2006 Aston Martin DBR9 GT1

It's fair to say Aston’s GT1 challenger made one helluva splash when it arrived on the hotly contested GT1 scene in 2005. Prodrive was the motorsport outfit charged with converting the DB9 into an international endurance racing front-runner, the Banbury-based company using much of the expertise gleaned from building and campaigning the ultra-successful Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive in the process.

The basic recipe was one Prodrive didn’t need to deviate from. A road car which couldn’t have garnered more admirers if it tried, a hulking six-litre V12 brimming with ‘Power, Beauty and Soul’, and a newfangled lightweight and incredibly tough bonded aluminium chassis.

The goal was to return the Aston Martin name to the world motorsport stage for the first time in decades and, in turn, make the brand more accessible around the world. And with a six-year period career résumé including two victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, manufacturers’ championship titles in the Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship, and wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring and Nürburgring 1,000km (among many others), it’s fair to say Prodrive achieved it.

Chassis no. DBR9/9

Chassis number DBR9/9 is one of the first batch of 10 cars which were originally earmarked for the factory Aston Martin Racing team, as denoted by its single-digit chassis number (the nine customer DBR9s had three-digit VINs, starting from 101). It was bought new by Giuseppe Lucchini, the Italian motorsport magnate and founder of the history-steeped Scuderia Italia BMS outfit – a team which held semi-Works status in 2006 and 2007.

Along with chassis DBR9/7, this Aston Martin contested eight rounds of the 2006 FIA GT Championship under the Scuderia Italia BMS banner, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driven by Fabio Babini, Christian Pescatori and Matteo Malucelli, chassis DBR9/9 scored podium finishes at Silverstone, Brno and the Hungaroring. It also clinched pole position for the final round of the season in Dubai.

Ahead of the 2007 FIA GT Championship, DBR9/9 returned to Prodrive to have its V12 rebuilt. The car’s competition résumé notes finishes in six rounds of the 2007 season, which was once again contested for Scuderia Italia BMS. Paired with the British former Le Mans winner Jamie Davies, Fabio Babini finished third in the fifth round at Oschersleben. The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007 was the occasion at which Pirelli chose to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

As Scuderia Italia BMS’s title sponsor, the Italian tyre manufacturer finished this DBR9 in a commemorative livery and was given the race number 100. Babini and Davies were joined by Matteo Malucelli, the trio lapped the Circuit de la Sarthe 336 laps to finish the French endurance classic sixth in the LM GT1 class and 11th overall.

During the 24 Hours of Spa in July, DBR9/9 retired after an accident. In light of the intense schedule of remaining races in the FIA GT season, this Aston Martin was returned to Prodrive to have its aluminium/composite tub replaced and engine fully refreshed. It’s important to note that the original tub was retained and accompanies the car today. In the end, Scuderia BMS Italia was lent another DBR9 by Aston Martin Racing and this car wound up in the personal collection of Giuseppe Lucchini, alongside his Ferrari 250 GTO and 550 Maranello Prodrive. Esteemed company indeed.

In 2008, the former Aston Martin majority shareholder Peter Livanos acquired DBR9/9, keeping it in his garage in Switzerland for almost a decade. Following an inspection carried out by Aston Martin Racing at Livanos’ in October of 2016, this Aston Martin was offered at auction in Monterey in 2018.

The winning bidder was a German collector and keen historic racing driver, who promptly entrusted the respected competition car specialist Tim Samways Sporting & Historic Car Engineers to be prepared for the 2018 Masters Endurance Legends Championship. In addition to racing at Imola and the Nürburgring, DBR9/9 made a return to the hallowed asphalt of Le Mans, where it contested the Aston Martin Racing Festival curtain-raiser for the main event.

As interest and momentum grew around modern-era endurance cars in 2018, so DBR9/9 contested two rounds of the 2019 Masters Endurance Racing Legends Championship in 2019, as well, visiting the international temples of speed Spa-Francorchamps and Paul Ricard. This Aston Martin changed hands once more in 2020. DBR9/9’s new American custodian followed the previous owner’s lead, racing in select rounds of both the Peter Auto and Masters Endurance Racing Legends series.

Back in 2024, we were delighted to find this Aston a new home with a keen amateur racing driver on the continent. At the time it had been freshly refinished in the commemorative Pirelli livery in which the car finished the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007 and fastidiously prepared for historic competition by Venture Engineering. Incredibly, DBR9/9’s then-new owner proceeded to compete with the car in a number of historic motorsport events including the Spa Classic and, most pertinently, the Le Mans Classic in 2025.

For those wishing to continue this Aston Martin’s competition career, the car is accompanied by a generous spares package including sets of wheels shod with slick and wet tyres, a carbon-fibre front splitter and the updated AMR wing mirrors. It’s important to note that DBR9/9’s original chassis, which was replaced following the accident at Spa, will accompany the car on a bespoke rolling presentation frame.

The DBR9 was an incredibly important car for Aston Martin, reinstating the successes of yesteryear it had so desperately missed (and needed) and kickstarting factory and customer racing programmes which would go on to win races and titles in every corner of the globe. This four-time podium-finishing chassis, with its entirely traceable ownership history, played an instrumental role in the Works-supported Scuderia Italia BMS’s campaigns in 2006 and 2007, and would be a perfect car to contest any of the burgeoning modern endurance historic racing series.