“Lots of people say that winning is easier the second time round, but I'm not sure that's true,” he said, “You drive to a completely different set of rules in this situation. You don't try to be competitive; you just try to be safe and consistent. Even if you drop a few seconds a lap to your rivals, it doesn't matter.
"Every victory is tough, but this one was something else. The fact that we managed to achieve it against such strong opposition is a huge tribute to the entire team. Conditions were far from easy but, thanks to a great car and a great team, we were able to do it.”
The second factory Aston finished fourth in class after a comeback drive from Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini and Karl Wendlinger. The #007 car was running in a strong third overall when it encountered an alternator problem just after 5am on Sunday morning, but some excellent pit work meant that the car was out again in just 15 minutes, and then ran faultlessly to the finish.
The privateer DBR9 of Team Modena finished eighth in the GT1 class, despite a couple of setbacks including a puncture.
