PokerStars and Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Update

After a stellar run in the early going, a PokerStars Aston Martin Racing car has suffered a setback at Le Mans.

Here are the cars' positions as of 1599 hrs.

DBR9 007: 2nd in GT1 (+ 5 laps), 5th overall, 317 laps

DBR9 009: 4th in GT1 (+11 laps), 8th overall, 312 laps

Drama has struck Aston Martin Racing at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The DBR9 of Pedro Lamy, Stephane Ortelli and Stephane Sarrazin - which has led the GT1 class for more than 13 hours - has been hit by a technical problem and has dropped down the order.

A clutch failure in the 20th hour, while Ortelli was behind the wheel, resulted in the car losing 45 minutes in the pit garage while a new clutch assembly was installed. It rejoined the race in fourth place in GT1, 11 laps behind the leader.
The team's other DBR9, driven by Tomas Enge, Darren Turner and Andrea Piccini, has inherited second place in GT1 as a result of the drama and it is six laps behind the GT1 class leader.

George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal, said, "The clutch of car 009 was slipping and we have no option other than to replace it. Obviously, it is very disappointing and we won't know the exact cause of the problem until we take a closer look after the race."

Stephane Ortelli said, "When I took over the car, it was running fine. But I then began having problems downshifting because I got wheelspin and within a lap the clutch had gone completely."