Once More Unto the Breach: Aston vs Chevy

Last year, they finally did it. The Prodrive Aston Martin squad defeated the works Chevrolet Corvette team to take GT1 honours in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Both return this time around, and Prodrive believes it can repeat the success to make it two-all in the fight with its American rivals.

Aston Martin, for which Prodrive runs the factory team, came close to winning GT1 with the DBR9 in both 2005 and 2006, only to lose out to Chevrolet in the closing stages.

That created a lot of pressure heading into last year's bout, but a near-perfect run for the David Brabham/Darren Turner/Rickard Rydell Aston brought victory by a lap from the leading Corvette, and fifth overall.

This season Brabham and Turner return to share the 009 car with the highly-rated Team Modena regular Antonio Garcia, while the 007 machine will be handled by FIA GT Aston ace Karl Wendlinger, Andrea Piccini and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the latter making his first start in the French classic since the end of his Formula 1 career.

Not only will these drivers be defending Aston's title, they'll be representing one of the iconic companies in Le Mans history. Both cars will run in the Gulf Oils livery, as worn by the overall winners in 1968, '69 and '75, as well as the GT1-winning McLaren in '97.

Ranged against the Astons will be the experienced Corvette line-ups of Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Ron Fellows and Oliver Gavin/Oliver Beretta/Max Papis. Looking at the driver strength, neither squad has an advantage: all are top-notch.

Corvette C6.R © LAT

Brabham nevertheless believes the experience of reaching that elusive goal last year places Prodrive in a better position this time.

"I feel so different about Le Mans this year than I have for any other," he says.

"It's totally different. Before, we were there trying to win it. When you've won it, you go back knowing you can do it."

Turner agrees: "Last year there was a huge amount of pressure. Aston had been close before and then lost out in the last couple of hours. This year I'm more relaxed."

The Corvette Racing team are, of course, no strangers to winning either. Not only are they previous winners at La Sarthe, they are also keeping their hand in by competing - very successfully - in the American Le Mans Series. With no championship programme of its own, Prodrive will be going in cold.

It's a situation Turner acknowledges could help the Corvettes, but he believes Prodrive can still match the Americans.

"In an ideal situation we'd be out racing in a full season," he says. "It keeps everyone up to speed - we can't afford to be rusty so it adds extra pressure."

But Brabham also points out that Prodrive succeeded in 2007 despite the lack of race-running prior to the event. "Last year was a similar deal," he says. "They're all experienced guys and know how to do it."

In previous years, the DBR9 has had a small but significant pace advantage over the Corvette C6.R. With so little dry running in the pre-race test, thanks to poor weather, the picture this year is unclear, but the strengths of the relative machines are likely to keep them close again.

Prodrive sportscar boss George Howard-Chappell thinks that neither side really knows where they stand, and they will only find out on race day.

"It's important to remember that we've not raced against the Corvette for a year, and in motorsport it's rare for things to stay the same over the course of a year," he says.

"We've got some developments on our car, and obviously they've got some on theirs. Just how that will pan out relative to each other is something we'll only see during race week."

Nevertheless, Turner believes the fast, flowing nature of Le Mans should play to the DBR9's strengths.

"I do think the Aston has the upper hand on overall lap time," he reckons. "Our strength is we're very good on the Mulsanne and the Porsche Curves. We're not as good in the chicanes and the first and second gear corners.

Gulf Aston Martin DBR9 © ACO

"The Aston has good aero whereas the Corvette is a more mechanical-grip car."

Brabham is more cautious. He says that any improvements achieved by Prodrive in the last 12 months have almost certainly been matched by Chevrolet.

"One of the strengths of the Corvette is braking," he says. "It's the straight-line speed that lets it down, but they have an improved engine now, which will put them right where we don't want them."

It all adds up to a tantalising prospect. And, as Turner points out, it may come down to whichever of the leading contenders has a perfect run.

"Last year we made no mistakes and had no problems, and we still only won by less than a lap," he says.

There should be a decent intra-team fight at Prodrive too. Brabham and Turner are the established drivers, and Garcia has proved quick in Modena's DBR9 in the Le Mans Series. Wendlinger and Piccini may be new to the team, but both have been fast in FIA GT, while Frentzen has impressed in his brief tests.

"Garcia and Wendlinger are guys running Astons week in, week out, so they're the benchmark," admits Turner. "Garcia is blindingly fast. And Heinz jumped in and was competitive in less than 10 laps.

"We'll have our hands full trying to beat the other car, which is good. It's a relaxed, friendly environment to be in, but very competitive."

Having two evenly matched line-ups can be crucial at Le Mans, as Chevrolet demonstrated last year when it continued to take the fight to Aston with the Magnussen/Fellows/O'Connell machine despite losing the other car relatively early on.

Frentzen is the unknown quantity at Prodrive in terms of GT driving, but Chappell is sure he can deliver.

"Unfortunately, none of the drivers got a lot of running during the test day, including Heinz-Harald, but we're confident we can rectify that situation during race week," he says.

"Heinz-Harald's reputation speaks for itself: he's a true professional. I'm confident that we've got another very strong driver line-up this year."

Should both hit trouble, each works team is backed up by two privateer cars. Luc Alphand Aventures will run two C6.Rs, while Modena and the Vitaphone Racing Team will run solo Aston entries.

Charouz Lola-Aston Martin © LAT

Like the single Lamborghini and Saleen entries, none are likely to have the pace to challenge the Big Two, but they'll be there to pick up the pieces if the works teams falter.

So, if Aston Martin does win, how about a full prototype effort next year? Prodrive is already supporting the Lola-Aston run by Charouz Racing in LMP1 this season, and 2009 will mark the 50th anniversary of the marque's only outright Le Mans win, with the DBR1.

Chappell is cagey. "Obviously the LMP1 category is of interest to Aston Martin. But confirmation of any sort of programme for 2009 is still a long way off," he says.

Turner, too, is keen to keep the focus on GT1, at least for now: "If an opportunity to be involved in LMP1 came up I'd love to be involved, but let's concentrate on this season first."

Whether it's the final Aston versus Corvette fight or not, the battle for GT1 honours should be one of the closest of the 2008 Le Mans.