Which American driver co-drove the winning Aston Martin DBR1 at Le Mans in 1959?

Carroll Shelby co-drove the winning Aston Martin DBR1 at Le Mans in 1959.

Shelby shared the No. 5 DBR1/300 with British driver Roy Salvadori in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Their Aston Martin completed 323 laps and finished ahead of the team’s second DBR1, driven by Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frère.

The victory was Aston Martin’s first and only outright win at Le Mans. It also helped Aston Martin secure the 1959 World Sportscar Championship, making the result one of the defining achievements of the DBR1 racing program.

A common mix-up is Stirling Moss, another Aston Martin star who raced at Le Mans that year. Moss co-drove a different works DBR1 with Jack Fairman, but that car did not win. Shelby, who later became famous as the creator of the Shelby Cobra and as a performance-car entrepreneur, was Salvadori’s winning teammate.