Equality key to Aston LMP1 decision

The ACO, the organising body of the Le Mans 24 Hours, indicated yesterday that it wants petrol-powered cars to be able to compete for overall victory at La Sarthe, and Howard-Chappell stressed that this would be crucial if Aston Martin was to greenlight the project.

"It would certainly be taken into account," he told autosport.com. "Clearly if we are going to do a programme, and that is a very big question mark, then for sure one of the questions would be, can we be competitive?

"For Aston Martin, a diesel is not interesting at the moment, and if you can't be competitive with a petrol we wouldn't do it. So it's very important in considering if we should do it."

Howard-Chappell stressed however that this was not the only factor in making a decision to run an LMP1 programme and indicated that a decision on the project was still some way off.

"Just to make it clear, we are a long way from making any decision on a programme or not," he said. "There are many, many key factors. But it is a significant thing."

"I think Prodrive and Aston Martin Racing have always punched above their weight, we are on significantly less budget than our rivals [in GT1] at GM and Pratt & Miller but we have always has a really good fight with those guys.

"We are used to that and, if it is possible to do well with less budget, we are up for a go."

Prodrive currently assists Charouz Racing Systems with the running of their closed prototype Lola Aston Martin which has punched above its weight all season in the 2008 Le Mans Series.

The car will start a surprise sixth on the grid for Saturday's Le Mans 24 Hours race after outqualifying the No.1 works Audi.