Photo : - Aston Martin

At the Silverstone 1000km in September 2010, the British marque announced the design of a new open prototype, unveiled 2nd March, 2011. But it will probably be absent from the kickoff of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2011.

The Aston Martin AMR-ONE announced in September by team boss David Richards, is a 100% new car. The former car was derived from a Lola chassis. Aston Martin has definitely gone in the opposite direction to Audi and Peugeot by choosing the path of a petrol engine (6 cyl turbocharged 2-litre) open prototype. Six cars will be built, and one of them will be dedicated to ILMC, joined by a second in some races. The #007 will be assigned to Stefan Mücke, Darren Turner and a driver to be confirmed, and #009 to Harold Primat, Adrian Fernandez and Andy Meyrick.

In ILMC, the Aston Martin AMR-ONE will be present at Spa, Imola, Silverstone, Petit Le Mans, China and of course the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will make its debut on 3rd April at the 6 Hours of Le Castellet, the opening round of the Le Mans Series. This schedule implies absence from the 12 Hours of Sebring on 19th March. But  the technical challenge for David Richards and his team is not short of interest, because it relies on complete trust in the rules of equivalence between diesel and petrol engines ... especially since at Spa it faces another prestigious debutante who is the exact opposite: the Audi R18 closed diesel prototype. Be there to find out....

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo: The colors of legendary Gulf Oil are particularly aggressive, with a very high nose in F1 style, the Aston Martin AMR-ONE,  it intends to upset the Audi-Peugeot duel.