Aston Martin DBR9 Racing history (II)

For 2007, Aston Martin was finally able to overcome their woes at Le Mans, securing the GT1 class victory for the #009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9. Larbre’s DBR9 would also manage third place in class. The teams running DBR9s managed to finish every car entered.

Later in 2007, Aston Martin launched the limited edition (300 units expected) DBS road car which has many styling cues taken from the DBR9 in conjunction with the James Bond film Casino Royale. Aston Martin Racing’s DBR9s raced 2006 and 2007 under the numbers 007 and 009, in honor of James Bond.

In 2008, while Larbre and Scuderia Italia moved on from Aston Martin, Prodrive continued to field a two-car factory team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #009 numbered car, with the new Gulf Oil sponsored paint scheme, driven by Darren Turner, Antonio Garcia and David Brabham, won its class.

A DBR9 in Le Mans specification is confirmed to participate in the 2009 Super GT season, making Aston Martin cars debut in Super GT series.

Lola-Aston Martin B09/60

he Lola-Aston Martin B09/60, also known as the Aston Martin DBR1-2, is a Le Mans Prototype sports car built by Lola Cars International and co-developed with Prodrive for use by Aston Martin Racing. It is the first prototype to bear the Aston Martin name since the AMR1 in 1989. Aston Martin’s internal name for the car, DBR1-2, refers to the specific DBR1 chassis which won six races in 1959 en route to clinching the World Sportscar Championship as well as that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The B09/60 is an evolution of the Lola B08/60 LMP1 design used by Aston Martin Racing in 2008. As before it uses the same racing prepared 6.0 L (370 cu in) V12 engine from the Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 car, but with different air restrictors allowing for an increase of 50 hp (37 kW). Two B09/60s competed in the full Le Mans Series season, while a third car entered under the AMR Eastern Europe banner for Charouz Racing Systems also competed at the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the last three races of the LMS. The number 007 car won the Le Mans Series overall, and the number 009 finished fourth.

At Le Mans the B09/60 of Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished fouth behind the factory entries of Peugeot and Audi, as well as being the highest finishing petrol-fueled car.

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