Aston Martin's racing future safe

The sale of the car company to a consortium led by Richards was announced on Monday, and he said that the manufacturer will remain involved in racing under its new owners.

Richards has been involved with the manufacturer throughout its current sportscar projects, which are overseen by his Prodrive operation.

"We're not going to be running away from sportscar racing with me as chairman of the business," Richards told autosport.com.

"The company has supported us right from the build-up to our involvement in GT racing, so you'll continue to see us at Le Mans this year with further enthusiasm from our investors."

Although the team will not continue their full-time involvement in the American Le Mans Series this year, Richards added that there are no plans to reduce the programme for the works Aston Martin Racing team any further.

"There are no plans for a full-time programme at the moment, but we certainly will review the racing programme later this year, and that is one of the key things we will be looking at," he said.

Mustafa Al Saleh, CEO and managing director of Adeem Investment and one of the members of the consortium, stressed the importance of motorsport to the company.

"Motorsport is important to Aston Martin," he said. "The motorsport involvement appealed to us before we invested, along with the famous brand, the British heritage, and the engineering of the company."