Top ten qualifying for Aston Martin at the Nürburgring

Nürburgring, 20 June 2014 - Aston Martin Racing’s V12 Vantage GT3 will start the 2014 ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hours from ninth place on the 169-strong grid, following an exciting top 30 qualifying shoot-out that saw works driver Stefan Mücke (DE) complete two flying laps of the 25-km long Nordschleife circuit.

Qualifying for the race - considered one of the most challenging and grueling 24-hour races in the world - takes place over two two-hour qualifying sessions followed by a shoot-out for the fastest 30. All drivers completed their two mandatory laps on Thursday evening’s session but rain hampered this morning’s outing for many of the top teams.

With an anxious wait as the track slowly dried, the team sent Mücke out in the final 20-minutes, with the pressure on to try and beat the times set by competitors on a warm and dry track the day before. Despite damp and greasy patches across the asphalt, the German didn’t disappoint and, in the final seconds of the session, he placed it 23rd.

Drawing the 28th slot in the shoot-out, Mücke headed out onto the track to complete his laps in the Bilstein and Castrol Edge-liveried V12 machine and, on his second attempt, recorded the ninth fastest lap of the session.

“It was a tough qualifying for us thanks to the weather this morning that made it difficult," commented Mücke. “However, we made it into the shoot-out and I think we can be happy with ninth.”

“We were three seconds faster than last year’s qualifying time where qualified in second place but everyone else was faster this time, too.

“We have found a good set up for the car for the race and we are happy with balance. The car runs fine, so we are now looking now for clean race – I can't wait.”

The first of the two race-prepared V8 Vantage N340s, driven by British journalists Chris Harris and Richard ‘Dickie’ Meaden and Nürburgring experts Oliver Mathai (DE) and Andreas Gülden (DE) qualified third in the SP10 class. The second of the N340s, competing in SP8, qualified fifth in class.

Also in SP8, the close-to-production V12 Vantage S will start tomorrow’s race from second in class.

The 2014 ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hours starts at 1600hrs local time on Saturday 21 June.

Aston Martin