Best-Ever Qualifying Run Starts Drayson Racing 6th in Home Endurance Race at Silverstone

12 September, 2009

TOWCESTER, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, ENGLAND – Local favourite Drayson Racing will start sixth in the LM GT2 class of tomorrow’s Autosport 1000km of Silverstone. Jonny Cocker (Guisborough, Yorks, UK) lapped the 5.141Km (3.195 mile) Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit with a lap of one minute, 49.594 seconds. The sixth-place qualifying run designates the British-based team’s best-ever time trial with the No. 87 Drayson Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT2. Paul Drayson (London/Gloucestershire, UK) will join Cocker behind the wheel here before the team’s home crowd in Sunday’s Le Mans Series season finale.
The Silverstone race is the fifth of the five race series which started at the Cataluña Circuit outside Barcelona on 6 April. Since, Drayson Racing has participated in each event with a best finish of 7th at the 1000km of Spa in May. A recent string of mechanical maladies have thwarted top-five runs by the Lord and Lady Drayson-owned operation. The strong qualifying position and quick race pace shown by Drayson and Cocker promise better things for Sunday’s showdown.
Silverstone is not only the finale for the Le Mans Series but also for Drayson Racing in the LM GT2 class. The first year team will be making its LMP1 debut with the 12th Annual Petit Le Mans in the United States on 26 September. The team recently completed a trouble-free shakedown run of its new Lola B09/60 Coupé with Judd Power here at the Silverstone Circuit
The Autosport 1000km of Silverstone will begin at 11:35 (GMT) on Sunday, 13 September. The race will run for 1000km or six hours, whichever comes first. Radio coverage is available at www.radiolemans.com.
Quotes
Paul Drayson, Driver/Owner: “We are having a great weekend. We’re at our home circuit with blue skies, warm sunshine and the car is going better than ever. The Aston Martin Vantage is at home here and it shows. Best pace we’ve seen all season topped-off by a best-ever P6 in qualifying. So far, so great. We are all set for a great race tomorrow”
Jonny Cocker, Driver: “Our best-ever qualifying in the Vantage. We planned to go out at the end of the session to try and give ourselves the best opportunity of a clear run as we fuelled the car just for two laps. That worked really well. I had a really clear run during my two laps and managed to achieve a good lap time which ended-up putting us in P6 [position six]. We’re closer than we’ve ever been to the leader’s pace in qualifying and that’s going to bode really well for us in the race. I think we have a good race car and I am sure we can make progress fairly early in my stint.”
About racing in Great Britain: “It’s fantastic to be here at Silverstone with a British car and a British team at our last race in the Vantage. Lots of home support plus family and friends and, hopefully, all of that will give us some good luck. Can’t wait till the race. I am really looking forward to it.”
To visit the official web site of Drayson Racing, please go to
www.draysonracing.com.
To learn more about Aston Martin Racing, please proceed to
www.astonmartinracing.com. For more on the Le Mans Series visit www.lemans-series.com.
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