Banbury's Aston Martin Racing team will be returning to the United States to contest the second and third rounds of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Houston and Mid-Ohio, following their double podium finish in the opening round at Sebring in March.

Starting at the Lone Star Grand Prix in Houston on Friday, May 12, the inaugural running of the street race in the ALMS calendar Aston Martin Racing will field two DBR9s before moving on to Mid-Ohio, for the two-hour, 25-minute sprint race which takes place on Sunday, May 21.

The Lone Star Grand Prix will take place on a 1.7-mile temporary street circuit at Reliant Park and the race will see the two Aston Martin Racing DBR9s facing challenging hairpin turns and fast straights.

Aston Martin Racing Team principal, George Howard-Chappell, said: "The next two races will be interesting as we have never been to either venue before. The street course at Houston will present its own challenges for the team.

"We have been working hard with our partner Pirelli to develop the tyres and the set-up and IMSA has done an excellent job in equalising performance within the GT1 class.

"The two DBR9s have been given a performance break and will run 25kg lighter than at Sebring which should result in really close racing between Aston Martin Racing and our competitors."

The Prodrive-run team's two DBR9s, which will compete in both races, will be numbered 007 and 009. In car 007Tomas Enge (Czech Republic) and Darren Turner, of Banbury, will take the wheel with Pedro Lamy (Portugal) and Stephane Sarrazin (France) in car 009.