Aston Martin Racing driver Harold Primat and his Aston Martin team mates recorded a sixth place finish at Sunday’s Six Hours of Zhuhai International Le Mans Championship race; continuing the team’s strong end to the 2011 season.
On Saturday afternoon, Harold’s team mate Stefan Mücke set a qualifying time of the 2.68-mile Zhuhai International Circuit of one minute 25.119 seconds. This was the third fastest qualifying time in the unofficial petrol class and saw the 007 DBR1-2 line up seventh on the grid for the race.
Mücke took the race start and had successfully moved up to P6 by the end of lap one. However towards the end of Stefan’s double stint he had some contact with a GT car which caused damage to the back of the 007 car. Stefan nursed the car back to pits and the team were able to fix the problem. Although the car rejoined the track two laps down, Stefan was still able to retain P6.
Stefan then handed over to Harold who lapped consistently and strongly and maintained sixth position. Having run a solid and clean double stint, Harold came into pit after ninety minutes of racing for a driver change to Andy Meyrick.
Meyrick put in another solid ninety minutes of racing which meant by the time it came for Mücke to take over for the final stint of the race, the 007 was still running competitively in P6. Stefan ran his second double stint of the day and crossed the finish line after six hours of racing in sixth place.
“We have had a strong end to our 2011 racing season; recording a third place finish at Petit Le Mans, a win at Laguna Seca and now a sixth place at Zhuhai. In endurance racing it’s all about combining solid and consistent lap times, and staying out of trouble. Unfortunately we had some contact towards the end of the race which lost us some time but apart from that we had a clean and strong race and another good race result;” commented Harold Primat.
“It feels a bit like an end of the era as this car has delivered us some fantastic results over the last couple of years. I want to say a huge thank you to George Howard-Chappell and the entire Aston Martin Racing team for all the work they have put into developing the car as well as during the season. Racing is very much a team effort and I am very proud to have been part of this Aston Martin Racing LMP1 challenge;” continued Harold.
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Notes to editors:
About Harold Primat:
Harold Primat is a Swiss racing driver with over 15 years racing experience including British F3, World Series Lights, Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series.
Harold Primat is supported by the following personal sponsors; Banque Baring Brothers Sturdza, Harwood International, Crans Montana and Primland.
Follow Harold on Twitter @Harold_Primat and on Facebook
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