Bullitt Racing join the Aston Martin ranks with a multi-car multi-series GT3 effort in 2022
Today announcing a two car, multiple series racing commitment with a pair of AMR Vantage GT3’s, Bullitt Racing has also acquired full Partner status with the AMR factory that will see them also become Aston Martin’s regional agent for the Iberian Peninsula.
Established just five years ago by Stephen Pattrick, the Marbella based team was established to provide top end driver coaching (for its owner) and other decerning gentlemen drivers within what was initially a GT4 arena.
Entries into the GT4 European Series and the South Europe GT4 Series with their Mercedes AMG GT4 has proven the value of operating with factory supported cars, equipment and personnel and this new venture with Aston Martin Racing will be no different.
Today’s new outlines the team’s intention of entering a two car AMR Vantage GT3 line up in next seasons Michelin Le Mans Cup Series as well as entries within the next seasons Asian Le Mans Series, next year’s Gulf 12Hrs and their regional rounds of the Creventic 24H Series with drivers and partners all yet to be confirmed.
What we do know is that the car shown testing was delivered to the team a few weeks ago and is the ex. Nicki Thiim/Marco Sorensen NLS 8 / Spa 24 Aston Martin, a car that saw out David King’s reign at the team as President in the most fitting way possible. A quick clean done and service later and the car was delivered straight to the team at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya from Germany for wrapping and testing. We believe that their second car will be delivered over the year.
Welcome to the family.
Photo credits – Bullitt Racing / AMR
Three Aston Martin's including a Vulcan at Britcar finale from Donington Park
Like so many other series that we have already spoken about in recent weeks, the Britcar Endurance Championship is just another one coming to its seasonal conclusion this weekend, this time from Donington Park with another multi-class grid including three Aston Martins.
Season long contenders from the Team Brit Team make their final appearance of the year after issues at recent rounds sadly saw out any overall Championship contention possibility that drivers Aaron Morgan / Bobby Trundley may have had with their Vantage GT4. Their P9 overall Championship position is a remarkable achievement in any situation but with two races still outstanding this weekend, there may still be some improvement upon that position as well.
Joining then in their Class 4 grid will be the Dale and Mark Albutt AMR Vantage GT4 from the Triple M Automotive team. Unfortunately for these guys, they haven’t been able to commit to a full season of Britcar racing this season, so we expect them to finish on something of a high after Saturday’s final one hour race.
Also making another guest appearance in the Championship is the Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins Aston Martin Vulcan. Raced in the series several times before over the years with various teams, the Class 1 Invitational car will be expected to win the race on outright pace but presumably only is the track conditions allow them the throw this high value car around like a race car!!
Photo credits – Britcar / Teams / Stephen Jackman
Pippa Mann joins Prosport Competition for Sebring 24
Following her racing career within the IndyCar series, the lady racer with the pink helmet has been turning much of her time to driver coaching and, where she can, a new career within the GT class both in Europe and in the USA.
With visits to the Nordschleife in the German NLS Series, her most recent GT exploits were at the 8hr Intercontinental GT Challenge Series visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where she was in a Porsche Cayman GT4 crew that finished ninth in class.
Next weekend sees her join a four-driver crew with the #143 AMR Vantage GT4 car for the 24-hour national club sport series event around the infamous former wartime airfield circuit. She joins co-drivers Dwayne Moses (Porsche Club of USA Champion), Zach Arnold (Grand Am Rolex GT racer) and Jim Cox (IMSA LMP3 racer).
Photo credits - Prosport
PROsport Racing field three Aston Martins at penultimate rounds of ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany this weekend
The PROsport Racing team will be trebly busy this weekend at the penultimate round of the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany Series as they take with them to Hockenheim both of their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s AND their remaining AMR Vantage GT3.
Having swapped to the ADAC GT4 Series after their fallings out with the DTM Trophy Series a couple of months ago, Christoph Esser’s team had wanted to field both of their available GT4 platforms within the ADAC Series first time around at the Sachenring as well as their GT3 with a certain named AMR factory driver.
One thing and another later and the team were only able to field a single GT4 with driver Mike David Ortmann who teamed up with Hugo Sasse where their #18 car went on to claim a pole to flag race win first time out.
For Hockenheim, the team have found another pairing for their #16 AMR GT4 with German driver Yannick Fubrich who joins Ukrainian driver Yevgen Sokolovski, two drivers who have differing levels of racing experience but mainly within the NLS (VLN) Series that PROsport know so well.
These two AMR GT4’s of course join the full season #69 entry from the Dorr Motorsport team of Phil Dorr and Andreas Wirth who, after their two Junior Class podium finishes at the Sachsenring sees Dorr laying second in the Championship behind Mercedes driver Theo Nouet with just four races to go.
Brother Ben Dorr also joins the AMR family at this round with a replacement Vantage GT4 for lieu of his usual McLaren 570s that he will share with his co-driver Nico Hantke.
Further to that, and in return for some dogged determination from the team sees PROsport Racing return to the ADAC GT Masters Series with their AMR Vantage GT3 for the first time since their ill-fated double car audition in the series back in 2019.
This time their reigning DTM Trophy GT4 racer Tim Heinemann steps up to their GT3 platform for the first time in the headline GT3 series with Salman Owega but both drivers do have current GT3 multi-class racing experience from this season’s GTC series where both won novice titles.
All ADAC GT Masters and GT4 Germany races will be streamed live via the series social media channels.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / PROsport / GT Masters
Final round of the ELMS for TF Sport at Portimao
Five rounds of the Series done already, including a successful return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in between and the TF Sport Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE crew of John Hartshorne, Ollie Hancock and Ross Gunn pair up for one last race in the European Le Man’s Series at Portimao this weekend.
An accomplished GT and prototype race car driver over the past two decades, Hartshorne made the decision to return to topflight GT racing for this season and embarked upon a vigorous re-learning curve with TF Sport in both the Asian Le Mans Series earlier this year (in which they drove an AMR Vantage GT3) before stepping up to the big time with an AMR Vantage GTE in the ELMS and at Le Mans.
Joining him on this journey was Ollie Hancock, a recent co-driver of his who had never raced at this level before as well as AMR factory driver Ross Gunn, who would show them both how it was done.
It has become clear at times that racing at this level has been tough on both the elder gentleman driver and a young silver ranked driver who must have felt at times like a rabbit staring into the car headlights but as the season progressed, so did they and their eighth in class result was certainly something to be proud of.
This weekend’s final four-hour round of the season will start at 13:00hrs local on Sunday.
Photo credits – Adrenal Media / Team
One heck of a year for the new GT America GT4 Champion Jason Bell
It has been a long time coming for Jason Bell, but he now has the designation as GT America Champion. Working with his GMG Racing outfit behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage GT4, Bell added a race win and two podium results this past weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to cap off an incredible year in the series that featured multiple race wins and the eventual championship.
“What a year it has been, and I can’t thank all of the GMG Racing crew and Aston Martin for their help, support and confidence,” explained Bell. “When we got behind, they pushed to get us back to the top. It is an honor to drive for this team and this brand, and I just hope that this is something that we can continue for years to come.”
With rain in the forecast throughout the week, Bell was unfazed as he climbed behind the wheel of his #2 MovoCash entry. After qualifying in the second position for race one on Friday, Bell took advantage of his front row starting position to move to the lead and never look back. Driving to the victory in the first GT America race of the weekend, Bell was five markers shy of securing his first GT America title. Saturday would see the Floridian return to the podium, this time in the second position as he garnered enough points to be name the 2021 GT America Champion.
Bell added, “At times, the conditions were bad, but I knew what I needed to do. We came into the season with a goal and adjusted as needed. In the end, I think we exceeded our expectations which is always good when you are chasing race wins and a championship.”
Competing in three different classes over the event week, Bell teamed with long-time co-driver Andrew Davis in the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX finale and netted another pair of top-ten results. Completing race one in the eighth position, Bell and Davis leveled up in race two of the event to cross the line in P6.
Also, on the docket for the weekend was the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Indianapolis 8-Hour race. Teaming once again with Andrew Davis as well as Aston Martin driver Trent Hindman, the trio would take on Sunday’s eight-hour endurance race in the GT4 class as they were aiming to continue the success in Indianapolis. Biding their time early and running inside the top five, Davis, Hindman and Bell had the car to win, but the luck that forced them to the sidelines.
“It was going well, and I think we could have challenged for the win,” explained a disappointed Bell. “Unfortunately, the alternator belt broke and caused the battery to die. The GMG Racing crew was able to get us back on track to ensure the car was good, but our race was effectively over at that point. Sucks to have a strong weekend end in the garage, but sometimes racing is a cruel sport. Another huge shoutout to the GMG Racing crew, Andrew Davis, Trent Hindman, MovoCash and the rest of our partners for a successful season. For me, 2022 starts now!”
Source material - Jason Bell PR
Last AMR dance for Dinan and Foley at Barcelona finale of GT Open Series
TF Sport will make one last trip down to the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya this week for the final round of the International GT Open Series for their customer pairing of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley.
Last out with the Sussex based Aston Martin Racing team at Spa Francorchamps earlier in the year, the former GT4 America Champions finished second overall in their chosen Pro class during the longer race on Saturday before seeing out their first ever racing weekend out in an AMR Vantage GT3 tenth overall and fourth in class in the second race.
Since then, the pairing have been busy back Stateside in their respective GT World Challenge America and IMSA Series commitments but they have still found the time to return to the GT Open Series on an ad-hoc basis with Kessel Racing in one of their Ferrari 488 GT3’s at both the Hungaroring and most recently at Monza where Dinan competing as a solo driver. TF Sport have also been back at the series at the Red Bull Ring with drivers Sam De Haan and Charlie Eastwood where they secured an overall race win.
The winter months may go onto to shed some light on just which way Dinan may go with any potential GT3 programme on either side of the Atlantic after these competitive ‘tests’!
Photo credit – GT Open / TF Sport
Determined final charge in season sees Jason Bell claim the GT4 GT America crown at Indianapolis finale
Unlike the Newbridge Aston Martin Racing team in the UK who enjoyed a points advantage going into their final round of the British GT Championship, the other Championship winning display this weekend came from the GMG Racing team competing at the final round of the GT America Series from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Since swapping to the AMR Vantage GT4 in readiness for the 2021 season, American Jason Bell has been running a joint programme with two AMR Vantage GT4’s in each of the SRO sanctioned GT4 America and GT America Series.
Racing under the guidance of his resident driver coach and co-driver Andrew Davis, a recent string of high end or podium finishes left Bell within arm’s length of the overall class prize going into the final round at Indianapolis but would need to overcome a fourteen points deficit to the class leading BMW M4 GT4 of Sean Quinlan to do so first.
Racing solo for the bronze ranked drivers only as the series demands, a fiery Bell made the move of his GT America season at the restart to race one on Friday where he quickly claimed the GT4 class lead from Quinlan after a brief caution and went on to claim another class win after that forty-minute race. His result and Gray Newell stealing additional championship points by taking P2 in class in his Heart of Racing AMR cut the points deficit to just five points going into Saturday’s finale.
With fastest laps in race 1 again setting the grid for race 2, Bell already had in theory an early jump on Quinlan by starting one row ahead of where the BMW driver should have started had Quinlan not have suffered technical issues on the warmup lap. Pitting before the race had even begun and his race effectively over, all the #119 BMW could do then was to hope for a none points scoring finish from the #2 Aston Martin.
For this cruel end to Quinlan’s season, that was not to be as Bell pushed for an early class lead with Newell in hot pursuit and with Sean Whalen in only his second GT America meeting aboard his #888 Zelus Motorsport Aston.
Giving nothing away to his class opponent, AMR stablemate Newell passed Bell for the class lead near the halfway mark of the race from which the #25 never looked back as his first solo class win beckoned him home. For Bell (and like Topham and Turner in the UK), P2 was enough for him to claim the GT America GT4 crown as the eighteen points for second far outweighed the five points deficit to the Cameron Racing BMW team.
Photo credits – GT America / Team / CSJ Motorsport / F Lagunas
Topham and Turner tough it out at #Doningtondecider to bring home the GT4 Pro-Am Drivers Championship
Closer to home this time and the Newbridge Motorsport AMR team with drivers Matt Topham and Darren Turner did exactly what was needed to do at the final round of the 2021 British GT Championship at Donington Park to claim the GT4 Pro-Am Drivers Championship by the slenderest of margins after finally taking a class second at the final race of the season yesterday.
For the #27 crew, their preparations for Sunday’s two hour didn’t exactly get off to a flying start on Saturday when a mistake from Turner at the start of the days second Free Practice session saw their #27 car consigned to the garage for the session with front end repairs after contact with one of the Bentley GT3’s.
After many hands made light work of the repairs, the team had the car back out (in something of a raw state) in time for Qualifying and each driver was able to post lap times good enough to keep the car towards the front of the GT4 pack whilst their nearest championship rivals also struggled towards the rear.
Of course, the #27 Newbridge car was not the only Aston Martin Racing car present as the #7 AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard (and Jonny Adam) also had a slight possibility of a GT3 Drivers Championship as well as Century Motorsport bringing David Holloway and his AMR Vantage GT4 along to the finale with co-driver Bradley Ellis.
Having just finished their GT Cup Championship in the gold and black liveried car, Holloway was here to sample just what the British GT Championship had to offer prior to any 2022 commitment and the 2019 British GT GT3 Silver Cup Champion was just the person to show him after a season’s worth of driver coaching behind them.
Howard meanwhile, was having yet another year’s partnership with his previous co-champion conclude a the end of the race and despite their spirit and commitment to the cause – perhaps the kind of points deficit that they faced was all a bit much for the Anglo-Scott crew to challenge other than just doing well in the final race.
The #Doningtondecider soon threw some more spice into the works as the teams were greeted by a wet track from overnight rain and with more on the way, certainly over morning warm up and into the start of the race itself. Whilst this would help some, the deteriorating track conditions would also take their toll on others.
With most cars starting on wets, it wasn’t long before the first GT3 championship candidate threw it all away into the gravel, reinforcing the fact to the race starting Topham that he had to be in it to win it! As the laps passed by, the track developed a clear dry line meaning that conservation of the tyres was paramount as any additional tyre stop would see off any championship aspirations.
A cracking opening stint from Topham maintained their top end of class race position despite the championship contesting Fox McLaren stealthily moving up through the pack from their starting position. Eventually handing the #27 car over to the multiple Le Mans winner, it was all down to Turner to bring it home for the team inside the final hour of the race despite now being behind the Fox car on track
The weather had played its part in the opening phase of the day and the race would be concluded under rising, broken cloud with the sun even peeking out at times to see just what was going on and second in class was always going to be good enough mathematically for the #27 crew despite the points differential between P1 and P2.
Bring it home they did, claiming P2 overall in class at the chequered flag to land yet another podium of the season and, more importantly the GT4 Drivers Championship by just four points for their efforts. What is more outstanding is the fact the team did not even attend the first race of the season at Brands Hatch in mid-May!!
Joining the delights of a decent finish were also the #71 Century AMR crew of Holloway and Ellis who claimed P3 in class by the end of their first British GT race together as they finished just six seconds behind the #27 car!
Another P7 finish for the #7 Beechdean AMR crew would cement them into fifth (and sixth for Adam) place in the GT3 Drivers Championship – frustrating to them we are sure, but we would like to think that had it not been for Covid, mistakes at Spa and accident at Oulton Park then they may have been in for a better shout than what they actually were at the end.
But that’s motor racing.
Photo credit (podium) – Jacob Ebrey
GT4 American concludes at IMS with a podium haul for the seven Aston Martin runners
Sadly, there was no title defence of Michael Dalton’s and Robbie Foley’s crown from last year as the multi-classed American GT4 series had stepped up another notch this year with a more competitive and bigger grid than that of last year. Despite not being in a position to win a Class outright, the seven Aston’s made it their most productive meeting of the season so far to go home with a collective nine trophy haul between them.
The biggest news of the week thus far was the late news that Valentin Hasse-Clot would be competing in #59 WR Racing AMR GT4 with Paul Terry and instead of Owen Trinkler followed up by the return of the #888 Zelus Motorsport Aston of Sean Whalen and Tigh Issac after their GT America debut at Watkins Glen and the presence of the #09 Automatic Racing car of Mikel Miller and Paul Kiebler who were also due to compete in the IGTC eight-hour affair later in the weekend.
Problems with ride height for the #15 Bsport Racing Aston Martin of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch during Qualifying consigned them to the rear of the grid in both races but on reflection, that would stir both drivers up into producing two outstanding displays that would earn them a podium result in both races.
The brothers at Dexter Racing had started their Silver Cup AMR GT4 America quest on the podium at the first time of asking at Sonoma but despite some challenges along the way – technical with the car or in avoidable accidents, they showed great character and tenacity to come back again and take away a class podium in the final race of the season having had to give up a chance in the opening race due to an incident where their engine exhaust was pushed into the cockpit of the car making for unsafe conditions for Ryan Dexter after their compulsory stop.
A small change in the AMR’s balance of performance may have helped these results to take place but we were told that it was a simple engine mapping increase, adding just a handful of horsepower more but then being countered with additional ballast within the car!
That may have been all that was needed for the #59 WR Racing crew of Terry and Hasse-Clot as the young Parisian took to the hollowed American racetrack like a duck to water. “Being a professional driver, learning the circuit on a sim was what was needed and expected of him” he commented later on.
Taking over the car from Terry in P10 overall / P3 in class, an overall win for the Frenchman in his first ever visit to the USA would have been sensational but it was Kenton Koch who gave him a reality check in local experience with his #15 car, passing by the #59 around the outside of a corner as the #59 ran out of tyres to for him to claim P2 in class with the #59 consigned to P3 in class!
There was further success for the Aston Martin contingent further back in the Am class as the #09 Automatic crew had their best results to date with a class P2, just ahead of the #888 Zelus Aston Martin who finished P3 in class in their first pit stop race together.
If that wasn’t enough, then there was the final race of the season on Thursday were Hasse-Clot secured overall Pole Position for the #59 car with Andrew Davis in his #2 GMG Racing Aston Martin not too far behind in P3!
Although the #09 Automatic car would drop out of the race after the opening lap, Hasse-Clot would go on to show just how fast he can be as he eked out a 5-6 second gap to the chasing pack around the 2.59-mile circuit still wet in places from an earlier downpour.
Another start from the rear of the grid for the #15 car and another outstanding drive form Koch to go through the pack to be as high as P3 at the stop! Although Terry did initially retain the race lead, he would eventually lose the race lead with just four minutes remaining but would come home second overall and first in the Pro-Am Class.
Joining these guys on the final round of podium celebrations would be the #062 Dexter Racing pair of Ryan and Warren Dexter after their P3 Silver Cup class finish with a final P3 in class for both the #15 Bsport Racing crew of Koch and Putt and the #888 Zelus Motorsport crew of Whalen and Isaac again!!
It’s been another year of fantastic racing with multiple Aston Martin Racing teams running with the support of CSJ Motorsport again and from what we have been hearing about the state of play in North America, 2022 might just get a lot busier for them too!!
Photo credits – Sprint X / Teams / CSJ Motorsport / F Lagunas
British GT Championship's remaining titles still finally balanced after today's sessions
The final round of the 2021 British GT Championship from Donington Park is again living up to its affectionately adopted hashtag with today’s first formal sessions of the finale throwing up some issues for the Aston Martin Racing crews and in fact most to contend with.
Mid October and the twenty-six crews were presented with a dry track, little chance of rain during the day but a tad chilly to start with for some! Teams had already been at the circuit on Thursday for some private testing and with conditions similar again to today, there was not much need for anyone to go ‘off piste’ on set up.
Speaking with someone at Beechdean, we asked about this performance issue that had apparently blighted the #7 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam for much of the season. Whilst we don’t think that a clear answer was necessarily given, a predicted gap of at about a second was predicted for later!
Beechdean (specifically Andrew Howard) are one of the two AMR teams in the hunt for the remaining GT3 and GT4 Pro-Am Drivers Championship title hunt left as yet unclaimed going into this finale – the other being the #27 Newbridge Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Matt Topham and Darren Turner. Whereas the #27 AMR GT4 arrived at the Leicestershire circuit with a points advantage of a dozen or so, the #7 team would need something nearing a minor miracle – basically to win and have all those ahead of them in the Championship to fail to score.
Free Practice 1 this morning appeared to go reasonably well for the three AMR teams including the British GT debut for David Holloway and his Century Motorsport prepared AMR GT4 that he will share with his 2021 GT Cup co-driver Bradley Ellis. Despite going faster than they did on Thursday, the #7 Beechdean found themselves again at the foot of the class table as both the AMR GT4’s also went faster than Thursday for the #71 Century car to claim the higher spot than the #27 Newbridge car.
During Free Practice 2 the first problem arose for the Newbridge team as Turner made an uncharacteristic error of judgement to outbreak himself into the rear of the Paddock Motorsport Bentley GT3 – consigning each to their garages for repairs and missing the remainder of FP2 to boot.
With still a couple of hours till Qualifying, the repair work did look well within the capabilities of the Newbridge Team but obviously that incident perhaps dented more than the front of their Aston as memories of their last visit to Donington Park earlier in the year came back to bear.
Then came the four Qualifying sessions with the GT3 Am drivers starting it off but were soon back in pit lane as the GT3 Championship leading Lamborghini managed to spin out and get stuck in the gravel causing a red flag! With the session soon getting back under way, the #7 Beechdean car would eventually finish P9 overall with their separate times both about 0.8 to 1.0 second slower (see above) than those of the pace setting WPI Motorsport Lamborghini.
GT4’s were out next with Topham and Holloway piloting their respective Aston around first before Turner and Ellis took each car to the completion of the session. With the class generously filled with plenty of Silver/Silver crews, the Pro-Am entered Aston’s were always going to be lower down the order with the #27 eventually taking P6 overall and second in class – just behind the leading Pro-Am Toyota but more importantly with their nearest Championship challengers also facing problems of their own and only Qualifying towards the rear of the grid.
As with any race, where you start is not necessarily the important bit as its always who crosses the line first wins. Whereas the Beechdean crew are being pretty much matter of fact about their chances this weekend, the Newbridge crew do have every chance and are being privately – mildly confident with the package that they have.
The final two hour race of the 2021 season starts at 13:00hrs local tomorrow!!
Looking forward to it!
