It was a banner day for Aston Martin Racing, which claimed its fourth GTE-Pro class victory of the season, resulting in a swing in the title race in the FIA WEC Six Hours of Shanghai.
The No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke took a lights-to-flag win, with the German driver edging out the sister No. 99 entry of a hard-charging Bruno Senna by just 0.568 seconds.
AMR’s 1-2 sweep in the penultimate round of the season was enough for the British manufacturer to take over the lead in the drivers, teams and manufacturers’ championships heading into the season finale in Bahrain in two weeks’ time.
The No. 91 Porsche AG Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet completed the podium in third after struggling early in the running. AF Corse’s two Ferraris completed the top-five in class.
GTE-Am class honors went to the No. 81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia of Enzo Potolicchio, Rui Aguas and Davide Rigon, which claimed a commanding 1-lap class victory.
The American-entered machine took over the lead with 2 hours and 20 minutes remaining when the then-leading No. 96 Aston Martin of Kristian Poulsen ground to a halt on-track.
The No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Raymond Narac, Jean-Karl Vernay and Markus Palttala came home second, ahead of the No. 96 Aston Martin of Jamie Campbell-Walter, Stuart Hall and Jonny Adam, which retains the class championship lead, although reduced to less than 10 points.
