT Matech, +45.444
12 Vitaphone Racing Team, Miguel Ramos / Enrique Bernoldi, Maserati MC12, +47.591
13 Matech Competition, Thomas Mutsch / Richard Westbrook, Ford GT Matech, +48.833
14 Reiter, Ricardo Zonta / Frank Kechele, Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV, +50.806
15 Sumo Power GT, Michael Krumm / Peter Dumbreck, Nissan GT-R, +56.250
16 Matech Competition, Nicolas Prost / Neel Jani, Ford GT Matech, +57.773
17 Marc VDS Racing Team, Renaud Kuppens / Markus Palttala, Ford GT Matech, +1:05.491
18 Mad-Croc Racing, Xavier Maassen / Jos Menten, Corvette Z06, +1:06.014
19 All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport, Marc Basseng / Thomas Jager, Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV, +1:06.505
20 Triple H Team Hegersport, Altfrid Heger / Alex Muller, Maserati MC12, +1:07.079
21 Swiss Racing Team, Seiji Ara / Max Nilsson, Nissan GT-R, +1:51.668
Not classified
All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport, Dominik Schwager / Nicky Pastorelli, Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV, 26 laps
Mad-Croc Racing, Mika Salo / Pertti Kuismanen, Corvette Z06, 25 laps
Championship Standings (after 6 rounds)
1 Andrea Bertolini, 91pts
= Michael Bartels, 91
2 Thomas Mutsch, 77
3 Tomas Enge, 65
= Darren Turner, 65
4 Romain Grosjean, 62
5 Mark Hennerici, 61
6 Frank Kechele, 46
7 Frederic Makowiecki, 46
8 Alexander Margaritis, 46
9 Altfrid Heger, 43
10 Ricardo Zonta, 42
Next round: 19 September, Algarve Circuit
Andy Wilkinson
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