The Aston Martin drivers had their final chance to test the DBR9 last weekend, at the Le Mans official test day, before the action starts for real next week.
For many of them, it was the first opportunity to drive the DBR9 on the classic Le Mans circuit. Factory drivers Johnny Herbert and Rickard Rydell were amongst those who had never sampled the DBR9 at La Sarthe before, although they both have plenty of experience of the 24 Hours.
“I last competed at Le Mans in 2004 – when I was second for the third consecutive time,” said Herbert. “Finishing second is a habit that I’m definitely planning to break this year. Even though my last time at Le Mans was three years ago the track hasn’t changed much and I remember it very well. I liked the DBR9 a lot and I’m sure we can be competitive.”
Rydell’s last outing at Le Mans was also in 2004, when he drove a GT1 Ferrari run by Prodrive. “I’ve not driven any sort of GT car since then, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” said the Swede. But as time goes on I’m feeling more and more confident with the car and the team, so I’m sure I’ll be on the pace. For me, the test day was really important as it gave me more time in the car.”
For the rest of the team, the purpose of the test day was to get re-acquainted with the unique demands of the Le Mans circuit, and to test some of the new developments that have made their way onto the DBR9 since last year. Team Principal George Howard-Chappell commented: “There’s nothing revolutionary on the DBR9 in terms of development, but a few little things in terms of engine and aerodynamics. Then of course we are running the air-conditioning system for the first time, so it was important to see how that worked under race conditions as well. Obviously it was the first time here at Le Mans with all this, so it was a very important day.”
The other crucial focus of the test was to run through the tyre range available to the team at Le Mans. The race demands some radically different tyre compounds, as temperatures at night are so much lower than those in the middle of the day. Despite some uncertain weather the day before, the test day was exceptionally warm with temperatures in excess of 25 degrees centigrade.
“That was good, as these are the sort of conditions we would expect to encounter in the race,” said Tomas Enge, part of Aston Martin’s 007 crew. “Normally, the test day is a little cooler than the race, but that is unlikely to be the case this year and I think we had a good run that will be typical of the conditions.”
The warm weather also allowed the Aston Martin Racing engineers to test the efficiency of the new air conditioning system. “We learnt a lot more about it, and understood some of the effects,” added Howard-Chappell. “For the test day, we had a set programme to work through and luckily we managed to achieve everything that we had planned. I’d say that we’ve got a very competitive package. The best thing is that the car seems to be very well-balanced, which is of vital importance at Le Mans.”
At the end of a full day’s testing, watched by more than 20,000 people, Tomas Enge emerged with the second-fastest time in GT1 – just over a second behind the leading Corvette. With so many different set-ups, fuel loads and tyres being tried out, it was hard to draw any conclusions other than the fact that it is set to be a very close race. David Richards, the Chairman of Aston Martin, commented: “There’s some brilliant competition here: the scene is set for an absolutely classic Le Mans.”
All the drivers declared themselves very happy with the DBR9, although Darren Turner was unable to come to the test day as he was on touring car duty in Croft. Normally the test day is compulsory, but because Turner has already established his credentials at Le Mans, he was eligible for an exception. The Englishman ended up winning one of his races – which he is hoping will be a good omen for the Le Mans weekend...