Aston Martin LMP1 news - Barca’s fastest - 2009

Bring on Le Mans. Aston Martin's LMP1 car took the chequered flag in the first round of the Le Mans series in Barcelona this weekend, laying down a marker for the big race in June, when AM is expected to fight it out with Audi and Peugeot for overall victory.

First off, neither Audi nor Peugeot were competing in Barcelona: both manufacturers pulled out of the European LMS series to focus on just the big races this year. Audi's R15, remember, edged out Peugeot's 908 in the 12 Hours of Sebring last month.

But, as the drummers' mantra goes, you can only beat what's in front of you. The 007 car (how cool is that?) driven by Stefan Mucke, Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge, dramatically edged out the Pescaro-Judd when Christophe Tinseau stalled at the final pitstop, allowing the Aston to take victory by 14 seconds.

The second Aston - the 009 car - looked set to sneak third spot until Miguel Ramos span with just a handful of laps to go, allowing Bruno Senna's Courage-Oreca to take the final place on the podium.

The result was perhaps not the domination that Aston had hoped for, but there's plenty of time before Le Mans. Will the plucky Brits be strong enough to wrestle the crown away from Audi and Peugeot? Who's your money on?