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Aston Martin: Punching above its weight

After a race against time over the winter, Aston Martin Racing's stunning new LMP1 contender is ready to take on the might of the diesels. The team bosses told Gary Watkins the story so far.

"You only get one chance to celebrate a 50th anniversary."

Aston Martin chairman David Richards' words explain why the historic British sportscar manufacturer will be on the grid for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June with up to three Gulf-liveried LMP1 coupes. The spectre of missing the half century of Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby's 1959 Le Mans victory motivated Richards and his team to work all the angles to put together Aston's strongest bid for outright honours at La Sarthe in decades.

Behind the glorious powder-blue-and-orange colour scheme and some sexy bodywork styled in conjunction with Aston design chief Marek Reichman, not to mention a liberal helping of Richards' PR schmooze, this Aston Martin Racing programme run out of Prodrive headquarters in Banbury is a relatively modest one, at least in comparison with the big-buck factory efforts from Audi and Peugeot. But then that's the way it should be, claims Richards.

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