Lola-Aston Martin LMP1

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The Lola-Aston Martin at the presentation in Goodwood

The Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 is a Le Mans prototype developed by Prodrive and used since 2009 . It is based on the Lola B08 / 60 . The chassis themselves were manufactured by Lola as Lola B09 / 60 . Aston Martin internally refers to this vehicle as the DBR1-2 , in memory of the 1959 Le Mans win with a DBR1 . The vehicle is officially referred to as the Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 by Aston Martin .

history

In December 2008, David Richards , owner of Prodrive and Aston Martin Racing, announced that they would use a works LMP1 in the Le Mans 24 Hours and Le Mans Series in 2009 .

For this purpose, B08 / 60 chassis bought from Lola have been heavily modified. In addition to completely new aerodynamics, the rear axle and the drive train have been completely redeveloped. Some other small parts have also been revised.

The V12 engine comes from the successful Aston Martin DBR9 of the GT1 class . This was first used in 2008 by Charouz Racing System in a Le Mans prototype (Lola B08 / 60). In 2009 they are also responsible for the LMP races under the name Aston Martin Racing.

Races

The first race was in April 2009, just four months after the announcement of the works program. With starting positions two and three, they secured a very good starting position for the 1000 km of Catalonia in Barcelona. With Jan Charouz , Stefan Mücke and Tomáš Enge you could also win a race on your debut. In the following race, the 1000 km from Spa , they were successful again with third and fifth places. In addition, three vehicles of the type were used from the 24-hour race at Le Mans . The driver trio Charouz, Mücke and Enge, who had previously been successful in the Le Mans Series, finished the race in 4th place overall. In the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , all LMP1 finished the race on the podium. At the end of the 2009 season , the Czech-German driver trio won the title of the drivers' championship. Aston Martin Racing also won the team championship. After the races in Europe, one of the vehicles with Stefan Mücke and Harold Primat took part in the two championship races of the Asian Le Mans Series . The car was only beaten by Henri Pescarolo 's Sora Racing team with an overall victory and another podium finish in the championship standings .

chassis

The Lola B08 / 60 from Charouz before the conversion

One of the four chassis was severely damaged in an accident by Jos Verstappen during tests in Monza at the end of May 2009 . Tomáš Enge had an accident during the Le Mans Series pre-tests in Le Castellet, in which he suffered minor injuries and damaged the vehicle so badly that a replacement chassis had to be ordered from Lola to be rebuilt.

AM No. Lola type Lola no. year team engine Racing series Remarks
DBR1-2 / 1 B09 / 60 HU02 2009 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin LMS & Le Mans
DBR1-2 / 2 B09 / 60 HU01 / HU01S 2009 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin LMS & Le Mans Test accident in Le Castellet, rebuilt with HU01S
DBR1-2 / 3 B09 / 60 2009 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin LMS
DBR1-2 / 4 B08 / 60 HU02 2009 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin LMS & Le Mans Lola chassis from last year converted to a DBR1-2

Individual evidence

  1. Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3934&Itemid=2

Web links

Commons : Lola-Aston Martin B09 / 60  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files