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Primat On Podium On Czech DTM Race Debut
Aston Martin works driver Harold Primat continued his successful 2009 season with a podium in the International Czech Touring Car Championship at Brno last weekend.
The Geneva-based Primat joined fellow Aston Martin driver Stefan Mucke and Czech racer Václav Nimc at the wheel of a Mercedes Benz C-Klasse AMG in the ICTCC series which caters for DTM and GT cars.
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Despite having never driven the spaceframe chassis, V8-powered, 500bhp machine before and only having completed a handful of laps at the circuit in a short test last year, Primat adapted seamlessly to the new style of racing to finish third overall in the three-hour race.
"It was a really interesting experience," said Harold, who recently completed his Le Mans Series season with fourth place in both the Silverstone 1000kms and the overall championship. "The car is quite different to drive compared with the Aston Martin prototype I’m used to. You can play with the set-ups a little differently from the LMP1 car and you have to be quite aggressive in your driving style too."
Primat was invited to race in Brno by Charouz Racing Systems and his result would have been even better had a late Safety Car period not assisted the strategy of the second place Audi A4 DTM of Daniel La Rosa and Thomas Bjork.
"We were running behind them in third but we knew they had to make an extra pit stop to us," explained Harold. "Unfortunately the Safety Car came out and they were able to save enough fuel behind it so that they didn’t have to come in again.
"That was slightly frustrating, but I’m happy to have another podium. The standard was quite high and it’s been a very positive weekend. My lap times were good compared with some of the guys with previous experience in the DTM.
"I’d like to thank the team for inviting me to join them for the race and if the opportunity arose again then I would definitely be interested."
Primat’s next scheduled outing with the factory Aston Martin squad will come in the Asian Le Mans Series at Okayama, Japan on 30 October / 1 November.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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