The 2005 Aston Martin DBR9 Comes to Project Motor Racing

June 24, 2025

The Return of a Legend

The 2005 Aston Martin DBR9 marked a thunderous return to sports car racing for the storied British marque. Built to GT1 regulations as a competition version of the Aston Martin DB9 road car, the DBR9 combined a howling 6L V12 with a sleek carbon-fibre body to take on the world’s best endurance racers.

The name pays homage to Aston’s 1959 Le Mans-winning DBR1—a fitting link, as the DBR9 was conceived to revive Aston Martin’s glory days at Le Mans and beyond. Developed by Aston Martin Racing in partnership with Prodrive, the DBR9 quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with, its debut season delivering both wins and epic rivalries, before going on to spend the next half-decade at the very forefront of GT competition.

The Soul of the V12

The DBR9’s design blended Aston’s trademark chic with genuine performance. Its heart and soul was a front-mounted 6L all-alloy V12 derived from the road-going DB9. In race tune, though, this beast of an engine—with sublime push all the way through the rev-range—produced around 600 bhp and 700 Nm of torque, all if it sent to the rear wheels through a rear-mounted Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox.

Built on the DB9’s aluminium chassis, the DBR9 shed weight via carbon fibre panels replacing most of the road car’s aluminium bodywork (except for the roof), dropping the car to about 1100 kg (2425 lb)—nearly half a ton lighter than the street DB9—and yielding a power-to-weight ratio of over 550 bhp per ton.

Aerodynamics were honed through extensive computational fluid dynamics analysis, featuring a flat underfloor and fat rear diffuser generating ground effect downforce, while a large rear wing added even more rear grip at speed. Combined with a deep front splitter and a vented hood, the DBR9 was a machine designed to perform on every type of track, while retaining the unmistakable profile of Aston Martin.

Back to Roots

In late 2004, Aston Martin partnered with legendary British motorsport specialists Prodrive (fresh from smashing the competition in GT racing with their Ferrari 550 GTS) to create Aston Martin Racing, with one singular aim: to return Aston Martin to Le Mans glory.

The DBR9 was the first creation of this union—essentially a DB9 grand tourer transformed into a GT1-class race car. Prodrive’s engineers slashed weight, reinforced the chassis, and tuned the V12 for competition.

In the winter of 2004, the DBR9 was unveiled in Aston’s traditional British Racing Green with yellow accents, echoing the livery of the 1959 Le Mans–winning DBR1. Even its designation paid homage to the David Brown-era racers that had delivered Aston Martin’s one-and-only overall Le Mans win with a young Carroll Shelby doing the pedal work.

Aston Martin built 12 DBR9s for the factory team and around 20 models for privateers—an exclusive fleet of V12 beasts that would spearhead Aston’s racing revival in 2005.

Winner Right Out of the Box

The DBR9’s first outing in 2005 was little short of spectacular. Aston Martin Racing entered two cars in the 12-hour epic in Florida and won the GT1 class on its debut. Not content with that, they headed off to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and took the GT1 class pole (fuel pickup gremlins eventually curtailing it to a distant third in the race).

The DBR9 then conquered the GT field at Silverstone’s Tourist Trophy race in 2005, a home win for Aston Martin, and over in the US, in the American Le Mans Series, the Astons traded blows with Corvette all the way through 2005–’06, scoring multiple GT1 wins.

In 2006, the DBR9 earned Aston Martin the GT manufacturers’ crown, emphasizing its competitiveness on the world stage. But that was just the beginning … because in 2007, Aston Martin came to Le Mans determined to convert their competitiveness into a race win. And that’s exactly what happened—the factory team clinching what was a truly emotional GT1 class victory, with the #009 DBR9 leading a 1–3 class finish.

Aston Martin then came back in 2008 and did it again—now in the iconic Gulf Oil blue-and-orange livery—a second consecutive GT1 class win. This time, though, there weren’t a lot of tears because the world had become accustomed to the DBR9 winning, and that included privateer and customer teams around the globe.

That domination just kept on coming until 2011, when Aston Martin Racing capped their glorious era by securing the GT1 World Championship teams’ title.

Legacy & Impact

The DBR9 era was transformative for Aston Martin. This V12 warrior reestablished the brand’s credibility on the track after years away, proving that Aston Martin could once again beat the world’s best in endurance racing. Over its career, the DBR9 earned two Le Mans class wins (2007 and 2008), dozens of victories, multiple titles, and became one of Prodrive’s most decorated machines.

The DBR9 also laid the groundwork for Aston’s future racing endeavours—from the V8 Vantage GT2/GTE program to an eventual overall Le Mans push with the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 prototype.

With its thunderous V12 exhaust note and winning pedigree, the DBR9 stands as a modern icon of GT1 racing—the machine that brought Aston Martin back to the top at Le Mans and ushered in a new era for the British marque.

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