As the summer
heats up the FIA GT1 World Championship returns this weekend with the fourth round at the “HTTT Paul Ricard”
in Le Castellet in the south of France. But the French round of the World Championship
will be anything but a holiday for Young Driver AMR and the four drivers as success
also means added weight in the GT1-World Championship. So after two strong
weekends of Young Driver AMR with the Aston Martin DBR9s at Silverstone and
Brno, the V12-engine powered coupés were penalised with additional weight by
the organisers. The Young Driver-Aston Martins have to start 30kg heavier than at
the previous round at Brno and for the double podium car #7 with Darren Turner
and Tomas Enge the situation on the former formula 1 track near the
Mediterranean Sea will be even worse, as they have to carry an additional 30kg “success
ballast” around the 5842-meter long French track.
The Young
Driver AMR team is a regular guest in France, as the team travels to France for
the fourth time this year and have already tested twice at the Paul Ricard
track in 2010. But the drivers are fresh of the successful Le Mans experience
three weeks ago, where Christoffer Nygaard, Tomas Enge and special guest Peter
Kox finished third in the GT1-class which was also the very first appearance by
Young Driver AMR in the legendary French endurance classic,. Stefan Mücke and
Darren Turner also used the „Le Mans break“ in the World Championship calendar
to race at Le Mans, with Mücke finish sixth overall in the 007 LMP1 Aston
Martin, while Turner in the 009 LMP1 Aston Martin had bad luck as his car
retired in the last hour of the race. So hopefully it will all add up to a
great race despite the added weight.
All four Young
Driver AMR-drivers are very familiar with the Paul Ricard track, which actually
celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, as it is often used for
testing during the winter month. Just back in April, Stefan Mücke finished
second in the 8h of Le Castellet in the LMP1 for Aston Martin Racing.
What the
drivers have to say before the race:
Darren Turner (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin): “After Le Mans, where
I drove the LMP1-car, it will be quite interesting to switch back to the
GT1-car this weekend. I guess it will take me a few laps to acclimate again. I
expect the race in Paul Ricard to be very difficult. We have 30kg success
ballast after our second place at Brno and also another 30kg “Balance of
Performance” weight, which is hard for me to understand. At the last round at
Brno it seamed all cars where quite well balanced. Now it’s shaken up again.
But the team is very strong and they have done an absolutely brilliant job so
far this season including excellent pit work. In every race this season we have
gained positions due to our pit crew, I hope that will continue in France. But
one thing is for sure, we will try our best!”
Tomas Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin): „This weekend will be
hot, very very hot. With the additional ballast in the cars it will be hard
work and especially for the #7 car of Darren and myself which will be 60kg
heavier than at the last race at Brno. But we will try to make the best out of
it even though It will not be very easy with so much weight. I hope we can
score as many points as possible in France and maybe climb a little bit in the
driver’s championship. At the last race at Brno, our good pit work was the key
to our success. And as the team is really one of the best in terms of pit
stops, maybe this will also make the difference at Paul Ricard.”
Christoffer
Nygaard (#8 Young Driver-Aston
Martin): “The World Championship race in France is my first race in the Aston
Martin DBR9 since the 24h of Le Mans. At Le Mans I got a lot of race miles with
our car under my belt. I collected a lot of experience and I’m really familiar
with the car now. Le Castellet will for sure be a very hard weekend. It’s a
popular test track, so all drivers will know the track quite well. The last
races of the World Championship have been action packed and showed that almost
everything can happen. For us this means that if we don’t make any mistakes, we
can end up in a very good position.”
Stefan
Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston
Martin): „After Le Mans in the LMP1-car, it’s quite fun to be back in the GT1
car. I know the track very well and have some good memories, just back in April
I was on the podium in the Le Mans Series race. I have already tested with our
Aston Martin DBR9 at Paul Ricard back in spring and we found a really good set
up for the car. My teammate Christoffer Nygaard raced in our car at Le Mans and
is now really familiar with the car. But it’s very difficult to make a forecast
for this weekend, as we don’t know if the track layout suits our car well. I
think we will only have a clear picture after the free practise. Our main goal
at France is to collect points for the championship.”
Follow Young Driver AMR on the internet!
Qualifying, Qualifying Race and the Championship Race
will be available LIVE on the internet at www.youngdriver-amr.com!