Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim extended their GTE Pro class championship lead in the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) in Shanghai/China. The two Young Drivers finished fourth in class in the eight of nine rounds of the World Championship in the Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage V8. The Danish Duo further extended their lead in the Drivers World Championship when they finished ahead of their closest championship contenders in a Ferrari. Before final race of the season in less then two weeks time in Bahrain, Sørensen/Thiim lead the GT Drivers World Championship by 12 points. Young Driver AMR leads the GTE Pro Team World Championship by a margin of two points ahead of the final 6-hour race of the season.
Sørensen/Thiim started from third position on the grid into Sundays 6 Hours of Shanghai and dropped to fourth in the opening laps after a fight with the #51 Ferrari. The battle with the Italian car for third place continued in the second and third hour of the race, before Sørensen/Thiim settled for fourth place and eventually brought the Aston Martin to the chequered flag in this position and extended their championship by another two points. Young Driver AMR maintained the lead in the GTE Pro Team World Championship with the 12 points the team earned for fourth place.
“We archived the maximum today with fourth pace”, said Young Driver AMR´s Jan Struve. “I’m really proud of the drivers and the team, as everybody did a perfect job and here in China we performed the best quickest pit stops we had all year, our stopps were are among the quickest in class. We were a bit lucky today and could extend our championship lead. But nevertheless, the final round in Bahrain will be a difficult race and very exciting, even if Marco and Nicki lead the championship by twelve points.”
Thiim said: „That really went as planned. We mainly wanted to beat the #71 Ferrari and that’s what we did. It’s perfect for us in the GT Drivers Championship going into the final round. It’s been an intense weekend and you definitely feel like the end is getting closer. This championship is just something special right now, but I am glad that it’s only two weeks to go until the next race as I just want to get back to it and fight hard for the title”.
Result 6 Hours of Shanghai GTE Pro class
| 1 | Tincknell/Priaulx | Ford GT |
| 2 | Mücke/Pla | Ford GT |
| 3 | Bruni/Calado | Ferrari 488 |
| 4 | Sørensen/Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage V8 |
| 5 | Rigon/Bird | Ferrari 488 |
| 6 | Christensen/Lietz | Porsche 911 |
FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers
| 1 | Sørensen/Thiim | Aston Martin | 131 points |
| 2 | Rigon/Bird | Ferrari | 119 points |
| 3 | Mücke/Pla | Ford | 110 points |
| 4 | Bruni/Calado | Ferrari | 110 points |
| 5 | Priaulx/Tincknell | Ford | 105.5 points |
FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE Pro Teams
| 1 | #95 Young Driver AMR | Aston Martin | 131 points |
| 2 | #67 Ford Chip Ganassi | Ford | 129 points |
| 3 | #66 Ford Chip Ganassi | Ford | 121 points |
| 4 | #71 AF Corse | Ferrari | 119 points |
