The 2011 Le Mans race was a disaster for Aston Martin.

The two Aston Martin AMR –One prototypes were the first two cars out the race on just the second and fourth laps respectively.

Things are much brighter for Aston Martin here so far in 2012. The program switched from the LMP1 Prototype to the GT category with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The GTE-Pro entry with Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and former ALMS champion Adrian Fernandez qualified second.

Now, heading into the first round of pit stops, the Astons lead both the GTE-Pro class with #97 Stefan Mucke and the GTE-Am class with Allen Simonsen aboard the #99.