The new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE will start the 6 Hours of Shanghai, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, from third and sixth on the GTE Pro class grid.

The #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE driven by Danish duo Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen set the fastest time in FP3, raising hopes of repeating the pole position the team achieved in Fuji last month. But as track conditions improved surprisingly quickly during the 20 minute qualifying session, it was actually the sister #97 Vantage GTE of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin that qualified third with the Belgian's late flyer sealing the position.

In GTE Am, the #98 V8 Vantage GTE shared by Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda maintained its extraordinary run of success at Shanghai. This was the sixth consecutive pole for Aston Martin Racing in the class, the fifth straight pole for the #98 car and the fourth in a row for the reigning class champions. It also means that out of a possible 14 pole positions across both classes, Aston Martin Racing has taken 10.