# 73, Vantage GT3, M. Brown_P. Cripps |
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Aston Martin Racing Lemans Festival
Aston Martin had a large presence at Le Mans, with 2 cars in each of the main race GT categories, an Aston Martin Paddock, an impressive hospitality suite, and the Lemans Festival race on the Saturday morning. This featured an entry of 37 cars, ranging from GT3 and GT4 examples through a pair of Vulcans, a DBR9, a DBRS9, to the new yet to be homologated Vantage GT3, which was running without restrictors by invitation, thus not eligible to compete for a position in the race. This # 3 example driven by Ross Gunn “won” the race on the road by nearly 20secs. Also in the race were Martin Brundle and British cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy, who were sharing an Aston Martin Performance Centre entered GT4 model.
The drivers in this race were much “better behaved” than their Road to Le Mans counterparts, with very few retirements through indiscretions. The field provided a great multicoloured hue together with some close racing through the classes, but when the chequered flag fell it was the Aston Martin Performance Centre entered # 14 Vulcan of P. Dumbreck/C. Harris that took the race win.
Overall Race Podium
1st # 14, Aston Martin Performance Centre, Vulcan of P. Dumbreck / C. Harris 2nd - # 95, Young Driver AMR, Vantage GTE, S. Simonsen / L. Sorensen 3rd = # 17, Sporting & Historic Cars, DBR9, D. Roschmann
Road to Le Mans
The pair of “Road to Le Mans” races were part of the Michelin Le Mans Cup series, with the first race on the Thursday evening prior to the main race final qualifying sessions, and the second on the Saturday morning preceding the main race. There was a large field of 49 cars, 41 in the LMP3 class and 8 in the GT3 class, of which 7 were Ferraris, 6 488 GT3 examples plus one 458 GT3, together with a lone Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Both races produced some close, sometimes too close, action through the field, and there were a number of “altercations”, some of which necessitated the deployment of the safety car. The net result was a switch in the front runners between the two races, with the LMP3 pole sitting Graff Norma M30-Nissan dropping down the order, whilst the race 1 winning Ligier JS P3-Nissan of Jensen / Van Berlo was involved in a race 2 incident which dropped it out of contention for repeating its performance. In the GT3 class the pair of Ferraris, # 71 and # 8, that had finished 1-2 in race 1, were both eliminated on the first lap in race 2.
Race Podiums
Race 1 Overall & LMP3
1st - # 11, Eurointernational, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, M. Jensen / K. Van Berlo 2nd - # 33, United Autosports, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, J. Falb / S. Rayhall 3rd - # 3, DKR Engineering, Norma M30-Nissan, L. Hoogenboom / J. Petersen
Race 1 GT3 Class
1si - #71, AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GT3, P. Perazzini / M. Cioci 2nd - # 8, Kessel Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3, S. Pianezzola / G. Piccini 3rd - # 77, Kessel Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3, C. Schiavoni / A. Piccini
Race 2 Overall & LMP3.
1st - # 25, Lanan Racing, Norma M30-Nissan, M. Benham / D. Tappy 2nd - # 33, United Autosports, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, J. Falb / S. Rayhall 3rd - # 21, DB Autosport,Norma M30-Nissan, J. Wolff / H. Schatz
Race 2 GT3 Class
1st - # 51, Spirit of Race, Ferrari 488 GT3, C. Ulrich / M. Mediani 2nd - # 77, Kessel Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3, C. Schiavoni / A. Piccini 3rd - # 50 Kessel Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3, J. Hartshorne / O. Hancock
Ferrari Entry
Race # | Model | Chassis # | Team | Colour | Drivers | Position | Class GT3 | R1 | R2 | OA Cl. | OA Cl. | 71 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4222 | AF Corse | Red-RWG St’s | P. Perazzini / M. Cioci | 20th 1st | DNF | 8 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4444 | Kessel Racing | Blue Met’/Mauve | S. Pianezzolo / G. Piccini | 24th 2nd | DNF | 77 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4420 | Kessel Racing | Blue Met’-Black-Orange | C. Schiavoni / A. Piccini | 25th 3rd | 27th 2nd | 54 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4296 | Spirit of Race | White-Green | L. Soenen / P. Vervisch | 26th 4th | 34th 4th | 51 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4274 | Spirit of Race | Orange-White | C. Ulrich / M. Mediani | 28th 5th | 13th 1st | 50 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 4212 | Kessel Racing | Red-Black | J. Hartshorne / O. Hancock | 29th 6th | 32nd 3rd | 69 | Ferrari 458 GT3 | 3240 | Stile F Squadra Corse | Black | M. Grab / G. Forgione | 36th 8th | 36th 6th |
Keith Bluemel 06/2018
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