Racar Motorsport claim the GT4 silverware as the Ultimate Cup Series starts at Paul Ricard

Racar Motorsport claim the GT4 silverware as the Ultimate Cup Series starts at Paul Ricard

 


A somewhat successful debut within the Ultimate Cup Series for the Portuguese based Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Racing powered team as their two Vantage GT4 crews secured five out of a possible eight class podiums at last weekend’s season opener.

Having got themselves race ready with a few rounds within the now concluded GT4 Winter Series, the team entered both of their available 17A versions of the Vantage GT4 for the series opener from Circuit Paul Ricard in France for drivers Antonio Lopes/Matthieu Martins aboard the #09 car and Ruben Vaquinhas and Roberto Faria aboard the #777 car.


Racing within the GT Sprint races as well as within the new for 2024 AMR Trophy class (although they were the sole Aston Martins entered), that give each driver two twenty-five-minute races (approximately eleven laps for a GT4) around the long mistral circuit.

In Friday’s first races, the #09 car of Martins claimed a class win whilst the sister #777 car of Vaquinhas claimed third in class for a decent season opener. The second race saw the #777 car of Faria move up the order by also claiming a class win whilst the #09 car of Lopes finished fourth in class.


Saturday wasn’t quite as successful however for the #777 as Vaquinhas suffered early issues of his second race to retire the car on only the third lap whilst Martins went on to claim his double with another class win – as did Faria in his final race of the weekend with Lopes again coming home in fourth.


The series now gets onto home turf for the Racar Motorsport team as the next round will be at Portimao at the end of May.

Photo credit - Team / social media
Monday, March 18, 2024 | Read more...
P2 first time out of the box for FHK Racing at the Sepang 12hr

P2 first time out of the box for FHK Racing at the Sepang 12hr

 


First time Aston Martin Racing racers, FHK Racing, continued the fine AMR form this weekend as they scooped a well-earned class podium at the end of the Sepang 12Hr yesterday.

Usually associated with Porsche racing hard wear, the New Zealand based team continued this new AMR/Earl Bamber Motorsport association seen of late within the GT4 class to help the Franco/Kiwi driving trio of Francois Beziac, Heremana Malmezac and Jono Lester to claim an overall seventh placed finish as well as second within their own GT3 AM Class.


Only confirmed to the world just over a week ago, the crew arrived in Malaysia full of hope and trepidation having never ran a full specification GT3 car before but with the professionalism of the EBM team around them, their combined qualifying times placed the #71 car in for a P11 start out of the seventeen listed runners having started the race weekend down at the tail end of the timing screen and nearly five seconds off the pace.


As the race began and the track temperatures rose, some others fell by the wayside but the #71 quickly elevated itself up the running order to be within the top three in class.

Eventually finishing P7 overall and P2 in class, the #71 completed their inaugural (and twelve hour long) account with Aston Martin Racing twelve laps down to the eventual race and GT3 Am class winners.


Question is now – what’s next for this EBM prepared AMR Vantage GT3?

Well done team!

Photo credits – Team / social media / Reso Works
Sunday, March 17, 2024 | Read more...
Two top five finishes and important points on the board again for the Heart of Racing after another gruelling 12 hour visit to Sebring

Two top five finishes and important points on the board again for the Heart of Racing after another gruelling 12 hour visit to Sebring

 


The Heart of Racing Team left Sebring International Raceway with two top five finishes following the 72nd running of the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin GTD PRO entry scored a fifth place result and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin GTD entry landed a fourth place finish.

The stacked lineup of the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 GTD PRO entry included Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, and Mario Farnbacher. During Friday’s sunny and hot afternoon qualifying session, Farnbacher qualified the No. 23 Heart of Racing entry second in class. 


Farnbacher was first behind the wheel for Saturday’s 9:40am start, completing the first two stints while maintaining a top three position before handing the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to Riberas. Gunn was next in the driver's seat as the team raced in podium position at the halfway mark.

The second half of the twelve hour enduro saw seven caution periods and the Farnbacher, Riberas, Gunn trio each took another turn in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The trio was able to stay in the top five for a majority of the second half until a late race drive through penalty forced the team to the back of the GTD PRO field. Undeterred, Gunn was able to push forward in the last hour of the enduro, to cross the finish line in fifth.


After the race, Gunn added that “Sebring was a tough day at the office for everyone but I’m super proud of everyone that pulled together to get a P5. I don't think we had a P5 pace car today, unfortunately but it gave us more time and more mileage on the car for everybody to learn. You know, this is only the second race for the car. To be fighting some of the best teams, drivers and cars in the world. Its early stages are very encouraging. We've got a few things to analyze and few things to work on. But overall, good points again. Compared to last year, we are way more ahead points wise from Daytona and Sebring than last year. I think that's a positive that we can take through to Laguna.” 


The No. 27 Heart of Racing GTD entry featured Ian James, Roman De Angelis, and Zacharie Robichon.

James started from the ninth row after qualifying for the team on Friday afternoon. James completed his three stints in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the first four hours of the twelve hour enduro, setting the stage for De Angelis and Robichon to finish the remainder of the race. De Angelis was in the fourth place position as the halfway mark ticked away. 


Taking turns each stint, De Angelis and Robichon battled through the remaining caution filled six hours that featured a typically warm afternoon. The duo was able to maintain their fourth place position as De Angelis took the checkered flag in fourth.

“I mean finishing Sebring in fourth is kind of bittersweet. It’s nice to get some points on the board after Daytona but then there is ‘what could have been.’ Just lacked a little bit of pace all day today but I think we were one of the cars that just kept our nose clean and defended. The Heart of Racing did a great job, we had a good result for both cars. Ready to come back stronger. Now we start sprint racing and I’m looking forward to that" said De Angelis after the race.


The Heart of Racing IMSA program will be back in action on the streets of Long Beach, April 19-21st.

Source material - HoRT
Sunday, March 17, 2024 | Read more...
A great day for the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 as success gained both at the front and in class yesterday

A great day for the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 as success gained both at the front and in class yesterday

 


Yesterday’s second round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series to Sebring in Florida proved itself to be a monumentally successful affair for the as four out of the six Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entered came away with some silverware.

Following the trend of the opening round from Daytona back in late January, it was again the #46 Team TGM AMR of a revised driver line up of Hugh Plumb and Paul Holton (in for the still recuperating Owen Trinkler) who stole the march for their stablemates during the early sessions by Qualifying just off the front row in third. The #19 Van Der Steur AMR of Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot just lost out on a similar starting position as Qualifying came to an end on Thursday, but they would be just behind in fifth.


Like most races, qualifying only factors in the positions of each car as they cross the start line for the first time of asking and yesterday’s two-hour affair was no different as battles ensued and those in front tried to make their escape. Whilst the from AMR runners held station, those lower down the order had more work upon their hands as Todd Coleman in his #88 Archangel car was P14, Ramin Abdolvahabi in his #09 Automatic car was P21, Frank DePew in the new 2024 (and reliveried) Vantage GT4 was P22 whilst Ted Giovanis had TCR cars nibbling at his rear in P26.


Whilst Holton listed an early fastest lap aboard the #46 car, DePew received a warning about his start line car positioning but luckily there was no penalty to serve as the race continued into its first half hour.

Then, disaster came for Coleman and his #88 car as liquid was released, power being to fail before flames were seen to be licking the underneath of his Archangel prepared car as he dived off track in the search of track marshal intervention. Thankfully, one of the roadside mobile crews were quickly on scene with fire damage being kept to a minimum whilst the damage had already been done to Coleman’s third IMSA sanctioned race this season.


A lengthy clean up period obviously led to changes in strategies but with the forty-minute minimum drive time still to elapse, it would make for some interesting pit wall choices moving forward.

Taking their drive time length to the minimum limit, both the #71 Rebel Rock and #09 Automatic cars pitted for full service with forty-five-minute remaining but the entry angle of the #09 into their pit box meant for a time delaying push back as they swapped to Rob Ecklin for the final stint whilst Robin Liddell would get into the new version of Vantage GT4 for Rebel Rock.


Green, back to Full Course Yellow, back to green back to Safety car as cautions again bred cautions and all of that ultimately left us with a forty-minute sprint to the flag as the #71 had lifted itself up to P2 and the #19 VDS car of Hasse-Clot up to P3 by this stage.

Eighteen minutes to go and the #19 VDS car was having to fight hard to maintain its position with an eager BMW, Ford Mustang and McLaren bunching up behind him. Initially conceding T17 to the BMW, the Frenchman had other ideas as he undercut the #39 BMW to retake third and the chase to the podium.


Seven minutes to go and the chasing #44 Porsche that had been reeling in the #71 Aston up ahead suddenly pulled over (maybe fuel) giving Liddell the space that he needed to the end whilst contact behind the #19 VDS Aston saw both the charging BMW and McLaren eliminate each other from the proceedings to allow both Aston’s to finally come home unchallenged for an AMR 1-2 at the chequered flag.


Having started the race from P23 out of a GS class grid of twenty-six cars, the #71 Rebel Rock crew had worked miracles to achieve Aston Martin Racing’s first competitive race win for their new 2024 40A iteration of car in only its third race meeting whilst the Van Der Steur team also confirmed just how competitive the outgoing 17A version of the Vantage GT4 still was for some much-needed Championship points.

Further back, the #09 Automatic crew of Abdolvahabi and Ecklin secured a class win within their respective Bronze Cup whilst the #64 Team TGM Aston of Giovanis and Hugh Plumb came home P18 overall and P2 in Bronze Cup to round off a very achieving race afternoon in Florida. The #46 Team TGM Aston Martin also finished not totally out of it by coming home a warranted fourth overall whilst the #88 Archangel car was sadly another DNF.


Friday was a good day for the Aston Martin Racing powered teams – let’s see what the rest of it brings with the 12 Hours of Sebring and the three AMR Vantage GTD cars from both the Heart of Racing and Magnus racing teams.

And here's wishing Owen Trinkler a speedy recovery and return to a racetrack very soon!

Photo credits – AMR / Teams / Social media
Saturday, March 16, 2024 | Read more...
New Vantage GT4 comes of age to win third time out

New Vantage GT4 comes of age to win third time out


The brand-new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 has made history by claiming victory in only its second outing in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, a support of event for this weekend’s world-famous Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida.

In only its third competitive start, the Rebel Rock Racing-run Vantage GT4 – which has yet to race anywhere else other than North America in 2024 – charged through from 23rd on the grid to record a spectacular win in the Alan Jay Automotive 120 two-hour race on the challenging airfield circuit, run on Friday afternoon.

Driver and team owner Frank DePew (USA) took the start and steadily moved forward while staying clear of trouble. Then with clever strategy, the team racing in its home state, pitted as early as possible for its final fuel stop, emerging second on the road under caution and behind the Safety Car with 40 minutes to go.


Once the race went green, DePew’s co-driver Robin Liddell (GBR) made an audacious three-wide pass for the lead and then fended off a sustained attack from Aston Martin Racing works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot to the chequered flag. The Frenchman eventually finished second with team-mate Rory van der Steur (USA) in a previous generation Aston Martin Vantage GT4. American duo Matt Plumb and Paul Holton finished fourth in Team TGM’s Vantage GT4 in a successful day for the British ultra-luxury sportscar brand.


Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport said: “To win on only its third competitive outing is an outstanding achievement for the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4. There is still much for us and our partner teams to learn about the car, which has barely even begun its racing story. But this is a great foundation for us to start from and is a very clear indicator of how user friendly and raceable the car is ahead of its European debut next month. We would like to congratulate Rebel Rock Racing, a new partner for us in 2024, on a race perfectly executed as well as great drives by Frank and Robin.”

Source material - AMR
Saturday, March 16, 2024 | Read more...
In other news this week

In other news this week

 


With the two IMSA Series stealing much of the airtime this weekend with their visit to the bumps of the Sebring International Raceway, there is still much to keep an eye for from other Aston Martin Racing powered teams across the world as well.

Starting in France, the Ultimate Cup Series opens their 2024 account within their opening race weekend from the Circuit Paul Ricard which also hosts the opening salvo’s of their new AMR Trophy class.


Incorporated into the existing Sprint GT Touring rounds, this opening round has attracted two such AMR Vantage GT4 cars from the Portuguese Racar Motorsport team and their driving crews of Ruben Vaquinhas and Roberto Faria aboard the #777 car and Mathieu Martins and Antonio Lopes aboard the #09 car.

This weekend will bring the twenty-two strong mixed class grid four twenty-five-minute races around the Mistral circuit.


Then over in Japan, we have Tomonobu Fujii and Marco Sorensen pairing up for the first time within D’Station Racing’s new Vantage GT3 as they embark upon their first full Super GT Official test together at the Okayama circuit before the opening round of the season there this time next month.


Previous tests have meant for Fujii to test alone due to Sorensen’s extremely busy 2024 schedule.

Not too far away from then in Sepang, the latest AMR Partner team in FHK Racing are about to embark upon their first ever race within tehir new AMR Vantage GT3 as drivers Francois Beziac, Heremana Malmezac and Jono Lester continue to ready themselves for this weekend’s event.


Usually associated with Porsche machinery, questions of where this New Zealand based squad will compete next or whether this was a one-off event with the Aston Martin are at the forefront of our minds. Only time will tell there!!

And finally, midweek testing for many teams has just come to an end as notably, the Racing Spirit of Leman team were out at Nogaro this week with at least one of tehir new 2024 40A specification Vantage GT4’s whilst young lady racer Logan Hannah was out testing with the GPA Racing team and Baudouin Detout in their older 17A version of the Vantage GT4 at the same venue.




Then at Misano in Italy, the Comtoyou Racing team were back out with one of their new AMR Vantage GT3’s with their diverse driver squad expected to take part within the GT World Challenge Endurance and Sprint Cup rounds this year.

Photo credits – Teams / social media
Friday, March 15, 2024 | Read more...
AMR GTD teams look forward to 12Hrs of Sebring

AMR GTD teams look forward to 12Hrs of Sebring

The brand-new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and GT4 return to racing action this weekend as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) gathers at Sebring International Raceway for one of North America’s most prestigious endurance events; the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, in Florida.

Three examples of the new Vantage GT3 – which made a successful international competition debut at the series-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in January prior to its official unveiling in February – will contest Sebring. Aston Martin Racing’s partner teams, US-based the Heart of Racing and Magnus Racing, seek to build on the car’s encouraging fourth place in the season opener as well as the fantastic LMGT3 class double-podium finish recorded by HoR and D’station Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship curtain-raiser in Qatar earlier this month.


Works AMR driver Ross Gunn makes his fourth start in the Sebring 12 Hours as the Briton joins GTD Pro race-winner Alex Riberas and HoR’s new signing Mario Farnbacher in the team’s #23 GTD Pro entry; the sole Aston Martin in the class, which led at Daytona and finished fourth on its debut.


The sister #27 GTD class HoR Vantage GT3 also led its class at Daytona and some of its crew head into Sebring aiming to add to their glittering list of Aston Martin accolades. The 2022 IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis, was also the 2021 IMSA Sprint Cup title winner and was victorious in the 2023 Rolex 24 alongside team principal Ian James, who he shares a car with again this weekend. The duo has finished on the GTD podium twice at the bumpy former airfield venue, placing second in 2019 and third in 2020. Both drivers will be joined by 2021 GTD class winner Zacharie Robichon.


Magnus Racing is no stranger to victory at Sebring either, having won the GTD class on its race debut in 2014. A decade on and the squad, which specialises in IMSA’s endurance events (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta) is chasing victory again with team owner John Potter and his American compatriots Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly.

Source material - AMR
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | Read more...
Two young Prosport Racing driver line ups confirmed within the GT4 European Series

Two young Prosport Racing driver line ups confirmed within the GT4 European Series

 


The GT4 European Series continues to go from strength to strength ahead of this season’s six round calendar as the German based Prosport Racing become just the latest in a long line of teams confirming the participation.

Today saw the Christoph Esser team confirm another two car Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entry with an even younger line up than usual as two times ADAC GT4 Germany Series winner Hugo Sasse splits from his usual cohort of Mike David Ortmann to partner the younger Raphael Rennhofer in one car whilst Henrik Still partners GT newcomer Fabio Rauer.


Rennhofer we may remember, debuted with the team last year in the latter stages of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series whilst Still comes across to the Aston Martin GT4 platform with full experience of GT4 racing within a Porsche. Rauer meanwhile comes straight to GT4 from Karting.


They join the likes of Mirage Racing, GPA Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman who have already confirmed similar entries into the series that starts at Paul Ricard in early April.

Photo credits – Team / Series
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | Read more...
Six AMR Vantage GT4s at Michelin Pilot Challenges visit to Sebring

Six AMR Vantage GT4s at Michelin Pilot Challenges visit to Sebring

 


Whilst we had five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s take part in the second round of the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge around the hybrid airfield and street circuit that is St Petersburg last weekend, we look forward to six such cars taking part within the second round of the Michelin Pilot Series this weekend around the airfield circuit of Sebring International Raceway.

With that, three such teams endure a busy double header weekend with taking part in both race weekends as the Rebel Rock Racing, Van Der Steur and Archangel teams join those from the Team TGM and Automatic Racing teams for this weekend’s action.


Last time out for the series at the IMSA season opener around Daytona in Late January when that four hour race became a typical ‘first day at school’ for many but that gave the #46 TGM car of Owen Trinkler and Matt Plumb the opportunity to overcome pain and injury (from Trinkler’s point of view) to grab third overall by the end with the sister #64 car of team boss Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson to take a Bronze Cup win for a team double podium celebration too.

The entry list, however, shows Paul Holton aboard the #46 car in lieu of Trinkler, so there is a story to be told there.


The #71Rebel Rock Racing team with drivers Frank DePew and Robin Liddell again return as sole runners of the new 2024 AMR Vantage GT4 after the opening round presented the team with the expected new race car gremlins to start to come home with the next AMR best finish in P9 although DePew did suffer more issues around the streets of St Petersburg last weekend for a disappointed debut within that series (having had to sit out round one at Daytona due to the lack of spares).


The #88 Archangel car of Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz return after Coleman finally got in some decent lap times last weekend at St Pete’s after their disastrous start to the season after contact lead to time penalties and repeated visits to pit lane to make repairs and serve their penance for track and pit lane violations. This race cannot go any worse that that so the only way for these guys is up!


The #19 Van Der Steur car of Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse Clot is now down to a two-driver entry after a third driver (Dominic Starkweather) was present at Daytona where the trio finished just outside of the top ten in P11, so both remaining drivers will be looking for something more around the bumpy track of Sebring.


That leaves the #09 Automatic Racing entry for the Stoner Car Care crew of Rob Ecklin and Ramin Abdolvahabi as they too ran out at Daytona for a P16 overall finish – that this time within the Bronze Cup sub class as they were running with Brandon Kidd at the time. For Sebring, they are back within the Bronze Cup runners.


Sebring’s race, this Friday afternoon will be back to the series usual two-hour race length around the 3.74-mile circuit. The entry list shows twenty-six GS (GT4 based cars) running with another fourteen TCR based entries.

The race is waved off at 15:15hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / social media / H Pittman
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | Read more...
A rain soaked British GT Media Day still brings out the smiles

A rain soaked British GT Media Day still brings out the smiles

 


Having seen another healthy grid of over thirty-six cars as well as an increased Aston Martin Racing powered participation this year, this season’s British GT Championship kicked off with its annual Media Day from an unfortunate rain soaked Donington Park Circuit.

Despite this, the paddock car parks had already filled nicely with a large crowd already milling around the back of the garages and team trailers as the first of three track sessions slowly go underway.


Whilst the rain was at its most persistent, none of the Forsetti Motorsport, Blackthorn Motorsport nor Beechdean AMR teams felt it necessary to risk the cars in such atrocious track conditions, although many did as the Championship never runs in ideal conditions throughout its seven-venue season.

The first race of the year had of course already been done as the Norfolk based Forsetti team had managed to leg it back from Barcelona from where they and their drivers Mikey Porter and Jamie Day had secured all three available Championship wins within the GT4 Winter Series. To conclude that by mid Sunday afternoon and then be ready in the Donington paddock with two AMR Vantage GT4’s on Tuesday was a feat in itself!


This team would be fielding both 17A and 40A versions of the Vantage GT4 for the purposes of the Media Day as drivers Marc Warren and Will Orton awaited delivery of their new 40A car some time ahead of next week’s Oulton Park test ahead of the opening rounds of the season at that venue over the Easter weekend. Whilst both crews would circulate, each would get seat time within the new car with their older cars now destined for further racing within the British GT Sup Championship.


A few garage bays along, we had the Blackthorn Team who were also supporting both 16A and 38A versions of the AMR Vantage GT3 for much as the same reasons as Forsetti (in awaiting delivery of cars and conversion kits as in the case for the #87 car) whilst the team’s #10 16A car had already been converted to the new 2024 specification.


For much of the morning, the presence of just Matt Topham and Josh Rowledge with their #10 car were obvious within the team’s garage as it turned out that Italian racer Giacomo Petrobelli was still on business in London and he would be making his way up to the circuit to meet up with his co-driver, Jonny Adam for the afternoon sessions.

With rain having eased slightly and the Forsetti crews already out in track within their GT4’s, the #10 Blackthorn car of Rowledge was prepared for its first run of the day however, disaster struck only halfway around their out lap as panicky messages were heard over the team radio of big contact being made at the same time as the days first red flag was waved. What that turned out to be was some perhaps ‘over exuberance’ on that out lap that took the #10 car off track and into the tyre wall by itself.


By the time the car was returned to the garage (with the driver already having been confirmed as OK), the damage first appeared cosmetic to the redefined aero panels of the rear half of the car, but the trouble was that the team didn’t have any of the panels available to them such was the supply shortage still from AMR Prodrive factory. There was also unseen damage to the car with and for the case of Topham and Rowledge – their day was already done.

That left the blue and black #87 car of Petrobelli and Adam – a car that co-incidentally was the Vantage GT3 that Topham owned and raced at the Portimao round of the British GT Championship last year alongside Marcus Clutton with Enduro Motorsport. Transferring ownership of the car to the team was apparently part of the deal that Topham had struck with the team so both Vantage GT3’s will be 16A conversions once both get completed in time for next week’s Oulton Park test (such was the plan prior to yesterday’s damage).


Finally, but by no means least, saw Andrew Howards Beechdean AMR team return to the Championship for their umpteenth season – also sporting the test and development 16A Vantage to new 38A 2024 specification but with a whole new package for this year.

Gone has their usual Pro-Am status to run within the relatively new Silver-Am class as Aston Martin F1 Ambassador Jessica Hawkins joins Howard within the #97 car as confirmed just last week.


As well as class and co-driver this season comes a new livery that is apparently in homage to an Aston Martin DBR that Le Mans.

With Howard very familiar of the risks of going out on such a wet track so early into the season, the team did spend much of their time with the comforts of their garage during the morning and only venturing out as and when track conditions had improved. The car was also blighted by an apparent mis functioning sensor within the engine compartment that kept necessitating quick returns to the pit lane for data analyses and inspection.










By the time the afternoon sessions had started, the team had appeared to have remedied that issue to allow (particularly) Hawkins more significant track time within the #97 before they too attend Oulton Park next week.

All in all (and despite the unfortunate incident with the #10 car) it appeared to be a productive day most as whilst many had already been out testing and racing around Europe since the new year, some had not and Oulton Park with a busy grid is never the best place to start your season rusty!!

Game on.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | Read more...