Le Mans Series

Charouz and Mücke without points at Spa

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

After two points finishes from a third place at Barcelona and eighth at Monza, Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke did not enjoy such a good day in the third race of the Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps. Despite showing strong pace, they finished 10th in the lead LMP1 class and 29th overall after their new Aston Martin powered prototype suffered electrical problems.

They started fifth and held the position for the team’s first stint of the race. Only the more powerful turbo diesels were ahead and Mucke was able to stay in touch with one of the Audis. However, the Charouz Racing System car had to be pushed to the garage before the one hour mark for the mechanics to fix a problem with the alternator. After that the gap to the front was too big and it was not possible to climb back into the top eight by the end of the race and score points.

Stefan Mucke: “We had bad luck in the race again. The car was again very quick and we had a chance to fight with the second Audi and be the best petrol car but it was not our day today. The machine was against us and I just hope that we will do better in the next races, the first one is the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
www.stefan-muecke.jgsm.de

Jan Charouz: “It is not easy to speak after races like this. It is a big shame because our car was again very quick. However, we have to remember that we are still in the very early phase of our programme and it was only our third race. I am happy for myself that I set our quickest lap time in the race. We are more and more evenly matched with Stefan and this is important for the future.”
www.racing.charouz.cz

George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing: „After an alternator failure during the first stint we effectively used the rest of the race as an extended test. The team and drivers worked incredibly hard and the car showed good pace, allowing Jan to set the fastest overall time for a petrol-powered car.“
www.astonmartinracing.com

Results from Spa, race
1. LMP1 Team Peugeot Total GENE Marc/MINASSIAN Nicolas/VILLENEUVE Jacques (Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP) 143 kol za 5:17:48.566
2. LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest PREMAT Alexandre/ROCKENFELLER Mike (Audi R10 TDI) -30.387
3. LMP1 Team Oreca Matmut PANIS Olivier/LAPIERRE Nicolas (Courage-Oreca Judd) -3 kola
4. LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest CAPELLO Rinaldo/McNISH Allan (Audi R10 TDI) -4 kola
5. LMP1 Pescarolo Sport COLLARD Emmanuel/BOULLION Jean-Christophe (Pescarolo Judd) -4 kola
6. LMP2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport VAN MERKSTEIJN Peter/VERSTAPPEN Jos (Porsche RS Spyder) -5 kol
7. LMP2 Horag Racing LIENHARD Fredy/THEYS Didier/LAMMERS Jan Porsche RS Spyder -5 kol
8. LMP2 Team Essex ELGAARD Casper/NIELSEN John (Porsche RS Spyder) -8 kol
29. LMP1 Charouz Racing System MUCKE Stefan/CHAROUZ Jan (Lola Aston Martin) -36 kol, 10. v LMP1

Standings, drivers
1. GENE Marc, MINASSIAN Nicolas 24
2. PREMAT Alexandre, ROCKENFELLER Mike 24
3. CAPELLO Rinaldo, McNISH Allan 12
4. LAMY Pedro, SARRAZIN Stephane 11
5. Villeneuve 10
6. PRIMAT Harold, TINSEAU Christophe 9
7. BOULLION Jean-Christophe, COLLARD Emmanuel 9
8. KERR Robbie, HALL Stuart 8
9. CHAROUZ Jan, MÜCKE Stefan 7
Teams
1. Team Peugeot Total No. 7 – 24
2. Audi Sport Team Joest No. 2 – 24
3. Audi Sport Team Joest No. 1 - 12
4. Team Peugeot Total No. 8 - 11
5. Pescarolo Sport No. 17 - 9
6. Pescarolo Sport No. 16 - 9
7. Creation AIM No. 15 - 8
8. Charouz Racing System No. 10 - 7