Zoom No points for Charouz Racing this time

After two points finishes from a third place at Barcelona and eighth at Monza, Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke did not enjoy such a good day in the third race of the Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps. Despite showing strong pace, they finished 10th in the lead LMP1 class and 29th overall after their new Aston Martin-powered prototype suffered electrical problems.

They started fifth and held the position for the team's first stint of the race. Only the more powerful turbo diesels were ahead and Mucke was able to stay in touch with one of the Audis. However, the Charouz Racing System car had to be pushed to the garage before the one-hour mark for the mechanics to fix a problem with the alternator. After that the gap to the front was too big and it was not possible to climb back into the top eight by the end of the race and score points.

Stefan Mucke:
"We had bad luck in the race again. The car was again very quick and we had a chance to fight with the second Audi and be the best petrol car but it was not our day today. The machine was against us and I just hope that we will do better in the next races; the first one is the 24 Hours of Le Mans."

Jan Charouz:
"It is not easy to speak after races like this. It is a big shame because our car was again very quick. However, we have to remember that we are still in the very early phase of our programme and it was only our third race. I am happy for myself that I set our quickest lap time in the race. We are more and more evenly matched with Stefan and this is important for the future."

Antonin Charouz, Team Principal:
"A sad Sunday. There is no other way to put it. Unfortunately, we had technical problems with the alternator and some other things which prevented us from fighing for a podium as we wanted. The positive thing is that our drivers are more and more evenly matched and Spa just confirmed it."

George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing:
"After an alternator failure during the first stint we effectively used the rest of the race as an extended test. The team and drivers worked incredibly hard and the car showed good pace, allowing Jan to set the fastest overall time for a petrol-powered car."

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