Aston Martin Racing has been served a bit of a mixed bag in 2016. The Vantage was tweaked to meet the new LM GTE Pro regulations and is now shod with Dunlop tyres, then the driver lineup was revamped, with Stefan Mücke having moved to Ford. Since the start of the season, the outfit has scored two class podiums: once at Silverstone where Thiim/Sørensen/Turner started fifth on the grid to finish the race third, and once at Spa-Francorchamps where the sister car, driven by Stanaway/Rees/Adam, was third under the flag. However, AMR also suffered two early retirements in those races: at Silverstone the #97 pulled out after engine failure, and at Spa the #95 was retired after Nicki Thiim ended up in the tyre barriers, fortunately escaping injury.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the two cars finished 5th and 6th in their class but AMR came away with the points for 2nd and 3rd place because three of the four cars that finished ahead of them do not compete in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and were not therefore awarded points. As a result, Aston Martin now leads the rankings in the World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers, with a nine-point lead over Ferrari.
AMR has been chasing the title ever since the inaugural WEC season in 2012 so it now has every intention of maintaining that lead. As part of its strategy, the three-man lineups have been replaced with a two-driver set-up for the remainder of the season, starting with the 6 Hours of Nürburgring on 24 July. The #95 Vantage will feature an all-Danish crew with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen, while their teammate Darren Turner will join Richie Stanaway in the sister #97 car. Fernando Rees and Jonny Adam will stay on as part of the Aston Martin set-up but will not compete in the remaining rounds of the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The LM GTE Am Vantage lineup remains unaltered with Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy at the wheel.
Photo: The #95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (LM GTE Pro) will finish the season with an all-Danish driver lineup, while there are no changes to the three-man crew in the #98 in LM GTE Am.
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