At the halfway mark of the 2014 Nurburgring 24 Hours, Aston Martin Racing’s #007 Vantage GT3 is in eighth place and the three Aston Martin-entered race-prepared production cars are all in podium positions.

In the #007, Darren Turner (GB) is continuing the team’s charge up the top ten at the mid point of the race, despite a tyre puncture that hampered progress an hour ago. Stefan Mücke (DE) – nearing the end of his second double stint of the race – carefully brought the V12 Vantage GT3 back into the pits for the team to change a punctured tyre and send the Bilstein-liveried machine back out into the dark Eifel Forest.

“The puncture was a shame,” comments Head of Motorsport David King. “We were on a real charge and making fantastic progress and this has put us back a little. However, to be firmly inside the top ten at the halfway mark is good and the drivers and team are doing a solid job to keep the car going despite some incredibly tough racing conditions.”

The #100 Vantage N430 is in second place in the SP10 class. Andreas Gülden (DE) recorded the fastest lap of the class in the early hours and, since midnight, British journalists Dickie Meaden and Chris Harris have both completed stints with Harris staying out for an extra hour in the total darkness to bring it up to the halfway mark.

Despite keeping out of trouble for the majority of the first 12 hours, the #55 V12 Vantage was involved in an incident with a GT3 in the early hours of the morning. Driver Marcus Mahy (GB) continued unhurt and the car was quickly repaired by the team and returned to the race in second place in the SP8 class.

Also in the SP8 class, the #70 V8 Vantage N430 is in third place.

“The first half of the race has been quite chaotic out on the Nordschleife and many teams have been forced to retire, but our crews and drivers have all done a fantastic job to keep our cars going,” adds King. “Three of our four cars are in podium positions so we need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes in the second half of the race, especially in this difficult time as the sun comes up.”