Aston Wants Le Mans Title

Aston Martin will take on the diesels at this year's Le Mans

By Oli S / Tuesday, 27 January 2009 / Loading comments

Aston Martin is heading back to Le Mans in a bid to bring the title back to Britain. To mark the 50

anniversary of its win at the famous track the carmaker will take two Works LMP1 cars to France, bearing the iconic blue and orange livery of Gulf Oil.

The new car which is based on the 2008 Charouz Racing System Lola will be powered by the same production-based Aston Martin V12 engine which, last year, helped Aston Martin secure its second successive Le Mans GT1 title with the DBR9. It has the difficult job of tackling the all-conquering diesel-powered Audis that won last year.

‘2009 is a hugely significant year for Aston Martin at Le Mans and the challenge of reclaiming victory in this famous race for Aston Martin and Great Britain was simply too great to ignore,’ said Aston Martin Chairman, David Richards.

‘However, we do not underestimate the task. While we have won the GT1 class for the last two years, competing against the proven speed and endurance of the diesel-powered cars with all their years of winning the prototype class, will be a massive undertaking. Nonetheless, I see this as a great opportunity to showcase the ingenuity of British engineering talent.’

In 2009, the ACO is introducing new regulations aimed at balancing the performance of petrol and diesel-powered prototypes making the LMP1 category more appealing and relevant to Aston Martin.

Aston Martin Racing Works drivers, Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge, and Stefan Mücke, who raced the Charouz car last year will be on the team along with Darren Turner who was part of the winning DBR9 GT1 crew in 2007 and 2008. Harold Primat joins the team for the first time in 2009 with the remaining driver to be announced soon.

To focus its energy on the all-out title Aston will not be defending its GT1 title at Le Mans.