YOUNG DRIVER ASTON MARTIN RACING SQUAD GUNS FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY

2011 FIA GT1 World Championship news from Aston Martin

The Young Driver Aston Martin Racing team will head to the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season finale at San Luis in Argentina this weekend with ambitions of lifting both the Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championship titles. The Hexis Aston Martin Racing team, meanwhile, remains in contention for both titles and will target a strong result in Argentina.

After nine hotly-contested rounds throughout Europe and Asia, the Young Driver squad leads the Teams’ title battle by eight points, having scored three race wins and a further 12 podiums with its pair of Aston Martin DBR9s.

With 120 points to its credit, the driver pairing of Stefan Mücke (D) and Darren Turner (GBR) lies a close second in the Drivers’ standings, 11 points off the championship lead with 33 points still up for grabs. Team-mates Tomáš Enge (CZE) and Alex Müller (D) are fifth overall with 100 points.

On Saturday 5 November, the teams will contest the Qualifying Race, which awards eight championship points to the winning partnership and determines the grid for Sunday’s Championship Race. The final race of the season awards 25 points to the race winners and will decide the outcome of both the Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships.

The picturesque north Argentinean Potrero de los Funes Circuit – nine miles to the north-east of the city of San Luis – encircles a large lake as its twists for 3.89 miles.

The Number 8 Young Driver DBR9 of Mücke and Turner will contest the weekend with 50kg of success ballast on board, a legacy of the squad’s dominant performance at the series’ last outing in Beijing.

“San Luis is a fantastic track in a great location,” said Turner. “It's a very good road course where there is no room for error due to the dust off line and the lack of run offs. I really enjoyed racing there in 2010 even though we didn't get the results we wanted. 

“When it comes to the championship fight we are in a difficult position. The results in China put us back in the hunt but if you look at it realistically 50kg of ballast is going to make it very hard to get the results we need in Argentina. We have to go there fighting and that is exactly what we will do.”

The team’s strong championship position in the world’s premier GT1 racing category is testament to both the quality and longevity of the V12-powered DBR9 which made its competitive debut back in 2005 and took GT1 class victories in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 2007 and 2008.

The Hexis Aston Martin Racing team also heads to Argentina with a chance of lifting both World Championship titles. The French squad lies 29 points behind the Young Driver outfit in the Teams’ title race, while the race-winning driver partnership of Christian Hohenadel and Andrea Piccini have racked up 101 points to hold joint third in the Drivers’ standings.

Team-mates Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp are seventh with 80 points, having also scored a victory in their DBR9 GT1 racer. 

The action gets underway at 10.00 (ART) on Friday, with pre-qualifying at 15.30 (ART) later that day. Qualifying proper begins at 9.00 (ART) on Saturday, with the Qualifying Race commencing at 13.45 (ART). Following at warm-up session at 8.00 (ART) on Sunday, the final race of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship starts at 13.45 (ART).