Aston Martin met Prodrive naar Le Mans in 2005!

[Scapa]

Aston Martin and Prodrive have sealed a deal to build a DB9 Le Mans car, according to this week's Motorsport News.

Aston is said to be on the verge of announcing the new project which should see Cosworth V12-powered, Prodrive-built, DB9s on the grid for the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The car would run in the GTS class - which was won this year at La Sarthe by a Prodrive-built Ferrari 550 Maranello. Opposition by 2005 is likely to include Ferrari, Maserati and Chevrolet.

The first of the 6-litre V12-powered DB9 road cars are due to be delivered to their new owners in the first half of 2004.

Aston Martin last raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours with its AMR 1 Group C car in 1989

bron: autosport.com
-------------------------

De DB9 is zo'n zalige auto! Een van de knapste Aston's ooit vind ik...

[Werner333]

Eindelijk. Die kerels had ik al eerder terug verwacht.

[Jan]

Daarmee weten we waarom we ook in 2005 naar Le Mans zullen gaan

jan

[fast freddy]

aangezien prodrive veel ervaring heeftmet GT's belooft het echt wel mooi te worden

[Scapa]

Aston Martin Racing is born

Aston Martin has officially announced its return to motorsport and the foundation of a new division to be known as Aston Martin Racing. The first DB9 racers should hit the tracks before the end of next year.

The new programme will be run in conjunction with Prodrive - a company with a strong recent track-record in this area through its successful Ferrari 550 Maranello race cars. Aston Martin's product development and motorsport director Jeremy Main will oversee the project.

Design and build - at Prodrive - will begin shortly and Aston plans to race the first car towards the end of 2004.

Aston Martin Racing intends to run a number of teams in various sports car series around the world and will be evaluating these during 2004. It will also offer cars for sale to private teams and collectors.

The company favours production-based GT race series. Dr Ulrich Bez, chief executive officer of Aston Martin. Commented: “Production-based sports car series are growing in stature with many leading manufacturers returning with their own factory programmes. By competing with them we can demonstrate that our cars are not only the best on the road, but also on the racing track.

"We are keen to see new regulations for 2004 that will allow true production-based sports cars to compete on a level playing field. The new rules from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) clearly provide this; we hope other sporting organisations will follow their route and encourage sports car racing to grow in importance and profile."

www.autosport.com