Team NZ see out 2024 for Aston Martin Racing with one final round of the Thailand Super Series

Team NZ see out 2024 for Aston Martin Racing with one final round of the Thailand Super Series

 


With just under two weeks until Christmas, we have just one more race event happening this weekend with an Aston Martin Racing Partner team involvement as the Earl Bamber Motorsport supported #7 Team NZ Vantage GT4 entry competes within the final round of the Thailand Super Series this weekend from Buriram.

Regular drivers in Kiwi racer gent Graham Dowsett and the young Thai racer Ananthorn Tangniannatchai help to make up the sixteen strong multi-class entry for this season finale within their GT4 Pro entry.


Having already competed at Chang International, Bangsaen street circuit and a double header at Sepang International last time out in September, the crews best success came in Bangsaen where the scooped a P3 and P2 in class over that weekend in July before a P3 and P2 in class at the opening weekend at Sepang in early September.

Today has seen four Free Practice sessions take place with the #7 car finishing the day second fastest in class before Free Practice tomorrow, Qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday before the conclusion to the 2024 season on Sunday.


Should the #7 Team NZ fail to take a class podium position over the weekend, then that accolade will go to the #89 89X Motorsport Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 who took an overall P3 last weekend at a rain-soaked World Racing League finale from the Circuit of the Americas.

Photo credits – Teams / Series
Thursday, December 12, 2024 | Read more...
Two star studded AMR Vantage GTD Pro entries from the HoRT for the Rolex 24

Two star studded AMR Vantage GTD Pro entries from the HoRT for the Rolex 24


Great news out the Heart of Racing camp this afternoon as they have confirmed their driver line up for their two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD’s at the season opener of the Rolex 24 from the Daytona International Speedway.

Having had to delay the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Challenge debut of their new Valkyrie GTP, the team will be back to two Vantage GTD’s again with drivers Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, Marco Sorenson and Roman de Angelis sharing the #007 GTD Pro car.


Joining them within the sister #27 GTD Pro car will be regular from last season in Zacharie Robichon who this time will be joined by Tom Gamble, Mattia Drudi and Casper Stevenson.

Whilst Gamble already comes with Rolex 24 experience with both Heart of Racing and Inception Racing, it will be a first for the Spa24 winner Drudi and former D’Station Racing WEC and Racing Spirit of Leman ELMS racer Stevenson.

Photo credit – Team
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | Read more...
Christmas offerings if you have a suitable budget!!

Christmas offerings if you have a suitable budget!!

 


The end to any race season always sees an increase in the number of cars being offered for sale as teams from around the world realign themselves ahead of any forthcoming commitment in the season ahead and this week is no different to that.

What has been listed for sale this week, however, is perhaps one of the biggest packages of race cars that Aston Martin Racing has ever offered in its 2021 Vantage Legacy Collection.

Listed up Racecarsdirect.com today sees the existing American based owner offer for sale by auction this trio of cars, albeit in a different format than that first offered by the factory. Originally revealed in 2020 and then made up as a trio of the Vantage GT4, V12 Vantage GT3 and V8 Vantage GTE saw the owner offset the GT4 car a few years ago in favour of the now outgoing 16A turbo charged version, new at the time we first become aware of the collections location.


Supported by the MC2 Autosport team, we understand that all cars saw track day action with its owner, but none were (then) raced.

Further details of this $1.5 million can be found HERE


Alongside this, the website also has this seasons AMR Vantage LMGT3 used by the TF Sport team within the European Le Mans Series with Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam.

Listed as being fully rebuilt since the end of its European season, this car would be race ready for anyone competing at the highest of GT3 levels.


Alongside that, the site also has the listings for one example of the Lola Aston Martin B09/60 prototype as well as many more Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars from the likes of the Street Art Racing, GPA Racing and Ultimate Speed teams.

Then, upon another site we actually have a brand-new AMR Vantage GT4 Evo listed for sale within the USA.


With Christmas now just two weeks away, there’s plenty out there to choose from.

Photo credits – Respective websites


Tuesday, December 10, 2024 | Read more...
Rain hampers the race proceedings in race 2 of the Asian Le Mans Series opening weekend

Rain hampers the race proceedings in race 2 of the Asian Le Mans Series opening weekend

 


With not too much time in-between for the refettling of both driver and machine, todays second race of the opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series was soon underway again early today around the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

Yesterday’s opening four hour round had already been a typical first day back scenario with incident and accident happening as early as turn one lap one for some, but at least for the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews there was just the learning from yesterday to put into the equation for today.


Qualifying had already taken place with the #89 Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR of Anderson Tanoto, Brendon Leitch and Marco Sorensen again having beaten the #19 Blackthorn AMR entry of Jason Ambrose, Claude Bovet and David McDonald to start race two in P17 and P23 respectively out of a GT class size of twenty-five.

Like yesterday, race two again started under clear, bright and very warm track conditions, although this time rain was being forecasted being the end of the race but this time, the Vantage had received an overnight BoP improvement in terms of available boost compared to that of yesterday.


The race start was also more reserved from all this time and was thankfully without the opening damage that blighted yesterday’s event for many although an early spin for the #89 car saw Tanoto drop a lap to the pack on only the second lap of the race.

More significant issues for others in class were, however, just around the corner as yesterday’s GT class winner (#57 Car Guy Ferrari) made heavy impact with the #42 Lamborghini taking both out with damage and the first caution period of the race for the resulting clean-up operation.

With that, the appearance of the #19 Blackthorn Amr of Ambrose also elevated itself onto the tail of the class leaderboard in P18 with just over half an hour done soon after the completion of the first hour had the first reports of the predicted rain. Unfortunately, with both Aston Martins running at the tail of the GT pack, there was little of note to report as the race went into its second half other than the darkness of the cloud cover above deepening.


Just the as rain actually started to fall, the races second full course yellow was thrown – this time for debris caused by a tyre failing on an LMP2 after a significant lockup. Eventually released by the Safety Car with eighty-four minutes of the race remaining, rain Sepang style finally arrived with deteriorating track condition again bringing out the Safety Car just into the final hour of the race.

The red flag was eventually called a premature end to the race as the rains hammered down around the circuit with the car collecting as per Regulation along the start straight. With the race clock still counting down, the race was eventually called with little over fifteen minutes remaining.


Despite all of the above, both Aston Martin Racing powered crews again did what several crews failed to do either today or yesterday in completing the race albeit outside of the points awarding sharp end of the table. The #89 EBM crew again beat the #19 Blackthorn crew by the end of today’s racing with a P32 overall – P18 in class finish compared to the #19’s P35 overall – P20 finish as the teams now look forward to a two-month break in the proceedings before the now customary double header double header race weekends in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in early February.

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Sunday, December 08, 2024 | Read more...
D'Station Racing eventually finish their return to the Super GT Series fourth overall after the delayed Suzuka race

D'Station Racing eventually finish their return to the Super GT Series fourth overall after the delayed Suzuka race

 


The Japanese based D’Station Racing team wrapped up what was an impressive return to their domestic top-flight Super GT Series with another decent finish that cement their top five position in class at season end.

Competing again at Suzuka for what was effectively still round five of the season after its original scheduled date was postponed at the last moment due to an impending typhoon, the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg found themselves out of overall GT300 Championship contention but with still a top three position to race for.


Having won in class at the circuit last time out there was at least no championship winning or losing pressures to bear at the team went about Free Practice and Qualifying ahead of Sundays finale.

Nineth fastest in Free Practice, the new Vantage GT3 Evo was again off the pace going into Qualifying as the tyre battles between suppliers continued at an unabated pace with the Dunlop shod D’Station Racing car eventually qualifying twelfth – a position not experienced by the team since the first and second rounds when the car/tyre combination was still very new to them.


Starting the final race of the season at a dry, bright but chilly Suzuka circuit, the #777 car had soon elevated itself up to a more customary P6 position by lap twelve but that was as much progress that either driver would make eventually finishing in sixth, some sixteen seconds behind the leader and class winning #88 Venteny Lamborghini.

Those five championship points did, however, cement the team into fourth spot of the GT300 class – thirty-seven points behind the #88 car and crew with what was at the start of the season an unknown new car and tyre combination.


The team have now stepped away from the World Endurance Championship for next season to concentrate upon their Super GT efforts next season – just who will be within the green #777 car is still yet to be confirmed.

Great effort guys!

Photo credits – Team / series / Dunlop / social media
Sunday, December 08, 2024 | Read more...
Progress to make for both Aston Martins ahead of race two of Asian Le Mans Series opener in Sepang

Progress to make for both Aston Martins ahead of race two of Asian Le Mans Series opener in Sepang

 


It was another particularly chaotic start to the proceedings earlier today as the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series finally got underway with their opening one of two races around the Sepang International Circuit earlier today.

With another pair of Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s again helping form another record breaking forty-two all entry (twenty-five of those within the GT class), it was always going to be something of a first day back at school scenario for the #89 Earl Bamber Motorsport and #19 Blackthorn AMR entries.

With both private testing and then Free Practice already behind them, today also saw the teams allotted driver take part within a qualifying session that would see their best and second-best lap times taken to form the grids for today’s opener as well as tomorrows second four-hour race.


For both Anderson Tanoto aboard the #89 EBM car and Jason Ambrose aboard the #19 Blackthorn entry, their best lap times apiece were worth of at best a P17 starting position for Tanoto and P24 in class for Ambrose.

When race one finally got underway earlier today under ‘clear blue skies and sunshine’, the significance of any qualifying position was soon again demonstrated as incidences into turns 1 and 2 of the opening laps saw many cars incur damage with some even having their race ended after contact from others having been spun around through no real fault of the own.

The opening hour or so of the new season would see a plethora of Virtual Safety Car and direct Safety Car inventions take place as various incidents took place around the abrasive 3.44-mile circuit – all of which thankfully avoided the inclusion of either Aston Martin.


With some big names aboard many of the other GT Class entries, we had hoped that the #89 EBM car of Tanoto, Brenden Leitch and Marco Sorensen would have a dramatic performance advantage over the #19 Blackthorn entry of Ambrose, Claude Bovet and David McDonald although that was clearly the case as the #19 car ran a strategy programme non-reactive to track events like the EBM car did for much of the opening half of the race.

Indeed, at times, the #89 car looked quite the handful on track as whilst the undertook many a fight within class throughout the race, that was usually in defence of their position before the inevitable pass and demotion in track position despite having claimed as high as P4 at points during the race.

The #19 Blackthorn car meanwhile, sadly achieved little airtime upon the live stream from the circuit as they remained within the tail runners in class for much of the race – nothing outrageous or derogatory their considering their mixed group of drivers compared to their peers.


The race would end with just as much excitement as it started as the P3 finishing Ferrari was later adjudged to have exceeded their finishing drivers maximum drive time (albeit by just 4.5 seconds) for the #89 EBM car to finish P26 overall and P11 in class whilst the #19 finished P32 overall and P17 in class – sadly both outside the allocation of championship points.

Race two of the opening weekend takes place tomorrow (Sunday) before moving onto both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in early 2025. We still await to hear if their will be any Balance of Performance changes within the GT class ahead of race two.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Saturday, December 07, 2024 | Read more...
Five Aston Martin Vantage GT4s for WRL finale at CoTA

Five Aston Martin Vantage GT4s for WRL finale at CoTA

 


Five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews are listed within the provisional entry list for this weekend’s final double header round of the World Endurance Championship as another trip to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas has another eight plus seven-hour event awaiting them.

Again, it’s not always the case that those listed arrive or even drive what they say, but the entry list does list another two entries from the 89X Motorsport team with their #89 and #289 Vantage GT4’s whist the TLM Racing outfit list just one with their #172 clientele.


The #69 Team Speed Syndicate team is again listed running their former Airbnb Michelin Pilot Challenge car but if memory serves us well, that has happened before for the team to arrive with another OEM platform.


Then there is the #314 AMR Vantage GT4 entry from the Skip Barber School – a car more known for its part time participation within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series as well as the SRO GT4 America Series.


Like always, we are not aware of the identities of any of the crews at the moment, but we might pick that up along the way as the eight five strong multi-classed entry prepares for Qualifying and an eight-hour race on Saturday followed by a seven hour season finale on Sunday.


Then in 2025, maybe something new and shiny might come along!!

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Wednesday, December 04, 2024 | Read more...
D'Station Racing see out their return to the Super GT Series with the delayed Suzuka finale this weekend

D'Station Racing see out their return to the Super GT Series with the delayed Suzuka finale this weekend

 


Thirty points in deficit but only twenty-three championship points of offer means that the D’Station Racing team can no longer challenge for the overall GT300 class honours this weekend as the Japanese Super GT Series finally catches up with its delayed fifth round at Suzuka.

Originally due to run in-between the Fuji round in early August and the Sugo round in late September, the fifth round of the Japanese series soon saw itself abandoned even before the cars and crews had made it to the circuit as a forecasted typhoon and its associated high wind speed and heavy rainfall put paid to that idea on the grounds of safety.


Eventually slotted into the calendar at the end of the regular season, there are still both classes to be settled but a disappointing outing last time out at Motegi saw the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg drop down to fourth within their GT300 class having held at top two or three position for much of the time after the Englishman took over the car reins from Marco Sorensen who started the season with the team.

Since then, the Japanese/English driver combination claimed their first class win of the season so far when the series last visited the Suzuka circuit back in June but a more consistent season from the class leading #65 McLaren and the #88 Lamborghini has seen the margins grow from the single digits of mid-season through to where they are today.


With no championship pressures to bear upon their shoulders and a race winning familiarity about the circuit already, it would be nice if the Fuji Speedway based team could end their return season to the Super Gt Series with another podium finish – and preferably another win to claim the double for their efforts.

Free Practice and Qualifying will be run over Saturday before the season 300km finale on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Wednesday, December 04, 2024 | Read more...
Racing Spirit of Leman confirm their second entry within ACO rules racing in 2025

Racing Spirit of Leman confirm their second entry within ACO rules racing in 2025

 


Great news out of the European Le Mans Series today as the Swiss based Racing Spirit of Leman team had their Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 powered entry confirmed ahead of next season’s campaign.

Already confirmed within next season’s FIA World Endurance Championship with two of this season’s ELMS effort in both Derek DeBoer and Valentin Hasse-Clot, today’s news sees the young French Aston Martin Racing factory driver also confirmed alongside two fellow countrymen in another exciting new racing possibility as the solo AMR powered entry this time around.


Very familiar names and faces of course from their FIA WEC efforts this season within the #777 D’Station Racing AMR effort, sees both Erwan Bastard and Clement Mateu all join forces within the team’s second season in the European series and their #59 entry.

DeBoer, Hasse-Clot and third driver Casper Stevenson ran within the team’s new 2024 AMR Vantage LMGT3 for the first and lead the LMGT3 class for much of the season before finally losing out at the final round in Portugal to eventually finish third within the eleven strong class after six round season, so a benchmark has already been established.


For 2025, the series confirmed a similar six round season but with a slight change in venues with Silverstone getting itself back onto the roster after several years out in the ACO rules doldrums.

Grid wise, the LMGT3 grid will increase to thirteen cars alongside ten LMP3 and twenty-one LMP2 entries spread across the two sub-classes available within that.

With one full competitive season within the FIA WEC now under the belts for both Bastard and Mateu within the new Vantage, expectation will again be high as the series competes at Barcelona in early April through Le Castellet, Imola, Spa Francorchamps and Silverstone before ending in Portimao in mid-October. 


Good news indeed and hopefully we will see much more of the above!

Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Tuesday, December 03, 2024 | Read more...
It just wasn't to be in Jeddah at finale of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

It just wasn't to be in Jeddah at finale of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

 


Late again – not that there was anything ‘significant’ to report at the end of Saturday’s final and extend round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

Whilst there was one final podium finishing position to round the 2024 season off for one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crew, it wasn’t to be the then championship leading #007 Comtoyou Racing AMR of Marco Sorensen, Matteo Drudi and Nicki Thiim despite their best of efforts against the charging #51 AF Corse Ferrari crew who eventually picked up the overall crown by the end of the race.


Going into this final race of the season around the very long but very narrow circuit had already seen one Vantage GT3 eliminated from the proceedings from each of the Comtoyou racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams with another Walkenhorst entry only rescued from the ashes of a pit lane fire and an overnight rebuild by the team for that car to even make the grid.

The biggest talking point as far the Aston Martins were concerned was sadly again around the platforms balance of performance parameters with none of the cars even close at threatening those championship challenges in front of them. In hindsight, even a mid-event change in BoP (as in weight reduction and an increase in boost) wasn’t enough to give either Pro entry the ‘ponies’ that they needed to put up anything like a representative fight.


With many suffering from the effects of mid and post-race penalties (mainly for track limits), the #007 car eventually finished P10 overall with the #34 Walkenhorst car of Ross Gunn, Henrique Chaves and David Pittard finishing just behind in P11 having completed a miraculous recovery drive having started from last thanks to their Qualifying issues.

The one race success was from the #12 Comtoyou Racing entry of Nicolas Baert, Sebastian Ogaard and Matisse Lismont who grabbed P3 within the silver class.


Having lead the overall championship position since that overall win at the Spa 24, the #007 crew would eventually finish the year down in fourth with their sister #12 car the next best AMR finisher in class, P8 in silver.

What comes next for both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Comtoyou Racing teams is yet to be seen but with the 2025 Prologue test already set for early March, that won’t be a too longer wait before the first signs of pre-season testing gets underway.


The new 2024 Vantage GT3 car did well within its opening year of racing service again and with the ongoing developmental work that AMR are already undertaking, 2025 looks more than positive.


Well done to all involved this season and here’s looking forward to next.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Monday, December 02, 2024 | Read more...
Not the best of starts for either AMR powered team at the start of the Jeddah GT World Challenge Europe finale

Not the best of starts for either AMR powered team at the start of the Jeddah GT World Challenge Europe finale

 


The first three official timed sessions of the final six-hour round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup are now under their belts however, they have come at a price for a number of the original seven Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews.

Before anyone else worries too much, none of the incidents involved have involved the championship contending #007 Comtoyou Racing car of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mateo Drudi but both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams have already a car between them due to accident damage and a further car being sidelined due to a fire.


The #36 Walkenhorst bronze entry of Ben Green, Mex Jensen and David Pun was the first eliminated after the Chinese gentleman driver went off during the bronze driver test and that was already after the #11 Comtoyou Racing bronze entry of James Jakes, Nield Koolen and John De Wilde had been withdrawn without a wheel even being turned.

That lead to both Jakes and Koolen moving across to the sister #21 car at the expense of both regular drivers Charles Clarke and Matisse Lismont but even that arrangement was short-lived as that car crashed out but was fortunately repairable during testing


If that could not have gone any worse for the Aston Martin Racing collective, then the silver #35 Walkenhorst car was to suffer a fuel fire aboard the car – although quickly extinguished, the subsequent damage and cleaning up meant that the Romain Le Roux, Maxime Robin and Lorcan Hanafin entry would have little track time through Thursday and Friday with Q1-Q2-Q3 sessions their first real possibilities.

Assuming that all goes well overnight with the repairs of that car, that has left the original driver line ups of some cars being rehashed again as the sessions went through Free Practice and into the last session of today in Pre-Qualifying.


Both the #007 and #34 Pro entries remain the same with the Comtoyou Racing entries of the #21 car now being that of Koolen, Jakes and Job Van Uitert and the #12 being Nicolas Baert, Sebastian Ogaard and Matisse Lismont alongside a hopefully repairable #35 Walkenhorst.

And that doesn’t even include anything about track performances today from any of the AMR powered cars that are left!!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Friday, November 29, 2024 | Read more...
Both AMR Vantage liveries revealed today ahead of next weekends Asian Le Mans Series opener

Both AMR Vantage liveries revealed today ahead of next weekends Asian Le Mans Series opener

 


With little under a week still to go before the opening track sessions of this season’s Asian Le Mans Series still to go, both Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 teams have today put their new liveries out there for us to enjoy.

Starting at the Sepang International Circuit with a double header of four-hour races across the 7th and 8thDecember, both the Blackthorn AMR and Earl Bamber Motorsport entries (alongside the collective forty-two LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 classes of course) will then move onto the Dubai Autodrome for another double header there in early February before culminating with another season finale double at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.


The #19 Blackthorn AMR entry of team owner Claude Bovet, Team Manager David McDonald together with guesting driver Jason Ambrose will all feature within one of the teams new 2024 Evo variants of the Vantage GT3 with a livery design that has evolved from that used by the team within both the British GT Championship and Michelin Le Mans Cups Series of this season.

In an interview published upon the AsLMS website, the team continued to say how this series was the next stepping stone along their ACO inspired pathway of taking both themselves and their clients to hopefully culminate at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the not-so-distant future.


We have also seen today the revised livery of the #89 EBM Motorsport entry for this six-race series that the likes of Marco Sorensen, Anderson Tanoto and Brendon Leitch will be driving this time next week.

With the teams car having previously been utilised this season within varying events in the Asian theatre, this is definitely the strongest driver line up (excluding Earl Bamber himself in one such Thailand Super Series round) within an Aston Martin Racing car serviced by his accomplished team.


Only early this week did we see social media posts of the team testing (more than once) at the Sepang circuit in time for next weekend opener.

This will be another exciting season to watch over the New Year break for many.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Friday, November 29, 2024 | Read more...
Six Aston Martin Vantage GT4s for the Estoril Endurance Festival this weekend

Six Aston Martin Vantage GT4s for the Estoril Endurance Festival this weekend

 


Whilst the Iberian Supercars Series may have concluded a few weeks back, its sister Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade Series has one last dance to get through this weekend as they embark upon their Estoril Endurance Festival.

Within their published entry list today lists most of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 teams and crew that competed within the five round Iberian Super Cars Series with the sole exception of the Mirage Racing entry simply because they are also busy with this weekend with a two-car entry at the final round of the GT4 European Series from Jeddah.


That leaves four cars from the Portuguese teams Racar Motorsport and Araujo Competicao with AMR Vantage GT4s of various iterations spread across the available Pro, Am and Bronze classes.

This weekend will again feature two forty-five-minute races over Sunday after private testing on Friday and further Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday.


The Racar Motorsport entries will consist of #2 Pro entry of Manuel Giao/Mathieu Martins; the #3 Pro entry of Francisco Cruz/Roberto Faria (who skips the GT4 European Series finale in favour of this more local event); #6 Bronze entry of solo racer Jose Carlos Pires and the #777 Am entry for Rubens Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende.

Complementing them will be the two Araujo Competicao Pro class entries of both Bruno Pereira/ Goncalo Araujo aboard the #007 and Vasco Oliveira and Duarte Pinto Coelho aboard the #28 car.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Thursday, November 28, 2024 | Read more...