Aston Martin leads Nürburgring 24 Hours with red flag due to weather

Nürburgring, 19 May 2013 – Aston Martin leads the 41st ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring at the 15-hour mark of the race, which was red flagged at around five and a half hours (approximately 2030hrs CET on Sunday 19 May) due to heavy rain and fog on the Nordschleife.

The race, due to restart at approximately 0800hrs CET on Monday 20 May, has been led by Aston Martin’s Bilstein liveried #007 V12 Vantage GT3 charger since the two hour mark and will restart with nine hours remaining of the 24 hour race.

John Gaw, Team Principal at Aston Martin Racing comments: “Conditions out on the Nordschleife are less than ideal; we’re hearing that the fog has cleared, although the torrential rain continues as it has throughout the night. Our car and drivers performed faultlessly before the session was red flagged enabling us to lead from early on in the race – we need to continue to do push with the same momentum but ensuring that we get the car to the end of the race.”

Alongside the race-leading charger, Aston Martin’s Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, designed and built with Alstet Global, will continue to showcase the engineering capabilities of the manufacturer by completing laps of the 25km circuit on a blend of gasoline and hydrogen with a lap in each stint on pure hydrogen.

The #005 V12 Vantage, which hit problems around an hour before the session was red flagged, has had small electrical issue resolved and will head back out into the race with the rest of the 170 plus strong grid.

David King, Head of Motorsport at Aston Martin comments: “The drivers all did a fantastic job in treacherous conditions meaning we are all in good shape ready for the restart. Along with the drivers, the real heroes are the marshalls and fans, who are out in the Eifel Forest suffering from 12 hours of relentless rain.”

The 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours concludes at 1700 CET on Monday 20 May.

Aston Martin