Aston Martin #007 on front row for Algarve 1000Km - 31.07.2009

Aston Martin Racing will start the third round of the Le Mans Series at the new Autodromo Internacional Algarve on Saturday 1 August from second and fifth on the grid, after strong qualifying performances from Stefan Mücke in the 007 car and Darren Turner in 009.

The LMP1/LMP2 qualifying session lasted just 20 minutes, but was long enough for Mücke to secure a place on the front row of the grid with a lap time of 1min31.160s. Czech drivers Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge complete the driver line-up in 007 for Saturday’s race.

German driver Stefan Mücke said: “I am a little bit disappointed not to get pole because it would have been nice to get the extra point for the championship but second place is still good. I think it is better than we expected because this circuit does not really suit our car. I am very optimistic for the race as the car is consistent and I don’t think it matters too much if you are on the left or right of the front row. After all, we are racing for six hours so the most important thing is to have a clear run without any mistakes. We will mainly watch Pescarolo and Oreca cars - both teams have very competitive cars, which suit local conditions. Certainly, the race will be big fight.”

Antonín Charouz: „Everyone was afraid of qualifying, because we used engine we had used in Spa. If we would change it, we would lose two points and start from the latest position on the grid. In these circumstances (running with used engine) is second place very good result. Moreover we finished second with very close gap after Stefan´s small mistake. However, it is racing. I am happy with the result.

Team Principal George Howard-Chappell commented: “I didn’t expect to be on the front row so this sets us up nicely for the race. Stefan did an excellent job in the 007 and we are confident about our race pace. Darren also did a solid job of qualifying the 009 car in fifth. One of the big disadvantages of a closed car, especially at this circuit, is the lack of visibility and it is going to be quite difficult to drive here in the dark. I think it is going to be difficult tomorrow but let’s wait and see what the race brings.”

In total 34 cars will line-up to start the Algarve 1000km race. As usual, there will be a 20-minute warm-up session in the morning from 10:50 to 11:10 before the 215 lap race commences at 19:15 on Saturday 1 August.

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1000 km of Algarve - Timetable*: 

Official entry list to find HERE.
Livetiming to find HERE

1000 km of Algarve on TV (Saturda 1st August):

Photogallery:
Photo: BPA/Milan Bydžovský

LE MANS SERIES 2009 SCHEDULE

08-09/03		Le Castellet (tests)
03-05/04		1000 km Barcelona
25-26/04		Le Mans (tests)
08-10/05		1000 km Spa-Francorchamps
31/07-02/08		1000 km Algarve
21-23/08		1000 km Nürburgring
11-13/09		1000 km Silverstone