Victorious Aston Martin
A tough battle in the GT1 class at Le Mans left Aston Martin eventual winners
Aston Martin repeated last year’s Le Mans victory in the GT1 class with a win at the La Sarthe circuit with the 009 DBR9 piloted by David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner.
The Aston took the lead within three hours of the event, but was constantly shadowed by a Corvette rival. At one point the two were separated by only four seconds. Intermittent rain and safety car outings taxed the drivers and crews to the limits. At the flag, the two cars were less than five minutes apart, after 4,500 kilometres of racing.
The second factory Aston Martin DBR9, 007, finished fourth in class. Drivers were Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini and Karl Wendlinger.
AUDI'S R10 TDI won the 24 Hour Classic. After some dicing with the Peugeot 908, the R10 pulled out a gap during the night stage. Audi exploited the neutral set-up of the R10. Rivals were pitting for wet tyres during the downpours, but the Audi crucially stayed out, eventually winning by a margin of 4m 31s.
