Nicki Thiim suffered a devastating tyre failure during last weekend's 4 Hours of Shanghai which cost the Aston Martin Racing crew an almost certain class victory. After the race, Thiim expressed his disbelief at the situation.
With just over an hour remaining and with ten laps to go on his last stint, the Dane was informed by his crew that his #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR had a left rear puncture, which then spectacularly let go on Shanghai International Circuit's long back straight.
Thiim avoided further damage and brought the car into the pits, but by that point was no longer in contention for what had seemed like a certain win.
“It’s really hard to take,” said Thiim. “When you pass the pits knowing you have a puncture, when you are in the lead, and when you make it two thirds of the way around the lap before it goes…
Aston Martin Racing was the team to beat in China. Thiim and Marco Sorensen had lost out on pole by 0.010s but took the lead early on and after undercutting the rival Porsches, the Dane Train was firmly in the lead when disaster struck.
James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi inherited the win, only to be disqualified after the race, meaning that Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre were awarded the victory.
Had the tyre not given out, Thiim and Sorensen would likely have taken their second straight win in Shanghai. The duo also won in 2018, marking the first victory for the new Vantage AMR, which replaced the old V8 GTE.
"We’ve been strong all weekend, and the Dane Train was in contention to win again, just as it did this time last year. At least we recovered and scored some good points. Now we go to Bahrain knowing we can win again.”
