Aston dominates Nurburgring 1000km

Stefan Mucke, Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge claimed the victory aboard the fastest of the three AMR Lola-Aston LMP1 coupes after leading much of the way.

They ended up a minute clear of the second-placed car driven by Darren Turner and Harold Primat and two laps ahead of the third entry shared by Miguel Ramos, Stuart Hall and Chris Buncombe.

The winning car looked set for an easy victory until Charouz spun early in the fourth hour. A lead of over a minute shrunk to less than 30 seconds as a result of the spin and then Turner was able to close down and pass the Czech driver over the remainder of the stint.

Turner then had the measure of Enge, who was struggling on with the same set of tyres used by Charouz after what the team described as a "communication error". That resulted in an early stop that left Enge more than a minute behind his fellow AMR driver.

That put the leading Lola-Astons out of synch on pitstops and, although Primat early in the final hour, the positions were reversed when he made his final stop.

AMR's cause was helped by problems for the Pescarolo Sport team, whose drivers led the championship ahead of the Nurburgring weekend. The Pescarolo-Judd driven by Jean-Christophe Boullion, Christophe Tinseau and Emmanuel Collard went out early with a gearbox problem.

The LMP2 division was dominated by the ASM team's Ginetta-Zytek. Olivier Pla raced away from the class opposition and then Miguel Amaral was able to hang onto a two-lap lead. Only in the dying minutes when a front wheel arch louvre was replaced did its lead shrink to a lap.

Larbre Competition won the two-car GT1 class even though its Saleen S7R dropped nine laps off the lead after a long stop to resolve brake issues. Laurent Groppi, Roland Berville and Sebastien Dumez subsequently inherited class victory when the Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet Corvette encountered engine problems.

Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz won GT2 honours in the Felbermayr Proton Porsche. They took over the lead once the JMW Motorsport Ferrari driven by Rob Bell and Gianmaria Bruni lost one-minute advantage when a driveshaft failed.

AMR drivers Mucke, Charouz and Enge have now taken a seven-point lead as the LMS heads to Silverstone next month for the Autosport 1000Km.


Pos  Cl   Drivers                         Car               Time
 1.  P1  Charouz/Enge/Mücke              Lola Aston Martin  5h57m26.595s
 2.  P1  Primat/Turner                   Lola Aston Martin    +1m04.856s
 3.  P1  Ramos/Hall/Buncombe             Lola Aston Martin    +   2 laps
 4.  P1  Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman    Audi                 +   2 laps
 5.  P1  Ragues/Mailleux                 Courage-Oreca Judd   +   5 laps
 6.  P2  Amaral/Pla                      Ginetta-Zytek        +   6 laps
 7.  P2  Francioni/Ceccato/Piccini       Lola Judd            +   8 laps
 8.  P2  Lahaye/Ajlani                   Pescarolo Mazda      +  10 laps
 9.  P2  Nicolet/Hein                    Pescarolo Mazda      +  11 laps
10.  P2  Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter            Zytek                +  12 laps
11.  P2  Bobbi/Piccini/Biagi             Lola Judd            +  13 laps
12.  P2  Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou       Lola Judd            +  18 laps
13.  GT2 Lieb/Lietz                      Porsche              +  21 laps
14.  P1  Coronel/Janis                   Spyker Audi          +  22 laps
15.  GT2 Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise       Ferrari              +  22 laps
16.  GT2 Simonsen/Kaffer                 Ferrari              +  23 laps
17.  GT2 Narac/Pilet                     Porsche              +  24 laps
18.  GT2 Montermini/Ricci/Rosa           Ferrari              +  26 laps
19.  GT2 Felbermayr Jr/Ried/Martins      Porsche              +  26 laps
20.  GT2 Garcia/Mansell/Melo             Ferrari              +  26 laps
21.  P2  Schell/Thirion/Metz             Courage AER          +  26 laps
22.  GT2 Bell/Bruni                      Ferrari              +  26 laps
23.  GT1 Berville/Groppi/Dumez           Saleen Ford          +  27 laps
24.  GT2 Griffin/Bamford                 Ferrari              +  27 laps
25.  GT2 Basso/Plati/Tenchini            Ferrari              +  29 laps
26.  P2  Ibanez/Cavailhes/Rocha          Courage AER          +  34 laps
27.  P1  Belicchi/Fässler/Prost          Lola Aston Martin    +  39 laps
28.  GT2 Hartshorne/Kutemann/Scheier     Ferrari              +  53 laps
29.  GT1 Jousse/Goueslard/Clairay        Chevrolet            +  57 laps
30.  P1  Leventis/Watts                  Ginetta Zytek        +  64 laps
31.  GT2 Drayson/Cocker                  Aston Martin         +  64 laps
32.  P2  Salini/Salini/Gommendy          WR Zytek             +  71 laps
33.  P2  Bruneau/Sini/Vergers            Radical AER          +  81 laps
34.  P2  Cortes/Nieto/Jorda              Lucchini Judd        + 120 laps
35.  P2  Erdos/Newton                    Lola Mazda           + 138 laps
36.  P1  Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini         Audi                 + 155 laps
37.  P1  Boullion/Tinseau/Collard        Pescarolo Judd       + 160 laps
38.  P2  Lavaggi/Kaufmann                Lavaggi AER          + 174 laps