Aston Martin Racing has confirmed it will run a fifth car in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, in Belgium next weekend. Single-seater standout, Richie Stanaway (NZ), will complete the 15-strong driver line-up while Rob Bell (GB) and Peter Dumbreck (GB) make their season debuts for the team.
The team will travel to Spa fresh from its double victory at the opening round of the championship at Silverstone on 14th April. The four Gulf-liveried Vantage GTEs – two LMGTE Pro and two LMGTE Am cars – will be joined by a third Pro car (No.99), which will be driven by Stanaway, Pedro Lamy (PT) and Paul Dalla Lana (CN).
Richie Stanaway, 21, is now fully recovered from a serious back injury sustained at Spa last year, and has tested with the team at Road Atlanta and Sebring earlier this year. “I’m really looking forward to going back to Spa. It’s the last place I raced last year and it’s somewhere I’ve got a lot of experience. Testing with the team earlier this year gave me the opportunity to race here but it also gave me a lot more. Working alongside Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna was a really good experience for me. They are so professional and knowledgeable and, really quick.”
Aston Martin Racing’s Team Principal John Gaw comments: “It will be a big task running five cars at Spa but it’s good preparation for Le Mans and we need to ensure that our extremely high standards we set ourselves are maintained. We showed at Silverstone that we have not only managed to build, develop and prepare four cars, but we have done so to such a standard that we had no issues to speak of with any of the cars throughout the six-hour race. This is thanks to our hard-working team, which has worked tirelessly to get us off to such a solid start to the season."
Driver line up for Spa:
#95 Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen (Am)
#96 Campbell-Walter/Goethe/Hall (Am)
#97 Dumbreck/Mücke/Turner (Pro)
#98 Bell/Makoweicki/Senna (Pro)
#99 Dalla Lana/Lamy/Stanaway (Pro)
The driver line-up for Le Mans will remain the same as at Spa, except for Stanaway who will be replaced in France by American Le Mans Series racer, Bill Auberlen, who celebrated victory at Long Beach last week.
Fiona Miller (quotes from Aston Martin press release)
Photo: SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT (TOWCESTER, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, UK), 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, SUNDAY 14TH APRIL 2013. Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8s won both the LMGTE Pro and Am categories.
