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77th 24 Heures du Mans - page 1
13th/14th June 2009 |
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A pictorial review of the 2009 Le Mans 24 hour
race
| Car Number & Class |
Chassis Number |
Colour Scheme |
Drivers |
Team |
| 007, LMP1 |
Lola-Aston Martin |
Gulf racing colours (light blue/orange) with
orange windscreen band
and mirrors |
Stefan Mccke, Jan Charouz,
Thomas Enge |
Aston Martin Racing Eastern
Europe |
| 008, LMP1 |
Lola-Aston Martin |
Gulf racing colours (light blue/orange) with
light blue windscreen band
and mirrors |
Anthony Davidson, Darren
Turner, Jos Verstappen |
Aston Martin Racing |
| 009, LMP1 |
Lola-Aston Martin |
Gulf racing colours
(light blue/orange)
with blue windscreen band and mirrors |
Stuart Hall,
Harold Primat,
Peter Kox |
Aston Martin Racing |
| 13, LMP1 |
Lola-Aston Martin
B08/60 HU01 |
Red and Silver |
A.Belicchi
N.Jani
N.Prost |
Speedy Racing Team Sebah |
| 66, GT1 |
DBR9/? |
Blue and White |
L.Lichtner Hoyer
TH.Gruber
A.Muller |
Jet
Alliance Racing |
| 87. GT2 |
? |
Metallic Green |
Lord Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker,
M.Franchitti |
Drayson Racing |
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It's 50 years since that most famous
Aston Martin overall victory at Le Mans with the DBR1. For the first time since
1989, an Aston Martin has the real potential of repeating that historic event as
AMR have three cars in the highest class of the race, the LMP1 class, another
Lola Aston Martin is privately entered. The DBR9 is almost (but not quite)
confined to the history books with a single entry of a car from the Jet Alliance
Team who have been so successful in the FIA GT series in the past 3
years. Supporting in GT2 and for the first time at le Mans is the Drayson Racing
V8 Vantage GT2. For 2009,
the ACO has introduced new regulations aimed at balancing the performance of
petrol and diesel engined prototypes making the LMP1 category more appealing and
relevant to Aston Martin. Despite this, performance gains with the relatively
new diesel technology are rapid and the worry is that petrol powered cars will
remain at a disadvantage. |
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Wednesday - quick pit walk support race free practice |
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Too wet to put up
the tent yet, so I've had a quick wander down the pit lane. Very lucky to catch
AMR practicing changing body panels against the stop-watch. I'm afraid I just
couldn't capture how quickly these guys were working. Since there was no test
day at all this year (apparently to save money), tonight will be the first time
this year that the teams can drive on the circuit. As far as I believe, the
times tonight will not count towards grid positions. Traditionally, entry prices
for tonight are inexpensive with free grandstand seats hich encourages the
locals to turn out in decent numbers. |
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Wednesday Night free practice
session, 10th June 2009 |
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1800 and free practice began in
wonderful early evening sunshine, but I'm afraid it didn't last too long before
the rain came down making the track tricky and variable which caused a few
thrills and spills. Thankfully all Astons made it through unscathed. Free
practice so times don't count towards the grid. The best AM position so far is
with car 008, 8th overall, with best time set by Jos Verstappen (5 seconds
behind the lead Audi). In GT1, the Jet Alliance DBR9 is currently 3rd in time
class of 5. In the lower budget but highly competitive GT2 class (17 entries),
dominated by Ferrari F430's saw the Drayson Vantage in 10th - very impressive
for it's first time appearance at LM. |
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AMR Index |
LM09
Page 2
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