Aston Martin completed a dominant one-two at their latest outing in the American Le Mans Series at Salt Lake last weekend (22 July). The 007 DBR9 took the chequered flag with Tomas Enge at the wheel, having taken over from co-driver Darren Turner after 29 laps. Such was the lead at that point that after the pit-stop the 007 car came out having retained first position.

The cars ran without any major issues in ambient temperatures of 103 degrees Fahrenheit and track temperatures of 128 degrees.

In the 009 DBR9, Stephane Sarrazin struggled during the first hour of the race, losing second place on lap 17 to the No 4 Corvette before pitting on lap 20, Andrea Piccini taking to the wheel. Piccini drove an excellent stint and, on fresh Pirelli tyres, pressured the No 4 Corvette into a mistake, regaining second place.

Sarrazin took over for the final 45 minutes and recorded the fastest lap in the race with a time of 2:36.650.



George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal, Aston Martin Racing: “Fantastic result. A special mention should go to Richard Luxton who managed to change the alternator belt on the 007 race-winning car in record time during a safety car period near the end of the race. Again, a superb effort from the whole team. The drivers were very consistent which is what we needed to get the life out of the tyres and a big thank you to Pirelli, they gave us an excellent compound for this new circuit. Great job all round.”

CAR 007: 1st GT1 (7th overall) Best lap 2:37.447s

Tomas Enge (Czech Republic): “Tremendous job at the start by Darren, he did a great job and gave us a huge advantage. We had a brilliant car today and a brilliant set up. Brilliant tyres as well this weekend, they were working right from the beginning to the end. We were lucky as well at the end with the alternator belt, the guys again did a very change and we didn’t loose too much time and still managed to rejoin in the lead. I’m very happy for Aston Martin Racing and Pirelli – oh and of course for Darren and me! I hope that we can continue this winning streak at Portland next weekend.”

Darren Turner (UK): “After Lime Rock where we were strong but the strategy didn’t really work for us I was disappointed that we lost the opportunity to win. Here we had a great strategy from the word go and we got a big lead at the start, I pushed like crazy all the way through the stint and the Pirelli tyres were completely consistent. The only real drama was with the alternator at the end but Luxton did an amazing job. To turn the car around that quickly and get us back out without loosing a lap was fantastic.”

Story: Classic Driver
Photos: Aston Martin Racing