Good start to the season for Aston Martin

For two laps, Stefan Mücke even held the lead. But the beautiful coupe in blue and orange colors subsequently took its usual place, first in the chasing group made up of cars with gasoline engines. However the Lola-Aston Martin also driven by Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez knew how to take full advantage of the troubles of the Peugeot 908 from the Oreca Matmut team.

The fastest car behind the untouchable diesels, the beautiful Englishwoman had a race without any major problems, apart from two punctures at the start and end of the event. The crew making a perfect copy for their page, without any false notes.

“It was an exciting race, declares Harold Primat. We knew we had progressed but we also knew the diesel cars would be hard to beat. We therefore had to base our strategy on consistency, reliability and of course performance. This result is that of George Howard-Chappell and the whole team who provided Adrian, Stefan and myself with these three important parameters, and allowed us to get on the podium. I am very happy with this second place, we were the best petrol car in the field. On a personal level, I am happy with my lap times which were competitive and allowed me to open up a gap with the car which was 3rd. »

Even if in appearance, the Lola powered by a V12 from the Gaydon brand has barely, if at all, evolved during the off-season, the performance seems to be there at the start of the year, but David Richards and his men still have a busy schedule between now and the 24 Hours, in order to be even better prepared in Sarthe.

“Last month at Sebring we finished third behind the winning car at Le Mans and yesterday second behind another team that won Le Mans, continues the Swiss pilot. So far we are in the right direction and we will continue to work to prepare for Le Mans as best as possible. The next race at Long Beach this weekend (in ALMS, editor's note) will allow us to continue our development program. I can't wait to see Adrian and the team there again. »

Find the full report of the 8 Hours of Le Castellet, first round of the 2010 Le Mans Series, in your AUTOhebdo magazine, on newsstands from Wednesday.