The Young Driver Aston Martin team has been forced to withdraw title contenders Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner's DB9 from the remainder of this weekend's FIA GT1 World Championship finale at the daunting 3.9-mile Potrero de los Funes circuit in San Luis, Argentina.
The car sustained extensive chassis damage when Mucke crashed in Friday's second practice session. Repairs were judged impossible within the time constraints ahead of this weekend's championship final.
Mucke and Turner entered the meeting placed second in the drivers' championship. Their early exit means JRM Nissan's Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm are near certain to wrap up the crown.
Young Driver's hopes for the weekend now wrest on the No. 7 car of Tomas Enge and Alex Muller, which can still earn the German squad victory in the teams' championship. Leading the teams' points race on 224, Young Driver carries an eight-point advantage over closest challenger JRM. The Hexis Aston Martin team and All-Inkl Lamborghini also remain in contention.
In a trying start to the Argentinean round for Young Driver, the team finished work on the Enge/Muller car at 5am on Saturday morning. Damage when Enge hit a curb required the engine to be removed in order to facilitate repairs.