Aston Martin Wants a Podium at Le Mans in 2 Classes

Aston MartinAston MartinUnited Kingdom, 1914 > present62 models
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is entering two Vantage GTEsAston Martin Vantage GTEUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present4 photos
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into the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, but it is still hoping for a podium finish. One of them will be in the GTE-Pro class and the other will be in GTE-Am.

The GTE-Pro car will be driven by  Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Adrian Fernandez. Aston Martin raced the #97 Vantage GTE with the same drivers in the 12 Hours of Sebring, at Long Beach and at Laguna Seca. The last two rounds were actually American Le Mans Series races where the Vantage was not racing for points but just for extra development before the 6 Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

So far this season, the #97 Vantage was third in class at Sebring, fifth in class at Long Beach, eighth overall at Laguna Seca and retired in 11 laps at Spa. 

This will be the first outing for the #99 GTE-Am car from the Young Driver AMR team. It was the fastest car in its class during Le Mans testing last week. It will be driven by Allan Simonsen, Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen.

"We were able to complete 115 laps between the two cars without any technical issues, which gave the engineers and drivers plenty of time to work through their car set-up programmes. We focused on making sure the cars are easy and comfortable to drive to reduce the scope for driving errors," said Aston Martin Racing Team Principal John Gaw. 

In 1959, Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori won the race for Aston Martin. Both men died within weeks of each other prior to the race. To celebrate the past winner. The #97 Vantage will wear a decal that says 'CS 59 RS.'