Aston Martin Racing cannot be caught in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams although it won’t be known until at least Bahrain if it will be the No.95 or No.98 which finishes on top
Sun Nov 2nd 2014 – Porsche Team Manthey took a 1-2 finish in the LMGTE Pro category after a trouble-free run, and Aston Martin Racing celebrated its third consecutive 1-2 result in the Am class. This result ensures that Aston Martin Racing cannot be caught in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams although it won’t be known until at least Bahrain if it will be the No.95 or No.98 which finishes on top.
The 6 Hours of Shanghai started in a spectacularly unlucky fashion for GT Drivers’ Championship leaders, Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander in the No.51 AF Corse entry. The Ferrari 458 Italia was involved in a first lap accident with the No.47 KCMG LMP2 car, which had slowed on track due to a fuel pump issue, and the resulting damage put the Ferrari out of the race immediately.
Pole-sitter Stefan Mücke in the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 led the race for the first four and a half hours but saw his and Darren Turner’s hopes of victory go up in smoke; that car too was an instant retirement.
With these two challengers gone, it was relatively plain sailing for the remainder of the race for both Makowiecki and Pilet in the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR, although the French duo was pushed hard throughout by their team mates in the No.91 entry, Jörg Bergmeister and Richard Lietz. It was Porsche Team Manthey’s first win since the opening round of the season, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, and a great boost for the team after a difficult race in Japan.
Third in the Pro category was the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon and James Calado, the result giving the Italian-British pairing a second podium in two races and some compensation for the disappointment of seeing their team mates go out of the race so early on. Aston Martin Racing’s No.99 Vantage V8 of Alex MacDowall, Hong Kong’s Darryl O’Young and Fernando Rees was the final finisher in the GTE Pro class today, in fourth place.
Patrick Pilet (DEU) / Frederic Makowiecki (FRA) / Car #92 LMGTE PRO Porsche Team Manthey
Consistency was also the watchword for the LMGTE Am class, and the No.98 Vantage V8 of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard took its second victory of the season after a faultless race. The trio avoided trouble and were rarely out of the class lead throughout the 6-hour race which took place in front of a large number of delighted Aston Martin VIP guests. That the team produced another 1-2 result in the category was the icing on the cake, and today’s victory gave the team its fifth class win from six races –a great tribute to all in the British squad.
Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier-Hansson in the No.98 Aston Martin undoubtedly benefited today from the pace of New Zealander Richie Stanaway, the gap between the two British cars being 81 seconds at the chequered flag. Third in class was the No.90 8Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia of Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and FIA WEC newcomer Matteo Cressoni. The AF-Corse run car made an early pit stop which put it out of sequence from its rivals, but it went on to have a trouble-free run to its first podium of the season.
The next round of the championship will be the 6 Hours of Bahrain, a race into the night on Saturday 15th November. The championship title battles are getting closer and closer, and there is just seven points different now between Ferrari and Porsche in the World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers. Don’t miss the action from Bahrain!
