2007 Aston Martin DBR9 GT1

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More than 40 years after Roy Salvadori’s famous win in the 1963 Coppa Inter-Europa at Monza—David Brown’s final victory in a World Championship event—Aston Martin tasted international success once again in the 2005 Tourist Trophy at Silverstone. Though its new Prodrive-developed DBR9 model had scored a class win on debut at Sebring two months earlier, an outright victory in the illustrious Tourist Trophy—the meetings at which Aston Martin secured the 1959 World Sportscar Championship—proved particularly apposite. Over the next three years, Prodrive is understood to have constructed 10 Works and eight privateer cars. Consecutive Le Mans class wins in 2007 and 2008 further cemented its reputation as one of the all-time great competition GT cars.

Chassis 106 was one of just two DBR9s constructed in 2007, the other being the Works-allocated, class-winning DBR9/10 from the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans. Originally purchased by British enthusiast Henry Barczynski, its preparation was initially entrusted to official Aston Martin Racing Partner team Barwell Motorsport. In its care, the car contested the Zhuhai and Silverstone rounds of that year’s FIA GT Championship—finishing 8th and 10th respectively—prior to a late-season transfer to Barczynski’s newly-established Gigawave Motorsport concern.

For its 2008 campaign, Gigawave recruited experienced GT racers Philipp Peter and Allan Simonsen, a decision immediately vindicated by excellent 3rd places in the Silverstone Tourist Trophy and at Monza, further to 4th-place finishes at Nogaro and Zolder. At the 24 Hours of Spa in August, factory DBR9 driver Darren Turner joined the team. A richly-deserved 3rd place overall proved instrumental in Gigawave securing 4th place in the end-of-year team standings.

After a virtual sabbatical in 2009—a GT1 class win in the 1000 Kilometres of Silverstone, courtesy of Ryan Sharp and factory driver Peter Kox, being the only result of note—ownership of DBR9/106 passed to the German Young Driver AMR team in 2010. A partial season of the newly renamed FIA GT1 World Championship yielded 5th places at the Nürburgring and San Luis for Stefan Mücke and co-drivers Christoffer Nygaard and José María López, respectively. However, the season’s undoubted high point was an excellent 3rd in the GT1 class and 22nd overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nygaard sharing with Kox and fellow factory driver Tomáš Enge on this occasion.

In 2011—the car’s final contemporary season—Mücke partnered Darren Turner in all 10 FIA GT1 rounds. Although the team started the season modestly with 5th and 7th at Abu Dhabi and Zolder respectively, a strong mid-season sequence resulted in two 2nd-place finishes at Portimao and Paul Ricard, and 3rd at Sachsenring. Appropriately, the car scored a maiden Championship win in its final race, in Beijing, with Turner and Mücke securing 2nd place in the Drivers’ Championship—and the team 3rd—as a result.

Acquired by the consigning owner directly from Young Driver AMR in 2020, chassis DBR9/106 benefited from an ECU and dashboard upgrade prior to its sale. The car is accompanied by three spare sets of wheels, its original Pectel/Pi electronics and all relevant operating and computer software materials. As such, it represents a highly attractive proposition, and one which would be ideally suited to series such as the Peter Auto Endurance Racing Legends or demonstration events.