Premature retirement in Belgium for Aston Martin Racing.

From third on the grid, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage had kept pace with the leading cars when it was forced to retire due to a gearbox problem. The British team is now turning its attention to the United States for the next round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca, California next weekend.

Darren Turner made ​​a good start and quickly found himself leading the class at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship​​. Unfortunately, the British driver soon reported gear selection problems that proved terminal for the car, as regulations do not permit changes of transmission during the race. His team-mates Stefan Mucke, who qualified the car, and Adrian Fernandez could not get behind the wheel on race day.

The Gulf liveried car will soon be on the track again next weekend in California before returning to Europe for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Darren Turner: “The performance in qualifying showed that the pace of the car is very good and the first few laps of the race reinforced that. I was able to pull away from our GTE rivals, so I think we could have been in contention for the Vantage GTE’s first win. The performance is definitely going in the right direction; we just have to get on top of the gearbox issues, which the team is working hard to do."

Dave Davies (Quote from team press release)

Photo: FRANCORCHAMPS (LIEGE, BELGIUM), SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, FRIDAY 4th MAY 2012, QUALIFYING. The Aston Martin Vantage had an early retirement at Spa but showed that it had competitive pace.