Autoblog

Never a moment's rest for the team at Aston Martin Racing. Not since Prodrive chief David Richards took over with his consortium of investors, at least. With the announcement of the V8 Vantage GT2, the team has expanded into every class of GT racing in the Le Mans Series, campaigning racing DB9s in GT1 and GT3 and competition-spec V8 Vantages in GT2 and GT4. But now that the regulations for the Le Mans Prototype class have been modified to allow for GT1 engines to power LMP cars, Aston Martin is turning its attention to that class, too.

Hot on the heels of the team's unveiling of the retro-tastic Gulf livery for its DBR9 GT1 cars, Aston Martin Racing has announced a collaboration with Charouz Racing Systems, which will campaign a Lola chassis with the DBR9's 6-liter V12 in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the broader European Le Mans Series. Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz will drive the car, and in addition to working in partnership with Lola's engineering team to repackage the V12 for the LMP chassis, Aston Martin Racing's engineers will support Charouz Racing System's cars at the races.

We're looking forward to seeing the car in full race trim and to witnessing Aston Martin taking on the entire field at this year's Le Mans 24. Press release after the jump.

[Source: Aston Martin Racing via Motive]

Click image for hires photo gallery

As you can see above, Peugeot has unveiled the official race livery for the fantastic-looking 908 Le Mans prototype that the automaker will campaign as a two-car team in the European Le Mans Series and the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans. Those of you who've been following the car's development know that it's driven by Peugeot's HDi FAP V12 diesel engine, which should produce upwards of 700 horsepower and an monstrous 850 ft-lbs of torque. Le Mans will provide motorsports fanatics with the ultimate showdown, as the closed-roof French racer takes on Germany's world-beating Audi R10 TDI pair in what's sure to be match for the ages. It will be the first time the cars compete against each other, as the Audis remain stateside competing in the American Le Mans Series while the Peugeots campaign in Europe. This is gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Three more shots of the Pug in its race threads can be found in the attached gallery, which also contains a slew of other images ranging from the HDi FAP V12 to the unpainted car undergoing testing.

[Source: Peugeot]


Related Items:

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• Paris Motor Show: Peugeot 908 Le Mans
• Diesel Le Mans challenger Peugeot 908 HDi gallery
• French Connection: Villeneuve to drive Peugeot 908 at Le Mans

When Audi launched the new R10 diesel-powered Le Mans Prototype early this year, the company said that the R10 program was focused on the goal of winning the 2006 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans in June. The R10's victorious debut at the American Le Mans Series Sebring opener notwithstanding, the R10s have returned to Europe for an intensive testing and development program in preparation for the big show June 17/18.

ALMS fans of the big prototypes will not be deprived of an Audi fix in the meantime, though. In the interim, Audi Sport North America will campaign a single Audi R8 for Sebring winners Allan McNish and Dindo Capello, giving them the chance to gain valuable championship points before the two R10s return to the U.S. after Le Mans.

The two R10 prototypes return to the ALMS for the July 15 race at the new Miller Motorsports Park circuit in Utah, where McNish and Capello will be joined by the 2005 ALMS championship-winning team of Frank Biela and Emmanuele Pirro.

[Source: Audi Motorsport]