Aston Martin Racing has announced that Chris Buncombe will be retained as official factory driver for the 2010 season.
Aston Martin Racing’s LMP1 car will again run in the iconic Gulf colours and will compete in three races prior to the Le Mans 24 Hours. The races will provide the team with valuable on-track experience prior to Le Mans and include the first two rounds of the American Le Mans Series – the 12 hours of Sebring on 20 March and the Long Beach Grand Prix on 17 April and the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard in France on 11 April.
The team will also compete in selected blue riband races around the world post Le Mans, details of the remaining race programme will be subject to further announcements in the coming weeks. Chris joined Aston Martin Racing towards the end of the 2009 season. Competing in the final two Le Mans Series races in the 008 car the British driver helped the team to an all Aston Martin podium at the Nurburgring 1000kms.
2010 will be Chris’ first visit back to the Le Mans 24 Hours following winning the race in the LMP2 class on his debut in 2007.
“I’m extremely pleased to be staying with Aston Martin Racing for what promises to be an exciting and challenging season. There is no tougher
test for man and machine than Le Mans and as a Brit I am very honoured and proud to be representing Aston Martin. They are a great bunch of people to work with and I’m delighted to be able to continue this relationship.”
Since my last race of 2009, the 1000kms of Silverstone, I have been
working on my 2010 programme and have been focussing on my training programme in order to be fully prepared for this opportunity. I’ve had a couple of visits to Aston Martin Racing already this year and will be back during the week for a seat fit. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car during testing.” For further information, please contact: Sidhu & Simon Communications info@sidhuandsimon.com
In his first race for Aston Martin Racing, in the Gulf Oil liveried, 008, Aston-Lola LMP1, Chris Buncombe and his team mates, Stuart Hall (GB) and Miguel Ramos (PT) scored an impressive third place to secure an all Aston Martin podium.
Starting 10th on the grid Ramos finished eighth by the end of his first stint. Chris Buncombe then took the wheel working his way up to sixth position. At the pit stop Chris stayed in the car to do a double stint, getting into fifth position before handing over to Stuart Hall.
After three hours and 100 laps the Aston Cars were running first, second and fourth. Hall did another stint before handing over to Chris to finish the race in third place.
“This is a fantastic result. A podium finish was always the aim, but we didn’t know how achievable it would be. To be here driving for Aston Martin this weekend is a dream. I’ve learned a lot and I treated it as a learning weekend, so to achieve a podium is just fantastic. This was the first time I’d driven the car and now know what to expect.”
Aston Martin Racing is crowned the 2009 Le Mans Series champion claiming the Team and Driver titles 50 years on from Aston Martin winning the World Sportscar Championship in 1959 with the DBR1.
The 007 Gulf liveried LMP1 car of Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomáš Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mücke (DE) finished third in the final round of the Le Mans Series, the Autosport 1000km at Silverstone, recording their fifth podium finish from five races.
The 009 car of Harold Primat (CH) and Darren Turner (GB) finished fourth, narrowly missing the podium. The third Aston Martin Racing entry of Chris Buncombe (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Miguel Ramos (PT) finished 13th after suffering a technical problem early in the race.
The trio of Gulf liveried Aston Martins made a clean start to the 195 lap race which commenced with a rolling start at 11:35. Mücke took the lead across the start line in 007, Turner held third in 009 and Buncombe gained a place moving up to sixth in the 008 Aston Martin.
All three drivers settled in for a double stint behind the wheel of their respective Aston Martins. Mücke held first position until just under an hour into the race when he was overtaken and dropped back to second.
At the third round of pit stops Mücke handed the reigns of 007 to Charouz, Buncombe switched with Ramos in 008 and Primat took over from Turner in 009. The race was trouble free for the British team until just after 2pm when Ramos reported a problem in his 008 Aston Martin. A faulty air conditioning compressor was the cause and the Aston Martin Racing pit crew worked quickly, replacing the unit and enabling 008 to rejoin the race 20 minutes later with Hall at the wheel.
The race lead changed several times over the first half of the race with the top five cars all on different pit stop strategies, but at the three hour mark the Aston Martins were running second (007), fourth (009) and 24th (008) overall. Hall set about working his way back up the pack, gaining 12 places and handing the 008 Aston Martin to Ramos in 12th place after a double stint.
All three drivers had trouble free runs with 007 and 009 pitting briefly in the closing stages of the race requiring a splash of fuel each for the final laps before the trio of Aston Martins crossed the finish line.
The final race of the series was completed in 5hrs 30mins which is quicker than usual, this was partly due to the fact that there were no safety car periods in a largely incident free race.
Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell: “This is a perfect end to what has been an incredible season for Aston Martin Racing. Full credit to the team and drivers who have worked tirelessly. Thanks to the dedication of the team the cars have been reliable all year.”
“It was a great result for the team and despite the problem with our car being a British driver it was really good to race for a great British marque like Aston Martin here at Silverstone. It would have been great to have had a better result at my home race, however we were just unlucky with the technical problem and that’s just the way it is with motor racing sometimes!”
All three drivers settled in for a double stint behind the wheel of their respective Aston Martins. Mücke held first position until just under an hour into the race when he was overtaken and dropped back to second.
At the third round of pit stops Mücke handed the reigns of 007 to Charouz, Buncombe switched with Ramos in 008 and Primat took over from Turner in 009. The race was trouble free for the British team until just after 2pm when Ramos reported a problem in his 008 Aston Martin. A faulty air conditioning compressor was the cause and the Aston Martin Racing pit crew worked quickly, replacing the unit and enabling 008 to rejoin the race 20 minutes later with Hall at the wheel.
The race lead changed several times over the first half of the race with the top five cars all on different pit stop strategies, but at the three hour mark the Aston Martins were running second (007), fourth (009) and 24th (008) overall. Hall set about working his way back up the pack, gaining 12 places and handing the 008 Aston Martin to Ramos in 12th place after a double stint.
All three drivers had trouble free runs with 007 and 009 pitting briefly in the closing stages of the race requiring a splash of fuel each for the final laps before the trio of Aston Martins crossed the finish line.
The final race of the series was completed in 5hrs 30mins which is quicker than usual, this was partly due to the fact that there were no safety car periods in a largely incident free race.
Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell: “This is a perfect end to what has been an incredible season for Aston Martin Racing. Full credit to the team and drivers who have worked tirelessly. Thanks to the dedication of the team the cars have been reliable all year.”
It’s fantastic that 50 years on from Aston Martin winning the World Sports Car Championship Aston Martin Racing has triumphed again, winning the Le Mans Series. It really is an impressive result and I am extremely proud of the whole team.”
Chris Buncombe said (GB): “It was a great result for the team and despite the problem with our car being a British driver it was really good to race for a great British marque like Aston Martin here at Silverstone. It would have been great to have had a better result at my home race, however we were just unlucky with the technical problem and that’s just the way it is with motor racing sometimes!”
