Young Driver AMR finished second in the GTE-Am class at the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit of the Americas at Austin/Texas. Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson und Richie Stanaway missed the victory by a margin of less then one second and scored their fourth consecutive podium in the Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage GTE.
The Six hours of Austin, which were briefly interrupted after heavy rain in the second hour was the hardest six-hour race for Young Driver AMR of the season. Richie Stanaway took the class lead in the opening stages of the race and handed the Aston Martin to Heinemeier Hansson for his first stint, when the race was red flagged due to a heavy downpour. During the red flag period, the Aston Martin was trapped in the pit lane and consequently lost one lap. Strong stints of all three drivers brought the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin then back to the lead lap and in the closing stages of the races, Stanaway chased the leading Aston Martin. With a brilliant drive, which included the fastest race lap of all GT cars competing, the New Zealander closed a 18 second gap during his stint and finished 0,999 seconds behind the class winning Aston Martin of Young Driver Christoffer Nygaard, who is racing in the sister #98 Aston Martin with Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana this season.
„It was really one of our toughest races so far“, said Jan Struve of Young Driver AMR after the race. „We were in the pit lane when the race was red flagged and David couldn’t get out of the pit lane. The time when he was trapped in pit lane didn’t count for his driving time, thus we didn’t only loose one lap, we also had to change the strategy. It seemed every decision was against us, but we fought back and finished in a great second place. I’m really happy about our result and also about the win of our boy Christoffer Nygaard.”
„It was a really hard race, probably one of my toughest so far“, Kristian Poulsen said. „I had to fight really hard and it was very hot and humid. But we drove a strong race and the result is perfect for our championship ambitions. I’m also happy for Christoffer, that he took the class win today.“
„The victory today came quite unexpected, as qualifying didn’t went so well for us“, Nygaard was happy. “We knew in the race our chances would be good and now it feels great. The race was very exciting, it was pure racing until the end.”
After four rounds, Young Driver AMR leads the GTE-Am class now by 33 points. Poulsen and Heinemeier Hansson have an equal gap in the drivers championship.