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Aston Martin will mark the 50th anniversary of their first Le Mans 24 Hours victory this weekend by again lining up as underdogs against factory giants.

"It's very much a David and Goliath battle with Peugeot and Audi, big works teams, and with Aston Martin being relatively small," British driver Darren Turner said.

"Also the green light for the programme got given quite late, so its been a case of the whole team having to catch up and do the best possible job with the budget and the time available."

Fifty years ago, American Carroll Shelby and Englishman Roy Salvadori were in a similar position with Ferrari the favourites.

To beat them, Aston Martin sacrificed one of their three cars with Stirling Moss acting as the 'hare' to encourage the Italians to chase him at an unsustainably quick pace with consequent breakdowns.

This time it will be more a question of waiting and watching.

Champions Audi, with eight wins in the last nine years in the sportscar classic, and challengers Peugeot have diesel engined entries in a league of their own that dominated Wednesday's damp practice.

Turner's petrol-engined 008 Aston Martin, which he shares with compatriot Anthony Davidson and Dutch driver Jos Verstappen, was eighth quickest in the top 20-strong LMP1 prototype category but the team were encouraged enough.

"When Jos was in the car we were five seconds off the pace which was quite pleasing," said Turner, 35, a former McLaren Formula One test driver whose team mates have both raced in grands prix.

"Last year all the petrol cars were eight or nine seconds off the pace. So it looks like the deficit has closed somewhat."

Aston Martin, who have their own real David at Le Mans in chairman David Richards, will have to make the most of the changeable weather and any safety car periods, while hoping to cash in if the battle between Peugeot and Audi forces either team to push too hard.

"On performance, outright, we are not able to challenge the diesels. But at the moment it looks like we are in a reasonably good shape compared to the other petrol engined cars out there," said Turner, who has won with Aston Martin in the GT1 category for the past two years.

"If we can come away as top petrol (team) that would be fantastic but if we could also maybe get into the top six by the end of the race that would be a huge achievement for the team."

With some 70,000 British fans expected to cross the Channel for the race, the Gulf-liveried Aston Martins can count on strong support even if Scotland's Allan McNish is well placed to repeat last year's win for Audi.

"This year, I think it's a little bit more special because of Aston Martin celebrating their 50th anniversary and being in the LMP1 cars and having two Brits in the nine driver line-up," said Turner.

"It just gives it a little extra appeal to the British fans. it's a real British entry so hopefully we can reward them with some success on the track."

Sportscar maker Aston Martin, whose team are run by Richards' Prodrive company, are majority owned by Kuwait's Investment DAR.

Le Mans 24 Hours: Watch the entire event LIVE on British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 (Sky 410/411, Virgin Media 521/525). Warm-up 7.30am June 13 and full race from 1.30pm June 13; Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Reuters