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RECORD NUMBER OF GULF CARS ON GRID FOR 2011 LE MANS 24 HOURS
RECORD NUMBER OF GULF CARS ON GRID FOR 2011 LE MANS 24 HOURS
Le Mans, 10TH June 2011.
All seven Gulf branded cars have qualified for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race, which takes place this weekend.
Both Aston Martin Racing team AMR-Ones LMP1 have made their way through the three qualifying sessions and are steadily making progress. The cars qualified in the top 25 of the 56 cars entered and will look towards a good steady race run in this their first Le Mans 24 Hours in what is a multi year programme.
Aston Martin Racing were pleased with qualifying overall and looking forward to Saturday’s race.
The Gulf liveried OAK-Pescarolos also qualified without major incident as their team looks to cement its fourth podium finish in a row at Le Mans. The final Le Mans squad consists of four cars – two in LMP1 and two in LMP2, with the fourth, number 49 car driven by Shinji Nakano, Jan Charouz and the youngest driver in the race, Nicolas de Crem running in OAK’s own racing colours, but also prominently displaying Gulf branding.
In GT, Gulf Racing – entered for Le Mans as Gulf AMR Middle East – were pleased with their qualifying performance. Their Aston Martin Vantage GT2 ran in the top three in the GTE AM category in the first day of qualifying and eventually ended up a solid sixth in what is arguably the most competitive category in the race.
There is no activity on the track today (Friday) with attention switching to downtown Le Mans, where the Gulf-sponsored Drivers’ Parade will attracts upwards of 200,000 people to watch this now traditional Friday afternoon spectacle.
The 24-Hour endurance epic begins at 15:00 on Saturday 11 June with live television coverage on Eurosport and commentary via Radio Le Mans (www.radiolemans.com).
Le Mans Timetable
Friday 10 June 18:00-20:00 Le Mans driver parade
Saturday 11 June 09:00-09:45 Warm-up 15:00 Race start