Enge disappointed with Bouchut

Enge reckoned his car could have finished second and completed an Aston one-two in the GT1 class had he not spun into the Indianapolis gravel while trying to pass Bouchut on Sunday morning.

The Czech was pushing to recover the ground lost when co-driver Johnny Herbert crashed several hours earlier. He caught Bouchut, whose Larbre car was running the latest factory parts and effectively had semi-works status, but was disappointed that the Frenchman tried to contest the position rather than letting the works car through.

"I had clear instructions from the management: go flat out. "And I did as much as I could," said Enge.

"I took off one minute of our loss and tried to overtake Bouchut, but he blocked me out. Two or three times we overtook each other, we even got into contact.

"The Frenchman got himself into trouble by these manoeuvres, as he was told by the team to let me go, but he didn't obey. He drove the third factory Aston that had the same engine and other parts as mine. While I was praised for the pursuit, he was reproached for not following the orders.

"I got into a wind pocket behind Bouchut and lost rear downforce. The car wasn't in perfect shape after Johnnny Herbert's accident, so it took little and I was spinning. It's a pity, we had chances for second place had the Corvette had even the slightest problems. But it's all over."

Despite his frustration over the incident, which limited the second factory Aston to fourth in class, Enge was satisfied with his team's performance during the race.

"I'm not disappointed as we did our best for success; it simply didn't work out," he said.

"After starting from 10th position, we moved forward quite fast and dominated the race. It was fantastic at night when I managed to set the fastest lap. It was simply great racing."