Aston Martin eyes Le Mans glory

Fifty years after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours British sportscar builder Aston Martin will make another attempt at the top step of the podium. The company's racing arm, Prodrive, will field a pair of works LMP1 cars bearing the iconic blue and orange livery of Gulf Oil.

The venerable marque's lone victory came in 1959, when the DBR1 driven by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori took the chequered flag.

"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."

The new LMP1 racer is based on the 2008 Charouz Racing System Lola and powered by the same production-based Aston Martin V12 engine that last year helped Aston Martin secure its second successive Le Mans GT1 title with the DBR9.

The team faces competition from Audi and Peugeot, both running new versions of the turbo-diesel prototypes that have dominated the race in recent years.

Aston Martin Racing is developing the new racer in conjunction with Lola, Michelin, Koni and BBS.

The company says it was enticed to contend for outright honours thanks to new regulations aimed at balancing the performance of petrol and diesel engined prototypes (Audi's diesel-powered R10 TDI has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the past three years in a row).

Aston Martin isn't focusing solely on the Le Mans 24-hour race, as the team will also compete throughout the year in the Le Mans Series (LMS), which opens with the 1000km de Catalunya on April 5. 

To focus maximum energy on the LMP1 program, Aston Martin says its Works team will not defend its GT1 title at Le Mans, but the company says it will support any of its official partner teams and customers competing at the race.  

Meanwhile, Aston Martin Racing partner Drayson Racing has expressed its desire to compete at Le Mans with the new Vantage GT2. This follows confirmation of the team's LMS entry and American Le Mans Series program with a bio-ethanol powered Vantage GT2. 

For our Motorsport contributor Geoff Harris's view, click here.