Three days after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, David Richards is still seething! For seven years the company based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, Great Britain, has been waiting to win in the top GT class, and this year, the win was there for the taking…

"Good qualifying, good mindset, we were very solid this year, commented Richards after returning to England. We should have never lost and the post-race was not easy! We have spent quite a lot of time going back over the race with the team to try and understand what went wrong…The truth is the only technical problem we had concerned a power-steering pipe that forced the retirement of the No. 95. In the No. 97 fighting for the lead in GT Pro, unfortunately Rob Bell hit a curb which caused engine failure. Then in the No. 99, Rees came into contact with an Oreca LM P2 which really wasn't necessary!"

In GT Am, the result is perhaps even more bitter since an expected win turned into crushing defeat 40 minutes from the finish, once again due to driver error.

"Paul (Dalla Lana) made a mistake! He was in a fast lap when he had an incident when the No. 98 had a two-lap lead…There again, it really wasn't called for to take any risks! Too many drivers lost control this year..."

Needless to say, there will be a lot of explaining going on and getting things back in order before the next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Nürburgring in Germany at the end of August.

J.-Michel Desnoues / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: David Richards, Aston Martin boss (LE MANS, SARTHE), JUNE 6 2015. For David Richards, there were too many balls dropped in Aston Martin's ranks this year.