ASTON MARTIN TAKES GTE AM PODIUM IN FUJI

Aston Martin Racing’s #98 Vantage GTE crew stood on the second step of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Six Hours of Fuji GTE Am podium this weekend, after an exciting race in changeable conditions.

After five hours of on-off rain showers, a last stint dash to the line on a drying track saw Paul Dalla Lana (CA) make huge strides into Patrick Dempsey’s GTE Am class lead and was only 17-seconds from the top step when the flag fell.

The three Vantage GTE Pro-class cars struggled to be competitive all weekend, despite a positive alteration to the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the race at the Fuji International Speedway. Although a step in the right direction, the adjustments, as expected, would not be enough.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen here that the changes to BoP prior to Fuji were not enough to readdress the balance,” John Gaw Team Principal commented. “We thought this would be the case but, of course, the team was fully focused going into the weekend, in case we could be competitive. We all pushed as hard as we could and, in fact, had a close to a perfect race but we could not join the fight between the competitors at the front.

“The #98 team getting second place is a great success, but the overall result was much less than the team’s performance deserved.”

The next round of the WEC, the Six Hours of Shanghai, takes place on Sunday 1 November at 11am.

The Six Hours of Fuji results:

#95 Vantage GTE – P5
#97 Vantage GTE – P6
#99 Vantage GTE – P7
#98 Vantage GTE – P2 in GTE AM/P9 overall
#96 Vantage GTE – P7 in GTE AM/P14 overall