American Le Mans Series

Aston Martin Racing Qualifies First & Fourth at Laguna Seca

© Aston Martin Racing

Aston Martin Racing will start the tenth and final round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca Raceway on Saturday 21 October from first and fourth positions in the GT1 class.

Stephane Sarrazin qualified the number 009 DBR9 in first place with a time of 1:21.012s, his third pole of the season and the team’s seventh pole this year. Tomas Enge qualified the number 007 DBR9 in fourth place with a time of 1:21.515s.

The 007 car experienced an electrical problem at the start of qualifying but the team rectified the issue just in time for Enge to qualify in the closing minutes of the session.
Both cars completed two, one-hour practice session prior to this afternoon’s qualifying session and the team are now making their final preparations for Saturday’s four-hour race.

Stephane Sarrazin, Pedro Lamy and the 009 DBR9 crew came second in the Klein Tools Pit Crew Challenge. The crew and drivers recorded the fastest time in this afternoon’s elimination rounds (41.97s) but were just beaten in the final round by BMW Team PTG.

George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal, Aston Martin Racing:

“It is great to be on pole for the last race of the season. Stephane (Sarrazin) has learnt the circuit extremely quickly and put in a great lap to clinch the pole.

“The resurfacing of the circuit has improved the level of grip dramatically so the majority of competitors are faster this year. All classes with the exception of GT1 have new lap records. Our Pirelli tyres are working exceptionally well with the new surface so we are hopeful of a good result tomorrow.”

Stephane Sarrazin, 009 DBR9:

“It is my first time at Laguna Seca and it is one of the best tracks I have driven in America. There are great corners, up hill, down hill, I like it a lot and it is very exciting to drive here.

“The tyres are very good here, we have great grip, similar to Salt Lake, and the car is well balanced and easy to drive.

“I hope that we will be fast enough compared to Corvette as we have 50kg more this race but we will give the maximum. This is my third pole position in a row so I am very happy, I have a very good feeling with the car and I am looking forward to the race.”