Aston Martin has revealed its plans to bring the Le Mans title back to Britain this year with two Aston Martin Works LMP1 Gulf cars. The Aston Martin Works LMP1 Gulf cars have been developed to emulate the achievements of the 1959 DBR1 driven by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori.
This year's Aston Martin Works LMP1 Gulf is based on the 2008 Charouz Racing System Lola that will be powered by the same V12 engine which won the second successive Le Mans GT1 title with the DBR9. The Aston Martin Works LMP1 Gulf is being developed with Lola, Michelin, Koni and BBS and the company has Gulf Oil and Hackett as partners in this endeavor.
The Aston Martin Works LMP1 Gulf cars will be raced by drivers Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomas Enge (CZ), and Stefan Mücke (DE) and Harold Primat (CH) and Darren Turner (GB). the is still one driver to be named.
“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.”
Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer commented: “Racing has been, and still is at the heart of Aston Martin. Our cars today are subtle, elegant and handcrafted but they still have the genes for competition. I am happy that we have found partners who, with their support, will enable us to compete at the highest level of endurance racing. We will put all our heart and skill behind this project to demonstrate the essence of Aston Martin: Power Beauty and Soul.”
