Podium finish for Young Driver AMR at Spa

Young Driver AMR scored a second consecutive podium finish at the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa in Belgium. Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Richie Stanaway finished second in the Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage in the GTE-Am class. Young Driver AMR won the season opening round at Silverstone and confirmed their good performance at Spa-Francorchamps. The podium finish at Spa was again the result of a clean race without mistakes of the drivers and the team and a very strong tactic.

The race started challenging for Young Driver AMR as starting driver Richie Stanaway had to start from the last position in the class after a very difficult qualifying session in wet and drying conditions. The rapid New Zealander, who drove his first race for Young Driver AMR in Belgium, quickly moved forward after the start, gained position for position and climbed up as high a third in the first hour. A tactical move then brought Stanaway in the lead of the race. Stanaway then handed the Aston Martin to Kristian Poulsen in the lead. The #95 Vantage GTE ran then within the top three in class with Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson until end of the race. In the final minutes, Stanaway was in the car for his second stint in the race and was in third position behind a Ferrari and the sister Aston Martin of Young Driver AMR Team member Christoffer Nygaard, when Nygaard had to pit for a splash of fuel in the penultimate lap and Stanaway moved to second place. Nygaard finished third.

„We drove a perfect race with no mistakes and no mechanical issues”, David Heinemeier Hansson said after the race. „We couldn’t fight for the win today. The leading Ferrari had a better fuel consumption, was quicker today and just to far ahead. We dove double stints of each set of tires to save time at the pit stops, but even with that, we couldn’t fight for the win. I hope until Le Mans we will sort all that out, do the fuel consumption right and get the speed to the Ferrari a little bit closer, then we will have an absolutely amazing Le Mans.

“We started from the last position in class, so finishing second is a great result”, Kristian Poulsen said. “We had no answer today for the speed of the Ferrari, but we had a good tactics and also our team was very strong. It was great to have Richie Stanaway as teammate this weekend, he drive a strong race. During my last stint, I had a nice fight for the lead in class with my Young Driver AMR team mate Christoffer Nygaard, that was very interesting.”

After two of eight races, Young Driver AMR leads the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE Am teams while Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson lead the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE Am drivers.

Jyske Bank new partner of Young Driver AMR
Young Driver AMR could welcome Jyske Bank as new team partner at the second round of the FIA WEC in Belgium. “I welcome Jyske Bank as the latest partner of Young Driver AMR in our world championship campaign and I’m really happy that we have a further renowned partner from Denmark onboard”, Jan Struve of Young Driver AMR said. “Jyske Bank is a very strong partner and I’m happy that we could welcome them with a podium finish for the start of our partnership.”

Young Driver AMR