Spa: Aston Martin Racing hour 12 report

Misfortune Hampers DBR9 Charge

As the twelve-hour halfway point was reached in the 2005 Proximus 24 Hours of Spa, Aston Martin Racing's DBR9s resided in fourth and tenth place.

Luck deserted the Aston Martin Racing team shortly after the nine-hour mark as a collision caused damage to the right rear suspension of the number 28 car, resulting in around 30 minutes in the pits as repairs were completed.

The yellow-nosed DBR9, then piloted by Darren Turner, had settled into second place before the incident, whilst its stable mate, driven by Marc Goossens, had continued to gradually recover ground, lying in twelfth place.

From car 28 Stephane Sarrazin, said: "The car has had a very good feeling and was running very fast - the engineers have really improved the car for the race, so its frustrating that this should happen when we we're recovering ground."

As the first half of the 24-hour race drew to a close, the pair of DBR9s made progress in their bids to recover ground, with both cars having now covered over 270 laps each - some 1,860km.

Pedro Lamy lodged a series of consistent laps to help the number 29 car move from thirteenth to tenth, recording a notable 2:16.690 lap in the process. Stephane Sarrazin also completed an impressive double stint, beating the fastest lap time of the day - set by Sarrazin himself earlier in the race - with a lap time of 2:15.822, as the number 28 DBR9 moved into fourth.

-amr-