Aston Martin on Second Row at Asian Le Mans

The Japanese debut for Aston Martin Racing will see the team starting the inaugural round of the Asian Le Mans Series in fourth position from the second row of the grid, thanks to the qualifying time of 1m19.747s set by driver Stefan Mucke on the 13-turn, 2.3 mile (3.7 km) Okayama circuit.

“This circuit is difficult for us. Our car is built for long fast straights at Le Mans and this is like a go-kart track with lots of slow corners. We had a few problems with the set-up during practice but the team made changes which improved the car for qualifying and I’m optimistic we will find a good balance for the race,” said qualifying driver Mucke.

“Fourth place is a little bit disappointing. It is what I was expecting, but I was hoping we would be able to find a couple more tenths. I’m looking forward to the race though and we have three hours to try and get the best from the car.”

There will be 23 cars to compete in race one, scheduled to run for 136 laps or a maximum of three hours, on October 31. The FIA World Touring Car Championship will also be hosted there during the same weekend.

“The team anticipated this track would not suit our car so qualifying fourth was better than I expected. The traffic is not as bad as it usually is in the Le Mans Series races because we don’t have as many cars on track. We just need to find a comfortable position for the race and see what we can do,” added team-mate Harald Primat.