The appropriately-numbered 007 Aston, driven by Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke took the laurels

Aston Martin has celebrated the 50th anniversary of its 1959 win at the 1000km of Nürburgring endurance race by doing exactly the same thing in 2009. The team claimed first, second and third at the August 23 German event with its Gulf-liveried LMP1 cars.

The appropriately-numbered 007 Aston, driven by Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke took the laurels, closely followed by numbers 009 (Harold Primat and Darren Turner) and 008 (Chris Buncombe, Stuart Hall and Miguel Ramos) respectively. For the trio of Charouz, Enge and Mücke, it was their second win of the season and fourth podium finish in four races.

The 007 car led from the start and continued to do so throughout much of the 195-lap race, despite having to stop to have a larger rear deck gurney fitted to reduce oversteer, a job which took all of a lightning 10 seconds! With Charouz at the wheel, it also suffered a spin on lap 110 but managed to stay in first place despite this. In the hands of Mücke, the car also recorded the fastest lap of the race, with a time of one minute 44.125 seconds.

The result is the team’s best-ever achievement in the Le Mans Series and puts it in a strong position for the final race of the season at Silverstone, with hopes now very high that Aston Martin can win the Championship overall. “I’m really looking forward to the last race which is the home race for the team and the employees at Aston Martin Racing and Aston Martin so I’m sure we will have a lot of supporters,” said Enge after the victory.

Team Principal; George Howard-Chappell said the triple podiums were “Absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t have dreamt of a one, two, three. The result is a real tribute to the team, the drivers and the whole organisation.”
Back in 1959, Aston Martin only had one car – a DBR1 – competing at the 1000km of Nürburgring, but in the hands of Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman, it managed to beat the rest of the field and helped cement the marque’s overall World Sportscar Championship victory (its only championship to date), crowned of course by the legendary win at Le Mans.

Designed in 1956, the DBR1’s success had been limited by transmission problems in previous seasons, but these were successfully resolved for 1959. The Nürburgring endurance race has gone down in history as one of Moss’ most legendary performances, an epic drive that saw him make up much time lost by Fairman during his stints behind the wheel. Moss apparently chose him as his partner because, while he wasn’t known for his speed, he did possess an unselfish willingness to take over for short runs to allow Moss to grab some rest.

Fairman’s physical strength also came in handy on one rain-soaked lap when the DBR1 ended up in a ditch. With no outside help allowed under the rules, Fairman on his own was able to heave the heavy Aston out and resume racing, to the surprise and relief of Moss who was about to pack up and go home.

The fifth and final round of the Le Mans Series is on September 13 at Silverstone in the UK. The 007 Aston Martin will start this final round of the 2009 Le Mans Series at their home race with a seven point lead in the Team Championship.