Qualifying report
WEC Shanghai
Double pole for Aston Martin in Shanghai
Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner took the pole position in the GTE Pro class and Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard did the same in the the GTE Am class.
Edited: Nov 1, 2014, 3:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Shanghai - Aston Martin Racing took pole position in both of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) GT classes earlier today (Saturday 1 November), for the sixth round of the 2014 season, the Six Hours of Shanghai.
In the GTE Pro class, Stefan Mücke (DE) was first out on track in the #97 Gulf-liveried V8 Vantage GTE and the 32-year old took no time in recording two fast laps of the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ve been strong here for the last two years but it wasn’t easy out there today,” commented Mücke. “We had to work really hard for it. It’s our first pole of the year, so it’s very important to us and the whole team should be proud.”
We have a lot of guests here in China and it’s great to get a pole position for them.
Darren Turner
Next it was the turn of Darren Turner (GB), who, in line with the WEC regulations, needed to record two flying laps to be averaged with his German team-mate’s. Never one to disappoint, Turner took over the wheel and did just enough to clinch the pole position.
“It was very close,” commented Turner. “The gap to the second placed Porsche is only a tenth. Stefan did a great job, as always, and I’m really happy for everyone here at Aston Martin Racing. We have a lot of guests here in China and it’s great to get a pole position for them.”
In the GTE Am class, it was Pedro Lamy (PT) and Christoffer Nygaard (DN) who took part in the session to put the #98 Vantage GTE on class pole for tomorrow’s six-hour race.
Qualifying has been tough for us this year so we’re pleased to get another pole position and take that first one for the #97.
John Gaw
“This is the second pole position in a row for us and it’s great to be starting from the front,” commented Nygaard. “We are in second place in the championship behind our #95 sister car so we need to score as many points as we can this weekend in order to catch them.”
The WEC GTE Am championship-leading #95 Young Driver AMR Vantage GTE recorded the fastest lap of the GTE qualifying session with Richie Stanaway (NZ) behind the wheel. Team-mate David Heinemeier Hansson (DN) joined the young New Zealander and did an effective job to qualify the car in third place.
In the #99 Craft-Bamboo Racing Vantage GTE, it was Fernando Rees (BR) and Alex MacDowall (GB) who took part in the 20-minute qualifying. The team, which took pole position in Fuji three weeks ago, qualified in sixth place in the GTE Pro class in its INTERUSH-liveried machine.
“It’s good to be starting from the front of the grid in both classes,” commented Team Principal John Gaw. “Qualifying has been tough for us this year so we’re pleased to get another pole position and take that first one for the #97. Darren and Stefan have been winners here in the past and the track suits our car so, hopefully, with a lot of hard work, we can turn it into our third GTE Pro win here in three years in tomorrow’s race.”
Aston Martin
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Near miss for Toyota Racing in China
Next article Rebellion Racing's R-Ones # 12 and #13 both on the fourth row at Shanghai
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Darren Turner
Farfus replaces Turner at Aston Martin for final WEC races
WEC
WEC
Farfus replaces Turner at Aston Martin for final WEC races
Turner appointed as BTCC's hybrid test driver
BTCC
BTCC
Turner appointed as BTCC's hybrid test driver
Aston Martin refreshes WEC GTE Am line-up
WEC
WEC
Aston Martin refreshes WEC GTE Am line-up
More from
Aston Martin Racing
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
“Even faster than Ferrari” – Fernando Alonso grabs Aston Martin’s best result of F1 2026
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
“Even faster than Ferrari” – Fernando Alonso grabs Aston Martin’s best result of F1 2026
Latest news
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 2 h
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
3 h
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 4 h
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
5 h
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe