Tomorrows final round of the 2019 British GT Championship is all set up nicely to produce yet another cracking #DoningtonDecider that we have all come to expect over the years with three Aston Martin Racing Partner team drive line ups 'well in' with a chance of lifting their respective class title with another with an outside chance at the end of another two hours of racing.

Glorious weather today at the Leicestershire circuit allowed many of the thirty eight GT3 and GT4 cars to circulate faster than what they did at round 6 from the circuit earlier in the year and with similar weather and warmer temperatures again expected tomorrow's two hour finale will be a fast and furious one for sure.


All of the AMR's up for Championship contention - #47 GT3 TF Sport of Graham Davidson/Jonny Adam, the #97 GT4 TF Sport of Tom Canning/Ashley Hand, the #11 GT4 Beechdean AMR of Martin Plowman/Kelvin Fletcher and somewhat with the outsider #96 GT3 Optimum car of Ollie Wilkinson/Bradley Ellis all kept their 'powder somewhat dry' in the opening Free Practice sessions earlier today, letting others go thrashing about the circuit always with a risk of damaging their cars.


For all except the #96 car, none of these crews have to win (whereas the #96 do) to keep alive their championship aspirations but they did have some issue with their brakes during the morning which is hopefully now cured.

At the end of this afternoons combined Qualifying sessions it was the Balfe Motorsport McLaren 720S that grabbed pole position from the #72 Championship contending Lamborghini of Phil Keen and Adam Balon but worryingly the #72 has been consistently quick all day today. The #47 TF Sport car of Davidson and Adam will start from the second row of the grid - close enough to the #72 to keep them in check and far enough forward to hopefully keep out of the pack on the opening lap.


In GT4, the #97 TF Sport car of Canning and Hand have repeated what they have been doing almost from race three by Qualifying up towards the front other pack, starting P2 but with (possibly importantly) their sister #95 car of Patrick Kibble and Josh Price starting between the them and the Championship contending Ford Mustang of Scott Maxwell and Sea Priaulx down in P5.

The #11 Beechdean AMR GT4 race tomorrow to retain the top honours in the GT4 Pro-Am class with a P2 start in that class - P11 overall in GT4 but four places behind their pole setting Fox Motorsport Mercedes. Their main championship rivals however (Graham Johnson and Michael O'Brien) will be starting in their Balfe McLaren 570S from right behind them in P12 overall - the Balfe car must win to have any chance by the time the chequered flag falls at 15:00hrs tomorrow.


That all said, the race will be what it will be. Champions will be crowned and will make for an early start to their celebrations whilst others will come up just short at the end of what has been another highly entertaining season of GT racing at the highest level.

We obviously just hope that the former will be an AMR crew or two or three!!!

Confirmation of GT3 Qualifying and starting positions can be found HERE for GT3 and HERE for GT4


Whilst all eyes will be upon those in the Championship races lets not forget those who are not with the Mark Farmer/Nicki Thiim pairing probably running its final outing tomorrow in the #2 TF Sport GT3 whilst Andrew Howard is again out with Valentin Hasse Clot in the #99 Beechdean AMR GT3 after their first race together at Brands Hatch. Then in GT4 with have both the Optimum cars of Connor O'Brien and Jack Butel in the #35 and Mike Robinson and Patrik Mathiessen in the #75. We have already mentioned the #97 TF Sport car of Kibble and Price so that just leaves both Academy cars of Micah Stanley and Ben Hurst in the #61 car finally Will Moore and Alex Toth Jones in the #62 if it runs as it seems that both cars were again blighted with technical issues today. The #62 hasn't run beyond FP1 it seems.


Game on...........................

Photo credits - British GT / S Jackman

Today, R- Motorsport announced a new key component of their international motor racing programme: They will establish the new Aston Martin Vantage Cup by R-Motorsport series. Further plans with details for the motorsport future will be announced at a later stage.

The Vantage Cup by R-Motorsport car is based on the Aston Martin Vantage V8. The cup race car is a high performance race version of the road-going Vantage with its 4-litre, twin-turbo V8. Four Cup racing series are planned worldwide over the next four years with the first races scheduled to take place soon in 2020, first in Europe and later in Asia in 2021.

Source material - R-Motorsport

Last weekend the team was out racing at Autopolis on the South Island of Japan in the Super GT Series, this weekend D'Station Racing AMR are back out racing again - this time at the penultimate round of the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series from the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in central Japan.


Last time in the teams brand new #777 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 at Autopolis, drivers Satoshi Hoshino, Tsubasa Kondo and Tomonobu Fujii claimed a very credible P2 finish in the typhoon shorted race and they will be looking to go one better again at this weekends five hour race.

Photo credits - D'Station Racing AMR

The last race of the 2019 British GT Championship is finally upon us this weekend and once again the SRO have had to dust off their infamous hashtag from previous years to again proclaim Sundays two hour race as being another #DoningtonDecider with many of the Championship's GT3 and GT4 class titles still very much up for grabs.

The opening races from Oulton Park back in mid April are all but a distant memory for a Championship that figured a colossal eleven examples (sometimes twelve) of Aston Martin Racing's latest turbo charged versions of the Vantage GT3 and GT4.


For many of the AMR family of teams within the Championship, pre-season testing was something that was pretty thin on the ground going into the first two races at Oulton Park as the Prodrive factory struggled to get all of the first batch of GT3 and GT4 orders out in time leaving the respective team's young and sometimes inexperienced driver crews with little preparation time within their chosen cars  beyond that of using the AMR test and development chassis'.

That aside and very quickly forgotten, the eight races completed so far this season have have left us with yet another dice around Donington Parks 2.5mile circuit (for the second time of asking this year after the demise of Rockingham Motor Speedway), this time to determine just who will win the GT3 Team, GT3 Drivers, GT3 Pro-Am Championships and the GT3 Blancpain Trophy Award as well as the GT4 Drivers, Pro-Am and Silver Cup titles.


One title has of course already been concluded with Optimum Motorsport's Ollie Wilkinson and Bradly Ellis having securing the GT3 Silver Cup honours last time out at Brands Hatch. They are also well positioned to potentially finish well within the top two or three in some of the other GT3 Championships depending upon how the results go and that would be another impressive string to the new BRDC's Rising Star's driving bow!

For the main, GT3 Championship contenders Davidson and Adam have enjoyed an extraordinary first season together after Davidson stepped up to the highest level of UK GT3 racing last year with Jetsteam Motorsport where he learned a lot from AMR factory driver Maxime Martin before joining forces with another AMR Factory driver (Adam) for this year at TF Sport. For a man to be in contention for his fourth own GT3 title and a man who has coached many of the last five gentleman driver champions - that says a lot about Adam's capabilities as not just a race driver himself but also as an outstanding driver coach.


For the crew of the #47 TF Sport Vantage GT3, their biggest issue this weekend will be overcoming their 20second additional pit stop time over their cars minimum stop time as a result of their race win last time out at Brands Hatch whilst their Barwell opponents have no such time penalty!

In GT4 we have two squads and two sets of drivers all hoping to stand upon the top step on Sunday afternoon having been proclaimed as Champions.


Having had issues with available rolling stock and then a race meeting well worth forgetting at Oulton Park sees TF Sports Tom Canning and Ashley Hand in contention at the top of the tables for both the GT4 Drivers and Silver Cup titles whilst Beechdean AMR's new GT4 recruits for this year sees their Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman up in the lead of the Pro-Am title race going into the weekend. Hand and Canning also have an additional ten second in the pit lane to contend with from their P3 finish at Brands Hatch so in their cases, the crowns are theirs to lose!!

Fletcher has also hit the headlines again this week by agreeing to stand in for someone on the BBC's Strictly dance programme so we should be seeing him tripping the light fantastic to the grid at least with many more dance references being made over the course of the weekend we're sure!!


Whilst these three cars are the only Aston's in contention for a Championship 'gong' the other eight cars across Sundays grid will obviously be key to what happens at the top of each respective Championship. Not that any will race tactically or ungentlemanly of course but its highly likely that someone like Nicki Thiim will want to end his second (and potentially last he has said previously) season within the Championship 'in style' - in other words with a race win and that will take points away from others who might need them dearly.

Thiim and co-driver Mark Farmer have had something of a 'mare of a season, last year promised so much and there were high expectations for this year but sadly early incidents and accidents for Farmer have put him into a lesser place, somewhere where his confidence has been adversely affected despite  a gutsy P2 podium from them at Silverstone.


Beechdean AMR also started with an AMR factory driver aboard the #99 car with Andrew Howard at the start to the season but a significant incident for Marco Sorensen at Le Mans at the WEC in June saw the need for him to recuperate (plus already by then the #99 car was not in a Championship contending position) so Howard 'released the Dane' and went looking for other available AMR young guns to share the experience with and help them along their racing path - hence in involvement of both Ross Gunn and Valentin Hasse-Clot with the latter seeing out the season with Howard for his first visit to Donington.

In GT4, all bar three of the drivers became part of the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy process (Will Moore at Academy and Plowman and Fletcher at Beechdean not being eligible) so all have been through a constant training and continuous assessment programme with the factory team and their technical partners. For some the improvement has been obvious but sadly for some, a constant stream of bad luck on track has taken its toll on quality track time whilst others have seen their progress come too late to make for any impression on the Championship.


Whatever happens, Sundays 300th British GT race will be spectacular both on and off the track with forty one cars due on the grid together with thirteen race cars of yesteryears including the very first Aston Martin (Marsh Plant V8) to win in the Championship.


It will be a great day - the weather is supposed to be great too - make sure you're there to see it!!

Game on ............!!

Some interesting news just being picked up upon tonight is that two new names will now feature in this weekends penultimate round of the ADAC GT Masters Series form Hockenheim.

Again, the entry list for the event features just a sole Prosport Performance Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 but this time gone are the most established names of both AMR factory driver Maxime Martin and former series Champion Daniel Keilwitz to be replaced with two up and coming names from the AMR family of teams.


Instead we see Prosport Performance's GT4 European Series driver David Griessner step up to the plate alongside fellow GT4 racer from the Generation AMRSuperRacing team in Matt George for the two - one hour races from Germany this Saturday and Sunday.

George has put it out there that he tested with the team at the Nurburgring last week and that that was followed up by receiving a call from the team last night offering him his first GT3 race.


The team have of course been reduced to a single entry in the series since releasing both Hugo de Sadeleer and Vanlentin Hasse Clot after just the second round of the series and since have been unable to supply Florian Thoma a co-driver after he decided to step up to their GT3 programme.

Needless to say that both are extremely excited about it and we wish them all the best!

Correction ............

Both the team and series have today confirmed the entry of both of the teams AMR Vantage GT4's into the two GT4 Germany races over the weekend contrary to yesterdays provisional entry list.

The team have confirmed that Alex Mies and David Ortmann will again be racing together after their first event toagtehr in eta GT4 European Series finale in the #18 car whilst the sister #19 car will be shared by newcomers Christian Konnerth and Yannick Fubrich.

Photo credits - Prosport/social media

This weekend sees the ninth and penultimate round of the IMSA sanctioned Michelin Pilot Challenge Series from the iconic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca circuit sited just off the Coast near Monterey, California.

Aston Martin Racing Partner Team's Automatic Racing and CSJ Motorsport have both made the long journey from their bases in Florida and Texas respectively to be at the circuit in time for Saturday's two hour race into the Californian evening with both of their AMR Vantage GT4's.


Long term series partners Gary Ferrera and Kris Wilson reunite for the first time in a couple of races aboard the #97 Automatic Racing Invisible Glass sponsored AMR Vantage GT4 whilst Indian driver Akhil Rabindra shares the CSJ Supplied AMR Vantage with fellow long term team favourite and Stoner Car Care boss Rob Ecklin Jnr.

In the 'merry go round' of driver swaps and replacements that have taken place within the team since the Daytona 24 season opening weekend, it appears that all the drivers have been smitten with the new turbo charged V8 Vantage GT4 since its international audition with the team at Daytona.


Rabindra has certainly made a massive impact with the team and series with his speed and consistency of his driving since his arrival at Road America where he shared the predominately white car with Kris Wilson. There, only bad luck and misfortune after first contact and then a resulting off for Wilson in the wet and wild conditions of Road America thwarted a near certain podium assault in their first time of asking together.


Then last time out at the Virginia International Raceway three weeks ago, Rabindra joined up with AMR WEC Factory driver and AMR Driver Academy Coach Ross Gunn to again only just miss out on a shout of the podium due to track and weather conditions at the time ending the day in P6.

With precipitation unlikely to be an issue in California we should (hopefully) see what this young man can do!

Photo credits - CSJ / IMSA / Automatic

Optimum Motorsport saw out the second day of the International GT Open's return to the Silverstone Circuit yesterday with another mixed bag of results for their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 and GT4 entries.

For the full season GT Open entry from Ollie Wilkinson (joined again this weekend by AMR factory driver Darren Turner) better things were being hoped for on Sunday after all their hard work on Saturday came abruptly to nothing half way around the opening lap in the feature race.

Both drivers again having set their aggregated Qualifying time earlier in the day (new series rules that took affect from Silverstone) would have their #96 AMR Vantage start the shorter second race from P6 on the grid and with Turner this time behind the wheel.


With mostly the Pro drivers taking the start in the top flight classes the opening laps were at least a little more controlled and thankfully had none of the accident and incident of race one that claimed at least four cars. With a warmer track temperature on Sunday, suitable tyre management was again required and for a time Turner enjoyed a 'little scrap' with Tom Onslow-Cole aboard his SPS Mercedes before that Englishman had a episode on track of his own!

The Lamborghini's and McLaren's ahead were too fast for Turner to catch with the set up that he had beneath him and for a large portion of his stint had to content himself with P6. That did change as those ahead pitted and the Optimum team ran Turner for a few additional laps hoping that their reduced minimum pit stop time would help the younger Wilkinson. It did until (exiting pit lane as P5) before another small error at Maggots/Chapel saw him run wide to lose a position down to P6.


As the laps ticked away that seemed that that was that as far as the race went but incredibly on the last lap the third and forth placed cars suddenly lost all pace as their tyres went away and Wilkinson suddenly came across the Lamborghini and McLaren floundering going into the loop. Predatory like, Wilkinson went for the move that would have elevated him to P3 with just a few hundred metres to go - well he would have had it not been for the Mercedes of Miguel Ramos who saw a similar gap and went for it spinning around the McLaren and Wilksinson's AMR in the process.


The ten second post race penalty awarded to Ramos was weak considering the race results of two other cars had been compromised and both finished much more than ten seconds behind. The #96 AMR would end the day P7.


Also joining them at the circuit for a one off appearance at the series supporting GT Open Cup Series was of course the teams #35 AMR Vantage GT4 of Connor O'Brien and Charlie Eastwood. Having come so close in race one where they nearly won the race outright there were high hopes of something similar on Sunday.

With O'Brien having Qualified P6 and taking the start this time all he had to do was bide his time, stay out of trouble and race like he did on Saturday. That as all going to plan until he was unceremoniously pushed off the track at Luffield (but was able to rejoin without losing a position) but the antics between him and the offending McLaren 570s driver would earn them both a five second time penalty for causing a collision and retaliating


Pitting at the halfway mark from P7 it didn't take the TF Sport WEC and Blancpain driver (and AMR Driver Academy Coach) Eastwood too long to start setting purple sectors as he went about picking off those ahead one by one. The first couple of cars were relatively easy until he came to the rear of the fourth placed Lamborghini - whatever he tried, where ever he went he simple couldn't get the nose of the new Vantage GT4 inside that of the Italian car. As the laps ticked by even another personal best wasn't enough to proceed the march of the car and the duo had to 'settle' for P5 overall but P2 in Pro-Am.


With the final round of the British GT Championship coming up this weekend from Donington Park we can bet that O'Brien will still be wearing his double podium success smile by the time we get to the circuit at the weekend. Well done to them!

Photo credits - GT Open / Optimum

This weekends sixth round of the Japanese Super GT Series was looking quite promising for the green liveried #7 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 of D'Station Racing AMR and its driver JP de Oliveira and Tomonobu Fujii from the 4.7km circuit of Autopolis in southern Japan.

Running something against expectation, the #7 car qualified third in its GT300 ahead of Sundays 65 lap - 300km race.

With de Oliveira taking the start for the team, the car looked quick in the opening laps before the first of the Safety Car periods was called to recover a stricken car but once race restarted the Brazilian driver elevated his running position to P2 in class by the 33% race distance and before the rains came.


As the paddock sections of the track got soaked, the farthest and more technical sections of the track remained dry with many teams deciding to stay out on slicks (which D'Station did) although the gap between the #7 car and the class leader did extend from one to six seconds during this difficult period on track.

At the halfway mark of the race de Oliveira pitted from P2 in class to hand over to co-driver Fujii but their stop was heavily compromised by the wheel nut on the rear drivers side refused to budge despite the persistence of the mechanic. Feverish pounding with a mallet eventually released the nut and the car was finally released having lost over thirty seconds in pit lane.


From that point forward the race became more of a test session for the team with the pit lane issue dropping Fujii down to P20 in class and even the repeated Safety Car and grid realignments between the two racing classes failed to improve their position much above P18 by the time of the chequered flag.

Its of course hard to say just where the car may have finished without the wheel issue but everything leading up until then showed that the turbo charged V8 AMR had the pace to take the challenge to the more established chassis in the class.


Despite the disappointment, the team now have to prepare themselves for round 7 at Sugo in just over two weeks time.

Photo credits - D'Station / Super GT

They came as close to it as that they could 'smell it' but after the final race of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Series from the Hungaroring today, the best the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Racing racing duo of Hugo de Sadeleer and Aaro Vainio could do was that of Silver Cup runners up.

The expression on their faces yesterday after again not being able to beat the Silver Cup Championship leading AKKA ASP Mercedes crew of Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer seemed to acknowledge that the #89 cars last lap pass during race one would leave them a step too far for the young Swiss and Finnish drivers the cross in the final race of the season.


That was because a poor Qualifying session from the #62 AMR Vantage crew would leave them starting race two from one extreme of the grid to one other as Bastian claimed a P9 slot whilst de Sadeleer would start from near the rear in P23. The only plus point then was that the second placed crew in the championship would be starting behind them come the race.

Fortunately (or not) the heavy rains of yesterday had left and the final hour of the series would be conducted on a warm dry track as the race got underway on its first lap anyway after a spinning Am class car called for the release and the Safety Car.


Loosing nearly ten minutes of the race, time was rapidly running out for the #62 car to shorten the gap on track to the #89 Mercedes. The sister #76 AMR of Marvin Kirchhofer would see out their season on something of a whimper as a spin just after the restart pushed the car to the rear of the field.

The AKKA ASP crew rode they luck later after contact with another car just before the stops but that failed to extend into any loss of performance on track - or indeed anything that may have benefitted the AMR crew.


At the end of the pit window the gap had narrowed somewhat with Neubauer now just two positions ahead of Vainio as the Finn charged in some great laps - going into the final ten minutes of the race they were then nose to tail in P8 and P9.

That sadly was not enough as the chequered flag fell on the field with these two cars still in the same position. Being over ten points behind before the race even started, finishing again behind the Mercedes was simply not enough to change the Silver Cup Championship position with Bastian and Neubauer claiming the title with a twelve and a half point margin. The team's #76 Pro car of Kirchhofer and Collard would finish the season P8 but some points behind the championship winner.


That all said, it was still a great performance by the team's two young guns across the season, especuilly for de Sadeleer who suffered the phycological setback of being released by another AMR Vantage GT3 early into the year so to end the year as runner in in a series as competitive as the Blancpain GT Series says a lot about his (and Vainio's) capabilities.

Hopefully we will see these guys out again somewhere in a GT3 car next year.

Photo credits - Blancpain GT / R-Motorsport

After the massive disappointment of yesterday, Chinese Aston Martin Racing Partner Team BSEM Asia Sonic Racing finished off the China GT Championship's round 10 off today in the only way possible with an emphatic 'near' lights to flag win for drivers David Pun and Ross Gunn.

With the race weekend promising so much Friday evening with a pole position for local man Pun and a P2 front row start for his co-driver Gunn in todays second one hour race of the weekend, yesterdays race had hardly got started before it was brutally ended going into the hairpin for only the second time of the race.


Racing again around the very bespoke 3.7km track to the south east of Beijing, a track that had all the charactiertics of both a true race track and that of a street circuit, incident and accident was always inevitable for the ten Pro-Am and Am class GT4's that made up the field.

With Pun starting race 1, he was soon out-dragged along the start straight to drop (but hold) second going into turn 1 whilst the #22 Mercedes AMG and #868 McLaren argued behind. Contact between these two cars at the tight right handed hairpin spin the Mercedes and left the McLaren with from end damage but all were eventually able to continue.


Next lap around and appearing relatively comfortable going in the hairpin again, the #618 Aston Martin suddenly found the #868 McLaren speeding up the inside to collide heavily with the side (thankfully no divers) side of the car. Spewing out engine coolant, the #868 was out on the spot and whilst Pun managed to get the car back to pit lane the damage was too much to effect any quick repairs with the contact having broken both top and bottom wish bones, steering linkage, door hinges and body panels. That was them done for the day after just four minutes of racing.

Another day - another dollar as they say for the team as it was now the turn of AMR factory driver Gunn to take the start alongside his competitors cars Pro drivers.


Returning the favour in out-dragging the pole setting Mercedes at the start, Gunn swung the #618 car into turn one in the lead - a lead that he soon extended as the third and fourth placed cars argued between themselves. The other car to suffer from the #868 McLarens over exuberance yesterday (the #22 Mercedes of Will Bamber) was also have a better start as he slotted in behind Gunn.

Never able to challenge the AMR Bamber soon dropped to nearly 3 seconds with 3rd and 4th another 6 seconds behind him and left left for a 'leisurely' second phase of the race for Gunn before he handed over to Pun. Leaving pit lane, Pun was a little shaky to start but soon found his rhythm to reaffirm the gap between him and the #22 Mercedes.


By the end of the hour, Pun crossed the line to take the race win by over two seconds to claim his, Gunns and the AMR Vantage GT4's first win of the season in the China GT Championship and went some way in alleviating the pain of yesterdays events.

Next up for the team is a return to Shanghai in a months time for the final round of the season.

Photo credit - China GT / BSEM

If chasing down a five point deficit to claim an ultimate class title was difficult enough at the best of times, then Mother Nature's added mix of heavy rain at todays penultimate race of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe just added to the mix as Swiss team R-Motorsport took the conclusion of the Silver Cup Championship to the final round tomorrow.

Having spent most of the weekend so far in Hungary under clear skies and warm sunshine, todays heavy rainfall just after Qualifying was in start contrast and added an entirely different perspective on todays one hour race for all twenty eight cars.


With the team's Pro class #76 car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer having Qualified in P4 for todays race, all eyes were rightfully upon their #62 pairing of Aaro Vainio and Hugo De Sadeleer who were (before todays results) just 5.5pts off the Championship lead as the Safety Car led the field off into the gloom of todays race.

Things could have really taken a twist today after the pole setting AKKA Mercedes crew of Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer initially dropped back into the pack during the opening stages of the race with the R-Motorsport/Arden crew then dispatching their #62 out into the class lead after the stop.


With a faster and more stable car beneath him, Bastian was soon able to claw back the gap to the #62 of De Sadeleer and (cruelly) passed him on the very last lap for the class win and to claim the Silver Cup Team title in the process. The #76 Pro car would ultimately finish behind their stable mate in P10 in order to maximise the points potential of the #62 car.

With 16.5 points still available in tomorrows race, all is still possible for any of the top three crews in the Silver Cup class with just eleven points separating them from first (AKKA ASP Mercedes) to third (R-Motorsport).


The way things stand at the moment - it is AKKA ASP's title to lose!

Photo credits - Blancpain GT