Welcome to Silverstone for the Annual 24-Hour Race

It's fantastic to be back here again at Silverstone, and I've been invited to do the race in this GT4 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The reason we're here is two-fold. Firstly, it's to really enjoy ourselves and have a fantastic weekend. Secondly, it's because Andy Palmer, the new boss of Aston Martin, is making his sort of race debut, and he's carrying on the great tradition of Aston Martin bosses who've actually practiced what they preached - got in a car, got out there, and done it.

As we head out onto the track for qualifying, we're joined by two other members of the team: Marrick Reichman, the design director, responsible for the look of all Aston Martins that are on the race today; and Alice Powell, 22-year-old racing driver who's making us all feel thoroughly middle-aged and slow. We're about to go out and do some qualifying now, and then hopefully we'll get a decent night's sleep and tomorrow it's time for our race faces.

The cars are going to the grid now, and Alice is in the car. How are you doing? Yeah, good feeling, good about it, ready to go. We're all set for this moment, which has been weeks in the making - not just for me, but for everyone involved in the team. Welcome to just past dawn at Silverstone; the new day broke thank goodness with the rain finally stopping, and the track is now dry. We've had the most extraordinary night, we've all been out in it, I mean I meant to be the experienced one here and I've never driven for that long before.

But the car has been perfect, and we're feeling good about where we are on the leaderboard - P8 moving into P7. Unlike us pampered drivers who have at least managed to get our heads down for a couple of hours, these guys have been at it all night with the results that you can see before you. It's still got a long way to go, though - 9 hours of racing left to go, and it feels like we've been there a week. Let's just hope we can keep our noses clean and keep going around.

We're now 18 hours into the race, and only 60 minutes left for the next stint doesn't sound like anything does it? It is quite a bit, though - until I found myself going backwards on somebody else's oil at 100 plus miles per hour; the exit of Becket was all going very well. Luckily, we got away with that one. We're P7 at the moment, with only 6 hours to go, and there are three Aston Martins in the top 10. Everybody's had a really tough night, but we're in one piece, hoping for some good news in the next few hours.

We did it! Fifth overall is unbelievable - 24 hours ago, I never imagined this would be possible. We've just crossed the finish line, and now Andy is last approaching the pit lane.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enuh welcome to silverston for the annual 24-hour race uh they actually haven't had one here for a few years it really is fantastic to be back here again uh I've been invited to do the race in this GT4 Aston Martin V8 Vantage um why are we here uh two reasons really first is to really really enjoy ourselves and have a fantastic weekend um the second reason is because Andy Palmer the new bot of Aston Martin this is his sort of race debut and he's carrying on the great tradition of Aston Martin bosses who've actually practiced what they preached got in a car got out there and done it um which I think is fantastic so there's me I'm the hanger on I'm the jno here to sort of record what goes on um there's marrick reichman who is the design director and has been responsible for the look of all Aston Martins that are out there on the race today and then there's the Hot Shot who is uh Alice Powell 22y old racing driver um who is making us all feel thoroughly middle-aged and slow uh we're about to go out and do do some qual now um and then hopefully we'll go and get a decent night's sleep and tomorrow it's time for our race faces so this is finally it this is the moment we've been waiting not just days but weeks and my case months for um the cars are going to the grid now Alice is in the car Alice how you doing yeah good feeling good about it ready to go yeah we're ready to go excellent good morning everybody um welcome to just past Dawn at silveron um the new day broke thank goodness with the rain finally stopping um and the track is now dry we' had the most extraordinary night we've all been out in I mean I meant to be the experienced one here and I've never driven for that long and fish that bad um but the car has been perfect we've all been out in it um and the prize is be like as we are now p8 moving in on p7 um and unlike us pampered drivers who have at least managed to get our heads down for a couple of hours and that these guys have been at it all night with the results that you can see before you anyway it's uh still got a long way to go um 8 nine hours of racing still to go uh it feels like we've been there a week but anyway uh let's just hope we can keep our noses clean keep going around uh and be there at 4:00 this afternoon um so that was the first of the daylight stin we're now 18 hours into the race um only 60 go doesn't sound like anything does it um it is quite a bit uh stint was uh until I found myself going backwards on somebody else's oil at 100 plus miles hour the exit of Becket so it was all going very well uh luckily got away with that um but you know the car is fantastic we're p7 at the moment 6 hours to go um there are three Aston in the top 10 um everybody's had a really really tough night but you know we're in one piece and uh hope that we have some good news in 6 hours time um we did it Fifth overall unbelievable um 24 hours ago never imagined this to be possible um Andy the last about to come down the pit Lane we're all very tired probably all a bit emotional too but it's just been the best best weekend auh welcome to silverston for the annual 24-hour race uh they actually haven't had one here for a few years it really is fantastic to be back here again uh I've been invited to do the race in this GT4 Aston Martin V8 Vantage um why are we here uh two reasons really first is to really really enjoy ourselves and have a fantastic weekend um the second reason is because Andy Palmer the new bot of Aston Martin this is his sort of race debut and he's carrying on the great tradition of Aston Martin bosses who've actually practiced what they preached got in a car got out there and done it um which I think is fantastic so there's me I'm the hanger on I'm the jno here to sort of record what goes on um there's marrick reichman who is the design director and has been responsible for the look of all Aston Martins that are out there on the race today and then there's the Hot Shot who is uh Alice Powell 22y old racing driver um who is making us all feel thoroughly middle-aged and slow uh we're about to go out and do do some qual now um and then hopefully we'll go and get a decent night's sleep and tomorrow it's time for our race faces so this is finally it this is the moment we've been waiting not just days but weeks and my case months for um the cars are going to the grid now Alice is in the car Alice how you doing yeah good feeling good about it ready to go yeah we're ready to go excellent good morning everybody um welcome to just past Dawn at silveron um the new day broke thank goodness with the rain finally stopping um and the track is now dry we' had the most extraordinary night we've all been out in I mean I meant to be the experienced one here and I've never driven for that long and fish that bad um but the car has been perfect we've all been out in it um and the prize is be like as we are now p8 moving in on p7 um and unlike us pampered drivers who have at least managed to get our heads down for a couple of hours and that these guys have been at it all night with the results that you can see before you anyway it's uh still got a long way to go um 8 nine hours of racing still to go uh it feels like we've been there a week but anyway uh let's just hope we can keep our noses clean keep going around uh and be there at 4:00 this afternoon um so that was the first of the daylight stin we're now 18 hours into the race um only 60 go doesn't sound like anything does it um it is quite a bit uh stint was uh until I found myself going backwards on somebody else's oil at 100 plus miles hour the exit of Becket so it was all going very well uh luckily got away with that um but you know the car is fantastic we're p7 at the moment 6 hours to go um there are three Aston in the top 10 um everybody's had a really really tough night but you know we're in one piece and uh hope that we have some good news in 6 hours time um we did it Fifth overall unbelievable um 24 hours ago never imagined this to be possible um Andy the last about to come down the pit Lane we're all very tired probably all a bit emotional too but it's just been the best best weekend a\n"