FIA GT Championship

Aston Martin readies for Spa return

Aston Martin Racing’s pair of DBR9’s will start tomorrows Proximus 24 Hours of Spa from third and seventh place on the starting grid, in the marque’s first appearance at the Francorchamps circuit since 1989.

DBR9 number 29, driven by Belgium-born Marc Goossens, Peter Kox and Pedro Lamy starts in third place after recording a qualifying time of 2:15.552. David Brabham, Stephane Sarrazin and Darren Turner, hampered by a time penalty incurred yesterday, saw their two quickest times in car 28 discounted, yet still managed seventh place with a time of 2:18.099.

Pedro Lamy, who recorded the quickest qualifying time for the team over the three sessions said: “We’ve got better over the course of the week and we’ve come a long way from the test, where we were probably a little off the pace.

“We’ve worked hard on the race setup and whilst it isn’t perfect, hopefully the tyres will help us and the pace is right. We are prepared and I’m sure the Spa weather will play a part.

“It’s a long race and we hope to be competing for the leading places come 4pm on Sunday.”

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell added: “Grid positioning isn’t overly important with the car being new to this circuit our priority is to work on the race setup and give our drivers as much track time as possible.

“Spa is an ideal place for us to continue our development of the DBR9 it’s a demanding circuit and a real contrast to our previous experiences this year at Sebring, Silverstone and Le Mans. Also, the weather typically plays a part at Spa and the Michelin tyres are particularly strong in the wet.”

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