Now sponsored by Gulf Oil, one of Aston Martin Racing's 2008 DBR9
Aston Martin Racing is an auto racing team established in 2004 as a partnership between automobile manufacturer Aston Martin and engineering group Prodrive. The partnership was initially created for the purpose of returning Aston Martin to sports car racing with the DBR9, a heavily modified variant of the Aston Martin DB9. Since the DBR9's racing debut in 2005, Aston Martin Racing has expanded to build a variety of cars available to customers, as well as development of Aston Martin's V12 engine for Le Mans Prototype use. Aston Martin Racing's program has earned several successes over the years.
Although all cars are built by Prodrive at their factory, Aston Martin plays an integral part in designing the race cars, as well as integrating elements of the race cars back into Aston Martin's road cars.
Cars
Aston Martin Racing currently builds cars for four international grand tourer classes. The team itself runs a squad of DBR9s in the top class, GT1, while other cars are offered to customers. The GT2 class offering is the team's most recent, based on the V8 Vantage. The V8 Vantage also features a GT4 class race car known as the N24. The final offering is another DB9-based race car, known as the DBRS9, fitting into the GT3 category.
In 2008, Aston Martin Racing began their entry into the Le Mans Prototype category with the aid of Charouz Racing System, installing a DBR9 V12 into a Lola B08/60 LMP1 prototype.
Team successes
Since the team's debut at the 2005 12 Hours of Sebring, Aston Martin Racing has earned several important victories in their career. Their very first race actually earned them their first victory, defeating the Corvette Racing squad at Sebring. The RAC Tourist Trophy was also won later that year.
For 2006, Aston Martin Racing entered the full American Le Mans Series season, earning five victories including the Petit Le Mans, and finishing second in the GT1 championship, three points shy of Corvette Racing. In 2007, Aston Martin earned their first victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since the company's overall win in 1959 by overcoming the Corvette squad. This feat was repeated once more in 2008.
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