Spring is a busy time in sportscar racing. Just three weeks after the season opening round at Silverstone, the FIA World Endurance Championship travels to Belgium for round two at Spa-Francorchamps (2 May). The second round of the WEC is also the dress rehearsal for the most important race this season, the 24 hours of the Le Mans (13/14th June). At Spa this weekend, Young Driver AMR plans for the first time since the start of its WEC campaign two years ago to race two drivers. Due to other commitments of Nicki Thiim, Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sørensen will form a duo in the Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage GTE at the Belgium round of the FIA WEC, that will already take place on Saturday afternoon.
The Belgian round of the FIA WEC is the second race in which Young Driver AMR will start with its Aston Martin Vantage GTE in the GTE-Pro class, the premiere class in international GT racing. During its class debut at Silverstone, the Vantage GTE of Young Driver AMR was the quickest Aston Martin. „We had a good debut at Silverstone and a great speed and we also learned a lot and will use this knowledge to be even better prepared for Spa“, Jan Struve of Young Driver AMR says. „Spa has been a challenge and not an easy race for us in the past two years, so it will be a very exciting weekend for us. Spa is a perfect preparation for our ultimate goal, to repeat our class victory at the 24 hours of the Le Mans. Traditionally, the race at Spa is not only about pure speed, also strategy plays a very important there.”
At Spa, Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam will also have a go in the #95 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin. As Nygaard experienced problems with his in back at Silverstone, Young Driver AMR decided to add Adams to the driver line up as precaution.
The start of the 6 hours of Spa will take place Saturday at 14:30 hours (CET). Eurosport will broadcast the final hours of the race live starting 18:30 hours.
Driver quotes:
Marco Sørensen: “We had a great speed and performance at Silverstone and I expect the same for Spa. I like both tracks a lot and I’m really looking forward to race at Spa in an Aston Martin. During our first race at Silverstone we learned a lot, which will make us even stronger for the race at Spa. It’s planned that I will share the car with Christoffer, so that will give me plenty of seat time this weekend.”
Christoffer Nygaard: „In the past seasons, Spa has always been a very tough race for us. Which is good in many ways, as it’s the final race before Le Mans and it’s good for the team and drivers to have a challenge. We prepared quite well for that race and together with Marco, I practised a lot in a simulator for Spa.”