24 hours of Le Mans
Sunday June 14th has been a big day for Czech motorsport. In 77th edition of Le Mans 24 Hours, Aston Martin Racing Eastern Europe team and its drivers Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mücke exceeded all expectations by finishing an excellent fourth overall in this year’s race, having been quickest of the petrol runners from start to finish. As expected, the diesel-powered cars enjoyed a margin of superiority, but Aston Martin Racing fulfilled its mission of being the first petrol car home, having also been the quickest of the petrol cars during qualifying on Thursday night.
Aston Martin Racing Eastern Europe team was invited to the 77th edition of Le Mans 24 Hours according to the successful performance of Czech Charouz Racing System team in two previous editions. AMR Eastern Europe team ran one of three manufacturer LMP1 prototypes of Aston Martin Racing. Despite the Aston Martin LMP1 car being new for this year, with the Le Mans programme only confirmed six months ago, the fourth-placed 007 car – crewed by Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomas Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mücke (DE) – exhibited perfect mechanical reliability, with only a puncture and a minor issue with the headlights getting in the way of its serene progress to the chequered flag.
Race results - 24h of Le Mans, FRA, 13-14/06/2009
| Pos. | Crew | Car | Laps |
|
1. |
Brabham/Wurz/Gene | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 382 |
|
2. |
Montagny/Sarrazin/Bourdais | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 381 |
|
3. |
Capello/Kristensen/McNish | Audi R15 TDI | 376 |
|
4. |
Enge/Charouz/Mücke | Lola-Aston Martin | 373 |
|
5. |
Panis/Lapierre/Ayari | Oreca AIM | 370 |
|
6. |
Minassian/Klien/Lamy | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 369 |
|
7. |
Lotterer/Zwolsman/Karthikeyan | Audi R10 TDI | 369 |
|
8. |
Tinseau/Barbosa/Jouanny | Pescarolo Judd | 368 |
|
9. |
Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini | Audi R10 TDI | 360 |
|
10. |
Elgaard/Poulsen/Collard | Porsche RS Spyder | 357 |
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Qualifying results - 24h of Le Mans, FRA, 11/06/2009
| Pos. | Crew | Car | Time | |
|
1. |
Montagny/Sarrazin/Bourdais | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 3:22.888 min | |
|
2. |
Capello/Kristensen/McNish | Audi R15 TDI | 3:23.650 min | |
|
3. |
Minassian/Klien/Lamy | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 3:24.860 min | |
|
4. |
Treluyer/Pagenaud/Boullion | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 3:25.062 min | |
|
5. |
Brabham/Wurz/Gene | Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP | 3:25.252 min | |
|
6. |
Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner | Audi R15 TDI | 3:25.780 min | |
|
7. |
Premat/Dumas/Bernhard | Audi R15 TDI | 3:27.106 min | |
|
8. |
Enge/Charouz/Mücke | Lola-Aston Martin | 3:27.180 min | |
|
9. |
Davidson/Turner/Verstappen | Lola-Aston Martin | 3:27.704 min | |
|
10. |
Belicchi/Jani/Prost | Lola-Aston Martin | 3:28.134 min |
Overall results 24h of Le Mans 2009
| 10/06 | Free practice |
| 11/06 | Qualifying session |
| 13/06 | Warm-Up |
| 13-14/06 | 24h Le Mans race |
Complete start list in pdf format (Acrobat Reader) you can see HERE.