Tom Ferrier told MotorsportWeek.com that the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR was ‘beyond repair’ following a severe crash in Le Mans Free Practice 1.
“The chassis was beyond repair yesterday after the incident. So we have brought out another chassis from the workshop, which is the chassis from the #95 ELMS car,” Ferrier said.
The #777 D’Station machine spun after touching the grass on the drivers’ left before Tertre Rouge, with Casper Stevenson at the wheel, before being collected at speed by the #13 Tower Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car of Steven Thomas, who didn’t see the double-waved yellows before approaching Tetre Rouge.
The incident meant the team missed both Qualifying and Free Practice 2 and now, Ferrier and the D’Station crew are in a race against time to prepare their new chassis for this weekend’s race, which arrived at 9am today.
“So they’re fitting the engine and gearbox out of the crashed car and then the rest of it, and trying to get it out for the end of FP3 if we can just to shake it down. And then the plan is we have to do the night session [FP4] with the drivers because they obviously haven’t driven at night yet. So that’s per regulations.”
Asked whether he was confident heading into the race, Ferrier was clear that the 24 hours can throw anything at the #777 crew and the rest of the competition.
“If you’re still going around Sunday morning then you’ve got a good chance. So that is always our game plan for sure, to try and get to the morning,” he said.
“We’ve got good history here and we shall try and maintain it, but I think the thing with Le Mans is everybody has a chance, that’s the wonder of it isn’t it? So yeah, fingers crossed, that’s all we can do.”
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