“Racing is Aston’s DNA”

It is at his London home that David Richards welcomes us on this beautiful spring day. Located in the heart of the elegant Kensington district, the opulent home of the co-owner of?Aston Martin and the founder of Prodrive is a haven of peace, far from the hustle and bustle of the city and business. While at the Banbury factory, the team is working hard to complete the preparation of the three LM P1s which will have the mission of celebrating, as it should be, the 50th anniversary of the victory of? Aston Martin at Le Mans, the lively David juggles his appointments. This afternoon, he is having lunch with Bernie Ecclestone to assess the situation in F1, now that he has officially filed a file to launch Prodrive into the ?circus?. A decision which also concerns the Newport Pagnell firm, whose objective is above all to establish itself again in Sarthe. Not this year, given the balance of power between diesel and gasoline cars, but in the medium term if the regulations evolve?

We are a week away from Le Mans, is the team ready?
A racing team is never completely ready, there is always something to do. This concerns us all the more as this program was decided quite late: we launched it exactly six months before the event. The fact that we are fielding three cars instead of the two originally planned and that we have suffered two big accidents has had a significant impact on the work of the last few weeks. Hence quite a lot of pressure on the team at the moment.

However, are you satisfied with the tests carried out to prepare for the test?
Yes, they went well. We experienced a few small electronic issues which have now been resolved but, apart from that, the car handles very well. We have a new engine that is still running on the bench. It is not equipped with all the technological developments that we would have liked, but it should allow us to make savings in terms of fuel; which is very important at Le Mans. As for overall reliability, it is at the level we hoped for.

Find the full interview in AUTOhebdo n° 1703, on newsstands June 3, 2009