Aston Martin Racing has won the GTE Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Six Hours of Shanghai in its #98 V8 Vantage GTE. With the #95 sister-car finishing in second place, it has also ensured that one of its two GTE Am entries will take the 2014 GTE Am Teams Trophy and one or more of its drivers will take the GTE Am Drivers Trophy.
Although it was the #98 NorthWest car that crossed the line in first place at the Shanghai International Circuit, the pair of Aston Martin Vantage GTEs once again proved how evenly matched they are by closely but safely battling for the lead throughout the six-hour race. The NorthWest-sponsored team of Christoffer Nygaard (DN), Pedro Lamy (PT) and Paul Dalla Lana (CA) qualified on pole and, other than trading places with their #95 team-mates, they led the race to the chequered flag.
Despite leading the class at one point, the #95 Vantage GTE – driven by Richie Stanaway (NZ), Kristian Poulsen (DN) and David Heinemeier Hansson – had to settle for second place and, although the #98 has closed the gap on the championship lead, it is the #95 Young Driver AMR car that goes into the penultimate round of the 2014 at the top of the championship standings.
With just two races remaining, today’s result puts all other teams out of the running for the 2014 GTE Am Teams Trophy, leaving it a two-way battle between the Aston Martins. In the GTE Pro class, the #99 Craft-Bamboo Vantage GTE had a clean and solid race and finished in fourth place but luck was not on the side of the #97 Vantage GTE which, despite qualifying on pole and leading the race from the green flag, was forced to retire with an engine issue in the fifth hour of the race. The FIA WEC continues with the penultimate round in Bahrain on the 15/16 November.
