The new AMR-One continued its development phase today at Paul Ricard at the opening round of the Le Mans Series completing 22 laps in free practice and went on to qualify in 11th overall (5th in class) ahead of tomorrow’s six hour endurance race.

 

Both sessions today were used to get more laps under the wheels of the new in-house developed LMP1 race car. Following some initial teething problems, the new two litre turbo-charged and intercooled straight six engine ran solidly for the longest so far in its development.

 

Team Principal George Howard-Chappell said: “I am pleased we have managed to get some informative laps in today with AMR-One, the car is in the very early stages of development so we have been, and will be making modifications throughout the weekend.

 

“All drivers have now driven the circuit and the feedback is that the foundation is very solid; we now need to concentrate on the setup of the car to encourage its dynamics and pace.”

 

Stefan Mücke (D) who qualified the AMR-One said: “We are learning about the car now, and we made a couple of changes between free practice and qualifying. We now know how the car is reacting and it’s another step in our learning curve.

 

“I am quite optimistic that we will find more steps forward tomorrow; a lot of work to do but we are definitely heading in the right direction.”

 

The six-hour endurance special begins at midday on the Sunday 3 April 2011 with a warm up from 09:00 – 09:20. Live timing can be found at www.lemans-series.com with live radio coverage at www.radiolemans.com and regular updates on Aston Martin’s Twitter feed: @astonmartin and www.astonmartinracing.com.