After a six week summer break, Saturday's return to the Nordschleife marked the half way point in the 2018 VLN Series with full season entrant Avia Racing were looking to stabilise a somewhat topsy-turvy season aboard their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

The teams usual three driver line up of Wolfgang Weber, Thomas Krebs and Erik Johansson had qualified 62nd out of the 165 entries but unfortunately their race in their SP10 class car came to a premature end after just nine laps with ABS issues.

Aston Martin Racing’s new Vantage GTE recorded its first top-five finish and made a significant step forward in pace and development during the 6 Hours of Silverstone this weekend.

Both Vantage GTEs maintained their 100% finishing records during Round 3 of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with Alex Lynn (GB) and Maxime Martin (BEL) delivering the #97 car’s best finish yet with a trouble-free run to fourth (upon confirmation of provisional results) on home soil. Their team-mates Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) were also heading for a strong result until encountering a gear selection issue that required some unscheduled stops to resolve. The ‘DaneTrain’ recovered to finish ninth, ensuring the team’s third double-points finish of the season in the GTE Pro category.

Having unfortunately missed everything of this weekend's Silverstone round of the World Endurance Championship event so far, its been great to see that early signs of performance improvement from the factory team's two GTE Pro entries in the opening Free Practice sessions have continued through to build up for what will be a very exiting six hour race tomorrow.

Entering their best times during the three Free Practice sessions of the season so far, the two -two driver V8 turbo Vantage GTE crews have gone on to set their best Qualifying times of the season so far to start P2 and P3 between the two Ford GT cars.


Starting the business on track yesterday morning, the #97 car of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn narrowly took team honours from the #95 Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen car to finish FP1 mid table. That on-track improvement continued into FP2 where the two cars closed out Fridays work in P2 and P4 respectively. Yes - some of that improvement will be down to an improved BoP availability but a lot more will be down to improvements from within their own car and within their own procedures and systems.

This mornings track action 'faultered' slightly as the #95 finished FP3 P3 in class whilst the #97 was cast down towards the foot of the table in P8 in class (for reasons unknown to us) but obviously, emphasis was squarely set towards the next track action of this afternoon - Qualifying.

With both cars having just the two drivers for this round that at least made selection of the Qualifying drivers a relatively simple matter with each being required to set an individual time from which an aggregate would be taken. Martin continued to be the quicker of the four drivers to claim an early P2 position later confirmed by a suitably impressive time from Lynn for the #97 car to start tomorrows race from the front row of the GTE Pro grid. With Thiim entering his time ahead of Sorensen, a time deficit of just 0.3 of second was still enough for them to secure a second row start for the Dane Train.


The performance of these cars so far is testament to the many hours of hard work undertaken by the team between Le Mans and now in coxing out all of the available and unharnessed performance out of their new GTE contender in what is still only its third race.

It really does line up to be a very competitive class again tomorrow.

If the Pro class isn't going to be competitive enough then the Am class will bound to go one or two steps further in entertainment value as none in each class will be afraid to go wheel to wheel with each other during the race's available six hours and if Spa was anything to go by in Am .............!!

It is clear that significant effort has been put into Silverstone by the factory team since two somewhat disappointing but at least mostly reliable finishes at both Spa and Le Mans so it would be great to see if those efforts and sacrifices can be matched with a podium finish (or four) tomorrow afternoon!

Photo credits - AMR / WEC

Aston Martin Racing’s new FIA World Endurance Championship challenger – the Vantage GTE – will make its first competitive appearance on home ground in the 6 Hours of Silverstone this weekend.

Indeed it will be a weekend of firsts for the team, as Alex Lynn (GB) makes his British debut as an Aston Martin Racing driver, while he and team-mate Maxime Martin (BEL) will begin their stint as a standalone pairing in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage for the next three races.

“I’m extremely excited to be racing at Silverstone this weekend,” said Lynn. “Being a British driver, and being part of the factory Aston Martin team gives me a lot of pride. Obviously I’m seriously motivated to get a good result so I’ll be giving it absolutely everything I can to give the home fans something to cheer about alongside Maxime.”


In the weeks following the Le Mans 24 Hours, where the Vantage GTE recorded a solid double points finish on its debut, the team has been working tirelessly along with technical partners Michelin and Total to unlock more of its undoubted potential through an intensive development programme. Aston Martin Racing now looks forward to finding out where the Vantage GTE sits in the competitive order as we move into next phase of the Super Season.

“We have worked hard to improve the whole package after Le Mans, and I am really hoping that we will be more competitive at the weekend,” said Nicki Thiim, who shares the #95 ‘DaneTrain’ driving duties with Marco Sørensen until Darren Turner returns for Sebring in 2019. “The whole team wants to prove that the car is something special.”

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal Paul Howarth added, “We made some improvements between Le Mans and Silverstone, and we recognise that achieving competitiveness at this level means taking a logical and methodical approach to understanding the package available to us and working hard to maximise its potential. We are still learning about the Vantage GTE and it’s important to remember that it is still only two races old. It clearly has great deal of untapped potential and we are in no doubt that in a short period of time it will be highly competitive.”


The defending 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Am title-holders come to Silverstone with a point to prove, having won the opening round in Spa and led convincingly at Le Mans. But the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE, driven by Paul Dalla Lana (C), Pedro Lamy (P) and Mathias Lauda (A), also faces a fresh challenge in the class as the similar TF Sport car driven by Salih Yoluc (TUR), Charlie Eastwood (GB) now also features Aston Martin Racing factory driver and 2017 Le Mans winner Jonny Adam (GB) for the rest of the year.

The 6 Hours of Silverstone begins at 12:00BST on Sunday, 19 August.


Source material - Aston Martin Racing

Its now been how many weeks since the last round of the World Endurance Championship from Le Mans and we have inconveniently placed ourselves some six thousand miles away from home and therefore the next round of this 2018-2019 Super-Season that kicks off from Silverstone this weekend!

Usually the first round of the season, Silverstone was a late entry into this transitional calendar for the WEC as it moves to a winters series for the 2020 season and unfortunately for many (like ourselves)  in the UK, the event finds itself in the midst of the summer holiday season. Hopefully the ongoing good weather back home will encourage the crowds to go and watch the best endurance racing series in the world!

For Aston Martin Racing this year is off course the first year of its new V8 turbo charged car and having already run two almost technical faultless runs at both the opening round at Spa Francorchamps in May and then at the 24hour at Le Mans in June, Silverstone will still be another developmental event for the teams two new GTE Pro entries as they look to get their cars on par with the more established Porsche, Ford and Ferrari Pro class entries.

We are celebrating our FIA WEC Super Season home race at Silverstone with our biggest competition yet, giving our fans a chance to win an hour at Base Performance Simulators with Jonny Adam.

THE PRIZE

HOW TO WIN:

• Twitter - Follow, retweet, mention us through the week...
• Instagram - Follow, comment, tag a friend who is into motorsport...
• Facebook - Follow, share, comment...
• Use #TFSport – with relevant content! (we will check)
• Enter the TF Autograph Challenge on Sunday morning. Bring us an oddity to the Pit Walk/signing session.
• Share your Silverstone photos with us on any social media platform (don’t forget to tag us or we won’t see them!) 
• Show your support during the race! Fan-art and DIY banners/t-shirts count double.

GET POSTING!

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After the first customer test for the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 that ran at Silverstone last week, tomorrow sees a continuation of that extensive testing programme by the factory and its customer teams with another such test at Donington Park.

Having just taken delivery of his own road going variant of the new turbo charged Vantage, TF Sport's Derek Johnston was again in the hot seat of a new race car at the circuit almost four years to the day since he first tested the outgoing V12 Vantage with Tom Ferrier's team.


We saw that TF Sport's Charlie Eastwood was amongst the first 'third party' drivers to test the car at Silverstone last week presumably due to his own commitments this week?

Todays test was under the watchful eye of AMR's Ross Gunn and Darren Turner as the remainder of the factory driver squad are readying themselves for the next round of the World Endurance Championship from Silverstone this weekend.

It is expected, although not confirmed, that TF Sport shall be one of the first Customer Teams to receive the new Vantage GT3 car.

Photo credits - driver social media

Being some 6000 miles, several time zones away from home and without your trusty MacBook makes for some challenging conditions in reporting the events of this weekends penultimate round of the British GT Championship.

The pole and then the win for Optimum Motorsport’s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam has placed them firmly into the ‘driving seat’ at the seasons finale at Donington Park next month having turned a points deficit to the #63 Lamborghini into a 17.5 point lead.

Whilst that is good news for the Aston Martin Racing side of us, we surely have to feel some kind of pity and support onto Barwells Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen as the small piece of track debris that ended their race could have such a monumental effect on the championship.

Motor racing is tough, expensive and extremely competitive and we have seen before just how the Donington Decider can effect those not quite fully on it!!

Game on!

Photo credit - Jacob Ebrey

Jetstream Motorsport confirms that Aston Martin Racing driver Maxime Martin has been discharged from Kings College hospital in London, where he underwent precautionary checks after a foreign object penetrated his windscreen during Round 8 of the 2018 British GT Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday (5 August) afternoon.

Martin was released from the Brands Hatch medical centre a short time after the incident but went on to hospital to be assessed by an ophthalmic specialist, after glass entered the cockpit. He was cleared and left hospital at 20.00 on Sunday evening.

Jetstream Motorsport’s weekend ‘down the Hatch’ started well, the team spending free practice fine-tuning an already strong base setup to rectify a slightly uncompliant rear-end and stop the car bottoming out in the undulating Kent circuit’s deep compressions.

For Martin, free practice was a voyage into the unknown. The Belgian Pro had no previous experience at Brands Hatch but found his feet quickly during FP1 on Saturday morning, recording a 1m27.480s to go seventh fastest, before finding chunks of time in the day’s second session.

Red flags flew during the latter stages of FP1 and, as the white and orange V12 Vantage sat idle in the pit lane, Jetstream Motorsport’s skilled and vigilant engineers identified a gearbox actuator issue that required immediate attention.

The team wheeled the ailing Aston Martin into the garage and immediately set about curing the problem, a rapid turnaround ensuring the car was in fine fettle just prior to the start of FP2.

After completing an installation lap to assess the repairs, Graham Davidson went on to set a 1m27.377s. The Aberdonian was the fastest Am in sixth, with only Aston Martin works drivers Darren Turner, Marco Sorensen, Jonny Adam and Nicki Thiim, and ERC Sport’s Yelmer Buurman setting faster lap times during the first half of the hour-long session.

However, the pace continued ramping up and Martin responded by registering a lap of 1m26.761s shortly after skipping across the gravel at Westfield Bend on the Grand Prix loop to go seventh quickest once again.

In qualifying on Saturday (4 August) afternoon, a red-flag stoppage spoiled what would have been Davidson’s fastest lap, but the Scot steadily upped the pace at the restart and, on Pirelli tyres that were past their best, followed a 1m27.607s with a 1m27.213s, to end the GT3-Am segment of qualifying in third.

In GT3-Pro, Martin needed a six-tenth improvement on his first time to take Jetstream Motorsport to pole position and the Belgian ace ultimately recorded a time of 1m25.992s, enough for a second-row starting position for Sunday’s two-hour race.

From fourth on the grid, Davidson swept up into the podium places with a clean and considered move around the outside of Jon Minshaw’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan on the initial descent through Paddock Hill Bend.

The Scot rode Andrew Howard’s coattails and gapped the pursuing Lamborghinis and Bentley during the opening laps, looming large in the Beechdean Aston Martin’s mirrors until he pulled off an opportunistic pass for second position in the short interval between Safety Car interventions.

The neutralisations thwarted Jetstream Motorsport’s attempts to build an advantage and negate the 20-second success penalty – a consequence of winning last time out at Spa – it would serve in the compulsory driver-change, and Martin found himself in ninth with a diminishing deficit to Callum Macleod’s Bentley in P8 at the close of the pit window.

However, the Belgian’s charge came to an abrupt halt when a foreign object penetrated his Aston Martin’s windscreen, sending glass into the cockpit and forcing him back to the pits to retire from the race.

Following an initial assessment by on-site medics at the Brands Hatch medical centre, Martin went to Kings College, London for further precautionary checks with an ophthalmologist, before leaving hospital at 20.00 on Sunday evening.

Jetstream Motorsport would like to thank Brands Hatch’s medical staff for their prompt action, and for ensuring Maxime, his family and the team were treated in the most efficient and sensitive manner.

Source material - Jetstream Motorsport

Aston Martin Racing has adjusted its driver line-up for the remainder of 2018, beginning with the 6 Hours of Silverstone (19 August) and including the 6 Hours of Fuji (14 October) and 6 Hours of Shanghai (18 November).

With the team focussed on its FIA WEC Super Season world championship aspirations, Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) will share driving duties in their regular #95 ‘DaneTrain’ Aston Martin Vantage GTE, while Maxime Martin (BEL) and Alex Lynn (GB) will pair up in the #97. Each entry will benefit from increased track time and fewer compromises in their driving positions in a move that has become standard practice in the GTE Pro category.

Aston Martin Racing factory driver Jonny Adam (GB), will switch temporarily to partner team TF Sport to support its GTE AM championship programme, driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE alongside Salih Yoluc (TUR) and Charlie Eastwood (GB).

Meanwhile Darren Turner, Aston Martin Racing’s longest-serving and most decorated driver, has extended his 14-year association by signing a new long-term contract. He takes on a more senior role that includes additional development responsibilities with road and racing programmes and brand ambassador duties. Turner will also return to the #95 car for the 2019 phase of the Super Season, including Sebring 1000-mile race, Spa-Francorchamps and the Le Mans 24 Hours.


Darren Turner said: “I’m delighted to extend my association with Aston Martin. After three Le Mans victories and 14 amazing years, driving for this brand has been the highlight of my career. As I look into the future I’m excited to be able play a significant role in shaping new road and racing cars. It goes without saying I’m looking forward to getting back in the #95 when we head to Sebring next year. It’s exciting times at Aston Martin and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal Paul Howarth said: “As we move into the second phase of the Super Season, it is critical we maximise our opportunities through the three shortest races on the calendar. By switching to two-driver crews we achieve this. Nicki and Marco have a long-standing partnership, while Maxime and Alex have settled into the team well. Jonny remains a vital part of our line-up and we are pleased he will race in the TF Sport entry, which keeps him race-sharp at world level. I am also delighted that Darren continues to play a major role. He proved he’s lost none of his speed with an exceptional performance at Le Mans, and his experience and wisdom is invaluable as we continue to develop our still young Vantage GTE programme.”


Aston Martin Racing Managing Director John Gaw said: “We expect to see additional performance from the Aston Martin Vantage GTE at Silverstone, after a period of analysis and development post-Le Mans. These adjustments to the line-up compliment this process and give us the best chance to achieve maximum points in the shorter races. There are no weak links in our driver line-up and I am proud of all of them. Keeping Jonny in the fold and race sharp is essential, while I’m delighted that Darren continues his exceptional career with Aston Martin, where he belongs.”

The line-up for the #98 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE Am entry driven by reigning champions Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), Mathias Lauda (A) and Pedro Lamy (POR) remains unchanged for the rest of the Super Season.

This article has been superseded by todays release from Aston Martin Racing that is available HERE

In a sense of inevitable consequence, we see from version 2 of the World Endurance Championships Provisional entry list for the forthcoming round at Silverstone it appears to feature just two drivers per Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE Pro car entered.

Unfortunately for us (and in the absence of any official confirmation from the team) it appears that both Darren Turner and Jonny Adam will now not be competing within their respective #95 and #97 car for at this, the third round of the new Super-season leaving Danes Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in the #95 and Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in the #97.

Reasons for this change will we are sure will become evident at a later date.

This decision in itself is no surprise as even back in March when we visited the Prodrive factory team boss Paul Howarth confirmed that each of the six originally named drivers may well not be attending each and every round as two drivers was the class preference for the shorter six hour events. For the longer races this year and next the three driver line up will undoubtedly be restored.

With the GT3 title now a mathematical possibility of securing for the class leading Barwell Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen at the penultimate round of the British GT Championship from Brands Hatch this weekend,  Sunday's two hour will become a boom or bust round for the chasing Aston Martin Racing pack to take the Championship to another, final round decider in September.

Minshaw and Keen presently lead the Optimum Vantage GT3 of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam by fourteen points with the TF Sport duo of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim just 3.5 points further back and is a repeat of previous seasons when those trailing the leading Lambo have gone on to lift the Championship.


Metaphorically, the #11 Farmer/Thiim car is on the back foot with a very early DNF at the last round at Spa Francorchamps when Farmer was 'rudely' pushed off the circuit going into the very fast Eau Rouge by a guesting Mercedes AMG GT3 leading to a spectacular fiery finish to their race. Although not technically an engine failure in its own right, damage sustained in that incident would have necessitated a new engine. Hopefully, that incident will not prove too costly for the #11 car.


Having gained pole at Spa, Haigh and Adam eventually finished a very close fourth on track but that was to be elevated to third after the #17 TF Sport car of Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen was served with yet another post race time penalty that saw them drop down to seventh overall. That query of fate against their stablemate at least keeps there own title aspirations very much alive although they will have a 10 second success penalty applied to them this weekend whereas the Barwell car is penalty free.


Still riding high on the crest that was your first British GT overall win is the Jetstream Motorsport crew of Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin who grabbed the opportunities presented to them on track with both hands to secure a race winning margin of over seven seconds. Having come so close to a race winning performance before at Silverstone and Rockingham it was great to see self discipline instilled to avoid any repeat penalties/incidences that have blighted them before.

Conversing with Davidson over social media this afternoon he was slightly disappointed that their inaugural win in the Championship having moved over from GT Cup had been 'lost' in the build up to the Blancpain Spa 24hr race.


With the Scottish/Belgium racing line up presently residing down in P6 overall and technically not out of a shout of the Championship , Davidson was simply looking forward to another race at one of his favourite circuits but equally determined to race the others for another race win irrespective of who is ahead of them in the table so it appears that nobody can expect any concession on track from these guys!!

When asked about his driving relationship with AMR Factory driver Martin, he confirmed that the Championship's Media Day was the first time they had shared a car together and that their racing relationship had taken a number of rounds to be where it should have been given any pre-season opportunity. Today, he said that given the chance and the situation again he would come back to the championship next year with the same overall package of car, team and co-driver (not that anything is confirmed for 2019 yet that is).


Beechdean AMR will be looking to finish off their return t the Championship in the manner that they started it after what has been a bit of hit or miss affair (in terms of results) in the championship after another DNF for themselves at Spa after team boss Andrew Howard incurred damage to the front of his car in the opening lap. Despite the best efforts of the team to repair the damage (which they did) they also elected to box the car and save it for Brands.


For the Pro driver within the team, Darren Turner, this weekend will be his first visit to the Kent circuit since his Touring Car days and will again be another circuit that this duo (as with several others) have not tested at this year so progress across the field should be progressive.

Completing the GT3 line up is the Ultimate Speed Vantage GT3 of Mike Brown and Matt Manderson for their second visit to the championship.


Over in GT4, the Academy Motorsport entry from Matt Nichol-Jones and Will Moore also retain a mathematical chance of lifting the Championship being twenty points behind the leading Century Motorsport BMW of Jack Mitchell. Brands Hatch has never been too kind to this duo in previous years with either technical issue or incident curtailing their race early so a podium finish would see that class going down to the wire at Donington as well.


Team mates Jan Jonck and Tom Wood sadly endured another tough race to end their Spa race down in P9 having been blighted any an early puncture and then coming out on the wrong side of a Safety Car in what really has been a jinxed season for the youngsters!

Sunday's race begins at 13:40Hrs.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

After whats been just about a year's sabbatical from the marque, Scottish born New Zealand resident Tony Quinn returns to the Aston Martin Racing fold for the next round of the Australian GT Championship from Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend.

Having swapped his own V12 Vantage GT3 in favour of his son's former 2016 championship winning McLaren 650S instead back in March last year, racing performances didn't always go exactly to plan for the then main stakeholder in the Australian GT Championship.

Having relinquished that controlling interest in the Championship only a few weeks ago, the Championship has confirmed an entry for the main Aston Martin Lagonda protagonist in Australasia with a car undoubtedly brandishing more logos of another one of his food empires.


Quinn rejoins the Miedecke Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 entry for Andrew and George Miedecke for what is expected to be (at the moment anyway) a one off entry for the father/son duo in the main championship.

The fifth round of the season will kick off with practice, qualifying, and an opening 40-minute race on Friday August 3 followed by two more 40-minute races on the Saturday August 4.
Photo credit - Australian GT / Miedecke Motorsport