At the end of my last D-Brief column, I left you wondering just exactly what the Le Mans deal I had signed was - and why I was 'well excited' about it. Well, now I can tell all....
This June, I will be back at the wheel of an Aston Martin - but, before you say 'tell us something new', it will be one of the works DBR9s fielded by Aston Martin Racing, and the line-up this year looks superb.
Getting the chance to rejoin AMR came about a bit by chance. I had done my ALMS deal with Highcroft and was at the
Autosport Awards, where I bumped into George Howard-Chappell, who heads up the AMR operation. I asked, casually, if they were doing Le Mans and, when he replied that they might be, I - casually again - told him I was available. That seemed to surprise him, but we kept in contact and it kind of went from there. A deal was done very quickly.
It feels fantastic to be back with AMR. When I was with them a couple of years ago, it was such a great programme, working with Aston Martin and the guys at Prodrive, and we achieved a lot. However, Le Mans remains unfinished business for all concerned and we want to go back there this year and take the fight to Corvette.
Even though I am only just rejoining the programme, I believe 2007 presents a realistic opportunity to beat the 'Vettes. I went up to Prodrive just before I left for Sebring and, while I was talking to George and the boys, I got a very strong sense of the amount of progress they felt they had made over the winter. For the first time in a fairly long time, the team has had a decent development budget to sort the car and feel confident that it will be strong at Le Mans. The DBR9 has always been strong there, it's just that a couple of things have let it down towards the end of the race. The speed has always been there too, so it's other areas that the team has been working on and, for sure, the car will be a strong package.
As I said, the line-up at AMR this year looks very strong too, with Johnny Herbert and Rickard Rydell joining myself, Darren Turner, Tomas Enge and Peter Kox, all of whom know the DBR9 very well.
It's great to have Johnny on board as he's a superstar and a great guy. He's obviously a great driver and knows Le Mans like the back of his hand, so he'll be a great addition, just as Rickard, who knows Prodrive from the Ferrari days, will. Rickard will be in the #009 car with myself and Darren, and I think that is a strong threesome. Darren and I get on very well - we like similar things from the car and we bounce off each other very well - so putting us together makes sense. We've won races for Prodrive in both the Ferrari and the Aston Martin, so it's good to keep that together. Of course, the other car is very strong with Tomas and Peter, who know each other very well and have driven together before. With Johnny joining them, it's a very strong combination.
Sadly, Le Mans will probably be my only appearance in the Aston this year, as my programme with the Highcroft Acura is pretty busy, pretty intense and pretty tight as far as what I can and can't do. The door was left open for Le Mans and the deal was done with Aston, but nothing will materialise outside of that.
Not that I have anything to complain about, for the Highcroft programme is very exciting - and even more so now after Sebring. The result there was far, far better than anyone within the Acura group had expected, and sets us all up well for the rest of the season.
