Aston Martin heads back to Le Mans

Aston Martin is gearing up for a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours, the scene of its greatest racing triumph, with a factory-backed team in 2005.

The British sportscar marque has set up a new competition division, Aston Martin Racing, in league with motorsport specialists Prodrive.

Together they will build and develop a racing version of the all-new DB9 road car by the end of 2004. It will challenge for class honours in the GTS division — putting it up against cars such as the Ferrari 575 GTC and Lamborghini Murcielago.

Aston CEO Dr Ulrich Bez said: “We cannot be exclusive without being visible, and motorsport is a way to heighten our profile.”

The primary aim will be to sell the car to customer teams, but initially Aston Martin Racing expects to campaign works-backed cars, and is targeting an attack on Le Mans in 2005. Prodrive boss David Richards described this as “the logical scenario”.

Aston won Le Mans overall with its DBR1 in 1959, the same year it won the world sportscar championship. It last supported a motor racing programme with the AMR1 Group C project in 1989.