Posts from — Juny 2009

After a challenging but exciting 24 Hores, Anthony and the crew of the 008 Aston Martin – Darren Turner (GB) and Jos Verstappen (NL) – crossed the finish line of the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours race.  Anthony enjoyed his first taste of the LMP1 category, and put in a strong performance – qualifying the 008 car ninth in just one flying lap on his first ever stint on new tyres in the Aston, and at one point on Saturday evening climbing as high as third in the overall race standings.

As expected, the diesel-powered cars enjoyed a margin of superiority, but Aston Martin Racing fulfilled its mission of being the first petrol car home with the 007 car, having also been the quickest of the petrol cars during qualifying on Thursday night. Anthony qualified the 008 car in ninth place for the start of the 77th Le Mans 24 Hores, despite never having driven the car in qualifying trim before. This was also in spite of extremely limited dry running before qualifying, as the six-hour long free practice session on Wednesday was hit by heavy rain.

Anthony enjoyed a strong first stint in the car, a triple stint which started around 7pm.  Driving at sunset and into the dark, Anthony managed to run as high as P3 and a lap ahead of the sister 007 Aston Martin, which went on to finish 4th.  After his first driver change Anthony was out of the car when the 008 car lost time at around 10pm following a collision with a GT1 car at Tertre Rouge. The effect of this was to damage the suspension and floor, which necessitated several visits to the pits to repair. Furthermore, the crew was handed a five-minute stop-and-go penalty in relation to the incident, which was taken in the early hours of Sunday morning. Afterwards, 008 was amongst the quickest petrol-powered cars in the race, but it subsequently lost time with several mechanical problems relating to the gearbox and brakes. It was eventually classified 13th, having followed the 007 car across the line on Sunday in a spectacular formation finish. The 008 crew completed 342 laps, with all the drivers delighted to get to the finish of this epic race.

Says Anthony:

“It’s been an absolutely great experience… I’ve been really impressed with the performance we’ve shown here and I hope we’ve surprised a few people with our speed. It’s been fantastic to be part of the Aston Martin team and I think between us all we’ve put on a great show. We ran as high as third overall and I think had we experienced no problems, then we could have challenged for the podium.”