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GLORY FOR GULF AT LE MANS 2008!

GULF CELEBRATES ASTON MARTIN RACING'S SUPERB GT1 VICTORY.

Gulf has celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first win at Le Mans in the finest possible style, with an incredibly hard fought victory in LMGT1 going to the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing DBR9, number 009, driven by David Brabham, Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia.

In front of the assembled ranks of Gulf affiliates from all over the world, the blue and orange factory Aston Martin race cars successfully defended their GT1 title at Le Mans. In doing so, they created another memorable chapter in Gulf’s long and glorious motorsport history, something that David Brabham was quick to mention in his victory interview on the winners podium.

The Le Mans 24 Hours forms the opening portion of Gulf Oil International’s 2008 Global Convention and its theme, “Winning Then, Winning Now, Winning in the Future” could almost be the story of the weekend.

“It is an incredible weekend for Gulf,” comments Gulf Vice President International, Alain Dujean. “On Friday we commemorated the 40th anniversary of Gulf’s first and Pedro Rodriguez’s sole win here in 1968, with a beautiful tribute from the Scuderia Rodriguez  (the family and friends of Pedro) as they handed on their “racing colours” to Aston Martin Racing. Now we have this fantastic result to celebrate with our racing partners.”

David King, Head of Product Communications at Aston Martin Lagonda, is also delighted with the way the partnership and, of course, the weekend, have developed. “We are absolutely thrilled with the victory. We really thought we had a tough task on our hands to win here this year and the whole team has been fantastic. The atmosphere, with all of the guests from Gulf and our other racing partners has been excellent and the Gulf relationship is really working well. We had fantastic coverage in the media all over the world before the event, and now we will all look to capitalise on what is an absolutely brilliant result.”

RACE

From the start of the race, it was obvious that the competition was going to be as close as the testing and qualifying times had suggested. The leading GT1 contenders swapped places on pitstops in the opening hours but, by the evening, the blue and orange 009 car had established the slenderest of leads. This it held to the finish, coming home to victory by less than a lap at the end of 24 hours. The factory Chevrolet Corvettes took the finish right down to the wire, they too running at almost exactly the same race pace as the Aston Martin Racing DBR9s throughout the 24 Hours.

The race had started in bright sunshine on Saturday, but as it went on, conditions changed and much of the second half was contested in the rain, making driving conditions extremely tricky.  The leading four GT1 contenders – the Gulf-liveried DBR9s and Chevrolet’s Corvettes - all had to stay out of trouble, as the slightest mistake from any of them would have handed victory to one of the others. As cars were spinning out everywhere, incredibly, all four GT1 leaders barely missed a beat, ensuring that nobody could relax, all the way through to the end.

The Gulf-sponsored 007 Aston Martin of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini finished fourth, only missing out on a GT1 podium place by two laps – the time lost during the night when they had problems restarting at a pit stop – on what was an amazing team performance.

SUMMARY

Gulf Oil International’s Alain Dujean sums up this epic weekend for Gulf, “Huge congratulations are due to David Richards, Dr Ulrich Bez, the Aston Martin Racing Team and everyone at Aston Martin Lagonda. They have done a superb job and can be truly proud of what they have achieved. They have worked tirelessly both on and off the track to make this Le Mans an excellent one for Gulf and I am sure that I speak on behalf of all of the Gulf people here this weekend when I say that they have truly given us a race to remember.

“Gulf’s presence at Le Mans this year has been a major step forward on years gone by. The partnership with Aston Martin Racing has given the Gulf brand huge global media exposure and a massive international boost. Here at Le Mans, the Dakota stores selling Gulf clothing have been extremely busy with legions of Gulf fans making the Gulf presence at the track extremely visible, as a result. Gulf is also proud to have sponsored Radio Le Mans, whose work continues to excel. But this weekend truly belongs to the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing team. With our Gulf affiliates from all over the world present here this weekend, there will be a celebration of global proportions in the Gulf ranks tonight!”

IMAGES

Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing DBR9 009 makes its final pit stop en route to victory.
Aston Martin Racing DBR9 007 lines up for the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
009 Thunders on to victory watched by guests in the Aston Martin hospitality unit.
Presentation of presentation of Scuderia Rodriguez 40th Anniversary Plaque.
Victory Podium

Gulf Oil International Motorsport Update in partnership with Aston Martin Racing.

Aston Martin racing DBR9s on the pace in Le Mans qualifying.

The Gulf-liveried Aston Martin Racing DBR9s have come safely through the long and arduous qualifying sessions for the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours.
 
With the 009 Gulf–sponsored car having set setting the fastest GT1 time in the Official Test, the suggestion that the category was likely to be very closely contested already seems to be coming to fruition. The competition, in the shape of the factory Chevrolet Corvettes and Larbre Saleen, have responded, and the top five GT1 cars have all qualified within two and a half seconds of each other.
 
The cars have now completed eight hours of competitive motoring on the circuit and the blue and orange factory Aston Martins will start fourth and fifth in the GT1 category. The defending GT1 Champions, the 009 Gulf-sponsored DBR9, crewed by David Brabham Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia have qualified only just over a second shy of the pole.
 
The 007 car – with its ex-Formula 1 crew of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Carl Wendlinger, together with Andrea Piccini is less than a second behind its sister car.
 
Aston Martin Racing pilot, Darren Turner, gives an overview of qualifying. “ We have been using the sessions to try different things in setting up the car for the race. A good race set-up is not necessarily the same as the fastest qualifying set-up. I’m confident that we have found something which works for all three drivers and I’m very much looking forward to the race.”
 
With this being the 40th anniversary of the first Gulf win at Le Mans, Gulf’s presence here is extremely strong and the public’s affection for the brand can be seen throughout the circuit, with people sporting Gulf colours seemingly everywhere one turns.
 
Gulf is involved in a number of activities around the race weekend and two are worthy of special mention.
 
Gulf – together with Official Clothing Licensee, Dakota - are proud sponsors of Radio Le Mans, the official English language radio station of the Le Mans 24 Hours. At 40 minutes past the hour, Radio Le Mans is airing its “Gulf 40 at 40” slots – a selection of short features about Gulf and its motorsport history. 
 
The Radio Le Mans broadcast crew are all kitted out in special Gulf-Radio Le Mans clothing, provided by Dakota and this helps add to the Gulf presence at the circuit.
 
Radio Le Mans broadcasts live throughout Le Mans week. It is available over the internet at http://www.radiolemans.com/ <http://www.radiolemans.com/> or, live in the region, on 91.2 FM.
 
Friday also sees the arrival of delegates from all over the world, for the 2008 Gulf Oil International Convention. The programme of activities will naturally commence with   the ‘Great Race’ itself.
 
The Le Mans 24 Hours will be broadcast live and non-stop through the Eurosport networks – Eurosport and Eurosport Asia-Pacific.
 
The race will commence at 15.00CET on Saturday. It will also be streamed live, with commentaries on Eurosport websites throughout Europe.
 
Further live updates and information can also be obtained through the official Le Mans website http://www.lemans.org/ <http://www.lemans.org/> .
 
The attached pictures show the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing 009 car in action and the 007 car in a night session pit stop.
 

Gulf Oil International Motorsport Update
In partnership with Aston Martin Racing

ENCOURAGING START FOR GULF AT LE MANS OFFICIAL TEST

The two Gulf sponsored DBR9s of the factory Aston Martin Racing squad, emerged from the Le Mans official test day in a good position, ahead of the race itself, in two weekends’ time.
 
It was a day of extremely mixed conditions, which went from wet to dry and back again – making driving, at various stages of the test, extremely tricky. Both of the blue and orange Aston Martin Racing DBR9s emerged unscathed and the 009 Gulf car of David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner was the fastest of all of the GT1 entries during the course of the test day. The 009 entry, therefore, started the defence of its GT1 title in some style, in this early pointer to potential race form. Its sister, 007 car, crewed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini and Karl Wendlinger posted the fifth fastest GT1 time, a handful of seconds slower.
 
It is obvious, even at this stage however, that things are shaping up for it to be a very hard fought race, as the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R and both of the factory Chevrolet Corvettes C6 Rs all ran within two and a half seconds of the blue and white Aston Martin over the 13.5km (8.45mile) circuit.
 
The cars have now returned to Aston Martin Racing’s facility in the UK to be completely stripped down and rebuilt, in preparation for qualifying at the Le Mans 24 Hours itself. This takes place over Wednesday the 11th and Thursday 12th of June.
 
Gulf Oil Vice President International, Alain Dujean comments, “The conditions at Le Mans started - and finished  - fairly wet and very treacherous. It was good, therefore, to see the Gulf –supported Aston Martins come through this initial test ok and, when conditions were dry, post a good early marker for race week. ”
Gulf Oil International Motorsport Update
Competing with Aston Martin Racing


May, 2008

ASTON MARTIN RACING LE MANS DRIVERS ANNOUNCED
GULF-SPONSORED DBR9 RACER STARS IN INDIA
MORE DUCATI LE MANS PICTURES

The design centre at the Aston Martin Lagonda factory at Gaydon, England, was the scene for Aston Martin Racing to announce the works driver line up for the Gulf-liveried DBR9s at Le Mans in June.
 
A select crowd of specially invited media assembled to learn the identities of the drivers who had made it into the final line up.
 
There was, perhaps, one major surprise - but it was all for the good, as David Brabham, one of Aston Martin Racing's key drivers in the DBR9 over its racing history, was announced as part of the line up for 2008. It was thought that other commitments would prevent Brabham from being able to take up the drive, but David is now able to team up again this year with Darren Turner and the pair will aim to defend the GT1 title they took in 2007. 
 
"The Gulf history and heritage is, in many senses, legendary," commented Brabham. "when I saw the car at the launch at the NEC in Birmingham I thought ‘Why is my name not on it!'. From a driver's point of view it doesn't get much better...."
 
Brabham is one of three drivers with a Formula One pedigree. The others, who will drive the 007 car, along with rising star Andrea Piccini, are Austrian Karl Wendlinger and F1 Vice-champion, Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
 
Frentzen described what it means driving in a Gulf car meant to him. " Gulf is a very famous brand name. It's a classic motorsport name - something really special which the company can be really proud of."
 
Next up for the Gulf-sponsored GT1 machines is a test at Snetterton in the UK.
 
...............
 
It almost goes without saying that wherever the Gulf-liveried Aston Martin DBR9 race cars go, they create a lasting impression. Rarely, however, can they have created more of a stir than at the recent launch event in Mumbai hosted by Gulf's parent organisation the Hinduja Group.
 
Aston Martin Racing brought over one of the factory blue and orange race cars, together with a crew and no less than two AMR contracted drivers - Darren Turner and Thomas Enge (who will drive the Aston Martin-engined Lola LMP1 prototype at Le Mans). Key personnel from Aston Martin and the Hinduja Group were in attendance together with a number of celebrity and VIP guests.
 
The event spanned two days, under the general heading of  "The ultimate test of endurance." On the first day, a section of Mumbai's famous Marine Drive, near the InterConinental Hotel, was closed off so that the cars could perform spectacular burn-outs in front of a huge crowd of onlookers.
 
This was followed up by demonstrations of racing pitstops, similar to those that the team will carry out at Le Mans. Such was the impression created that video of the event appeared almost immediately on the global media website, You Tube.
 
The evening also included a star-studded gala dinner at the InterContinental Hotel
 
The following day saw a number of invited VIP guests being treated to high speed passenger rides at Mumbai's Bandra Reclamation airfield, which had been specially rented out for the occasion.
 
The AMR drive days generated a large amount of media coverage - both in the press and on TV - and created a huge amount of goodwill with key Group personnel and their VIP guests.
 
While the activities were going on, large lorries were touring the city with billboards on them showing the Gulf-sponsored DBR9 in action and promoting the Gulf - Aston Martin Racing partnership as well as Gulf's endurance history.

Aston Martin

The factory Aston Martin Racing DBR9s recently made their first appearance in full Gulf livery and in race trim, as Aston Martin Racing hosted a pre-season test for the factory team, official partner teams and private customers at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.

The factory Aston Martin Racing DBR9 caused a sensation when it appeared in Gulf colours at its launch in January - creating a massive and enthusiastic reaction from media and public alike. The cars provoked an equally positive reaction from those present when they took to the track for the first time, looking and sounding superb as they blasted around the French circuit.

Aston Martin Racing fielded two DBR9s in Gulf livery – traditionally numbered 007 and 009 – in order to test the cars for the 
Le Mans 24 Hours. Amongst the drivers at Paul Ricard with previous DBR9 experience were Antonio Garcia, Andrea Piccini, Darren Turner and Karl Wendlinger. Others testing the factory GT1 DBR9s in France included Britain’s A1GP ace, Robbie Kerr, and former Grand Prix star Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
 
The Paul Ricard circuit near Toulon is a former French Grand Prix venue that has been turned into the world’s most advanced test track. It is famous amongst other things for the Mistral straight, which at 1.8 kilometres is the longest permanent straight in Europe, giving the Aston Martins scheduled to compete at Le Mans a flavour of the legendary Mulsanne that they will face in June.

Gulf used the opportunity to forge greater links with the team, other Aston Martin Racing Partners and media alike, as Keith Jewers, Director of Gulf Retail, explains, "The decision to make such a high profile return to Le Mans reinforces Gulf's great endurance racing traditions and has provided an ideal platform for Gulf Retail to further strengthen its UK business with an exciting range of marketing initiatives that increase awareness of the Gulf brand and attract new business to our dealer network."
 
The Aston Martin Racing DBR9s, in their Gulf colours, formed part of a contingent of more than twenty Aston Martins testing at the Circuit, and Aston Martin Chairman David Richards commented: “To see all those cars out here together makes me very proud, and it’s a valuable opportunity for the whole Aston Martin family to share the circuit and their experiences with the factory Gulf team.”
 
Richards and many of the media and corporate partner guests, took the opportunity of sampling the blue and orange GT1 DBR9s at first hand as passengers in one of the two race cars. Gulf Oil Vice President International, Alain Dujean was another. “It was absolutely incredible,” he enthused, “and I take my hat off to the drivers. The forces in these superb machines really take some getting used to – especially under braking and cornering. I saw almost 300KPH come up on the digital readout so they weren’t hanging back. What a fantastic experience.”

The Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing DBR9s will continue to test in the run-up to Le Mans and the Gulf-liveried DBR9 show car is already much in demand, having appeared at the Liege International Racing Car show and with a growing schedule of events lined up.