To win Le Mans you now need to have the perfect race, no contact, slick pit-stops, fast driving and great team work - and, for the second year in a row, we achieved the perfect race for our second win in a row.

Leading up to the race, I was concerned about the pace of the 'Vettes. They had shown some great speed in the ALMS, and I knew they had a bit more power for the Le Mans race. I was a little worried for the Aston Martin team too, as the preparation didn't seem as good as last year. The P1 project looked like it had stretched the team a little, so it was going to be interesting to see how smooth the race would be.

Qualifying showed the speed of the 'Vettes as 'Mags' put down a great time to get pole. We didn't have that kind of pace but, then again, we just focused on getting the best race car we could in race trim. The two works Astons were very closely matched and I was super-impressed with HHF, as he hadn't been to Le Mans for 16 years and was right on the pace.

The car was getting better all the time and, when it came to the warm-up, we knew we had a fast car for the race. I did a time a few seconds quicker than the others, and no-one beat that all through the session, although 'Dazza' would have beaten my time if he had completed his lap, so it showed we had the pace.

I was starting the race and it is always a real buzz to be behind the wheel when the flag drops. The atmosphere around the track at that point is electric, with over 200,000 people waiting in anticipation.

We were all worried about how Christophe Bouchut would drive at the start and, as last year, he was a right prat, blocking from side-to-side like it was the last lap of the race. We all gave him his moment of glory up front - until we moved past, never to see him again.

Mags soon got a good gap, as Ollie Gavin and I waited to get past Bouchut. I was struggling to keep up with Ollie as the grip was going away a little. His car was fast and, soon, I could see him catching Mags. I pitted and changed tyres but the 'Vettes didn't, and I was soon running faster than them as they were struggling for grip. At the end of my stint, I passed the #64 'Vette of Gavin before handing over to Antonio [Garcia]. I got out feeling good as I could see were closely-matched and the race ahead was going to be a lot of fun.

By the three-hour mark, we got into the lead and kept a small margin to the 'Vettes for the next few hours. The race was intense and we couldn't afford to make any mistakes. The team were right on it and my worries about them were unfounded. After we had been driving for twelve hours, the gap was no bigger than four seconds, but the safety car came out and closed the advantage we had. However, what was really good was the fact that the advantage the 'Vettes had by doing one more lap than us on fuel had disappeared. This could have been a race-winning deal for them if they could have maintained that, because it meant we would have had to do one extra pit-stop by comparison over the length of the race.

The rain started coming down during the yellow but Antonio, who was in the car when the track went green, just took off. He was lapping at an amazing pace and was able to pull a huge gap on Ron Fellows in the #63 'Vette. Ron was desperate to win before he retires, so I know GM were trying to help him. As the race progressed, the #007 Aston and the #64 'Vette both had problems - and then, to our surprise, the #63 'Vette had a brake problem. I saw Ron after he went off because of the brakes and his head was really down. He was walking to the 'Vette building and I really felt for him.... for a moment.