In LM GTE Pro, the British manufacturer achieved two strokes of brilliance. The trio Richie Stanaway-Fernando Rees-Alex McDowall won at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, second round of the 2015 World Championship and rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At Le Mans, Stanaway scored pole position and best race lap in the class. Aston Martin seemed off to a good start toward the win that had eluded it since 2012, but the No. 99 Vantage V8 finished fifth after a dust-up with a prototype.

Title-winner for LM GTE Am drivers and teams, the No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy-Mathias Lauda-Paul Dalla Lana won back-to-back in the class at the first two races of the season, at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. A third win seemed in the cards at the 24 Hours, but Dalla Lana had an incident, fortunately without injury, with barely 45 minutes left in the race. The 50 points lost at Le Mans (the 24 Hours of Le Mans carries double points in the World Championship) hit hard at the end of the season: with three new podium finishes and a victory at the closing round at Bahrain, the trio Lamy-Lauda-Dalla Lana finished third in the final standings, 21 points behind Andrea Bertoloni-Aleksey Basov-Victor Shaytar (SMP Racing's No. 72 Ferrari 458 Italia), the 2015 champions.

Throughout the 2015 season, Aston Martin has achieved further success, but is still chasing the win and the title in LM GTE Pro at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the World Championship. The fight looks as heated as ever for next year given the arrival in the class of the Ford GT and the Ferrari 488.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 14 2015, RACE. With namely pole position and best race lap in the LM GTE Pro class for the No. 99 Vantage at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Aston Martin remains a sure-thing in the LM GTE Pro and Am classes.