Aston Martin racing takes sensational pole position at Le Mans

Aston Martin Racing dominated the final GT1 qualifying session for the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours. Its two DBR9s stormed to the top of the timesheets, taking first and second places, with Czech driver Tomas Enge taking a record fifth consecutive pole position at the La Sarthe circuit.

Thankfully, the heavy rainfall that marred yesterday’s sessions abated today and both qualifying sessions were run in ideal conditions. Lap times improved as more rubber was laid down and Enge set his fastest lap with just 15 minutes of the second two-hour session remaining.

George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal, Aston Martin Racing commented: “We’re very pleased with that. Everything went to plan; we ran through our race preparations and double-stinted the tyres, which worked well for us. Then, right at the end we did a few laps on low fuel and new tyres to set a time.

“The only issue we had was a minor brake issue on car 007 at the end of session one. It was caused by a bit of debris and was easily rectified. We must now focus on the race and work methodically through our usual preparations. But so far so good.”