Aston Martin Racing Sweeps GTE Classes at COTA

Photo: John Dagys

Aston Martin Racing earned a double victory in Sunday’s Six Hours of the Circuit of The Americas, with the British manufacturer taking top honors in both GTE-Pro and GTE-Am.

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Fred Makowiecki and Bruno Senna drove their No. 99 Aston Martin Vantage V8 to a 15-second victory over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia of Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella in second.

It came despite a late stop for a splash of fuel with 10 minutes remaining as well as a brake issue for the V8-powered beast in the final hour.

“The Ferrari was very quick in the end and the Porsche was very quick. Today, we were just a bit more consistent than those guys,” Senna said. “We took more risks in the race, that’s why we managed to win.”

While it marked the parings first class win of the season, it came after the two other GTE-Pro Astons retired due to  damage after running over curbing. It included the championship-leading No. 97 car of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke, who were joined by Corvette Racing factory driver Oliver Gavin this weekend.

Aston’s misfortunes for two of its cars handed AF Corse a double podium finish, with the Italian squad’s No. 71 entry of Toni Vilander and Kamui Kobayashi finishing third.

Bruni and Fisichella, meanwhile, take over the GTE drivers’ championship lead, three points ahead of the No. 92 Porsche AG Team Manthey pairing of Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz, which came home fourth on Sunday.

GTE-Am class honors came down to the wire between the pair of Aston Martins, with a late pass by Jamie Campbell-Walter on Kristian Poulsen being rewarded in a second consecutive victory for he and Stuart Hall in the No. 95 car.

It was another Aston Martin 1-2 in class, with the No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche of Raymond Narac and JK Vernay completing the class podium in third, despite a late charge by the pole-sitting No. 81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari of Matteo Malucelli, which had to settle for fourth in class.

RESULTS: Six Hours of the Circuit of The Americas

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John