Aston Martin Racing five hour report

The Aston Martin Racing team has had an eventful start to the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours. After just four laps, car 007 - driven by Darren Turner - required an unscheduled pitstop to replace a split oil pipe on the sump of his DBR9. He damaged it on a kerb while entering the pitlane, after the Safety Car had been deployed following an accident involving the DBR9 of BMS Scuderia Italia.

Pedro Lamy started the race in car 009 and drove a solid double stint before handing over to Stephane Sarrazin.

Darren Turner: "I'd been having radio problems and only heard the instruction to pit after I'd passed the pitlane entrance. I then crossed the kerbs to get into the pitlane, and that damaged the sump. It's very frustrating, but it's still early in the race and anything can happen."

Pedro Lamy: "Everything is going fine. The only issues I had involved traffic, which was really bad for some reason. But the car is performing well and the tyres were fine when I double-stinted them."

-amr