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.
![David Brabham, Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia celebrate Aston Martin success in the GT1 class at Le Mans 2008 [pic credit: Aston Martin Racing]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/456442.jpg)
