Over the past decade, Aston Martin has done it all: class victories at Le Mans (2007, 2008 and 2014), shining moments (the superb Lola-Aston Martin prototype), failures (the AMR-One prototype that succeeded it), and also drama with the death of one of its drivers, the Dane Allan Simonsen, in the first laps of the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Aston Martin's return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans was also notable in its lengthy collaboration with Gulf Oil, the sky blue and orange colours of which claimed the top step on the podium three times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 (the Ford GT40 driven by Pedro Rodriguez-Lucien Bianchi), 1969 (the Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx-Jackie Oliver) and 1975 (the Gulf-Mirage GR8 prototype driven by Jacky Ickx-Derek Bell).

In 2005, Aston Martin's return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans took place at the same time as James Bond's on the big screen. The British crown's most famous secret agent, played by Daniel Craig in the last four films, renewed the thread of its long history with Aston Martin...undoubtedly in reference to the Sean Connery's renowned DB5 in the 1964 movie "Goldfinger."

So, from 2006 to 2011 the British manufacturer's prototypes and GTs seen at Le Mans sported the famous double zero of 007...but James Bond's "license to kill" morphed into a "license to win" whether at Le Mans, in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the various Le Mans series! But after the consecutive standardization with the creation of the Endurance Championship in 2012, the Aston Martins have been numbered 95 to 99.

Aston Martin's great triumphs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans will follow in a second installment...

Photo: In 2014, Aston Martin clinched what is to this day its last class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in LM GTE Am by the Danish trio Nicki Thiim-Kristian Poulsen-David Heinemeier Hansson.