At Le Mans this year, Aston Martin Racing Customers will have the unique opportunity to race at the Le Mans circuit as part of the world’s most famous Sportscar racing event, the 24 hours of
Le Mans.

Three DBR9s will be present in GT1, with Roald Goethe driving his 2008 Gulf liveried machine, he’ll be joined by Young Driver AMR and Deboeuf Racing who will enter an ex Jet Alliance DBR9.

GT2 has a more modern feel to it with Jota and Gulf Racing entering their 2011 Le Mans 24 hours cars, with Villois Racing adding their Vantage, which finished on the GT Open podium at Portimao earlier this year.

GT3 features two new Aston Martin V12 Vantages from Villois Racing and Beechdean; Aston Martin MD, John Gaw will partner Andrew Howard in the Beechdean entered car. They’ll be joined by four DBRS9 from Craft Eurasia Racing, Barwell Motorsport, Vantage Racing and 22GT Racing.

GT4 makes up the majority of the field with a number of Aston Martin GT4 Challenge regulars taking the opportunity to race at the iconic circuit - Stratton Motorsport will enter no fewer than five GT4 Vantages. Generation AMR make a welcome return with James Appleby joined by 2011 Britcar 24hours class winner, Rob Nimkoff.

Also worthy of note is Blue Barn Racing’s Gareth Williams, who will be racing in order to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, visit his Just Giving page for more information. Link

Finally as an invitational entry, the V12 Zagato, ‘Bluebell’ for m this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours will be crewed by Dr Ulrich Bez and Chris Porritt

Practice and qualifying will take place on Wednesday and Thursday with the race taking place on Saturday before the start of the Le Mans 24hours.

Provisional Entry

GT1
DBR9 Gulf Racing / Rofgo Collection - Roald Goethe
DBR9 Young Driver AMR - Jan Struve, Jac Nellemann
DBR9 Deboeuf Racing - Thomas Gruber, Marco Seefried

GT2
Vantage  Jota - Paul White
Vantage  Gulf Racing / Rofgo Collection - Archie Hamilton
Vantage  Villois Racing - Luca Filippi, Brian Lavio

GT3
V12 Vantage Beechdean - Andrew Howard, John Gaw
V12 Vantage Craft Eurasia Racing - Frank Yu, Tomonobu Fujii
DBRS9 Villois - Marco Petrini, Alessandro Cicognani
DBRS9 Barwell Motorsport - Paul Whight, Mark Lemmer
DBRS9 Vantage Racing - Tom Black
DBRS9 22GT Racing - Tom Alexander, Adrian Willmott

GT4
V8 Vantage Aston Martin Racing - David Richards
V8 Vantage Mardi Gras Motorsport - Julian Reddyhough, Desmond Smail
V8 Vantage MB Racing - Mike Brown, Paul Cripps
V8 Vantage MCD Developments/Fieldfare Trailer - Steven Byrne, Jerry Bailey
V8 Vantage Blue Barn Racing - Gareth Williams, Martin McGlone
V8 Vantage Generation AMR - James Appleby, Rob Nimkoff
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / Immun’age Osato - Pierre Mantello, Olivier Bouche
V8 Vantage Aston Martin Belgium - Arnold Herreman, Jean-Paul Herreman
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport - Paul Bartley, Stuart Patterson
V8 Vantage Schrader Racing / Barwell Motorsport - Fred Schrader, Kevin Buckler
V8 Vantage Ultimate Speed Ltd - Richard Taffinder, Tim Eakin
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / Greenberg/Kramer - Kenneth Greenberg
V8 Vantage Jota - David Clark
V8 Vantage Jota - Rowan Atkinson
V8 Vantage GPR Racing - TBC
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / 88 Racing - Sid Sadique, Mark Walker
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport - Chris Kemp, Stuart Hall

Inv
V12 Zagato Aston Martin Lagonda - Dr Ulrich Bez, Chris Porritt

After 14 hours of racing the Aston Martin Vantage of Nicholas Mee Racing continue to lead their class and remain in contention for an overall podium. A faultless performance by #49 Vantage throughout the night and early morning saw the class3 car steadily move up the overall order.

Vantage Racing continue to battle on, problems caused the team to fall down the timing sheets early on with some 30 laps as a result of an ABS failure and subsequent trip into the gravel. A strong recovery drive brought the team up to 22nd overall only for a power steering failure to see them fall back down the timing screens .

The MB Racing Vantage suffered an ABS and gearbox failure and went off at Copse after running as high as 18th overall and 7th in class. The car was recovered to the pits and rejoined the race but with significant damage.

Results After 14hours
Nicholas Mee Racing 1st in Class / 4th Overall
Vantage Racing 10th in Class / 23rd Overall
MB Racing 12th in Class /29th Overall

Nicholas Mee Racing lead their class at the three hour mark, the 2011 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge champions have made an start to this year’s 24 hour race running as high as 7th overall.

Their fellow GT4 Challenge competitors Vantage Racing have suffered mixed fortunes during the first few hours of the race. Contact on Lap 2 forced the team to make an unscheduled pit stop early in the race, subsequently dropping them well down the order. A safety car to recover a stranded car allowed the team make up some of the lost ground. Alan Bonner set about making up the remainder of the deficit hauling the #50 Car to 4th in class by the end of the first hour. Disaster stuck the team again when an ABS failure on Tom Blacks outlap pitched him into the gravel with some 30 laps lost as a result.


MB Racing's 24 hour campaign also got off to a unfortunate start. Gear selection problems left them stranded on the grid with the car being pushed into pitlane during the formation lap. 7 laps were lost as the team battled to get their car back into the race. A solid performance by the team see them now residing 11th in Class and 30th overall.

Three Hour Results
Nicholas Mee Racing 1st in Class / 7th Overall
MB Racing 11th in Class /31st Overall
Vantage Racing 20th in Class /53rd Overall

You can find live timing and video of this year’s event Here