Young Driver AMR, Sørensen, Thiim are 2016 GTE Pro champions

Young Driver AMR, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim are the 2016 World Champions in the GTE Pro class, the premier class in international GT racing. At the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) in Bahrain, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim sealed the drivers and teams championship of the GTE Pro class with their second win of the season in the #95 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage. „It can’t any better than this: We won the drivers and the teams title and also the final race of this season“, said Young Driver AMR´s Jan Struve after the team took the second world championship title in three years. In 2014, Young Driver AMR won the World Championship in the GTE Am class.

The #95 Aston Martin started from the front row into the final six hour race of the season and battled for the lead with fellow #97 Aston Martin during the first two hours of the race. When the sister car dropped back, Sørensen and Thiim regained the class lead at the halfway point of the race and stayed on front until the end. On route to their second victory of the season, the two Danes led 90 of 174 laps and finished 12,6 seconds ahead of the second placed Ferrari 488.

„The key to our win today was the tire performance, we have to thank our tire partner Dunlop for providing us with a perfect product“, Struve said. „For the conditions today in Bahrain, our tire was the perfect choice. The performance of Marco, Nicki and the entire team was outstanding. We had a perfect race and very fast pit stops. During the season the competition with new cars from Ferrari and Ford was strong and we didn’t expect we could go for the World Championship. Even in the race itself, there was suddenly a lot of excitement, when two of the three Aston Martin entries ran into troubles at almost the same time. But at the end we were lucky, had a constant season with two highlight victories and three additional podium finishes. After the penultimate race in China we had some mixed emotions in terms of our championship hopes and now it feels unbelievable that we made it. Thanks to every member of the team who made this happen, to our drivers Marco and Nicki and also Darren Turner, who was part of our team in the first three rounds.“

Nicki Thiim: „I told my teammate that it would be amazing to win the championship with this team and with a fellow Dane and I still can’t really believe that we now have our first WEC championship with Aston Martin. The consistency throughout the season has been amazing, the car has been great and the improvements we’ve made with our partners throughout the year have been incredible. To be up there in our first year with two new partners in Dunlop and Total and to compete against some big teams with their two new cars is really something special. Right now, I’m very happy with what I and the team have achieved”.

Marco Sørensen added: “It’s absolutely amazing to win the championship and I’m going to say it’s even more incredible to win it with a Danish brother like Nicki. When we were 10 years old, we raced against each other in karting but to be here winning a championship with him and Aston Martin Racing is fantastic.

Nobody would have thought we could be here together. I’m so proud of the whole team. We had a lot of new partners at the beginning of this year but it all just came together so well and today has been fantastic. I still can’t really believe it.”

 

Result 6 Hours of Bahrain GTE Pro class

1	Sørensen/Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage V8
2	Bruni/Calado	Ferrari 488
3	Bird/Rigon	Ferrari 488
4	Priaulx/Tincknell	Ford GT
5	Adam/Turner	Aston Martin Vantage V8

 

FIA Endurance Cup for GT drivers

1	Sørensen/Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage V8	154 points
2	Rigon/Bird	Ferrari 488 GTE	134 points
3	Bruni/Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE	128 points
4	Mücke/Pla	Ford GT	118 points

 

FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE Pro teams

1	Young Driver AMR	#95 Aston Martin Vantage	154 points
2	Ford Chip Ganassi	#67 Ford GT	141 points
3	AF Corse	#71 Ferrari 488 GTE	134 points
4	Ford Chip Ganassi	#66 Ford GT	129 points