Silverstone: Aston Martin qualifying report

ASTON MARTIN ON FRONT ROW FOR SILVERSTONE 1000KM

Silverstone, 12 September, 2009. Aston Martin Racing will start the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone from second, third and seventh on the grid on Sunday 13 September.

The 007 crew will start from the front row after Stefan Mucke (DE) secured second. Darren Turner (GB) was right behind in the 009 Aston Martin and Stuart Hall (GB) qualified the 008 car in seventh place.

The 008 car was the first of the three Gulf liveried Aston Martins to leave the pits with 007 and 009 waiting until approximately eight minutes remained of the 20 minute session before embarking on their qualifying runs for the final round of the 2009 Le Mans Series.

Mucke's second place time of 1m33.714sec was just under a second slower than the pole time but the German driver is not worried: "The lead car was one second ahead of us and I don't think we could match this time today but I am happy to be on the front row for the start of the race.

"It wasn't a perfect qualifying session. On the first lap I had a lot of traffic, the second lap was clear but it wasn't a perfect performance from me and the third lap, where the Michelin tyres were really at their best, there was a lot of dirt and gravel on the track and yellow flags so I had to slow down.

"I'm optimistic for the race tomorrow though. Our main rival for the Championship made a mistake under pressure which helps us a little bit. Everything looks good for us and I'm looking forward to having a clear race tomorrow. We will obviously try to push as much as possible without making any mistakes and I hope we are in a position to fight for a place on the final podium of the season."

Turner was the last of the three Aston Martin driver's to qualify, posting a time of 1m34.618sec in the 009 car: "It wasn't the best qualifying session, on my first lap there were yellow flags at Becketts. The second lap I backed off to give myself some space from the LMP2 cars in front hoping that they were coming into the pits. Then on my third lap there was gravel down at Becketts and I got stuck behind an LMP2 car that was going pretty slowly on his in-lap.

"Although it was frustrating for me personally it is a good solid result for the team and I'm looking forward to a clean start to the race tomorrow."

In 008, Stuart Hall took part in his first qualifying session since 2006: "I was getting quicker and quicker as the session went on and my best lap was my last one. It would have been great to be in the top six but it's a long race and I'm sure we can do well tomorrow."

Team Principal George Howard-Chappell said: "Qualifying went pretty well for us with regard to our Championship aspirations. The Michelin tyres got better and better as the session went on and the drivers all put in solid performances."

In total, 40 cars will line-up to start the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone at 11:35 on Sunday 13 September. There will be a 15-minute warm-up session in the morning at 09:00 and all eight of the Aston Martin Racing drivers will be signing autographs at the official Le Mans Series autograph session from 9:45 to 10:15 before the race.

-credit: aston martin