From 2005 to 2008 (Aston Martin): "We finished third in GT1 in 2005 in incredible heat. Then in 2007, our race was just flawless. There was a big storm at the end of the race. One of my teammates was Ryckard Rydell (the third driver was Darren Turner, editor's note) and when he saw this massive storm coming, he said: 'I don't want to drive!' He didn't know the car as well as Darren and me. I had only just taken off my helmet but I went back anyway to finish the race. The pressure was enormous, I felt Aston Martin's whole history on my shoulders. The conditions were deplorable, with all that rain. I was rolling at half the potential of the car. I crossed the finish line and it was the beginning of a great period at Le Mans for me because we won again in 2008. If I count the victory with Peugeot, that's three wins in a row! I was so happy! I got a small taste of what Tom Kristensen was able to accomplish (laughs)."

2005: Aston Martin DBR9 of Aston Martin Racing with Stéphane Sarrazin et Darren Turner (9th)
2006: Aston Martin DBR9 of Team Modena with Antonio García et Nelsinho Piquet (9th)
2007: Aston Martin DBR9 of Aston Martin Racing with Rickard Rydell et Darren Turner (5th and 1st in GT1)
2008: Aston Martin DBR9 of Aston Martin Racing with Antonio García et Darren Turner (13th and 1st in GT1)

2009 (Peugeot 908 HDI Fap with Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz): "At first I was surprised I got offered the wheel. At that time, I was driving for Honda in the U.S. in LM P1, a competitor of sorts. We did a perfect race, we weren't the fastest but everything went well. We refueled and changed tyres and that's it. No one expected us to win, we weren't the favourites, the No.8 was more so. Our engineer, Pierre, had never done Le Mans before, he came from rally. He had been sick with chicken pox and when he got there, he still had bumps all over and was not feeling well."

"I had already claimed a podium finish with the Bentley Speed 8 and had said to myself: the overall win must be incredible! Then I won a class victory with Aston Martin, and it was great and when I won overall, the feeling was exactly the same. Afterwards I decided to take a 15-day vacation before heading back to the U.S. But with that win, it was simply impossible because of public relations and marketing obligations for Peugeot. But it was a great thing to share with the whole team."

David Bristol / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, RACE. David Brabham.