Aston Martin Racing: Working hard for Sebring debut

After a quiet winter, news is starting to filter through in relation to Aston Martin Racing's 2011 LMP1 challenger. Speaking at Autosport International Aston Martin Racing chief David Richards gave some insight into how the program is progressing.

"As we sit here today, by this afternoon the new engine for the car will run for the very first time on the dynos down at Prodrive, We have started with a clean sheet of paper and designed a brand new race engine specifically with the purpose of winning Le Mans.

"The first chassis was delivered from our composites operation to the race team about a week ago, and they've started building it. The bodywork is not yet finished.

"It's a bit of a race against time to be quite honest with you. The target date was to run the car in the first week of February, then ship it out to America to continue testing at Sebring, then stay in America for further development work and race at Sebring in March. We can only manage one car for that [racing at Sebring].

"It's a very demanding track and if you can manage 12 hours around Sebring on a bumpy airfield circuit made out of concrete, you can normally last 24 hours at Le Mans."

Also some confirmation was given as to where the new car will be expect to race.

"Prior to Le Mans you'll see us at Spa which in May, the Test day in April which back to its Original format of a full test weekend before Le Mans but that's the build up to Le Mans. After Le Mans we'll have more cars in circulation, we'll have more mileage under our belts and we'll be doing a few more races in the States and in the Le Mans Series as well,"

AMR's decision to go ahead on with the new LMP1 car hinged on the ACO promising to balance the performance of the different technologies expect to race at this years Le Mans

"They've made the commitment now in the regulations to balance the performance of the petrol and the diesel engines," he said. "There was always the intent there before but it was never in black and white, and now it's article 19, I think, in their regulations and they are very committed to ensuring that takes place."