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.
![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)
