A successful penultimate Le Mans Series round for Jota Sport AMR
Silverstone, 11 September 2011. In the penultimate race of the 2011 Le Mans Series, Jota Sport AMR has finished the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone 11th in class at the hands of Simon Dolan, Sam Hancock and Chris Buncombe.

The 79 car of the three British drivers has run seamlessly throughout the six hours, which is a testamony to how well the Jota Sport team prepared and engineered the car. From the onset of the weekend things were looking promising for the British team with strong pace throughout the free practice sessions. However, despite such quick pace Sam Hancock was unfortunately unable to qualify the car any higher than P11 due to traffic caused by a yellow flag.

Sam Hancock started the race for Jota Sport AMR with a two-hour double stint; producing some of the best lap times ever enjoyed by the British team whilst running the Aston Martin Vantage GT2.

Sam Hancock: “I am really happy with the pace that we have shown, it’s our strongest performance of the year, and certainly in my first stint we were matching the pace of the cars at the top of our class. Half way through my second stint I was hit by a Ferrari on the right side of the car just coming out of turn 3, which consequently affected the steering. After taking a cautious subsequent lap I was forced to continue to drive with a margin of safety. Then to add insult to injury I was hit on the other side by a Formula Le Mans car. It’s an aggressive race today, it is the nature of the series as we know and the prototypes expect all other cars to move out of their way. Overall I am really pleased with how today has gone and hope that wherever Andy is watching from we have managed to do him proud.”

After two hours Sam handed the car over to Simon Dolan for his double stint. Simon immediately got into a good rhythm producing some of his best lap times of the season.

Simon Dolan: “I experienced a little bit of traffic when I first got in the car but overall my first of the two consecutive stints was great, I was really pleased with the speed of the car and fortunately could only feel a minor affect on the steering from the earlier incident. However, by the second stint the tyres were well worn and we consequently dropped a few places on the grid, which was very frustrating as I pretty much had a trouble-free run. It has been superb driving here in front of the home crowd and having all my friends and family supporting from the paddock.”

At the fourth round of pit stops Simon handed the reigns of 79 to Chris Buncombe for the final double stint of the race.

 


“It was great to have such a substantial amount of time in the car; the double stint was a good opportunity to really understand the balance of the car. I was conscious that I needed to look after the tyres throughout the stint, which overall was incident-free. It was unfortunate that the Ferrari in front of us was too far ahead for us to challenge in the end but I think that underlines just how competitive the GTE Pro class is. The whole team did a really great job.”

Sam Hignett, Team Principle: “I take great pride in the team’s achievements this weekend; the car ran faultlessly and there wasn’t a single mistake from the drivers, each of whom drove their best stints of the season so far. Thanks also to Dunlop and all our sponsors for their support. It was great to host the family of Andy Wilkinson who have been a pleasure to have around this weekend and should be thoroughly proud of all the hard work Andy contributed to the team.”

Jota Sport AMR will now prepare for the season finale in Estoril, Portugal on the 24 - 25 September.


Close qualifying at home circuit for Jota Sport AMR
The British-based Jota Sport AMR squad will start 11th in the LM GTE Pro class for tomorrow's Autosport 1000km of Silverstone. Sam Hancock lapped the 5.141Km (3.195 mile) Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit with a lap of 2:03.433 seconds. Chris Buncombe will join Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan behind the wheel in front of the team's home crowd for Sunday's penultimate round of the Le Mans Series.

The Silverstone race is the fourth of the five-race series which started at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit, Le Castellet, France on 3 April. Since, Jota Sport AMR has participated in each event with a best finish of 5th in class at the 1000km of Spa in May. A recent string of mechanical maladies have thwarted top-five runs for the British team. The strong qualifying position and quick race pace shown by Hancock, Dolan and Buncombe promise better things for Sunday's showdown.

 

The Autosport 1000km of Silverstone will begin at 11:35 (GMT) on Sunday, 11 September. The race will run for 1000km or six hours, whichever comes first. Radio coverage is available at www.radiolemans.com.

Sam Hignett, Team Principle: “We are having a good weekend. We're at our national circuit, the rain held off for qualifying and the car is gaining in pace each time it goes out. P11 doesn’t really do Sam Hancock and the guys’ efforts justice given that there is only 7/10ths of a second between 11th and 4th in class. It is going to be a close race tomorrow.”

Sam Hancock: “We were faster than I anticipated in qualifying. In fact we could have been even quicker, however on my fastest lap I picked up traffic at Stowe due to yellow flags. This cost us at least 5/10ths of a second, which in a race category as close as ours could have put us much further up the grid. It’s frustrating but it is the nature of the race and series. We were pleased to find out that we were 4/10ths
faster than the same specification car last year that qualified on pole. As for tomorrow, everything could change, especially if we have rain as we are yet to see how we compare in the wet.”

About racing in Great Britain: "I am really enjoying the circuit and configuration here at Silverstone. And it's fantastic to be here in front of friends, family and sponsors. It provides the perfect combination of added pressure and support.”

 



Official Aston Martin Racing partner team, Jota Sport AMR, are delighted to announce that Chris Buncombe, LMP2 class winner at Le Mans in 2007 and former Aston Martin Racing factory driver, will complete the British squad's driver line up for this year's edition of the famous 24 hour race.

32-year old Buncombe will join current Aston Martin Racing factory driver, Sam Hancock, and Le Mans debutant, Simon Dolan, in Jota Sport's Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The trio will compete head-to-head against the cream of the world's GT racing crop in the prestigious GTE Pro class.

London-based Buncombe, who drove for the official Aston Martin Racing factory team in 2009 aboard the stunning Gulf-liveried LMP1, had his first taste of the car yesterday in a brief shakedown, and will now travel with the team to Le Mans this weekend for Sunday's official test day.


“I’m really pleased and excited to be joining Jota Sport AMR for my return to Le Mans and to be able to continue my association with the Aston Martin brand. It will be my first time back at the race since winning the LMP2 Class in the 24 Hours in 2007 so I have many happy memories there! It’s also great to be driving with Sam and Simon, I’m sure we will make a great team.”
Sam Hignett, Team Principal and Co-owner: "We're thrilled that Chris is joining us. Le Mans is such a challenging race that having a proven winner who knows how to get the car to the flag will be a tremendous help. We've all known one another for quite some time now as well which should allow Chris to slot pretty effortlessly into the team. He's got a slightly tough break with his first proper test of the car being at Le Mans this weekend, so we'll not be expecting too much of him, but thereafter I've no doubt he'll be a great addition to the ranks."

Following the test this weekend, the team head to Spa for Round 2 of the Le Mans Series on 7th May, before heading back to Le Mans for the start of "Le Vingte Quatre Heures" on 11th June.



Aston Martin Racing has announced that Chris Buncombe will be retained as official factory driver for the 2010 season.

Aston Martin Racing’s LMP1 car will again run in the iconic Gulf colours and will compete in three races prior to the Le Mans 24 Hours. The races will provide the team with valuable on-track experience prior to Le Mans and include the first two rounds of the American Le Mans Series – the 12 hours of Sebring on 20 March and the Long Beach Grand Prix on 17 April and the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard in France on 11 April.

The team will also compete in selected blue riband races around the world post Le Mans, details of the remaining race programme will be subject to further announcements in the coming weeks. Chris joined Aston Martin Racing towards the end of the 2009 season. Competing in the final two Le Mans Series races in the 008 car the British driver helped the team to an all Aston Martin podium at the Nurburgring 1000kms.

2010 will be Chris’ first visit back to the Le Mans 24 Hours following winning the race in the LMP2 class on his debut in 2007.
“I’m extremely pleased to be staying with Aston Martin Racing for what promises to be an exciting and challenging season. There is no tougher test for man and machine than Le Mans and as a Brit I am very honoured and proud to be representing Aston Martin. They are a great bunch of people to work with and I’m delighted to be able to continue this relationship.”
Since my last race of 2009, the 1000kms of Silverstone, I have been working on my 2010 programme and have been focussing on my training programme in order to be fully prepared for this opportunity. I’ve had a couple of visits to Aston Martin Racing already this year and will be back during the week for a seat fit. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car during testing.”

For further information, please contact: Sidhu & Simon Communicationsinfo@sidhuandsimon.com


In his first race for Aston Martin Racing, in the Gulf Oil liveried, 008, Aston-Lola LMP1, Chris Buncombe and his team mates, Stuart Hall (GB) and Miguel Ramos (PT) scored an impressive third place to secure an all Aston Martin podium.

In his first race for Aston Martin Racing, in the Gulf Oil liveried, 008, Aston-Lola LMP1, Chris Buncombe and his team mates, Stuart Hall (GB) and Miguel Ramos (PT) scored an impressive third place to secure an all Aston Martin podium.


“This is a fantastic result. A podium finish was always the aim, but we didn’t know how achievable it would be. To be here driving for Aston Martin this weekend is a dream. I’ve learned a lot and I treated it as a learning weekend, so to achieve a podium is just fantastic. This was the first time I’d driven the car and now know what to expect.”
Aston Martin Racing is crowned the 2009 Le Mans Series champion claiming the Team and Driver titles 50 years on from Aston Martin winning the World Sportscar Championship in 1959 with the DBR1.

The 007 Gulf liveried LMP1 car of Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomáš Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mücke (DE) finished third in the final round of the Le Mans Series, the Autosport 1000km at Silverstone, recording their fifth podium finish from five races.

The 009 car of Harold Primat (CH) and Darren Turner (GB) finished fourth, narrowly missing the podium. The third Aston Martin Racing entry of Chris Buncombe (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Miguel Ramos (PT) finished 13th after suffering a technical problem early in the race.

 

The trio of Gulf liveried Aston Martins made a clean start to the 195 lap race which commenced with a rolling start at 11:35. Mücke took the lead across the start line in 007, Turner held third in 009 and Buncombe gained a place moving up to sixth in the 008 Aston Martin.

All three drivers settled in for a double stint behind the wheel of their respective Aston Martins. Mücke held first position until just under an hour into the race when he was overtaken and dropped back to second.

At the third round of pit stops Mücke handed the reigns of 007 to Charouz, Buncombe switched with Ramos in 008 and Primat took over from Turner in 009. The race was trouble free for the British team until just after 2pm when Ramos reported a problem in his 008 Aston Martin. A faulty air conditioning compressor was the cause and the Aston Martin Racing pit crew worked quickly, replacing the unit and enabling 008 to rejoin the race 20 minutes later with Hall at the wheel.

The race lead changed several times over the first half of the race with the top five cars all on different pit stop strategies, but at the three hour mark the Aston Martins were running second (007), fourth (009) and 24th (008) overall. Hall set about working his way back up the pack, gaining 12 places and handing the 008 Aston Martin to Ramos in 12th place after a double stint.

All three drivers had trouble free runs with 007 and 009 pitting briefly in the closing stages of the race requiring a splash of fuel each for the final laps before the trio of Aston Martins crossed the finish line.

The final race of the series was completed in 5hrs 30mins which is quicker than usual, this was partly due to the fact that there were no safety car periods in a largely incident free race.

Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell: “This is a perfect end to what has been an incredible season for Aston Martin Racing. Full credit to the team and drivers who have worked tirelessly. Thanks to the dedication of the team the cars have been reliable all year.”

It’s fantastic that 50 years on from Aston Martin winning the World Sports Car Championship Aston Martin Racing has triumphed again, winning the Le Mans Series. It really is an impressive result and I am extremely proud of the whole team.”
Chris Buncombe said (GB):

“It was a great result for the team and despite the problem with our car being a British driver it was really good to race for a great British marque like Aston Martin here at Silverstone. It would have been great to have had a better result at my home race, however we were just unlucky with the technical problem and that’s just the way it is with motor racing sometimes!”