|
The full works AMR DBR9's are
effectively totally run by Prodrive in Banbury. The first chassis, DBR9/1 was
first seen together with it's yellow nose band and evocative '59' race number in
late 2004.
The very first outing for a DBR9 in
the Sebring 12 hours in 2005 was outstanding with DBR9/01 coming 4th over all
and 1st in GT1 at the hands of David Brabham, Stephane Ortelli and Darren
Turner. Sister car, DBR9/2 was 15th overall and 8th in class.
For the first, and I believe still
only outing on UK soil, the cars achieved a remarkable 1st and 2nd finish in the
RAC Tourist Trophy Race at Silverstone in May 2005 (DBR9/02 1st, 01 2nd). The
2005 season continued with races at Le Mans, Spa, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca.
For 2006, AMR concentrated their
efforts in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and Le Mans since full works teams
were not permitted in the FIA GT races. Best results for the team were 4th
overall in both Sebring and Houston and 1st/2nd in class (8th and 9th overall)
in the Petit Le Mans. Overall in the 2006 championship, Stephanie Sarrazin was
3rd Thomas Enge was 4th in the GT1 class. We also saw the works team running a
new chassis, DBR9/3 at Le Mans with race number 007.
For 2007, AMR
concentrated their efforts on the 24 hours of Le Mans in the middle weekend in June
winning the GT1 class For 2008
again the only scheduled works entry is for the 24 hours of Le Mans where the
cars will be raced in the famous Gulf racing colours |