It's been so long now since the last round of the World Endurance Championship that we can't actually remember what stage of which season we have got to but at least the Championship is due back on track again from Spa Francorchamps in Belgium this weekend for what is now the closing trilogy of races of the year.

Apparently there is still unfinished business within Season 8 of the FIA sanctioned Championship to complete before the next season can begin in early 2021 as the world still comes to terms with the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.


The last round of the Championship was raced at the Circuit of the Americas way back at the tail end of February before a global lockdown and a radical rethink in calendar commitments across the board forced the WEC organisers to delay until a planned (but severely impacted) return to motor racing from Spa Francorchamps this weekend - date that was originally proposed for late April!!

Of course, the last round at CoTA was rather a successful one for the Aston Martin Racing and TF Sport V8 Vantage GTE contingent as Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen claimed a convincing GTE Pro class win aboard their #95 car whilst the #90 GTE Am car from TF Sport claimed the top step in that class with their #98 AMR stablemates a close second.


Having had to miss the next scheduled race in the calendar at Sebring because of COVID-19, the results after CoTA left both Thiim and Sorensen at the top of the GTE Pro drivers championship, twenty six points clear of the Ferrari crew in second whilst in the Am class Salih Yoluc, Jonny Adam and Charlie Eastwood lay just two points behind their Ferrari Am title challengers in second with the #98 crew of Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn in third.

Over the course of the enforced sabbatical, we learned of the news that Darren Turner was to step aside from the #98 GTE Am car and allow Augusto Farfus to take his position for the remainder of the season that now included just Spa, the Le Man 24hr in September before rounding off in Bahrain in November.


During the break in the WEC calendar, some drivers have been fortunate to be able to hone their skills within other real or e-race scenarios. Most of the AMR factory drivers competed within the WEC's own simulated Le Mans 24Hr event with the #95 car finishing in second in that whilst others have been using other category/classes of racing to keep themselves fit and alert before getting back to business at one of the toughest tracks about this weekend.

Whilst the #98 AMR GTE stayed within ACO rules racing for the opening rounds of the European Le Mans Series from Paul Ricard and last week at Spa, TF Sport's Yoluc and Eastwood spent last weekend away in Hungary racing a near identical GT3 version of the Vantage at the opening round of the International GT Open Series. Both crews came away with some spoils for their efforts so will already be race focussed for Spa.


Just six cars again grace the entry list of the GTE Pro class with two cars apiece from Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche whilst the Am class sees a reduced ten car grid ahead of Sundays six hour race.

We believe that there are no Balance of Performance adjustments to either class of AMR Vantage GTE going into this round so they each race with the performance levels that they did at CoTA and hot off a recent Michelin tyre test that all the AMR drivers did at Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain last month.


This has been a long time coming, having seen series like the ELMS, GT World Challenge Europe and other leading race series (including now of course the Le Mans 24hr) being forced to conduct their racing activities from behind closed doors shows us how perilous the regional or global situation still is with CV-19.

It's a crying shame that fans cannot access any of these circuits to enjoy what these race series still have to offer at the moment but if that is the cost that society has to pay today to remain fit and healthy tomorrow - then so be it we say.


And wear a mask too - there are lots a of snazzy ones about to if you look hard enough!!

Heres to the Spa 6Hrs.

Aston Martin Racing returns to action in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) for Round 6, at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, some 174 days after the team clinched the GTE Pro class victory in the previous round – the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Since then global motorsport has taken a necessary back seat as the world continues to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. This essential delay forced the cancellation of the 1000 Miles of Sebring back in March. It also led to WEC moving the Spa event from its original April date to 15 August, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans from its traditional June slot to 19-20 September. The championship will return to Bahrain for an 8-hour season finale on 21 November.




For Aston Martin Racing, this competitive return can’t come soon enough as the team seeks to build on its championship lead in the GTE Pro Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ standings. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE has recorded six class victories from a possible ten so far this season, which began at Silverstone a week short of a year ago. The all-Danish #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE crew of Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim holds a 26-point advantage in the GTE drivers’ table after three victories (in Japan, Bahrain and COTA) from five races, while Aston Martin is 32 points clear of rivals Porsche in the constructors’ championship.

Thiim said: “I’m stocked with energy and power, not just to drive, but to get out there and compete against the best in the world again. It has been a brilliant season for us with three wins and the championship lead and the target is to build on that this weekend.” Team-mate Sørensen added: “I’ve never felt more motivated to win a championship in my life. The team has used the coronavirus lockdown well and we have been training throughout this period as hard as we can.”



Team-mates Alex Lynn (GB) and Maxime Martin (BEL) in the #97 Vantage GTE return to the scene of their famous snowy GTE Pro victory from last season still seeking their first win of 2020. Having been pace-setters on several occasions in the 2019/20 season, the duo are third in the standings with three podium finishes so far. “I’m sad that there are no fans here for my home race, but it is a necessary precaution,” said home hero Martin. “Nevertheless, I love racing here at Spa and I see no reason myself and Alex can’t fight for the GTE Pro win this weekend.”

The works #98 Vantage is also seeking its first win of the year in the GTE Am category with the points situation incredibly tight at the top of the table. 2017 GTE Am world champion Paul Dalla Lana (CDN) and Ross Gunn (GB) are just 6.5 points off the lead after three consecutive podium finishes. This duo will be joined by BMW works driver Augusto Farfus (BR), who is a close friend of Dalla Lana’s. Indeed Farfus, along with Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda finished third in the GTE class in last weekend’s 4 Hours of Spa, using the European Le Mans Series race as a warm-up.



Aston Martin Racing partner team TF Sport has been a revelation in the GTE Am class this season and arrives at Spa two points off lead and with three victories under its belt for Salih Yoluc (TUR) and works drivers Jonny Adam (GB) and Charlie Eastwood (GB).

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal Paul Howarth added: “The coronavirus break has been a tough challenge for the entire organisation and it’s a relief to be back out there racing again in WEC. The team has put several protocols in place to protect our staff and the wider paddock community and we have every faith in WEC and the Belgian authorities to keep everyone safe. On track, this is a critical juncture in the championship. We hold an advantage in the points but a simple lapse in concentration could eliminate it swiftly. This is also our last opportunity to prepare for what will be a unique 24 Hours of Le Mans. Maximum focus and performance will be required this weekend from the whole team.”



The Total 6 Hours of Spa begins at 1330 CET, Saturday, 15 August.


Source material - AMR

Last weekends third round of the revised 2020 SRO GT4 America Series from the Sonoma Raceway on northern side of the Bay to San Francisco produced what must be for most national series, a record breaking streak of podium winning achievement for the most of the Aston Martin Racing teams that made the long trip to the west coast of the USA.

All very sadly missed by us due to prior commitments within our 'day job, like the previous round at VIR three weeks ago, Sonoma was to see their second consecutive triple header race weekend over the Course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the Series sought to catch up on races missed from their national lockdown problems from earlier in the year.


Flying Lizard Motorsports Michael Dinan was proving to be the man to beat with his #21 AMR Vantage GT4 having achieved a continuous podium streak since the start of the season from CoTA and this weekend was to be no different in the Sprint races just as he and Co-driver Robbie Foley would again reproduce in the longer Sprint X races.

Not too far behind them this weekend after having lost their way a little at VIR with some simple errors on track were the entries from Utah based Rearden Racing team. Again featuring three cars over the two race formats for customer drivers Paul Terry in Sprint and Jeff Burton alone in Sprint with Burton being again joined by resident team Pro driver Vesko Kozarov in Sprint X.


The #15 BSport Racing AMR of Bryan Putt and AMR Drivers Academy newest recruit Kenton Koch would again only compete in the three Sprint X races of the weekend as would the #33 Rennsport 1 AMR entry of Matt Dalton and Pat Gallagher.

The weekend for the #33 entry would however get off to a disastrous start and then end badly as Dalton would suffer an early testing accident at the circuit that would inflict significant front end damage to his car and whilst the crew and CSJ Motorsport would get that car back on track overnight, gremlins would soon creep back in leading to two DNF's and a DNS over the course of the weekend.


The snippets that we saw of the six available races was one of sheer dominance by the AMR Vantage running teams as the Flying Lizard and Rearden crews white washed the podium in races one and two of the Sprint Series before 'only' taking the top step in the final race on Sunday.

That level of performance almost crossed over into the larger competitive field of the Sprint X races as Dinan and Foley took three from three in their #210 car backed up by two podiums for the ∫Sport Racing crew in race two and three.


From a statistical point of view that was seven podium positions out of a possible nine for the Aston Martin Racing teams in Sprint and 5 podium finishes out of a possible nine in Sprint X. These, added to other podium successes for AMR teams elsewhere in the world attributed to a sizeable eighteen items of silverware going to AMR drivers last weekend alone!!

Now that must be some kind of record??


Whether or not that level of performance can be sustained by the teams or even be allowed to repeat itself under the Series Balance of Performance is yet to be seen but at least we won't have to wait too long as the Series returns at Road America in just two weeks time!!

Well done all!!

Photo credits - GT4 America

Two almost sure podium finishes yesterday for the AGS Events Racing team ripped out of their hands due to technical issues with just minutes to go for both cars yesterday must have been hard for all to deal with but deal with it they did and in the finest way possible earlier this morning.

Having already completed Qualifying for the second race of the weekend for round 2 of the GT4 European Series from Misano yesterday left AMR Academy Driver Valentin Hasse-Clot starting from the front row of Sundays grid in P2 with his Silver Cup class entry with team mate Nicolas Gomar doing likewise in their Am classed #89 entry from P10 overall and P2 in class.


Like his team mate Theo Nouet yesterday, Hasse-Clot was soon able to take to the front at the start of the hour long race before developing an elongating lead as his thirty minute stint ticked by. Gomar meanwhile, enjoyed a brief race within the top ten buts soon got mugged by various Pro-Am and Silver Cup cars just a few laps later to drop their car back down to P10 although still in the lead of his class.

Whilst the gap between P1 and P2 continued to expand, Gomar eventually lost the class lead to the #89 Mercedes before losing the next position in class just before he pitted - ahead of their sister #27 car in this race.


With Hasse-Clot having handed Nouet an eleven second cushion at their stop, even the threat of any possible return to the issues that blighted yesterday's race and thus racing a 'percentage race' today entered into the young Frenchman's mind as he continued to push until the end, eventually taking the chequered flag with commanding seventeen second gap.

A race win was nothing less than the AMR team deserved with their #27 Silver Cup car having been consistently fast since arriving again in Italy. The #89 Am crew also backed up that point with their third podium finish of the season so far with a P2 finish in class (P11 overall) as the Series gets a month off ahead of their next round from the Nurburgring in Germany in four weeks time.


A great result and a great display of character from the team having stepped up from FFSA GT4 this season! There's more to come from these guys this year we are sure.

Photo credits - GT4 European Series

Their mid year announcement that TF Sport would again compete within the International GT Open Series proved itself to be a good decision for the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 team as drivers Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood collected their second podium of the weekend with a P3 in Sundays shorter race.

Having had Yoluc undertake the Qualifying and race start duties in Saturdays race, Sunday saw Eastwood take the reigns of the #34 car this morning to place the car on the third row of the grid in P5 albeit only a quarter of a second off the pole setting McLaren's pace.


Fortunately for all, the opening lap was less of an issue this time around although race 2 saw two fewer cars make the start this time around after technical issues with one of the Bentleys and significant accident damage to the #5 Mercedes AMG forced then to sit this one out.

Taking a position on the opening corners, Eastwood quickly solidified his place on track as the race developed a rhythm, never quite able to push the two cars immediately ahead but fast enough to gap the car trying to do the same to him from behind. Running P4 overall but P3 in the Pro class, Eastwood would run the #34 car for as long as possible into the available post window before pitting from second on track with about 25 minutes of the one hour race remaining.


With Yoluc now in the car, all he had to do was maintain the gaps to those behind him as the battle for P4/5/6 was vigorous enough to be slowing all of them down and whilst he still had no answer to the race leader in front, time was running out for those behind.

Finally, the #11 Mercedes with a Pro driver inside got past the McLaren that had been serving as the mobile chicane on track and gave them just six minutes to make up the five second gap to Yoluc and then pass the Aston for the next step up the podium.


That occurred half way around the final lap when the #11 car tried to go the long way around Salih and made use of the concrete run off to gain momentum to pass the Aston into the next chicane that he also cut! With no new threat from behind, Yoluc had to let the yellow Mercedes go and settle for a P3 overall finish (P2 in Pro Class).

Later Yoluc would confirm that both cars had been reprimanded for their conduct on track as Race Control felt that Yoluc had pushed the Mercedes off track at the time but no revision of the finishing order has yet been made although results do remain Provisional!


Anyway, any podium finish is a podium finish and todays result places the #34 crew into fifth in the GT Open Championship table as the series moves on to Paul Ricard at the end of the month.

For TF Sport, their next race is of course this weekend coming at the resumption of the World Endurance Championship from Spa Francorchamps!

Photo credits - GT Open / TF Sport

After their spoils of the opening round of the revised 2020 GT4 European Series from Imola a couple of weekends ago, confidence must have been sky high within the French based AGS Events Racing team as their Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy Silver Cup #27 crew and #89 Am Class entry scooped three podium finishes between them at Imola.

That confidence and the marked difference in performance between their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's to the BMW M4 GT4's which were so dominant at Imola, also gave drivers Theo Nouet/Valentine Hasse-Clot and Nicolas Gomer/Giles Vannelet an extra tenth of a second as the #27 car claimed their first overall Pole Position of the season with the #89 car doing likewise in class in P5 on the grid.


As with the most of Europe at the moment, track temperatures in Italy were again very high, as was humidity and all nineteen car crews expected a tough day in the car managing both tyre degradation as well as themselves in that heat.

Starting alongside the Camaro on the front row of the grid, Nouet retained the lead going into the first corner although Vannelet did first appear to get 'mugged' by faster class cars around him although he did end the opening lap holding on to his P5 starting position.


Whilst Nouet quietly made some distance between him and the second placed car, Vannelet was again the one enjoying most of the racing action before two squabbling Am class cars further back ended that fun with a Full Course Yellow to extract one from the gravel. On the restart Nouet again held onto his front end position whilst the #89 drove a warranted P4 overall (P1 in Am Class) position on track.

Time lost in that caution period only gave Nouet another lap or two before he pitted from the lead to hand over to Hasse-Clot whilst the #89 elected to stay out with the 'lesser' driver almost until the end of the ten minute pit window.


After all stops had worked their way through the system, Hasse-Clot maintained their overall race lead and increased it somewhat to over eight seconds whilst their Am class team mates really had lost out on tracks having dropped from effective P4 before the stop to P11 overall but still P2 in class afterwards.

With just over 25% of the hour race to go disaster struck both Aston Martins as first Hasse-Clot suddenly slowed and ultimately stopped on track - got going again after a system reset before stopping again again on the same lap. With all of the pack having past the car that had until that stage dominated the opening forty minutes of the opening race of the weekend, their race was sadly done as they were recovered from the circuit by a track vehicle.


Also, but this time unseen on camera, the sister #89 had also limped its way back to the pit lane where it was also retired from the race with up until then undefined issues.

It was only some time after the chequered flag that the team confirmed that both cars suffered from fuel pick up issues that saw both cars enter their first (and hopefully last) DNF's of the season.


Tomorrows second race of the weekend sees both cars again start form the front - this time P2 in class each four Hasse-Clot P2 overall win the grid tomorrow with Gomar P10 overall/P2 in Am.

It can only get better for them this time around!!

Photo credits - GT4 European Series

Four years since last competing in the International GT Open Series with their then trusty Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3, Sussex based TF Sport took their long term customer racer Salih Yoluc back to the Series this weekend along with one of their new V8 Vantage GT3's for a little additional race seat time to help fill the gaps in their revised race calendars.

Returning with one of his current World Endurance Championship co-drivers in Charlie Eastwood, the opening pre race sessions from a very hot Hungaroring in Hungry saw some nice time advances for the #34 Pro Class crew as each gathered speed throughout the two testing and two Free Practice Sessions and into todays first race of the weekend having Qualified in P10 earlier in the day.


With Yoluc taking the start for this seventy minute race, the young Turk did the sensible thing of keeping himself out of harms way as the seventeen GT3 cars thundered into turn 1. Luckily he did really as at least three cars came together, some spinning off with two of those going into immediate retirement as a result.

Making use of his thirty minute of race time, Yoluc elevated the teams now familiar red liveried AMR Vantage GT3 up to P8 by the time he pitted at the start of the available pit stop window for fuel, tyres and a driver change.


Whilst the running order balanced itself out with some cars running a late pit stop strategy with having their Pro driver starting the race, Eastwood was soon all over the back of former F1 racer Christian Klein as he entered his final laps of the race before pitting - which must have been amusing for him at least!

By the time as the pit window had closed, the #34 AMR had moved top to P6 thanks to a stranded Bentley ahead of them in running order who had spun out aided which then brought out the Safety Car for recovery. Losing eleven minutes to that caution period it looked like Eastwood would have his work cut out as he featured as the tenth car in the Safety Car chain with other runners being found ahead and out of position relative to theirs.


That quickly turned out not to be of any issue as a heavy impact for the #5 Mercedes Benz AMG in the barriers towards the rear of the pack on the green lap immediately brought out the Safety Car again. Fortunately able to remove himself from the car unaided and apparently uninjured Race Control simply saw out the remaining six minutes of the race behind the Safety Car as both recovery and the required level of barrier repair was simply unrealistic in that available time period.

That result left Yoluc and Eastwood classified as finishing P6 overall but P3 in their Pro Class at their first time of asking (having run in Pro-Am last time in the Series) with race 2 still to look forward to tomorrow with Eastwood this time starting the race!

Photo credits - GT Open / TF Sport

Todays opening Private testing sessions ahead of the opening round of the GT Cup Open Series has finally confirmed a two car Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 effort from the Spanish based Team Virage.

Having ventured into the latter rounds of the Series last year, the team had originally announced an early driver pairing for the 2020 season but that driver pairing has now exited stage left to be replaced with a new Pro-Am and Am Class entry for the season ahead.


The #77 car is a Pro-Am effort from single seater and 2020 AMR Driver Academy contender Robert Hefler alongside LMP3 racer Philippe Valenza. They are joined in house in the #88 Am class entry of  drivers Stephane Adler and Michael Blancemain, both of whom have race substantial experience with headline series such as the ELMS, 24H Series and Blancpain GT Series.

Unfortunately, the series seems to have become another victim of the European financial mess in which many of us now find ourselves with just seven cars entered into the opening round from Hungary this weekend.


These guys in the GT4 races are of course joined by the TF Sport crew of Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood who are again contending in the GT Open Series in their AMR Vantage GT3. That should always be enough for you to give these two race packages your support over the coming season.


Over at Sonoma in California, yesterday became a bruising affair for GT4 America racer Matt Dalton after a high speed off in his Rennsport 1 AMR Vantage during private testing. That impact caused substantial front damage to the car which needed some real time team work between his own mechanics as well as with  the support form CSJ Motorsport to deliver back to them a race car that he and co-driver Pat Gallagher can now take into the Sprint and Sprint X races that start on Friday.


Whilst the bonnet and front end may not now be wrapped with the fine red, white and black homage to Van Halen's guitar, there is always something really sexy about any race car in bare carbon!!

Fortunately reported as being uninjured from the impact, Dalton has already been reported as being very keen to get back in the car and get ready for todays Qualifying for Race 1.

Photo credits - Rennsport 1 / Flying Lizards / Virage

The last six weeks or so have seen a gradual increase in the number of race series and championships coming back on-line since the easing of their respective host country's period of lockdown but this weekend coming appears to be the busiest yet for Aston Martin Racing and their Partner teams around the world as up to six top flight regional events are set to start up, some as early as this Thursday.

The SRO's GT4 America Series has moved across almost full width of the USA to the Sonoma Raceway in California for another triple header of Sprint and Sprint X races like they did last time out at VIR where Flying Lizards Am driver Michael Dinan kept up his 100% podium success rate in Sprint, albeit after technical issues with one of his Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's that double stinted that car platform in Sprint X.


Not the only AMR racer to receive some silverware over that race weekend of course with the likes of Paul Terry and Bryan Putt with Kenton Koch also taking the metaphorical podium at some stage in the event.

For Sonoma, we expect four AMR cars to take part in each of the Sprint and Sprint X races with representation from full season entrants Flying Lizards, Rearden Racing, BSport Racing and RS one. What we see different this time around is the inclusion off the #33 RS one AMR of Matt Dalton and Pat Gallagher doubling up for both sets of races for the first time this year.


Test sessions for the GT4 runners start Wednesday with Free Practice Thursday and Qualifying with Race 1 on Friday. Fastest laps then denote starting positions for the subsequent races.


Still in SRO world but this time back into Europe, we see the GT4 European Series start their second event of their revised calendar from Misano in Italy.

This sees the return of the two very successful debutants in the series last time out at Imola two weeks ago in the form of the two AGS Events Racing team AMR's. The teams #89 Am class car of Nicolas Gomer and Giles Vannelet came away tops with a double weekend podium with a P2 and P1 respectively with newly announced AMR Driver Academy racers Valentin Hasse-Clot and Theo Nouet narrowly missing out in doing likewise with a debuting P2 finish in race before losing out in race 2.


Next up in Europe we see the start of the International GT Open Series from the Hungaroring featuring a late Spring entry from TF Sport for their drivers Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood aboard one of TF Sport's other available GT3 Vantage cars.

They step into this series to help add to their seat time due to the delays and revisions in their World Endurance Championship endeavours plus like Yoluc told us, the excitement of a quick race is always a good thing over the long term deliberation of an endurance race!


Then with GT Open comes their new GT Open Cup Series for GT4 cars. We know that we have at least one AMR entry from the Spanish Virage Group team although names within the car have apparently changed since the team released their original line up back in the normal pre season days!

No entry list out yet for either GT3 or GT4 Series so we will have to wait and see there.


Next in Europe is of course the second round of the European Le Mans series from Spa Francorchamps in Belgium and again we will see the #98 AMR Vantage GTE of Paul Dalla Lana get in some more race miles of his own ahead of the resumption of the WEC at Spa over the following weekend.

This time around Ross Gunn steps aside to let new team recruit Augusto Farfus step into the car alongside Mathias Lauda for the first time in a race situation as Farfus replaces Darren Turner moving forward for the remainder of the WEC season. Farfus had his first testing experience of the Vantage GTE at a three day test from Motorland Aragon the week after the opening round of the ELMS at Paul Ricard two weeks ago.


A puncture for Gunn on the penultimate lap thwarted any meaningful result for the team despite some excellent running up until then but a result wasn't the 'prize' being sorted by the team as they looked to use the Series to get up and running ahead of Spa WEC and Le Mans.

That leaves us with the second round of the Japanese Super GT Series with Pacific D'Station Racing with their #9 AMR Vantage GT3 as they revisit Fuji Speedway again as part of their post CV-19 continuation calendar.


Remaining another non race attendee for the umpteenth time sees AMR factory driver Nick Thiim again being unable to  travel to Japan and will again be replaced with 'local' driver Kei Cozzolino alongside team regular Tomonobu Fujii. This pair didn't do so bad at the first round two weeks ago scooping some early points with a P10 finish and earning themselves +3kg in success ballast for this round to boot.

Still in Asia, this week should have been the latest first round of the China GT Championship but we understand that that has again been postponed with little reality of progression without further State approval for the required influx of foreign racers and technicians to run within it!


So a bumper weekend - all series feature a live stream service so pour yourself a suitable beverage, pull up a chair and watch  what you will!!

Photo credits - GT4 America / GT4 European / ELMS / Super GT / TF Sport / Virage