Q & A with David Richards

In the meantime, Richards and Prodrive are fully concentrated on the Aston Martin Le Mans programme, as Richards explained to AUTOSPORT.

Q. What are you feelings over not having your entry accepted?

David Richards: Obviously disappointed. We put a lot of effort into our proposal and I think we would have made a very, very strong contribution to it.

It's not over yet, but there are a lot of machinations going on. It's probably more appropriate that I say less rather than more at the moment.

Q. How, if there are 13 franchises already accepted, can there be negotiations with four other teams?

DR: You have got basically five teams in there provisionally and three teams who claim they are not in there. Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso claim their entry is conditional and the FIA claim it's not. And you have got a further five teams who are saying they have got a conditional entry and the FIA is saying to them unless you lift those conditions your name will be removed.

Q. Could you go to America with the Aston?

DR: We would very much like to go to America later this year. We have got some great memories of racing the GT car out there and to go out to Petit Le Mans and maybe Laguna Seca would be ideal for us. But it is better to wait until after Le Mans to see the full consequences of Le Mans in terms of economics and the costs of racing in America later in the year.

Q. Potentially racing in America offers you the potential of an outright victory?

DR: We would very much like to go, it's a very important market for Aston Martin, and consequently we feel it's something we should be doing. But we have to be practical about the resources and the financing of a campaign in America. We wouldn't want to do it in anything other than a competitive way.

Q. Which drivers would you take?

DR: It will be from the squad we have here.

Q. How do you feel about the drivers you've brought here?

DR: We have a great line-up. The thing that is always a joy to me about Le Mans, is the wonderful camaraderie that the Aston Martin Racing team creates around itself. I have worked in all sorts of motorsport in the past in different environments and this is right at the top level in terms of the attitude of everybody and I'm sure my wife will vouch for it. It is one of the most enjoyable events of the year purely because all the drivers are fun to work with, the team has a wonderful attitude and even our competitors are really great sportsman and fun to be with.

Q. Is this one of your proudest moments - bringing a fleet of your own cars to the top class at Le Mans?

DR: I wouldn't describe it as one of my proudest moments but it is certainly a great achievement of the entire team here. George has worked tirelessly to set up Aston Martin Racing a few years ago. For him it's a great sense of achievement to get to where we are with three cars here and to see all the fans here.

My view of a successful Le Mans is to be on the starting grid, with the three prettiest cars that sound the best, with the greatest support from all the fans and to be as close to the front of the grid as possible. We'll have ticked all those boxes by 3.00 tomorrow afternoon. Whatever happens after that is in the lap of the gods.

Q. Given the current economic environment, how do you see the development of Aston Martin and Prodrive in the next 12 months?

DR: Aston Martin is still profitable as a car company and our motorsport enterprise is profitable as well, so although these are difficult and challenging times we've just got to be very prudent about what we do and not stretch ourselves too thinly.

Q. The car industry seems to be undergoing a process of consolidation so there must be almost as many opportunities as there are challenges.

DR: That's always the way we look at it. Change provides opportunity as much as it does a threat. So I always take my people aside when they're nervous about the changing circumstances and point out that actually this opens up big opportunities for them.

Q. What is the future for your LMP programme? How happy are you with its progress?

DR: This is an important year for us because it's the 50th anniversary of Aston Martin's Le Mans win. We could justify our participation here despite the fact that the diesel-powered cars clearly have a performance advantage. Now, we could do that for one year but I don't think you can sustain a motorsport programme having one leg tied behind your back for a second year. So, we will have to be convinced that the performance disparity between petrols and diesels is going to be rectified before we consider our future in LMP1.

Q. Presumably diesel power isn't part of Aston Martin's brand plans.

DR: No. We will not be running a diesel Aston Martin, that's one thing I can tell you. I'm still very disappointed that the commitment that was made to us about creating parity between the petrol and diesel cars has not come to fruition.