NEWS
07.05.11
Solid fifth at Spa for Jota Sport AMR
Official Aston Martin Racing partner team Jota Sport AMR chalked up their first Le Mans Series points of the season on Saturday with a strong performance from the back of the grid to an encouraging fifth place finish in the GTE Pro class of the Spa 6 Hours.
Official Aston Martin Racing partner team Jota Sport AMR chalked up their first Le Mans Series points of the season on Saturday with a strong performance from the back of the grid to an encouraging fifth place finish in the GTE Pro class of the Spa 6 Hours.
Under surprisingly dry and sunny conditions, factory AMR driver Sam Hancock started the race from 51st position overall after engine trouble in the final practice session left the team unable to take part in qualifying.
Initially making good progress through the pack, Hancock soon started to struggle with the balance of his Aston Martin Vantage and suffered a harmless spin as he fought deteriorating grip levels.
Handing over at the two hour mark to team-mate Simon Dolan the team took the opportunity to adjust tyre pressures for the remaining sets of Dunlops. Over the course of his double-stint, 41-year old Dolan put in a fast and faultless performance at this most challenging of circuits, despite making just his second ever appearance at this level of sportscar racing.
With just two of six hours remaining, the #79 car lay sixth in class with Hancock now back behind the wheel. Much happier with the improved balance, the Londoner was able to trade times with the class leaders, and indeed was on occasion the fastest GT car on-track. After safely securing fifth spot however, the V8 in Jota’s Vantage picked up a misfire. With just ten minutes of the race remaining, the order was given for Hancock to nurse the car to the finish which, thanks to the cushion separating him from the sixth place Prospeed Competition Porsche, he was able to do without loosing a position.
Sam Hancock: “That was a tough race, particularly at the start, but given how hard the boys have worked this weekend and over the past few weeks I hope that a solid points finish like this is some reward for their efforts. We’ve had some engine issues but come the race we had a decent car that made it to the flag and the pit-stop work was outstanding. I need to tidy up my performance a bit, as well as understand why we struggled so much early on, but I’m happy to have had a pretty quick couple of stints at the end there.”
Simon Dolan: “I think we can be really satisfied with that. A decent fifth place finish among a brace of factory teams is something to be proud of and after the start-line chaos in Le Castellet it’s certainly nice to gets some points on the board. My stints were good fun - tough towards the end - but I definitely feel like I’m getting used to being out there among the prototypes, so I’m better prepared for Le Mans.”
Sam Hignett, Team Principal and co-owner: “The guys did well today, we really needed a finish at the very least and a fifth place among this competition is not a bad way to start our points tally. We need to understand what exactly unlocked the pace of the car for the second half of the race and use it then to hit the ground running at the next round. In the meantime though it’s all hands on deck for Le Mans which we’re obviously looking forward to.”
The squad now lie in fourth position in the Team Standings of the Le Mans Series, while Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan lie 5th in the Drivers Standings. The next round of the Le Mans Series is on July 3rd at Imola, before which comes the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans at Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on June 11th/12th.