By Nancy Knapp Schilke - Motorsport.com
Stefan Mucke and Harold Primat turned Saturday's defeat into victory on Sunday by taking the lead in the second race of the newly formed Asian Le Mans Series even though on Mucke's second stint, he dashed in for a quick splash of fuel with 10 minutes left on the clock.
"During my first stint the car got better and better each lap and the tyres gave me the confidence to overtake and get out in the lead," said Mucke. "Harold did a great job in the middle of the race and then I took over for the final stage. The car was a pleasure today and I am very happy with the win."
Starting fourth on the grid for the second of the two races held on the 3.703 km (2.3 mile) Okayama International Circuit, Mucke left nothing to chance by contending for the lead in the early going, overtaking first Nicolas Lapierre before setting his sights on Christophe Tinseau and pole sitter Jonny Cocker.
"The car was brilliant to drive and the Michelin tyres were perfect. The team made some minor changes to the set-up last night and it was as if someone flicked a switch and everything just came together," Mucke said.
Once in the lead, Mucke was unstoppable and even with the driver change, they stayed in front with Harold Primat then starting his stint. Just past the midway mark of the three hour sportscar endurance race, the Aston Martin LMP1 team was holding the overall lead.
"I'm so happy! This is my first win in sports cars and I am very pleased that it was with Aston Martin Racing," smiled Primat. "Stefan gave me the car in P1 and I had a consistent stint with no problems at all. I don't think anyone was expecting us to be the fastest car on the track today, we surprised everyone including ourselves. The track conditions definitely helped and the car and the team worked really well today."
Breathing down on Primat was yesterday's winning team with Shinji Nakano at the wheel of the Pescarolo Judd, having taking over for Tinseau for the Sora Racing team. Nakano was followed by Friday's pole winning team from Drayson Racing along with Team ORECA-Matmut and the two Audis from the Kolles camp.
After showing their speed when Jonny Cocker took the pole, the Drayson Lola Coupe Judd had problems in both races this weekend. Just 10 laps after sitting comfortably in third, Paul Drayson was seen dropping down the leaderboard, leaving just five teams to stay on the lead lap to battle for win.
Lord and Lady Drayson's team manager, Dale White, had already planned on a two-stop strategy. "Our Judd engine is super efficient and our Michelin tyres were superb throughout so we could finish with one less fuel/tyre stop than the competition and that combined with our consistently strong pace was enough for first place in the Michelin Green X Challenge. A brilliant result."
With less than an hour remaining, it was now up to Mucke to bring the Aston Martin home for the victory. He did amongst much celebration, even taking four and not three pit stops but this time they did not lose ground making a repair.
Placing second today, the team from France, Sora Racing takes the points lead. Tinseau and Nakano pushed the entire race but at the end, the Pescarolo Judd was not a match for the winning team, over one minute off the pace at the checkered flag.
Tinseau was not taking a Sunday drive but did need to make a quick pit stop for fuel and in the closing laps with Loic Duval bearing down on him, looking to close the eight second gap. There was not enough time remaining on the clock and the Oreca-AIM team had to settle for third. In the first of the two races, Duval and Lapierre finished second.
While Drayson and Cocker did drop back to fifth, Cocker put on a show to catch up to Oliver Jarvis in the Kolles Audi R10 TDi. It became the battle of the two "green" P1 cars in the final hour. In his charge to make up nearly a 25 second gap to fourth, Cocker took the fastest lap honors with a time of 1:20.561.
With less than four minutes in the three hour race, fourth place became a sprint race with Jarvis hanging on but Cocker finally was on the rear wing of the Audi, looking for the place to pass. Drayson Racing ended with fourth when Cocker made the move on the final lap.
"Absolutely fantastic end to the weekend," smiled Cocker. "To come away with two poles, two fastest laps and to be the winner of the Michelin Green X Challenge shows how much the team has achieved in such a short period of time. The race went well for me. The car and the Michelin tyres were fantastic. Now we can start to concentrate on building on our performance in preparation for next year."
Jarvis and teammate Christian Bakkerud had to settle for fifth, adding to their third in Saturday's race.
In LMP2, it was a hands down victory for the Oak Racing team. Truly they could have taken a slow pace Sunday drive except for its always good to maintain racing mode so one does not make a costly error and for overall honors. The pole winning Pescarolo Mazda took the win on Saturday and combined with their four wins in the European Le Mans Series, they now have six total for the year.
Matthieu Lahaye, Jacques Nicolet and Richard Hein did not have smooth sailing toward the end when Hein had to come if for repairs; it cost the team three laps but with their rivals far back on the leaderboard, they had the spare time.
The Ibanez Racing team of Jose Ibanez, Damien Toullemonde and Frederic da Rocha lost a lot of time just prior to the 90 minute mark to make repairs to their Courage AER.
Aston Martin ended up with a double victory when the Hitotsuyama Team Nova took the LMGT1 honors. It was a fitting end for a complex start in the Asian series inaugural weekend. Takeshi Tsuchiya had the fastest time in qualifying in the team's Aston Martin DBR9 but when the rear wings did not comply, the time was wiped, putting them to the back of the grid. They attempted a comeback on race one to again steal the show but he and co-driver Akihiro Tsuzuki were only able to take second.
Today's race two gave the Japanese drivers the goal they were seeking, the top step of the podium. They sailed to the lead and never were contested, taking the win with one lap to spare.
Behind them was the battle for second between the Larbre Competition team and race one's JLOC winning team. It was an amazing final hour with Stephane Lemeret in the Saleen S7R giving chase to Hiroyuki Iiri in the Lamborghini Murcielago. The two had a gap of nearly 15 seconds with Iiri in the JLOC Murcielago having the edge with his teammate Atsushi Yogo looking on from the team's pitbox.
The same was said for Lemeret's Larbre teammates' Roland Berville and Carlo van Dam. When the checkered flag flew, it was a gap of just two-tenths of a second between the two with Iiri taking second.
Dominik Farnbacher and Allan Simonsen won the LMGT2 class victory in the Hankook Farnbacher Ferrari 430 GT by over one lap ahead of the second-placed Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR team. The win adds to their third place in race one.
The real contest was in the early laps with Saturday's winning team taking the early lead before mechanical problem saw the American-based Rahal Letterman Racing BMW E92 M3 end up losing three laps. With Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner out of competitive action for the win, the Farnbacher Ferrari team won hands down.
Christian Ried and Marco Holzer were unable to mount a challenge and had to settle for second in their Porsche.
Team Daishin's Takayuki Aoki and Tomonobu Fujii were nearly a lap down to the Porsche in their Ferrari 430 GT. Both Japanese racers normally compete in the SuperGT series.
The first two races of the Asian Le Mans Series is now in the books, the second meet will be next week in China at the Shanghai International Circuit.
On a side note, the rain that was predicted for this weekend stayed away until after the Asian LMS race ended but just in time to get things wet prior to the World Touring Car Championship races!
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