Legendary Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse has made its sportscar return at iconic Belgian circuit Spa-Francorchamps, enjoying an encouraging qualifying session for tomorrow’s Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Contesting the event in conjunction with Aston Martin Racing Partner Team Barwell Motorsport, drivers Alasdair McCaig, Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman and Oliver Bryant quickly acclimatised the updated GT3-spec DBRS9, which bares the iconic Saltire livery first made famous by Ecurie Ecosse’s Le Mans 24 Hours triumphs of 1956 and 1957.

Faced with the sort of challenging weather conditions the Belgian venue is notorious for, the team took a satisfying mid-pack qualifying result, claiming 15th in class and 31st overall on the 62-car grid, ahead of several big name teams and drivers. Ollie Bryant was the man to set the time, keeping his cool with a slick-shod car on a damp circuit.

With dry running forecast for this weekend’s twice-around-the-clock event Ecurie Ecosse have high hopes of scoring a strong result, with Avon’s slick tyres proving extremely durable so far. But, with 24 hours of racing still ahead of them, the team is naturally focused on running at a solid pace and bringing the car home.

Hugh McCaig, Team Boss: “We're pleased with what’s been achieved today. To be ahead of all three McLaren cars and in such difficult conditions is very satisfying. We've taken a measured approach through practice, and the drivers have adjusted well to the car. Tomorrow it's a case of keeping it on the black stuff, being sensible and getting to the flag.”

Alastair McCaig: “First of all, it's great to be here and to be racing in the Ecurie Ecosse colours – there’s a real sense of pride throughout the team. On track, everyone has settled in to the car and coped well with driving in the dark and in wet, misty conditions, so there's a lot to be positive about. Whatever the weather brings we'll aim to settle into a rhythm, work our way up the order and run a steady race.”

Joe Twyman: “It's fair to say that the conditions have been a challenge but the tyres worked well on a damp track and Ollie pulled out a great final lap late in qualifying. The level of interest in Ecurie Ecosse's return has been amazing - we've been adding sponsorship to the car since we arrived at the circuit! I hope we can repay everyone’s hard work and support with a good result on Sunday.”​

Ollie Bryant: “Finding a rhythm was difficult as the red flags made the session very stop-start. At the end I had just one lap to improve but had to play it relatively safe on the slick tyres as the track was still damp. There’s a lot more time in the car, but I’m still very pleased with the effort we put in today. I will be starting the race tomorrow, and with drier conditions I believe we can make real progress.”

Andrew Smith: “It's fantastic to be here and competing after the effort that’s gone in to getting the team on track. The weather has been a challenge, but we've coped well even when the going has been very rough. The car is in great shape, particularly for dry conditions, and I can't wait to get my stint underway tomorrow.”

This year’s Total 24 Hours of Spa will be broadcast live on Motors TV across Europe throughout the weekend of July 30/31 (check local listings for times), while www.RadioLeMans.com will also provide live commentary of every session from the event.

Aston Martin Racing will continue to compete in the remaining three rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC), reverting to last year’s V12-engined DBR1-2 LMP1 race car while the new AMR-One programme continues to undergo review.

In addition to the ILMC races at Silverstone (UK) on 11 September, Petit Le Mans (USA), 1 October and Zhuhai (China) on 13 November, the team will also compete at Laguna Seca, part of the American Le Mans Series, on 17 September. Aston Martin Racing is currently preparing a DBR1-2 chassis, which will continue to run in its familiar Gulf livery, and will test in August. The driver line-up for the single car entry will include experienced factory drivers; Adrian Fernandez (MX) and Harold Primat (CH).

The DBR1-2 features Aston Martin’s famous 6.0 litre V12 engine housed in a closed cockpit car. The LMP1 machine has already amassed a series of impressive finishes including a fourth place finish at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2009 being the fastest petrol car in the field. It then went on to sweep the entire podium at the Nürburgring 1000 KM. The car also won outright the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series and secured overall team and driver titles in the European Le Mans Series after finishing on the podium in all five of the Series races in 2009.

In 2010, Aston Martin Racing competed in three races with the DBR1-2 prior to achieving sixth place at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The team achieved a podium finish in every one, third at Sebring, second at Long Beach and Paul Ricard.

Aston Martin Racing

This weekend six Aston Martins will line up on the starting grid at Spa-Francorchamps for the Total 24 hours of Spa race, part of the Blancpain Endurance series. Four Aston Martin teams including Hexis AMR, GPR AMR, Ecurie Ecosse and Speed Lover will battle for 24 gruelling hours on the famous road circuit.




Official partner team Hexis AMR, who also compete in the FIA GT1 World Championship, will enter two GT3 DBRS9s in the Pro-Cup category. The number 3 car will be driven by French drivers; Pierre Brice Mena, Julien Rodrigues and Yann Clairay while the number 4 car will be driven by Henri Moser (CH), Stef Dusseldorp (NL) and Frederic Makowiecki (FR).


Team GPR AMR will also compete with a DBRS9 in the Pro-Am category with drivers Eddy Renard (BE), Gavin Pickering (GB), and two drivers who are yet to be confirmed. The team made an outstanding start to the Blancpain Series with a 7th place finish overall and 4th in class in Monza. They followed this up with a 7th in class finish in their category in Navarra. GPR AMR has also teamed up with Pierre Grivegnee to enter a further DBRS9 in the Gentleman Trophy class.
Also running a DBRS9 competing in the Pro-Am category is Ecurie Ecosse, whose all-British team comprises of Oliver Bryant, Andrew Smith, Alastair McCraig and Joe Twyman. The team is returning to international motor-racing after an absence of over 20 years.


Belgian race team Speed Lover will be entering their V8 Vantage in the GT4 class with drivers Christophe Bigourie (FR), Sven van Laere (BE) and Peter van Audenhove (BE).

Live coverage of the Total 24 Hours of Spa can be found on Motors TV on 30 July from 2.30pm and again at 8.00pm and 10.30pm. Coverage will resume on 31 July at 8.00am and 1.00pm GMT.

Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing celebrated a week of birthdays with a perfect weekend at Mosport International Raceway by taking the win after having led all test and practice sessions as well as qualifying.

While the team’s performance resembled last year’s dominating effort at the Canadian track, it didn’t come as easily as in 2010.

At the start of the race Lucas Luhr did manage to build a lead of over 50 seconds before a caution flag came out about 35 minutes into the two hour and 45 minute event. But that’s when things turned around a little for the Muscle Milk team.

The team was preparing for the pits to open to do its first stop but they opened at the last second, a fraction too late as Luhr was already past the entry point. Having missed the designated prototype pit lap, the team then had to wait to pit two laps later, after the GT cars had come in for their stops.

The delayed pit stop caused the team to lose the lead and fall 30 seconds behind the first place car. Not one to give up, Luhr muscled his way back up, constantly closing the gap to the leader. By lap 62, he had made his way around Chris Dyson and had built a lead of over three seconds.

On lap 72, the German entered pit lane to hand the car over to his countryman and co-driver Klaus Graf. Once the pit stops had cycled through, Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing was in the lead by over 14 seconds.

From that point on the team never looked back and took its second consecutive win at Mosport International Raceway and second of the season by crossing the finish line nearly 30 seconds ahead of their closest competitor.


With today’s win, the Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team now sits 26 points behind Dyson Racing in the championship standings.

Next up for the Benicia, CA-based team will be the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge August 5 – 7, 2011


Klaus Graf, co-driver #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing LMP1

“We certainly didn't make it easy on ourselves this weekend but it’s the end result that counts. Lucas did a good job at the beginning and then he pushed once we lost the lead to get back to the front.

“At the end of the day it came down to experience from both drivers and our team. We've both won here and we like the track and the team performed excellent.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster this weekend, even during the race. So it's very nice to finish with a win for the Muscle Milk team.”



Lucas Luhr, co-driver #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing LMP1

“I had a good start and a really clean run up until we hit traffic. I had a little bit of a lead until we caught traffic the first time. After the second lap of traffic the gap got rather big. We were up to 50 seconds before the safety car came out but then we lost our lead because the pits opened when I was already past the pit entry, which was frustrating. As the leader you should have first choice.

“After that, we said on the radio let’s just put our heads down and do our job. We knew we had the speed in the Muscle Milk Aston Martin and that’s what we did. Things go wrong so easily and you have to make it up at the right spot. It takes a lot to get back to the front.

“Compared to Lime Rock two weeks ago, today, everything worked well for the Muscle Milk team, we still need to keep improving the car, step by step. Now we're looking forward to the next race. We want to win every race, basically, if you do that you end up with the championship, it’s as simple as that.”

The Muscle Milk team came back from a practice crash to capture its second Mosport International Raceway pole position today ahead of Sunday's Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport.

Klaus Graf, who scored his first American Le Mans Series pole position at Mosport in 2010, repeated the feat after crashing in the morning practice session and causing damage to his Aston Martin LMP1 car.

While the damage to the right side bodywork and right rear suspension wasn't too serious, the crew still had a lot of work ahead of them to get the car back together and on track in time to take part in Practice 2 that afternoon.

The Muscle Milk team once again did an amazing job getting the Aston Martin back on track with 14 minutes to go in practice. Graf initially rewarded them by posting the fastest time in practice and again by grabbing pole position over an hour later.

The German immediately jumped to provisional pole with his first flying lap and stayed there for the entire session. Graf went on to improve his lap time on his second lap and registered his fastest time on his third with a lap of one minute 8.679 seconds.

While it was a belated birthday gift to himself and teammate Lucas Luhr, today's pole position by Graf was one of the best gifts crewman Travis Lewis could ask for, especially after spending part of his birthday repairing the car. Lewis, along with Graf, Lucas Luhr and crewman Bill Rader are all celebrating birthdays this week while at Mosport International Raceway.

The Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team will be back on track Sunday morning for a final 20-minute warm-up at 10:00 a.m. ET. Round 4 of the American Le Mans Series' 2011 season will go green at 3:05 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on www.espn3.com starting at 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 24. The race will be broadcast on tape delay that same day on ESPN2 from 10:00 p.m. to midnight ET.

Klaus Graf, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"Well, my day was very exciting. (About the crash) I came out of Turn 9 and I slid across the concrete a little bit too much. You always slide there a bit but this time it was too much. I corrected and the car gripped right away and at that moment I ended up having overcorrected because the car got crooked again and it shot me off to the right side and in that area there's very little run off and I couldn't avoid crashing into the tire wall.
"Luckily there was no structural damage to the Aston Martin, just bodywork and the right rear suspension. It wasn't actually too bad. The Muscle Milk crew did an awesome job putting the car back together for the second session and qualifying.
"I like Mosport a lot and you have to obviously stay within your lines here to be successful and have a good set up because this place is daunting. It can bite you very quickly as we saw so to get the pole after this morning, it's very rewarding for the entire team.
"And to top it all off, Mark (Bullitt) came in third in the GT3 race which we were all very proud and happy about and then to get the pole position for the Muscle Milk Aston Martin it makes for a lot of excitement in one day."

Lucas Luhr, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"I always said Mosport is one of the tracks which separates the men from the boys because it is so quick here. What happened to Klaus this morning, he didn't really make a mistake he just slightly slid and because it's so quick here with little runoff he hit the barrier. On every other racetrack he would get away with it and end up in the gravel or run wide but there's just not enough room for that here.
"We have to say a big, big thank you to the Muscle Milk boys because they did a great job to put the car back together for Practice 2 and Klaus drove really well in qualifying.
"It's the first time for us this year on pole. Finally, we beat the others for the pole position so I'm really happy and I really look forward to the race tomorrow."

Legendary Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse is all set to make its competitive sportscar return for the first time in two decades next weekend (July 30/31) when its newly Saltire-liveried Aston Martin DBRS9 heads to Belgium for The Total 24 Hours of Spa.
It will be the first time the 1956 and ’57 Le Mans 24 Hours winners have competed in a twice-round-the-clock endurance event since running a Vauxhall Cavalier GSi at Spa-Francorchamps in 1993.

18 years on Ecurie Ecosse return to the iconic Ardennes circuit with highly experienced and successful Aston Martin Racing Partner Team Barwell Motorsport, who have been sub-contracted to run the GT3-spec DBRS9 for driver line-up Alasdair McCaig, Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman and Oliver Bryant.

All four drivers utilised their extensive experience of Spa when sampling the car for the first time at the event’s official test on July 6 where a day’s trouble-free running helped them acclimatise to the 2011-specification updates and Avon tyres.

Spa has proven a happy hunting ground for Ecurie Ecosse in the past with their 1986 Group C2 World Sportscar Championship victory an undoubted highlight. Team boss Hugh McCaig, who oversaw that first return to international competition in the 1980s, said:

“Spa holds great memories for me and Ecurie Ecosse because our victory there contributed towards us winning the 1986 World Championship. We’ve also done the 24 hour race of course so although it’s been almost 20 years, this isn’t a complete leap into the unknown. It’s worth mentioning that the four guys have been the real driving force behind this project. I can’t emphasise enough how hard they’ve worked bringing the likes of Barwell Motorsport and key sponsors onboard who all understand Ecurie Ecosse’s significant heritage. But we remain realistic and appreciate the strength and depth in the GT3 ranks this year. Getting to the finish would be a fantastic achievement in itself.”

Twyman meanwhile is also no stranger to the rigours of Spa’s 24 hour enduro having won the GT4 class, also with Aston Martin, as part of Jota Sport AMR’s assault there last season.

“The test earlier this month went really well and we were all delighted with the car’s pace straight out of the box. This year’s race is going to be exceptionally tough with so many top teams from the Blancpain Endurance Series, as well as those like us making one-off appearances, sharing the same track. There are few teams with better knowledge of the DBRS9 than Barwell Motorsport so I’m confident that we stand a great chance of making the finish, which is our main goal.”

Since announcing their return in February, the team has been busy finalising its plans to contest one of world motorsport’s most prestigious events by bringing onboard a host of partners, including the Cayman Islands’ luxury boutique hotelier Cotton Tree, Motor Sport Magazine, Uluvka Vodka and specialist motorsport employment agency TechnoRecruit who, along with many others, have helped make possible Ecurie Ecosse’s long-awaited comeback.

This year’s Total Spa 24 Hours will be broadcast live on Motors TV across Europe throughout the weekend of July 30/31 (check local listings for times), while www.RadioLeMans.com will also provide live commentary of every session from the event.

Ecurie Ecosse have released the first images of the teams 2011 Spa 24h challenger. The Scottish team will field a solo Aston Martin DBRS9 in this years Belgian enduro.

The Barwell-run Aston Martin will be driven by Andrew Smith, Alasdair McCaig, Joe Twyman & Oliver Bryant.







Images: Ecurie Ecosse

Disappointed with forth last time out at Snetterton, the JCAM backed pairing of Richard Abra and Mark Poole came to Donington with their sights firmly set on getting back on the podium.

Saturday’s 3 hour race saw Richard Abra partnered with James Appleby and Anthony Scragg due to Richards normal team mate, Mark Poole, being unavailable due to family commitments. Richard Abra gives us an insight to new team mates, wet sessions and the strange world of motorsport.

“Mark still wanted the car out there for the 3 hour race on the Saturday, so he let James Appleby, Ant Scragg and myself drive the car. We were all very excited about this. It was good to team up with these guys, they have a lot of experience in these cars and are currently racing in the FIA European GT4 Cup with Generation AMR, so I couldn’t wait for the race to get underway!”

“Qualifying turned out to be wet and my first immediate thoughts was that Stuart Hall or Michael Mallock would easily take pole position in these conditions so I was a little apprehensive to start with. Neither James or Ant had ever driven our car, so the team sent them out first to put a few familiarisation laps in and to make sure they did the 3 laps required to qualify for the race. As I’d been testing the car two days previous it was decided that I would qualify the car. I waited in the pit garage until Jez Doncaster (Team Manager) gave me the nod. It was time to get in the car and I went out in horrible conditions and set a bench mark time. It was pole at the time but the rain then started to stop so we pitted and waited to see what everyone else would do. Vantage Racing, Stratton, Mallock and NMR all topped the time sheets at one time or another, but we waited until 10 minutes to go. I was dying to get out there, it seemed like the clock was stood still. With 5 minutes to go I went to start the engine and nothing happened, it wouldn’t start! We couldn’t believe it, we pushed the car back in the garage and the guys set about trying to fix it, I looked at the clock which seemed to be falling a lot quicker now and just thought there was no chance of getting out to do a flying lap, I almost took my helmet off. Jez just told me to sit tight, then “Big Dave” worked his magic and seconds later it burst into life. It turns out we had an air lock in the system and once it was released she started straight up!”

“I ripped it up down the pit lane and just concentrated on the job, unusually I was silent on the radio until I got to the straight, I saw the chequered flag so knew there wasn’t a chance of another attempt. I just said to the boys ‘please tell me that was enough... please!’ They screamed down the radio POLEEEE!!!! I went bonkers! 3 pole positions in a row and against the likes of Stuart Hall and Michael Mallock, I was absolutely over the moon, I knew this was only qualifying but I couldn’t help but have the biggest grin on my face!”

Ant Scragg started first in the car for the three hour endure race. After initially dropping to third in the opening laps, as he worked hard to get the tyres up to pressure and temperature, it didn’t take long before he retook the lead before and built a gap to second before handing over to Abra at the first round of pitstops.

“Ant came in the team did a fantastic job in the pits as always. The car was back on the ground with 25seconds to go! I was released just in front of the AM07 car and quickly got up to speed, with the team telling me we had now built a huge margin. The car felt great and it was game on for me in what was to be the first of 2 stints I would do in the race. Then all of a sudden one of the Stratton cars had a huge accident going down the Craner curves, breaking the concrete barrier! For safety reasons the race was cancelled and I had done all of half a lap and James didn’t even get in the car! Thankfully the Stratton driver was ok and walked away which is the main thing.”

With Saturdays race declared void the decision was made to extend the 90 minute race the following morning to a 120 minute race to try and recover some of the lost track time from round three. There would be no qualifying session for round four and the grid for the race would be taken from the qualifying session from round three.

“Mark was back with me and it was decided that I would start the race; I was excited but nervous. It was my first time starting and normally I maintain or chase a pace, this time I just had to get the best start and gain the most distance on the field as I could! “

“I got a great start and set the fastest lap on lap 3 which was great but I pushed just a little too hard on my tyres and they were losing grip rapidly. I had a 13 second lead until the rear tyres gave up on me going in to McLean’s and I had a little trip in the gravel trap! Luckily I kept my foot in and came back on the track just in front of Tiff in the Number 91 car, my tyres were dirty and I could feel the gravel stuck in them. The next couple laps I knew I had to take it easy but also make sure I didn’t let Tiff past, then I saw some traffic and used it to my advantage, pushing as hard as I could get the gap on the P2 car.”

“I finished my stint with a 47 second lead and handed over to Mark who did a much better job of managing his tyres than I did and he set about doing his best to fend off Stuart Hall who was rapidly chasing the field and had looked after his tyres perfectly. We were stunned to see him consistently do 1.13’s and worked out that this was going to be very close at the end. Jez was on the pit wall pushing Mark on the radios, who was doing a great in the car, but unfortunately Mark just couldn’t quite hold onto the lead and Stuart passed him with only 4 minutes to go and won by 8 seconds in the end. Overall, we were still over the moon with 2nd place against International standard drivers, seeing as we’re both amateurs! Lesson learnt on how to look after your tyres though!”

“Massive thanks must go to the Generation AMR Team who did a great job, once again providing us with the a great car, and also to our sponsors JCAM and Xynamic Photography for their continuing support and some awesome shots by Gary”

Second place at Donington mean Generation AMR maintained their championship lead which they’ve held since the start of the season. The Richard and Mark will miss the next two as they are concentrating on other projects but the duo will be back at Brands Hatch ready to challenge for the win.

Image: xynamic

The HEXIS AMR team has won on the other side of the world in Argentina and in Abu Dhabi, as well as at the Sachsenring in front of two German teams. But this weekend, its Paul Ricard jinx struck again! For the third year on the trot, its home race proved to be a frustrating event for the FIA GT1 vice champions. However just as the cars set off for China it has two good reasons to be satisfied. Firstly, Andrea Piccini's and Christian Hohenadel's fifth place snatched against the odds, and secondly, the determination the whole team showed by repairing the damage suffered by the Dusseldorp-Piccione Aston Martin on Saturday, and getting it onto the grid 24 hours later.

Second time unlucky!

In 2009, the year in which the team won the FIA GT3 European title, the no. 3 HEXIS AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 was in the lead when it went off at the entry to the Mistral straight and slammed into the wall. Two years later, Stef Dusseldorp got caught out in the same spot on the same lap. The driver was unhurt but the car was heavily damaged. Things didn't look good, but the team's expert mechanics driven by their heartfelt passion got down to work on the DB9 and pulled off a miracle. On Sunday shortly before 15h00, the V12 roared into life! Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp put in a sterling effort and brought the car home in eleventh place.

Heroic fight backs

In 2010, the year the team filled the runner-up spot in the FIA GT1 World Championship, one of the HEXIS AMR Aston Martin DB9s started eighteenth and finished eleventh in the qualifying race, after which it fought its way up to sixth place in the championship round. A year later, Piccini and Hohenadel were in sixteenth spot on the grid for the qualifying race following a mix-up in tyre management during practice. They fought their way up to sixth place in the 60-minute race, and were then pushed back to eighth on the grid for the championship event after being hit with a controversial penalty. On Saturday, Andrea exceeded the track limits for safety reasons; he came into the corner last and emerged in last place but the stewards were adamant. Despite this, the brio of the drivers and the skills of the mechanics, who once again carried out the best tyre change in the field, helped the team to finish its weekend on a positive note. The points Christian and Andrea scored for fifth have kept them in third place overall in the world title case.

Happy Birthday Philippe!

Just before starting a long night's work the whole team wished their team manager, Philippe Dumas, a happy 32nd birthday. He gives his opinion on the weekend's events in the seventh round of the world championship. "Overall, the weekend got off to a good start until there was the mix-up with the tyres in qualifying, which really handicapped us. It's obvious that had Andrea and Christian started in sixth instead of sixteenth place, a podium finish was within our grasp. As for the penalty in the qualifying race, it's totally out of proportion in terms of sanctions. The message that the stewards have sent to the drivers is that missing your braking or behaving like Stefan Mücke boils down to the same thing. Stef Dusseldorp's crash is his first major mistake after so many superb performances in his maiden season in GT racing, in which he is making his debut on several circuits. Paul Ricard isn't the easiest! Finally, I'd like to congratulate my team for keeping a cool head when they had to fix a car that seemed beyond repair. Clivio was able to start and Stef finished the race and scored a point in the teams' championship. Who knows? Perhaps it will be worth its weight in gold at the end of the season!"

Two hundred guests including Hexis Group employees, partners of the company and the team turned up to cheer on the squad, which is carrying French hopes in the FIA GT1 World Championship. The two Aston Martins will now be packed into the containers in which they will travel to the next two rounds where the team is hoping to put on some stunning performances. While awaiting battle in China on 3-4 September, HEXIS AMR will race in its very first 24-Hour event on the Spa- Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on 30-31 July.

Young Driver AMR experienced an almost perfect weekend at the seventh round of the GT1 World Championship in Le Castellet/France. After a second and third place in Saturday’s Qualifying Race, the two Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 repeated this success in Championship Race. Stefan Mücke (GER)/Darren Turner (GBR) finished second in front of their teammates Alex Müller (GER)/Tomas Enge (CZE). The double podium secured one of the best result of Young Driver AMR in the GT1 World Championship, no other team collected more championship points in France then Young Driver AMR.

The whole weekend at the Paul Ricard HTTT at the French Riviera went much better then expected for Young Driver AMR. The 5.8 km long track is not ideally suited for the Aston Martin DBR9, but Young Driver AMR coped with the challenge and was rewarded with a double podium. Tomas Enge started from the front row in the Championship Race and was followed after the start by Stefan Mücke, who started third. Enge chased the leading Nissan, but couldn’t bring his Aston Martin in a position to attack. The running order of the two Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 in the chase of the leading Nissan changed at the driver change, when the third placed number-8-car of Mücke/Turner had a bit better pit-stop then Müller/Enge in the number 7 car.

After the driver change, Darren Turner took the most out of his tires and closed the gap to the leading Nissan to under one second. In the latter part of the race, the Nissan pulled a gap on Turner, but the experienced British man was able to close the gap in the final laps and crossed the finish line after one hour of racing just 0.8 seconds behind the leader in second place. Alex Müller successfully defended a Ford GT and Nissan during his stint and secured another podium finish with a great third place. The double podium finish brings the Young Driver AMR team again in contention to the championship leaders with the team moving up to third position in the team standings, only 10 points behind the leader with still three races to go. Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner are now fourth in drivers ranking with Alex Müller and Tomas Enge fifth.

“We had an almost perfect weekend after so much bad luck at the last round”, Young Driver AMR-team principal Hardy Fischer was delighted. “I’m really satisfied with the weekend, we grabbed a lot of points in the team championship and are now back in business in the championship. Our pit stops were really good. The entire team and the drivers did a perfect job today. I hope this success will continue at the next two races in China, which will be a bit unknown for everybody.”

Driver quotes after the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “The pit crew of the number 8 car was a bit faster then our boys today and they overtook us in the pits. Compared to the last two days, the track conditions changed today and not in our favour. We struggled a bit with the set up and oversteering at the end, but I could still defend the third place and brought another podium finish home.”

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “At the start of the race, Stefan (Mücke) really gave me a hard time, but I managed to hold the second place. Then I pushed a little bit too hard and after a few laps, I had a massive drop in my tires. Today the track changed not in our favour, I struggled with rear tire performance. But I’m really happy with the result for the team, that’s the first time Young Driver AMR has both cars on the podium of a Championship Race. Third place is great, that gives us a good amount of points and not so much success ballast for the next race.”

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “At the start, I was running side-by-side with Tomas (Enge), but then backed off to give him room. After that, I had a really clean stint and controlled the distance to my pursuers. I could save tires and stayed behind Tomas. We decided for a really early pit stop, which was a good decision. The pit-crew did an tremendous job and put us in second place with a good stop.”

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „We had a really good pit stop and had a good set of tires for my stint. I had a good out-lap after the stop. I like out laps, that is something were you can really make a difference. Then I pushed hard and smelled blood when I surprisingly could see the leading Nissan very near in front of me. But suddenly there was a noise in the car and I gave way, before we knew what was going on and I made sure everything was o.k. with the car. It’s a great result to have both cars on the podium here, as we didn’t expect to be so strong here.”

Young Driver AMR took a great second and third place in today’s Qualifying Race of the seventh round of the GT1 World Championship in Le Castellet/France. Tomas Enge (CZE)/Alex Müller (GER) finished second with their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 after a great last lap move. Stefan Mücke (GER)/Darren Turner (GBR) completed a great team effort of Young Driver AMR with a third place finish.

The race started well for Young Driver AMR. Darren Turner could take fourth place after starting fifth and was running right behind Alex Müller, who kept his third starting place and chased the two leading Nissan. The running order was unchanged until the mandatory driver change halfway through the race. After the driver change, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mücke were still running in third and fourth place behind the two leading Nissan. In the last laps of the one-hour race, Tomas Enge kept the second placed Nissan under pressure and could make a great move on him in the final lap. In the slipstream of Enge, also Mücke could overtake the Nissan and secure a great second and third place finish for Young Driver AMR.

The good result of the Qualifying Race gives Young Driver AMR an excellent starting position in Sunday’s Championship Race with Enge/Müller starting from the front row and Mücke/Turner from the second row.

“I didn’t expect that we could crack the two leading Nissan, but our drivers drove a really fantastic race”, Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer said after the race. “This gives us an excellent starting position for tomorrow. I hope the result in the Championship Race will be similar to today, then we would be back in the business in the world championship standings.”

Driver quotes after the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “I had a really good start, but after a few laps the Safety-Car came out. Due to that, I think it was today a little bit easier for the first drivers, then for the second drivers. We had a good and consistent car and a very good pit stop. At the end of the race, Tomas made a great move on the Nissan and took second position.”

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “We were hoping that a good pit stop could bring us out in front of the Nissan, but they also had a very good stop and the order stayed the same. I stayed behind the Nissan of Westbrook, but couldn’t overtake him as he was faster on the straights. I thought about a good place to overtake him and got the idea to pass him in the chicane at the back straight, because we have slightly better brakes. I dived in, he went a bit wide and I could overtake him and keep him behind.”

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “My stint was a bit boring, I had good gap to the cars in front and behind me. We had some understeer in the car, but at the end that wasn’t too bad, because due to that I could save my rear tires. After Tomas overtook the Nissan, I saw that he was running not at full speed. He left the door open and I slipped through. We have a good starting position for tomorrow and if the weather forecast is right, and it will rain, we will have a very interesting race.”

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „I was surprised by the last-lap move of Tomas and even more surprised to see that also Stefan could overtake the Nissan on the final lap. My Start was o.k. and I could take fourth place. Then I battled with a Corvette and a Nissan, but could defend my position. To have both cars in second and third place is great for the team.”

The last time the Muscle Milk squad went to Mosport International Raceway, it had its best overall weekend yet in the American Le Mans Series and the team is hoping for more of that Canadian luck as it returns to the historic track next weekend.

The Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team would like nothing more than to add to its list of things to celebrate north of the border.

Already on the list of celebrations are the birthdays of drivers Klaus Graf (July 21) and Lucas Luhr (July 22) as well as the birthdays of two crew members (July 23 and 24).

After a disappointing race at Lime Rock Park last week, a Mosport International Raceway repeat victory is on the birthday wish list.

The 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course was the scene of a Muscle Milk domination last season. The team led every on-track session, started from pole and lapped all but one car in the field on its way to a second overall win that year.

While the team is aware that a repeat of its 2010 dominance is unlikely, it remains confident it can come back strong from its trying second place finish at Lime Rock with its Aston Martin better suited for a circuit like Mosport.

The Muscle Milk drivers also enjoy racing at Mosport, having known success at the track that is said to separate the men from the boys with both scoring wins the last time they were there.

Graf took the win last year aboard the Porsche RS Spyder and Luhr’s last visit to the Canadian track came in 2008, when he won with Audi on his way to his fourth ALMS Drivers’ Championship.

Graf and Luhr will have a one hour and 30 minute test session on Friday, July 22 before official practice begins on Saturday, July 23.

LMP1 qualifying for the Grand Prix of Mosport will go green at 4:25 p.m. ET on Saturday July 23 and will be streamed live on www.espn3.com starting at 3:30 p.m. ET with GT qualifying.

Round 4 of the American Le Mans Series’ 2011 season will also be streamed live on www.espn3.com starting at 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 24. The race will be broadcast on tape delay that same day on ESPN2 from 10:00 p.m. to midnight ET.


Klaus Graf, co-driver #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing LMP1

“We’re heading to another track where the team and I both have good memories. We had quite a weekend there last year with Romain (Dumas).

“I think we have a very good chance again this year. It’s a track that should suit our Muscle Milk Aston Martin. Plus aerodynamically we’ve done some good testing and I think that we have a good package for that track.

“It’s always hard to know exactly what to expect when you’ve never been to a certain track with a race car but I’m confident the Aston Martin will perform the way we are expecting it to.

“I really like the track and it’s a fun, fast place to go to so I’m looking forward to it.”

Lucas Luhr, co-driver #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing LMP1

“I’m looking forward to the race at Mosport. We need to come back strong after the weekend we had at Lime Rock Park where we didn’t make up any points in the championship and I know the Muscle Milk team is focused on exactly that. The Aston Martin should do well at that type of circuit as well so I think it should be a good weekend.

“I absolutely love the track at Mosport and the whole area, I think it’s one of the best tracks the Series goes to. It separates the men from the boys.”

For the last time this season, the two Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 are transported to the racetrack by the bright yellow Young Driver AMR-trucks. Before the second season of the GT1 World Championship concludes with three races overseas, to which the cars will be shipped by boat, the French round at the Paul Ricard HTTT (High Tech Test Track) in Le Castellet at the French Riviera marks the last European stop of the championship. In the south of France, Young Driver AMR and it’s four drivers Alex Müller (GER)/ Tomas Enge (CZE) and Stefan Mücke (GER)/ Darren Turner (GBR) aim to bring themselves in a good position in the championship, before the GT1-tour heads overseas.

After a tough weekend in Spain only ten days ago, the Paul Ricard HTTT in Le Castellet will be another challenge for Young Driver AMR. “The weather will play a major part this weekend”, Young Driver AMR-team principal Hardy Fischer says. “If it’s hot down there, like at Navarra, it can be difficult for us. Last year we had a good speed at Le Castellet, but had some technical issues. If it isn’t too hot, I hope for a good result, that will keep us in contention to the championship leaders.”

Before the French round of the GT1 World championship, Young Driver AMR is fourth in the team championship. Mücke/Turner are sixth in the driver’s championship with Müller/Enge one spot behind.

Driver quotes before the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “Paul Ricard is a really nice track, I raced there with Young Driver AMR in April. My teammates, who raced there last season with Aston Martin, told me it’s not an ideal track for our Aston Martin DBR9. After a tough weekend with much bad luck in Spain, I hope for better luck in France. In Spain we also had 30kg ballast on board, in France we now run ballast-free and should be more competitive. I hope for a clean race and looking forward to improve our position in the championship.”

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “As we know from the past, the car works very good in cool conditions and we hope for cool weather in France. We have a very good aero and good power, but this is effect by the weather. If it’s hot at Paul Ricard it will be difficult for us. Otherwise I hope that we can grab some points.”

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): “Some parts of the track really suit our Aston Martin, but there are also some very long straights, which are not so good for us. Tire performance will be an issue, too. There are some very fast corners at Paul Ricard where it’s not possible to save the tires. In Spain we struggled with the very high temperatures, but if it’s cool in France, we might have a have chance for a podium finish, if we have two trouble free races.”

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Paul Ricard is not the strongest circuit for us, but we will do the best we can. It would be very nice to get some points there after a tough weekend in Navarra, which really dented our chances in the championship.”

Nicholas Mee Racing’s Karsten le Blanc and Dan de Zille scored a triumphant double victory in rounds 5 and 6 of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 Challenge held at Belgium’s famous Spa Francorchamps circuit at the weekend, thus regaining their lead in this year’s series mid-way through the season.

The nine Aston Martin GT4 Challenge entries at Spa shared the grid with British GT Championship, Dutch GT4 Championship and FIA GT4 European Cup contenders for the two, one-hour races, while NMR’s de Zille had an especially busy weekend as he was also competing in the Formula Ford European Cup.

Friday morning’s practice consisted of two one-hour practice sessions in which circuit rookie de Zille and le Blanc ran through car set-up and circuit familiarisation procedures. In the afternoon’s 30-minute qualifying session the first 15 minutes would be taken by Driver 1 who’d set the qualifying time for Saturday’s Race 1, while Driver 2 would set the qualifying time for Race 2 in the second half of the session. It was decided that de Zille would set the first qualifying lap and, although still learning the circuit, he managed to post the second fastest time behind Vantage Racing’s Alan Bonner. In the second session, le Blanc posted an initial lap good enough for third on the grid before the session was ended prematurely by an accident involving the Vantage Racing car that the crew would work all night to repair for the following day’s racing.

Having hurried from the Formula Ford parc fermé after his second Formula Ford race of the weekend, de Zille started race 1 from second on the grid. During his fast and consistent stint de Zille caught and passed Vantage Racing’s Alan Bonner for first place. A safety car incident then prompted a number of teams, NMR included, to come in for the compulsory pit stop a little earlier than planned, during which de Zille handed over to le Blanc. During this time the Aston Martin Racing entry driven my AMR’s MD John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh managed to leap-frog NMR for the lead. However, le Blanc drove with the bit between his teeth and, with another Challenge victory in his sights, he caught and passed the AMR car to bring the NMR’s Aston Martin home safely for another victory, three seconds ahead of another AML-entered car driven by ex Evo journalist Jethro Bovingdon and Sport Auto magazine’s Anja Wassertheurer in second place.

Effectively starting race 2 from second on the grid due to Kemp and Hall’s Stratton Motor Company car being unable to start because of engine issues, le Blanc battled hard with AML’s Jethro Bovingdon during the first stint. With around 35 minutes remaining, Le Blanc handed over to de Zille for the last of his five-race weekend! NMR’s Team Manager Giles Dawson calculated that the finish would be close as AMR’s Gaw was on a mission and obviously determined to reel-in de Zille. With NMR now in first after the pitstops, Dawson instructed de Zille to keep pushing hard, and this he did to take the chequered flag by just one second for NMR’s second win of the weekend.

Following race 2 a delighted Karsten le Blanc said,”Wow, what a productive two days at my favourite circuit; we had good pace in practice and qualifying, an impeccable car and some really close racing in both races. To come out on top in both is fantastic and better than I had dared hope for! I thoroughly enjoy the partnership with Dan and am very happy about the efforts of the whole NMR team. I’m really looking forward to our next outing at Oulton Park on 6th August."

Team Principal Nicholas Mee said, “Winning feels good, but winning twice in a day is even better! My thanks and congratulations go not just to the drivers Karsten and Dan, who obviously did a fantastic job, but to the whole team whose skill and hard work really paid dividends this weekend. We can now all enjoy the break before the next round, and will return to the fray with an even greater determination to succeed”.

Nicholas Mee Racing is now back on top of this year’s AM GT4 Challenge leaderboard with three firsts, a third and a fourth from the five races completed thus far. After Spa Le Blanc has 41 points, while de Zille – who didn’t compete in the first round at Silverstone – has 35. He’s followed by Bonner and Black with 32 points, Poole, Abra and Kemp all on 23, Mantello with 19 and Hall with 18.

- Barwell’s Aston Martin Vantage claims GT4 podium in race two
- Barwell-engineered Beechdean DBRS9 scores 3rd place overall


The latest round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship took place at the Spa-Francorchamps F1 track in Belgium last weekend, with two one-hour races on the Saturday. The Barwell Motorsport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT4 was having its second outing in the series, with drivers Peter Erceg and Chris Holmes tasting the podium champagne for the first time after a great run to third place in GT4 in race two. We also shared in the overall GT3 podium success in this race, with Barwell’s Mark Lemmer engineering the Beechdean Aston Martin DBRS9 to another third place finish for drivers Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam.

The Vantage GT4, entered under the Secure Racing with Barwell Motorsport banner, was one of the front-runners in the GT4 class from the very start of the Friday practice sessions. With the team using their first race at Brands Hatch in June really as a learning event, we were able to hit the ground running at Spa. Despite Chris never having been to the daunting seven-kilometre Spa circuit before, he quickly got to grips with its flowing high-speed turns, and was setting some very rapid lap times in the Aston Martin. This was no mean feat last weekend, as the British GT regulars were joined by both the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge and European GT4 Championship series competitors, swelling the number of cars on the track to 55! Peter was also bringing his times down well during the practice sessions, as he got to grips with the 450bhp Aston Martin Vantage GT4. The Kiwi driver carried this through to the first official qualifying session, qualifying sixth in GT4 for race one, whilst Chris was confident of fighting for pole position in his session. After a ‘banker’ lap warming up his tyres, he then attacked and set his best first sector time of the weekend but the lap was scuppered by the red flags coming out and stopping the session. His banker time was good enough for fourth, but if he had been able to complete his fastest lap then pole or second position was certainly on.


For the Beechdean GT3 entry, we were also supplying senior Barwell technician Mike Brown to boost their crew looking after the mechanical well-being of the car. He and Mark were working hard during the free practice sessions, when they made quite a few significant set-up changes to the DBRS9, which was then able to pump in consistently fast times over long runs. Unfortunately official qualifying didn’t go according to plan, with neither driver able to realise their true potential. In the amateur session Andrew hit traffic on all of his laps and was disappointed to line up 10th, whilst just as Jonny got his hard compound Avons (for the DBRS9) up to temperature he got badly blocked on one lap and then the red flags came out and restricted him to ninth on the grid for race two.

For this event there were two one-hour points scoring races for British GT, with each driver starting one race – the amateurs would start race one and the pros race two. Peter started race one and settled into a good rhythm, but as he was passing a slower Ginetta in the European GT4 series contact was made and he was worried that the car had been damaged. He carried on for a few more laps without any further dramas, until he came in to hand over to Chris midway through the race. Unfortunately the Safety Car came out and Peter got baulked behind it for half a lap before he got to the pits, and then during the stop the Barwell crew spotted that a wheel had been damaged during his earlier clash and it had to be changed. We thus lost a chunk of time to the pack ahead, but Chris did a good job in closing down the GT4 championship-leading KTM of Belshaw/Clutton and finished sixth just eight seconds behind at the end.

At the start of the race Andrew began to get stuck into chasing down the top 10 GT3 pack, and had picked off two of them by the time he came in for the mandatory driver change pit stop just before the half way stage. At this point the Safety Car was out to control the field, and thus we took advantage of this and also during the stop Mark’s attention to detail over the mandatory pit lane time paid off and we managed to jump one place up the order. Jonny thus came out in seventh place and set a scorching pace as he closed in on the leaders and moved up to fifth position. He closed down the fourth placed Tate/Mortimer Ferrari to just 0.8 seconds by the finish, and with one more lap would surely have taken this place.


Chris made a strong start to the second one-hour encounter, and was immediately right on the tail of the front three British GT4 contenders and hounding the two factory Lotus Evoras in front. The pace of these four was incredibly hot, and they left the rest of the GT4 field trailing in their wake. Chris was driving the wheels off the Barwell Aston Martin, and moved up the order as the cars ahead progressively came into the pits for their driver changes before us. Chris got his head down and tried to press home the advantage of having a clear track before coming in to hand over to Peter. This worked really well and with the pit lane timings worked out to perfection, Peter was able to blast out of the pits in the lead of the GT4 class – in only his second ever event at international level!

However, with the four cars behind him all sporting a ‘double-pro’ driver line-up, he was going to have his work cut out to try and defend the position. We lost one of the opposition when the Nordstrom/Clarke Lotus fell by the wayside, but Peter lost out in the heat of battle to the Denis/McDonald Ginetta and the sister Lotus of Glew/Jackson. As the race entered its closing stages he was holding onto third place well, and setting good lap times, but a small mistake let the KTM sneak past and with the tyres and brakes now past their best it looked like he would have to settle for fourth. The leading Ginetta struck trouble two laps from home, however, and the Barwell Aston’s great reliability thus enabled Peter to benefit and take a very well-deserved third place and first-ever British GT podium for Erceg, Holmes and the Secure Racing with Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4. “It was a fantastic result for the team,” said Peter afterwards, “To be on the podium, in an Aston Martin, at Spa and in only our 2nd round of the British GT Championship, it doesn't get much better than that!”

Jonny had done a great job in getting heat into his Avon tyres on the Beechdean Aston Martin DBRS9 during the warm-up lap for the start of race two, and was then able to really attack his rivals as soon as the lights went to green. Such was his pace and confidence on the opening lap that he moved up from ninth to sixth and was right on the leading bunch of cars! Belying the fact that this was his first ever visit to Spa, he then proceeded to get stuck into a three-way scrap for fourth place, which he soon came out on top of. He subsequently fell foul of some oil dropped on the track at Les Combes corner and slide wide, slipping back down to sixth again, before making one place back prior to coming into the pits!

Another precisely timed pit lane visit put Andrew back out into the race in second position, behind the leading Ferrari 458 of Cameron/Griffin and just ahead of the Fisken/Bridgman Porsche. These three then pulled out a big gap over the rest of the pack as they put on a great fight for the race victory. With two laps to go Fisken managed to push Andrew’s Aston down to third, but the Beechdean man stayed on his bumper and the three lead cars started the final lap with less than two seconds separating them! Unfortunately slower traffic got in the way of the tussle, but Andrew brought the car home for a superb third place finish. “This was a terrific result in what is one of the oldest GT3 cars in the world,” commented Mark Lemmer. “I was extremely happy with the set-up that we got on the car and the Avon tyres worked really well in the race.”

Secure Racing, the motorsport team powered by the IT security industry charged to its first podium place at the British GT Championship race at the Spa race circuit in Belgium this weekend.


In only their third race of the season, drivers Peter Erceg and Chris Holmes fought an epic battle to fend off the challenge of determined competitors for over an hour and grabbed third place in the closing laps of the race. A trophy after just two rounds of the championship demonstrates the potential of the team to win big by the end of the year.

Erceg and Holme’s result is even more impressive considering the Secure Racing Aston Martin is almost 200kg heavier than most of its competition, making it a tough job to match their speed over the course of the chase. Not only did they match it, on several occasions they bettered it and Secure Racing held fourth, third, second and first positions at various points during the hour long race.

Secure Racing was set up in April to provide IT security organisations the chance to demonstrate that information security has a role to play outside the office environment, in some of the most exciting areas of modern life. The Secure Racing team comprises individuals from across the industry and all major sponsors are Information Security companies. Everyone involved in the industry is invited to take part.
Each GT Championship stage must involve both drivers and a changeover during the race. Starting fourth on the grid, Holmes took the first stint powering the Aston to second by the time the pit change came along. The speed of the pit change gave Erceg the opportunity to go out in the lead and he took it. But the hot sun, the harsh track and heavy car took its toll on the tyres but with some tough scrambling at the front of the pack including a blown gearbox for the Ginetta holding second, Erceg managed to pull out all stops holding on for a well deserved podium finish in third place.

“This is a huge achievement and we are rightly proud of the hard work everyone put in leading up to this race”, says Mohan Koo, MD of team sponsor Dtex Systems. “We’re not just another team on the grid – we are a team on the podium challenging for first place. The Information Security industry doesn’t just have a motorsport team – it has a championship challenging team right from the start.”

“This circuit is something special and today we have used it to produce a special result,” says driver Chris Holmes. “Of course we all wanted to retain first place but this is only the second time we’ve raced this car, and our power to weight ratio as limited by homologation is a clear disadvantage. But even with this challenge, on the right day, on the right track, and with the right team behind the car, it’s unstoppable.”
But it was down to Erceg to have the last word. “This was epic. We worked hard all weekend to get to that podium and it paid off. We trained, and practiced, and practiced again. We’re a formidable team on the track now and that third place is well justified.”

Secure Racing

The third round of the 2011 FIA GT4 European Cup saw the teams head to Spa for two one hour long, action packed races in a change to the normal format. Sharing the grid with the British GT Championship, the Dutch GT4 Championship and the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain, the Generation AMR pairing of Ant Scragg and James Appleby found themselves in the mix with 39 other GT4 cars and 15 GT3 cars in what was to prove to be an epic weekend of motorsport at this legendary circuit.

Having not tested at the circuit prior to the meeting, Ant and James had to rely on their experience of racing once at the circuit in 2010, where they had battled against each other for over two hours in the Aston Martin race. Both proved to be quicker than any other GT4 drivers last year, so after the strong results at Round 2 at Silverstone, where they had achieved two fourth places and a third, both drivers were more than ready to battle with the hugely experienced international drivers that have dominated the series so far.

Free Practice and Qualifying

Free practices were held on Friday morning and the team methodically worked the car and drivers through a development programme to fine tune the potential of their 2011 spec Aston Martin GT4 race car. With some tyres saved from Silverstone, Generation AMR topped the Euro GT4 section of the timing sheet in Free Practice 2 and sent a clear message to the rest of the field that they meant business!

With 55 cars attempting to qualify in both 15 minute sessions, not even 7 kilometres of track seemed enough space to get clear of all the traffic. However, in Q1 James Appleby set a truly spectacular time of 2:34.252, taking provisional pole and going faster than any other Aston Martin GT4 has ever gone around Spa until the Ekris BMW, driven by Ricardo Van Der Ende, stormed to the top by over a second, only to be beaten by the Lotus of Cor Euser by just 2 hundredths! Content with P3, the team elected to save the tyres for the race and with no significant threat out on track, James pitted to handover to Ant.

Ant went straight out at the start of the second session to try and find a window of opportunity, pushing hard to build heat in the tyres and set a quick time early on. His first attempt was severely compromised by traffic, with less experienced drivers “not being totally aware of their surroundings”, so at the end of his second lap, the team instructed him to back out of the run and find space for his next attempt. Unfortunately, just as Ant was finding space to attack the timing board, a major incident at Eau Rouge resulted in the session being red flagged, with the team having to settle for P4. The Hardinge and Spa Hotel backed pair were not disappointed though, as their tyres had been saved in both sessions for the crucial one hour races to come on the Saturday.

Race 1

Saturday dawned bright and wet at Spa, with heavy rain having descended all night and into the morning. Fortunately, the track dried quickly and race one saw James starting from 18th on the grid. The rolling start of 55 cars was clean and he quickly asserted himself through Eau Rouge, using the torque of the Aston Martin to power past the BMW and the Lotus up the hill and into P1. Although he built a 1 second gap by the end of Lap 2 which he pushed harder each lap to maintain, the speed of the Lotus through the tighter corners proved too much by Lap 8 and he let Cor Euser through to save the car for Ant’s stint after the pit stop. However, under pressure James continued to apply the Lotus out-braked himself and James gladly retook the lead and built a 5 second gap before the safety car was deployed due to a Ginetta in the British GT Championship getting it “all wrong”.

The team rapidly assessed their position on track and, unlike many of the competitors who immediately pitted, left James to push on and catch the safety car. He did so exactly on cue and then slipped into the previously hectic pit lane with plenty of space. A perfect pit stop by the young engineers who are part Generation AMR’s development programme put Ant out still P1 on the road but behind the safety car, which had bunched the field up while the damaged car was removed from the circuit.

At the restart, Ant pushed harder than he had ever done in a race, opening a gap of 2.5 seconds, but now it was the Ekris BMW in the hands of Duncan Huisman that showed its true pace, overtaking the Marcos International Lotus and closing the gap rapidly as Ant fought his way quickly through the traffic ahead. On Lap 17, Huisman bravely moved onto the grass approaching the final chicane and forced his way past Ant. Not to be out done, Ant maintained the pressure, with the gap ebbing and flowing over the next 3 laps until the BMW encountered traffic through Eau Rouge and Ant pounced, powering up the hill and clean past the leading car.

What followed saw the team holding their breath for two and a half laps, as Ant was hounded by the BMW, with the Lotus chasing both cars hard. It was nip and tuck all the way, with clean yet hard racing between Ant and Huisman, each trying to out fox the other as the finish drew ever closer. At the line, the BMW tried all he could, but Ant stormed past the chequered flag to record the team’s first victory.


Race 2

In race 2, it was Ant’s turn to start from 21st on the grid and after a perfectly clean run through La Source, he emerged up the hill in P3, chasing down the Rhesus Racing Aston Martin that was now in P2. The team had worked hard on the setup of the car and it showed over the next few laps as Ant hounded the back of the Rhesus car, tagging it a couple of times as Jan Joris Verheul drove very defensively in order to keep hold of his 2nd place. Meantime, the Ekris BMW had taken full advantage of this battle, building an 8 second lead before the Marco International Lotus slipped past Ant on Lap 7.

Not daunted by this change in position, Ant focussed on reeling them both in, but he needn’t have worried. The Lotus made a significant error trying to pass the Rhesus car, which enabled Ant to breeze past him. Meantime, Generation AMR’s Team Manager, Jeremy Doncaster, was watching the timing screens carefully and advised Ant of oil at Turn 5 as soon as the warning came on the monitor. Ant calmly pressured the Rhesus car, who obviously hadn’t received the same news off his team and so when the pair arrived at Les Combes, one failed to brake and the Generation AMR car sailed safely past and into second place.

By now the Ekris BMW was over 12 seconds in the lead having taken full advantage of the fun going on behind. Ant continued to push and brought the car in at the end of Lap 11, handing over to James during another faultless performance by the pit crew. James went out to close the gap on the BMW, who had yet to pit, and smoothly drove round the mass of slower GT4 cars that were focussed on their own races. After the BMW had pitted, James found himself still in P2, with the BMW retaining the lead and the 3rd place car some 14 seconds behind. So with good focus, James set about putting in consistently quick times, hoping that an incident or error by the BMW could close the gap. It wasn’t to be though, so at the line the BMW took the win and James took second, with the Rhesus Racing Aston Martin a distant 3rd, 26 seconds being the Generation AMR car.


Summary

“It was an amazing feeling seeing Ant come across the line 1st in race one and I so wanted to repeat that feeling in race 2, but we cannot complain with the second place – this has been the best race weekend of my life so far!” quipped James Appleby after race 2. “The team has done a great job all weekend and thanks to the continued support of our partners, the Hardinge Group and The Spa Hotel, as well as our technical partners, we’ve been able to show what young talent can do against seasoned and highly experienced international racers. Wow, what an awesome weekend – let’s get to Zolder!”

“We really couldn’t ask for more” added Ant Scragg. “The car was so well balanced, we’re still not as quick as the BMW’s or the Lotus’s through the slow to medium speed corners, but this has to be the best feeling in the world, beating those guys at Spa. There’s world class drivers on this grid and for James and I to mix it up with them like this is truly a great moment in our careers and something we aim to repeat time and time again. The team did a brilliant job with the car and the strategies and I can’t thank them enough. This weekend is a massive points haul for us and we’re now in a strong position, championship wise, at the half-way point”.

Ant Scragg now lies 5th in the European Drivers Championship, with James Appleby in 4th and Generation AMR a creditable 3rd in the Teams Championship in their inaugural year. Round 4 takes place on the 16th & 17th July, with the teams moving to Zolder for two 25 minute races and a 50 minute main event. The team will be keeping everyone up to date on the Facebook page and via twitter @generationamr.

Images courtesy of Xynamic Motorsport Photography

It was a trying day for the Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team at the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.

The team did cross the finish line in second place but as driver Klaus Graf said “it was a tough day at the office” for the defending race winners.

Lucas Luhr, who was starting the race second on the grid for the Muscle Milk squad, had an exciting battle for the lead with Chris Dyson. Luhr constantly stayed within a couple of tenths of the leader and even crossed the timing line first at one point but Dyson fought back hard to keep his position.

It was with about 30 minutes gone by in the two hour and 45 minute race that Luhr took the lead on lap 35, but unfortunately his lead would be short lived.

Five laps later, after building an 11 second lead, the German was hit by a GT car, slightly damaging the Aston Martin and forcing him to enter pit lane with a flat tire.

Luhr returned to the track with a fresh set of Michelin tires 43 seconds behind the Dyson car and still on the lead lap.

Shortly thereafter, a full course caution came out under which the team decided to pit for a driver change as well as fuel and tires.

Thanks to an excellent pit stop the Muscle Milk squad sent Graf, who was now aboard the #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin LMP1, out in first place ahead of the Dyson car who had pitted from the lead at the same time.

However, once again, a GT car hit the Aston Martin from behind. The impact sent Graf spinning off track, allowing Guy Smith in the Dyson Lola to go by and take a nine second lead.

From that point on there was not much Graf could do to catch up to Smith. Both drivers were putting in similar lap times, with Graf driving a slightly damaged car due to the contacts it had suffered earlier on.

The Pickett Racing team did go on to win for the second race in a row the Michelin Green X Challenge for the best overall performance and fuel efficiency with the least environmental impact.

Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing will be back on track in two weeks, July 22 - 24, at Mosport International Raceway, where the team took its second overall win last season.


Klaus Graf
“I’d say it was a tough day at the office. Both Lucas and I had issues. A GT car hit me and spun me around, which is quite rare when you are in a prototype. I gave him enough room to stay on his line but he didn’t. It was very unfortunate. I didn’t lose too much time luckily but it did break my rhythm.

“It was difficult today in the traffic and we didn’t have the best car, we had slight damage to the fact that Lucas and I both got hit and that didn’t help with the performance of the Muscle Milk Aston Martin but in the end we still pushed and finished second.

“Congrats to the Dyson guys. I have to say they ran a strong race today. We’ll come back at Mosport.”


Lucas Luhr
“It was a tough day for the Muscle Milk team. We had the speed and we were well prepared but we were not very fortunate in traffic with a Ford GT car hitting me. I made a really clear move by him and when I was by he turned in on me. It damaged the car a bit and caused a flat tire forcing me to pit early. Then Klaus had the same with a GT car that spun him. It definitely wasn’t the day we wanted.”


Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing

After leading both practice sessions throughout the day, Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing was looking for something other than a third place on the grid for Saturday's American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix.

The defending race winners sat atop the charts in the dry morning practice and again during the afternoon practice which took place in wet but drying conditions.

However, the team did find themselves at somewhat of a disadvantage heading into qualifying. Klaus Graf who was entered as the qualifying driver had only one lap in dry conditions on Michelin slicks heading into the 15-minute qualifying session.

Lucas Luhr had spent most of the morning practice session in the car, with Graf getting in near the end. However a red flag ended the practice prematurely and practice 2 took place in wet conditions thus only allowing Graf one-lap in the dry.

Despite the drawback, Graf still managed to put in the team's fastest lap times of the day during qualifying and stayed close to championship rivals Dyson Racing. While Klaus did make it to second at one point in the session, his fastest lap of 46.040 seconds placed him third for the start of tomorrow's race.

The Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team will be back on track Saturday morning at 9:55 a.m. for a 20-minute warm up before taking the green flag at 2:05 p.m. for Round 3 of the American Le Mans Series.

The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix will be streamed live on ESPN3.com starting at 1:50 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on tape delay on ESPN2 Sunday, July 10 starting at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Klaus Graf,

“It wasn’t quite what we were looking for today. At the end of the day, I didn’t really get any running in the dry so the weather did play its part today. But obviously the weather is the same for everybody.

“We’ll have a good look at the data tonight and make some changes. We have a warm up in the morning to fine-tune the car. I’m confident the guys will get it right. It’s just that we usually unload with a pretty good package, but this time it was a little harder. But then it’s also when you have to pull together as a team and try to get the best out of it.

“I’m actually a little surprised that we were that close to the other cars so it gives me a lot of confidence for the race because I know we will get the car better and we should be in good shape.”



Lucas Luhr,

“It’s a different challenge coming here after racing at Le Mans and the Nürburgring. It’s a small circuit with lots of traffic, but it’s still a lot of fun. I always enjoy coming back with the Muscle Milk team and driving with Klaus, it’s good fun. With the whole team you really feel at home when you come back here to race with these guys.

“Regarding the qualifying, I think Klaus got the maximum possible out of the car. He didn’t get a lot of running in this morning because of a red flag so we were unfortunate there and he struggled with front grip. But I know the car has a lot potential and that the boys will get it right for tomorrow. We still have the warm up in the morning to tune the car.

“For me, it’s not that important how good the car is, the most important thing is how you get through the traffic here. If you see how many cars are on the track, every two seconds you will be overtaking a GT car so you will make up most of the time if you manage traffic easily. In the morning practice the car was really good in traffic, we still can improve a bit on that and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Ecurie Ecosse Spa 24 Hours programme kicked off on Wednesday 6th July, when drivers Andrew Smith, Olly Bryant, Alasdair McCaig and Joe Twyman attended the official event test at the classic Belgian track. Each of them were having their first run in a Barwell Motorsportprepared Aston Martin DBRS9 chassis, their weapon of choice for the return of the famous Ecurie Ecosse name to the international sportscar stage at the Total 24 Hours of Spa race on July 30/31.

With the four drivers needing to get acclimatised to the 2011-specification 600bhp Aston Martin GT3 car, there wasn’t much time to spare during the day but the team completed its programme with all four drivers comfortable in the charismatic 6-litre V12-engined DBRS9 by the end of the test. British GT Championship race-winner Olly Bryant is by far the more experienced of the line up in modern-day GT machinery, and as expected was the quickest. Andrew, Alasdair and Joe are all very successful historic racing campaigners, however, and all set a good pace around the daunting seven-kilometre Spa track.

“The opportunity to test the DBRS9 at Spa proved to be invaluable,” said Ecurie Ecosse driver Andrew Smith, “we were able to learn a huge amount about the car and build up to a good pace. With the data we now have from the test and the additional time available to us in the car before the race itself, we are confident we will be able to fight competitively for a class podium”. The test also gave the Barwell engineers the chance to work with the latest specification Avon tyres around Spa for the first time, and the team were very happy with the set-up work carried out during the day. Former Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9 driver, and 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winner, Tom Kimber-Smith, was also on hand to help with testing and set-up duties during the day. “We were very happy with the performance of the DBRS9 and the Avon tyres at the test,” comments Barwell MD Mark Lemmer, “and we are confident that we have a good set-up on the car for the 24 Hours, and tyres that will work well from an endurance point of view.”