Asia: Okayama: Aston Martin qualifying report

ASTON MARTIN RACING ON SECOND ROW IN JAPAN

Okayama, October 30 2009. Aston Martin Racing will start the inaugural round of the Asian Le Mans Series in fourth position from the second row of the grid.

The qualifying time of 1m19.747s was set by Stefan Mucke (DE) and will be used to determine the starting position for both of the weekend's races.

The drivers had their first experience of the 13-turn, 2.3 mile (3.7 km) Okayama circuit earlier today during two one-hour practice sessions.

Qualifying driver Mucke said: "This circuit is difficult for us. Our car is built for long fast straights at Le Mans and this is like a go-kart track with lots of slow corners. We had a few problems with the set-up during practice but the team made changes which improved the car for qualifying and I'm optimistic we will find a good balance for the race.

"Fourth place is a little bit disappointing. It is what I was expecting, but I was hoping we would be able to find a couple more tenths. I'm looking forward to the race though and we have three hours to try and get the best from the car."

Team-mate Harald Primat (CH) commented: "The team anticipated this track would not suit our car so qualifying fourth was better than I expected. The traffic is not as bad as it usually is in the Le Mans Series races because we don't have as many cars on track. We just need to find a comfortable position for the race and see what we can do."

In total 23 cars will line up to start race one which commences at 12:30 JST (GMT +9) on Saturday 31 October and is scheduled to run for 136 laps or a maximum of three hours.

-credit: astonmartinracing.com