Everyone knows that when it comes to Le Mans-class racing, Aston Martin has its game on. But dang! On its race debut, the Aston-powered Lola B08/60 took on the best of the best to score a third-place finish at this past weekend's Le Mans Series race at Barcelona.

Now competing in GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4, Aston Martin inked a deal with Charouz Racing Systems back in January to flip around the 6-liter V12 from the DBR9 GT1 racer and shoehorn it into a Lola prototype chassis. The idea was to dice it with the best gasoline-powered LMP1 racers on the grid - which the Charouz Lola-Aston did emphatically - but before the race was over, the car was giving even the diesel-powered Audis and Peugeots, slightly behind which it ultimately finished, a reason to worry. Jan Charouz and Aston/Prodrive chief David Richards were thrilled, vowing to build on the spectacular race debut towards success at the title Le Mans 24 Hours race in mid-June. With competition this fierce, we'll be watching.

[Source: Autosport]

Podium finish for Aston-powered LMP1 on race debut originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.