Starting with the Rolex 24 from Daytona at the end of January 2025, the team will then progress on to further rounds at Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans with their (as yet) partially confirmed crew of Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot.

Although never having adopted the new Vantage GT4 this season, the young Van Der Steur has already sampled the new Vantage GT3 when AMR were conducting multiple ‘sampling’ days with both the new GT3 and GT4 earlier in the year at Snetterton.

This weekend, the #19 Van Der Steur car will be competing at the penultimate round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series around the Brickyard of Indianapolis but with Alex Premat deputising for the Frenchman this time around as he will be on GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup duties this weekend in Italy.

Photo credits – Team / social media

Having started the season with Owen Trinkler, the need for Trinkler to step aside after Sebring was clear and luckily for all that Holton was quickly able to continue the podium winning momentum that both Plumb and Trinkler instigated from the season off at Daytona.

Now with the resurgence of the Porsche’s behind, that lead has now been cut to just fifty points, but we do have fellow Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 racer in Rory Van Der Steur in hot pursuit in third place some 250 points behind Plumb. With his full season co driver (Valentin Hasse Clot) also on European duties this weekend at Monza, the #19 Van Der Steur car will be co-driven by Alex Premat again after his last involvement at Laguna Seca earlier in the year.

These two AMR powered crews will be joined by another four like-minded crews with the 2024 Bronze Cup Champions in Hugh Plumb and Ted Giovanis completing the Team TGM duo with the #71 Rebel Rock Racing partnership of Robin Liddell and Frank DePew joining the #88 Archangel pocket rockets that are Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz.

We also welcome back the #82 Ruckus racing partnership in Scott Blind and Brady Behrman within this weekend’s thirty-three car strong entry into this two-hour race on Saturday.

Photo credits – teams / series / social media

With the new 2024 Vantage LMGT3 being the machine to have in Texas, that certainly was not the case under the shadows of Mount Fuji as both the #27 Heart of Racing car of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas together with the #777 D’Station racing car of Clement Mateu, Erwan Bastard and Marco Sorenson had little to offer in terms of resistance against the performances of their peers with qualifying positions being down within the midst of their class.

Despite that, both cars gave it their best shot with the #27 car of James quickly moving up into the top five in class whilst Mateu was slightly slower in moving up as shenanigans within the topflight class placed the race under a quick Safety Car period.

Quarter distance and the race was running well for both Aston Martin’s, both running within the top ten, as the two bronze rated drivers drove out the remanence of their minimum drive time under a Virtual and actual Safety Car following a track clean up exercise by Race Control before handing over to their respective silver grade drivers for the middle stints.

Cycling as high as third for the #27 crew, neither Aston Martin seemed to have the pace to compete along the circuits long straight into what became the favourite place of action into turn one.

Going into the final third of the race, the LMGT3 Champiosnhip leading Manthey Pure RX Porsche was then at the head of the class which made the Fuji 6Hr a near impossible task for the #27 crew as their slim hopes were reliant upon podium finish of their own with the #92 not scoring.

Further VSC and SC call outs brough the classes back together again as Hypercars either failed by the trackside or collected each other in the heat of the battle and with the only car able to challenge the #92 Porsche on track struggling around with a puncture, the championship writing was already on the wall with still over ninety minutes remaining.

With the sun beginning to fade over the circuit, troubles for the #777 were again compounded after Sorenson first received a Drive Through penalty for crossing the pit exit blend line before being further reported to race stewards for allegedly exceeding the maximum power parameters of the cars BoP.

At the end of another exciting six hours of mixed class racing, the #92 Porsche eventually finished second overall to seal the LMGT3 Championship win so by the #777 eventually snatching a late P7 finish in class on the final lap and a P9 finish eventually for the #27 car all counted for nothing.

The season concludes again after another eight hour battle within the deserts of Bahrain in early November.

Photo credits – Teams / AMR / WEC

Having operated in commercial real estate and hotel property development for over two decades, the two-time Rolex 24 winner will focus his 2025 energy on a one-of-a-kind opportunity in the upscale hotel sector.

“Beyond the fun of racing in IMSA, those who know my business side know that my specialty in hotel development and management has continued to build over the last 15 years,” stated Potter. “In 2025, a long-time dream project will, fingers crossed, finally be rolling forward and I simply need to concentrate my time and energy in that direction for the upcoming year. It’s been an agonizing decision, but one that ultimately seemed necessary.”

Coming off of a season-high podium at Watkins Glen, the team and their Aston Martin GT3, along with co-drivers Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly, will continue the 2024 IMSA endurance season as planned. Advancing on to this week’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis, as well as the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, the team will then carry into the 2025 season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. Following Daytona, the team will pause for the year.

“Daytona is a special race for us and we’re thankful to IMSA for accepting our entry for the 2025 event” continued Potter. “Our intention is to then continue into 2026 or possibly select races in 2025, but the reason for the pause is to make sure my attention is less divided as business commitments ramp up, so I need to remain flexible for the time being.”

Campaigning their first full series campaign in 2010, and one of the original entrants in the re-united IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2014, the team has enjoyed a 15-season run that has accrued a number of accolades, including: two Rolex 24 at Daytona victories, two endurance championships, as well as victories at historic tracks including Sebring, Indianapolis, Laguna Seca, and Lime Rock. While the team will pause following the 2025 season-opener, the possibility for select events throughout the season or into the future remains an option.

“The commitment and effort of everyone on the team over recent years has been incredible,” closed Potter. “Only running the endurance rounds, many of our crew have had to balance work with our team against other commitments, leading to countless days aways from home. The loyalty from everyone to stick with the program says a lot about their character, and I hope we can close this current era with the results everyone has worked so hard for.”

Source material - Magnus Racing

Having finished third within the Championship last season, even a mid-season switch to the new 2024 version of the Vantage GT4 failed to interrupt their rhythm where consistency prevailed over that of overall pace.

As the results from the weekend were confirmed, it was something that Villagomez later confirmed as being “mission accomplished”.

The other AMT runner within the series, the #7 Mirage Racing Vantage GT4 of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub were sadly unable to maximise their points haul at the end of this weekend’s penultimate round. Finishing P4 and P7 within Pro-Am by the end of the two one-hour races sees any (already) remote championship aspirations disappear, and they will now have to focus upon their GT4 European Series championship hopes at Monza next weekend.

Photo credits – Team / Series

For what was another healthy Aston Martin Racing powered contingent again this season, the German based Prosport Racing team have this time called time on their endeavours within the series as both their previous #99 and #100 entries of Raphael Rennhofer/Hugo Sasse and Fabio Rauer and Hendrik Still have both been omitted from the provisional entry list for this event.

Indeed, it was only a couple of weeks ago that we saw Rennhofer, Sasse and Still all compete within two of the teams AMR Vantage GT3 cars at the last round of the ADAC GT Masters Series from Spa Francorchamps.

Other than that, the remaining six AMR Vantage GT4 crews remain unchanged from previous rounds as Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez need to recoup a sixty eight points deficit within their Am Class with their #72 GPA Racing AMR, Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub maintain a marginal one point lead within their Pro-Am class with their newer #7 Mirage Racing AMR whilst the silver classed #5 Mirage Racing and #39, #74 and #82 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR entries are now all too far back in the table to trouble the championship leaders even if they had a 100% finishing rate in Italy.

Ironically, it was the #99 Prosport car of Sasse and Rennhofer who headed the Aston Martin powered contenders in nineth overall within the silver class.

Qualifying for both races precedes race one on Saturday (race one being waved off at 17:00hrs local before race two starting at 12:35hrs local on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

The team, owned by former WEC racer Satoshi Hoshino (JPN) and managed by SUPER GT Series class winner Tomonobu Fujii (JPN), comes to Fuji hoping to improve on its best WEC finishes of third in class, recorded at Fuji in 2022. D’station Racing equalled that result when it was on the podium again this year in the season-opening Qatar 1812 race at Lusail, in March.

Among D’station Racing’s driving strength is Aston Martin’s most decorated active works driver, Marco Sørensen (DEN), a three-time FIA WEC champion in the GT classes and a Rolex 24 and 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, and now the most recent Spa 24 Hours winner alongside fellow works drivers Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Mattia Drudi (ITA). Erwan Bastard (FRA), a French and European GT4 title-winner and Clement Mateu, join the Dane in the #777 Vantage.

For THoR, Fuji represents an opportunity for the team to close the gap in the battle for second in the LMGT3 class drivers’ and teams’ standings. Following team principal and driver Ian James (GBR), Alex Riberas (ESP) and Daniel Mancinelli’s (ITA) breakthrough win at COTA, THoR is now nine points away from second place and 37 points off the leaders. There is a maximum of 26 points available (one point for pole and 25 for victory) this weekend, while the season finale in Bahrain offers up another 39, meaning there are potentially 65 left to be scored in the remaining rounds of the 2024 season.

So far this year, THoR has recorded two second places and a victory in an exceptional first full season that has witnessed the #27 Vantage be a contender in virtually every race and record no less than five points finishes from seven starts.

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is now a race winner in WEC, thanks to the outstanding performance of The Heart of Racing’s drivers and team at COTA, last time out. But we firmly believe there is plenty more to come from new Vantage, which is still in its first year of competition and we are learning more about it with every race as we build-up data. Both our partner teams competing in Fuji are capable of fighting for the podium again this weekend and we are looking forward to seeing what they can achieve with a car that is now really delivering on its potential.”

It’s COTA win meant that Vantage is the third different car to win in the new LMGT3 class, which features no less than nine manufacturers in 2024.

Aston Martin’s record at Fuji in WEC is outstanding. Vantage has won in each of its three previous configurations (Vantage V8, V8 Vantage GTE and Vantage GTE) in the GT class, and has recorded two double-class victories (in 2013 and 2019/20) among the seven wins it has taken from its ten previous visits to the circuit. The brand has also won the event in two of the last three visits with partner teams. In total, Aston Martin crews have stood on the podium no less than 16 times, and on only two occasions has the Fuji podium been Aston Martin free since the series began in 2012.

Official practice for the 6 Hours of Fuji begins on Friday, 13 September at 1100local time (0300 BST) with the race beginning at 1100 (0300 BST) on Sunday.

Source material - AMR