Prodrive are once again world champions after the Aston Martin Racing team clinched the Le Mans Series title at Silverstone.

The 007 Gulf-liveried LMP1 car of Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished third in the final round of the Le Mans Series, which was enough to secure the title.

Prodrive and Aston Martin chairman, David Richards, said: ”It’s fantastic that 50 years on from Aston Martin winning the World Sports Car Championship, Aston Martin Racing has triumphed again, winning the Le Mans Series.

"It really is an impressive result and I am extremely proud of the whole team.”

The three Prodrive-run Aston Martins made a clean start to the 195-lap race which commenced with a rolling start at 11:35.

Mücke took the lead across the start line in 007, Turner held third in 009 and Buncombe gained a place moving up to sixth in the 008 Aston Martin.

The race lead changed several times over the first half of the race with the top five cars all on different pit stop strategies, but at the three-hour mark the Aston Martins were running second (007), fourth (009) and 24th (008) overall.

Aston Martin Racing team principal, George Howard-Chappell, said: “This is a perfect end to what has been an incredible season for Aston Martin Racing. Full credit to the team and drivers who have worked tirelessly. Thanks to the dedication of the team the cars have been reliable all year. To end the season on the podium at our home race where the support for the team has been fantastic is really the icing on the cake.”

Although the 2009 Le Mans Series has finished, the Prodrive team now heads to the inaugural Asian Le Mans Series race meeting in Okayama, Japan on the October 31 and November 1.