Team Modena Aston Martin scores superb finish at Le Mans
Russian Age Racing entry finishes 8th overall, 4th in GT1
The Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 car, running under the Russian Age Racing entry, finished a superb 8th in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours classic, running strongly throughout and the team overcoming a variety of technical problems during the second half of the event to secure a strong 4th place in the GT1 category behind the winning factory Corvette and works Aston Martin.
After a steady start the Team Modena car rose to 3rd in GT1, 7th place overall, during the night before dawn brought a series of problems. These started with a puncture suffered by Nelson Piquet Jr, but more seriously the car lost 6th gear with Antonio Garcia at the wheel and from around 08:00am onwards the team ran the car to 5th gear only using a revised engine map. Further issues included faulty cool-suit equipment which the mechanics worked hard to repair in order to keep the drivers in good condition during their long stints, while Nelson Piquet also had an unscheduled stop when a piece of debris became caught under the throttle pedal.
These issues aside, the car ran strongly in the hands of each driver while the pit crew, headed by Team Manager Dave O’Neill, engineer Nick Potter and Technical Director Sergio Rinland worked slickly throughout to keep the car running and the pitstops as fluid as possible.
Speaking on behalf of the drivers, David Brabham said: “It’s a terrific result considering how little time we had to prepare for the event and pull the team together. We also had quite a few problems in practice and qualifying, so to run for the full 24 hours and secure a credible result is very rewarding. It was very hot this weekend and physically as tough as ever, but it’s great for everyone in the team to come away with a result.”
Team owner Rik Bryan was delighted with the result: “I think the team did a fantastic job not only all weekend but in the build up to the race. The drivers did everything that was asked of them and in Nelson, Antonio and David we had a great combination of youth and experience. It seems to have paid off well and the pit crew worked superbly. The result is a real credit to them.”
Team Modena Managing Director Graham Schultz said: “When we started out to create the Team Modena Aston Martin project we aimed to demonstrate the potential of the team and the people behind it. Today’s result achieved precisely that illustrates that Team Modena has a capability to compete against the very best in the world and succeed. The team, the drivers and everyone involved did a terrific job.”
