Aston Martin LMP1

DT’s team-mates in the Aston Martin 007 were the fastest petrol car across the line, finishing third overall in the opening round of the American Le Mans Series: the 12 Hours of Sebring. They finished 3 laps behind the two factory diesel Peugeot 908’s which still have quite an advantage over the petrol powered cars. The Aston’s fastest lap in the race was around 1.25 seconds behind the fastest Peugeot.

Drivers Adrian Fernández (MX), Stefan Mücke (DE) and Harold Primat (CH) were consistent throughout, as was the production-based Aston Martin V12-powered LMP1 car, which once again proved its reliability and durability.

In all honesty, it was a largely uneventful race dominated by the diesel-powered cars – Aston Martin finishing the race in the same position as it started 12 hours earlier. The Lowe’s sponsored Aston Martin faultlessly completed 364 laps of the 3.7 mile Sebring International Raceway covering a total of 1,347 miles.

The Aston Martin Racing team achieved the best result possible with an immaculate performance by all involved echoing 2009’s result at the Le Mans 24 hour race.

The legendary Sebring circuit has provided an invaluable test for the car and the team now turn their thoughts to the eight hour Le Mans Series race at Paul Ricard in France on 11 April 2010. The team will then return to the USA in April for the second round of the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on 17 April 2010.

Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell: “I’m very pleased; it’s the best we could have expected if all front running cars were reliable – which they were. We wanted to be the fastest petrol car at Sebring and it’s excellent preparation for Le Mans, having a completely clean run with no issues at all. The Michelin tyres were fantastic as usual so happy all round.”