Monza will be pivotable before the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup moves onto Jeddah for a November finale
Racing what will be their penultimate round of the season, it will be another state of maximum attack from all fifty-two entries before the many of the available class championships get decided at the season finale many miles away this time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the end of November.
With endurance rounds so far from Paul Ricard, the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps and most recently from the Nurburgring, it is still the #007 Comtoyou Racing AMR Pro entry of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim leading the Overall Drivers Championship table thanks to their points haul (and overall race win) at Spa.
Having recovered to pick up a disappointing eight points in Germany, the #007 crew lead the chasing Audi trio of Christophe Hasse, Ricardo Feller and Alex Aka by just fifteen points with these two rounds remaining.
Having recovered to pick up a disappointing eight points in Germany, the #007 crew lead the chasing Audi trio of Christophe Hasse, Ricardo Feller and Alex Aka by just fifteen points with these two rounds remaining.
Within the other six Aston Martin Racing powered entries from both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport entries, this weekend’s entry list sees a couple of slight changes to their driver rosters from that of the Nurburgring lats time out.
The most notable will be that AMR factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot will deputise for his fellow AMR factory driver in Ross Gunn as the Englishman will be busy racing for a possible IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship crown with the Heart of Racing team over at Indianapolis this weekend – the Frenchman will be joining both David Pittard and Henrique Chaves within the #34 Walkenhorst Pro entry.
The other change appear to be (and contrary to the published entry list) within the #11 bronze class entered Comtoyou Racing entry as both John De Wilde and James Jakes will now be joined by Dutch racer Niels Koolen instead of the advertised Job Van Uitert after he swaps to the #21 Gold entered car alongside Charles Clark and Matisse Lismont.
The remaining #12 silver class Comtoyou Racing entry of Nicolas Baert/Sebastian Ogaard/Kobe Pauwels remains the same as do the other Walkenhorst AMR entries of Maxime Robin/Romain Leroux and Lorcan Hanafin aboard their #35 silver class entry and Mex Jenson, Tim Creswick and Ben Green aboard their #36 bronze class entry.
Other than the #007 car in the Pro class, only the #11 Comtoyou bronze entry appears to have any championship prospects in the Middle East should results go in their favour this weekend.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 |
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Fujii and Fagg go again in Super GTs visit to Sugo this weekend
With the Japanese version of the entry list showing that Charlie Fagg will again be joining Tomonobu Fujii within the teams GT300 specification Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3, we had thought that the presence of Marco Sorensen within the country of last weekend’s penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship might have rekindled the season opening partnership within the car.
Having skipped the Suzuka round a few weeks ago due to the impending arrival of another typhoon over the country, this weekend’s visit to Sugo is technically the sixth round of an eight-round season but there will still be three to go after this one.
After the four rounds so far, the #777 D’Station Racing AMR lies in fourth place within their GT300 class – now fifteen points behind the pace setting car but now also carrying the maximum 50kg success weight ballast into the round like sixth other cars in class.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
After the four rounds so far, the #777 D’Station Racing AMR lies in fourth place within their GT300 class – now fifteen points behind the pace setting car but now also carrying the maximum 50kg success weight ballast into the round like sixth other cars in class.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 |
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Big steps up the IMSA ladder for the Van Der Steur AMR team next season
Presently racing the outgoing 17A version of the Vantage GT4 platform within the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series this weekend at Indianapolis, the team have today confirmed that they will be stepping up to both the new 2024 Vantage GT3 platform within the endurance rounds of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.
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
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 |
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Two AMR powered crews continue to chase the Michelin Pilot Challenge crown this weekend
Following the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship circus to the infamous Brickyard of Indianapolis will again be the supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge Series as they themselves thrash out another competitive season of mixed GT4 and TCR powered crews.
Within those two classes, the Aston Martin Racing brand is again well represented at the sharper end of the GS (GT4) based Drivers Championship as Matt Plumb continues to lead the way within his #46 Team TGM Vantage GT4 that he now shares with Paul Holton.
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.
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
Monday, September 16, 2024 |
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Another championship for the Heart of Racing team to chase as IMSA visits the Brickyard (Updated)
Again, both the #23 GTD Pro car of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas will run alongside the #27 GTD Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD car of Roman de Angelis, Zacharie Robichon and Ian James for this weekend’s six-hour race.
UPDATE - The #27 car will now apparanety compete within the GTD Pro class as well as the #23 car with De Angelis now being joined by Mario Farnbacher for this weekend's efforts.
With that being said, there is still a championship battle to be had by the Heart of Racing team as they help Gunn towards any possible GTD Pro Championship win this season as the Englishman is still just seventeen points behind the Porsche powered Laurin Henrich in the championship table so far. With just one class win at Watkins Glen for the #23 car behind them, other podium finishes have helped maintain that drive forward as his co-drivers have come and gone according to just where in the world Riberas may have been at the time.
Last time out in the series at VIR in late August, the Heart’s double on track with the #23 car finishing P3 in class with the #27 P2 in class were unfortunately short lived after a very late post-race announcement from the series struck the #27 cars finishing position off due to a technical infringement with the car and an undefined non homologated part.
This weekend’s entry list will see a whopping fifty-six car entry from across its available GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes with the majority again being from the road car-based classes with thirty-five such entries.
The race itself will begin at 11:30hrs local.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Being an endurance round, we also welcome back the #44 Magnus Racing AMR Vantage GTD of John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly after the team announced only today of their ‘stepping away’ from any full season involvement in motor racing next season due to business time constraints being enforced onto Potter.
So, it’s kind of sad to realise that for the short to medium term at least that this round, the season finale this season from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and the season opener next season with the Rolex 24 from Daytona will be the final three races where we will expect to see the trio (plus one for Daytona) run in their new Vantage GTD.
So, it’s kind of sad to realise that for the short to medium term at least that this round, the season finale this season from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and the season opener next season with the Rolex 24 from Daytona will be the final three races where we will expect to see the trio (plus one for Daytona) run in their new Vantage GTD.
With that being said, there is still a championship battle to be had by the Heart of Racing team as they help Gunn towards any possible GTD Pro Championship win this season as the Englishman is still just seventeen points behind the Porsche powered Laurin Henrich in the championship table so far. With just one class win at Watkins Glen for the #23 car behind them, other podium finishes have helped maintain that drive forward as his co-drivers have come and gone according to just where in the world Riberas may have been at the time.
Last time out in the series at VIR in late August, the Heart’s double on track with the #23 car finishing P3 in class with the #27 P2 in class were unfortunately short lived after a very late post-race announcement from the series struck the #27 cars finishing position off due to a technical infringement with the car and an undefined non homologated part.
This weekend’s entry list will see a whopping fifty-six car entry from across its available GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes with the majority again being from the road car-based classes with thirty-five such entries.
The race itself will begin at 11:30hrs local.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Monday, September 16, 2024 |
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Their slim LMGT3 Championship hopes finally slip through the fingers of the two AMR crews in Fuji
For them and their AMR powered stablemates from the locally based D’Station Racing team, a combination of better performance, better strategy and massively enhanced championship points position going into this six-hour round were all too much for either Aston Martin team with both the race and the inaugural LMGT3 Championship wins going to other teams.
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
Monday, September 16, 2024 |
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Sad news from Magnus Racing
While evaluating a number of ways to point fingers normally found in such an announcement, Magnus Racing and team owner John Potter have decided to simply state the team will pause operations for 2025, following the upcoming 63rd Running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Breaking with a long-held sportscar tradition of blaming the BoP, series rules, or some randomly benign issue to skirt accountability, Potter will instead cite business commitments as his reason to shift focus; but he’s actually telling the truth.
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
Monday, September 16, 2024 |
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Racing Spirit of Leman FFSA GT4 Silver class Champions 0f 2024
Already entering this penultimate round of the French national series with a large lead, this weekend’s results have confirmed maintain a now unassailable lead for the crew going into the final round of the season at Paul Ricard in early October meaning that they have now been declared champions.
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
Sunday, September 15, 2024 |
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Forsetti chasing the double in GT Cup at next months season finale
This time pairing Sam Neser alongside Mikey Porter within the team’s solo Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 after his great debut in the class and series at Silverstone alongside Will Orton, this weekend saw the young pairing take a trio of class wins to go alongside their P2 at the end of the weekend’s first endurance race on Saturday.
In changing conditions between Saturday’s Sprint and Endurance races to that of Sunday’s, these results further confirm the team’s dominance within the GTH Class (although we are not sure who will claim that honour alongside Porter as that was already achieved with the help o0f Matthew Higgins) to win by nearly two hundred points with four races from their home track of Snetterton still to come early next month.
What is still undecided is the Overall Championship with the Forsetti crew just fifty points behind the #3Topcats GT3 entry going into this round at Donington Park and with the #9 crew having much the better race weekend this time around to the #3 crew.
What is still undecided is the Overall Championship with the Forsetti crew just fifty points behind the #3Topcats GT3 entry going into this round at Donington Park and with the #9 crew having much the better race weekend this time around to the #3 crew.
Snetterton could well add the double and a further championship win for the fledgling AMR powered team this season.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, September 15, 2024 |
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Santosa bows out a credible fourth in Am within the GT World Challenge Series this weekend
Again racing the Earl Bamber Motorsport prepared car as a solo driver within his own Am class, the Indonesian driver claimed another P8 and P6 in class this weekend as global racing finally returned to the Chinese mainland for the first time since the pandemic.
What happens next season for him is obviously news for another day but the team remain in the racing spotlight over the winter months after their entry was recently confirmed within the Asian Le Mans Series with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo – but with yet, an undefined driver trio.
Photo credits - Series
Sunday, September 15, 2024 |
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A reduced AMR headcount as all three classes in GT4 European may get decided at Monza next weekend
With this and the season finale from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia at the end of November still to come, the points haul still available from the season’s final four races are still enough for some to overcoming their existing points deficits to the present Am, Pro-Am and Silver class leaders – so all is far from over.
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
Saturday, September 14, 2024 |
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Work still to be done after Qualifying for the two AMR LMGT3 crews in the World Endurance Championship
After their near lights to flag command of the previous round at the Circuit of the Americas just two weeks ago, the #27 car of James secured a fourth row start to tomorrows six hours of Fuji in eighth whilst the locally based D’Station Racing crew of Clement Mateu (Qualifying driver), Erwan Bastard and Marco Sorenson could do no more than P13 out of their eighteen strong LMGT3 field within their #777 car.
For both Aston Martin’s, however, a recent and amended Balance of Performance change for their specific platform has seen a marginal adjustment in just how their engine can deliver its power to the wheels above and below 200kph – the cars should be marginally quicker at the lower speeds but with a power decrease on the faster straights. The original change saw greater restrictions imposed onto the Vantage LMGT3.
Despite that, and the expected success weight ballast that goes with winning the class the last time out – the #27 car did that now 15kg above its declared base weight, becoming the second heaviest LMGT3 on track whilst the #777 crew remain at their base weight.
Despite that, and the expected success weight ballast that goes with winning the class the last time out – the #27 car did that now 15kg above its declared base weight, becoming the second heaviest LMGT3 on track whilst the #777 crew remain at their base weight.
Looking through the Qualifying lap times, the #27 car finished that session in P6 and just half a second off the lead pace whilst the #777 car finished its qualifying process in P13 and just under a second off before James then went into the further Hyperpole session to finish eighth in class with a best lap time again just half a second off the pace of the pole setting #55 AF Corse Ferrari crew.
Being on the opposite side of the world to Fuji Speedway, it will be a very early start for us European’s with the race starting at 11:00hrs local.
There is still an LMGT3 Drivers Championship to be won and with CoTA’s result bouncing the Heart crew back up to P4, it could always be them by the time the flag falls in Bahrain later next month.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Saturday, September 14, 2024 |
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Racing Spirit of Leman could win the FFSA GT4 Silver Class this weekend from Dijon
With just this round and the season finale of the SRO Racing festival from Paul Ricard in early October still to go, we have just the #7 Mirage Racing car of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub still competing within the Pro-Am class as well as the #74 Racing Spirit of Leman Silver class entry of Victor Weyrich and Mateo Villagomez to cheer.
Last time out at Magny-Cours just three weeks ago was another podium fest for the #74 as they consolidated and extended class championship lead with another P2 and P1 finishes (in class) whilst the #7 had to make do with P6 and P7 finishes within their ultra-competitive and busy Pro-Am class which still sees them down in seventh within their championship table.
This weekend sees another two one-hour races to look forward to but with still one hundred points available to the end of the season and being just fifty-three points ahead, the maths are still easy to work out.
That being said, being eighty-eight points behind in Pro-Am, the #7 Mirage Racing team would require something approaching a minor miracle to turn that points deficit around – but then, there is always pride worth racing for!
Track action begins tomorrow with Free Practice.
Photo credits – FFSA GT4
Thursday, September 12, 2024 |
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AMR powered WEC crews back in action this weekend from Fuji
Thanks to a spectacular run on home ground at the Circuit of the Americas [COTA], THoR led the way from pole, and recorded the fastest LMGT3 class lap en route to its maiden WEC victory just 10 days ago. Now it is the turn of Aston Martin Racing’s other WEC partner team D’station Racing to race on native turf, as it returns to its very roots. The team’s headquarters are stationed just a few miles from the circuit in the foothills of Mount Fuji.
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.
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
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 |
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