For the second year running Aston Martin Derby hosted a very special screening of the Sebring 12 hours.

After the success of last year, Paul and Julie Dunk pulled out all the stops to make this year’s event even better than last

The sell out event saw 50 sports car enthusiasts descend on Aston Martin’s Derby showroom to see what for many is the first true event of the endurance racing season. The lucky few were greeted by Aston Martin Racing’s GTE show car – a car the previously raced at Sebring in the hands of Gulf AMR Middle East.

This year’s event was held in association with Mission Motorsport, a charity that aids in the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations by providing opportunities through Motorsport. All proceeds from the night went to the charity with auction and competition prizes kindly donated by Aston Martin Racing, Radio Le Mans, Beechdean Motorsport and Nicolas Mee Aston Martin bringing the total raised to £1000.

The event was a great way to watch AMR’s first race of the season, with good company, food and an excellent TV and sound system supplied by D & C Sound and Vision.

Thank you to Paul and Julie for being amazing hosts as always and to all that attended for making it a memorable evening.

To find out more about Mission Motorsport visit http://www.missionmotorsport.org/ 

Images: Adam Pigott

Aston Martin Racing has continued to gather vital data for both of its Gulf-liveried Vantage GTEs this weekend at the American Le Mans Series 12 Hours of Sebring, despite minor issues preventing either from challenging for the win.

The new #97 Vantage GTE, a modified version of the car the team contested the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with last year, made its competitive debut today with works drivers Darren Turner (GB), Stefan Mücke (D) and Bruno Senna (BR).

Good pace and reliability throughout testing in Portimao, Road Atlanta and then at Sebring earlier this week saw the V8-powered charger prepare well for the race.  However, high levels of traffic and slower cars in the opening laps were to put an end to the car’s challenge for the win, when front-end contact damaged the its radiator. A quick repair from the team saw the car back out on track and new team member Senna make his competitive debut, but the time in the garage could not be recouped.

Darren Turner comments: “The start of the race was interesting; the cars bunched up on turn one and I found the car sandwiched in. It settled down a bit but I soon caught up with the traffic. A slower car, surrounded by lots of traffic, braked suddenly and I shunted into the back of it. I thought we’d escaped damage but it turns out it affected the radiator, making the engine overheat.

“The crew did a great job getting it fixed so quickly. We were able to get back out on track and carry on gathering miles on the car ahead of the first round of the WEC at Silverstone next month.”

Stefan Mücke adds: “Yes, the car has run like clockwork all week. We’ve learned a lot, especially today under race conditions, and it’ll prove invaluable for the 6 Hours of Silverstone. Bruno suffered from a sickness bug but still raced brilliantly today. He was on pace and did a really nice job. It’s good to have him in the team.”

Meanwhile, the #007 car – a race-winning 2012-specification Vantage GTE – had a strong start to the race, with Pedro Lamy (PT), Billy Johnson (US) and Paul Dalla Lana (CA) taking the stints in turn. This was until a throttle cable issue brought it back to the garage, where the team repaired it quickly. The car continued to compete faultlessly for the second half of the race but was unable to make up the lost time.

Pedro Lamy comments: “It’s been great to be part of this race with Aston Martin Racing. The team is professional and friendly and works incredibly hard. I did the first stint in the #007 today and it felt very good straight away. The car quickly settled in and allowed me to get a good advantage in the first few laps. Other than the short time in the garage, it was perfect.”

John Gaw, Aston Martin Racing’s team principal adds: “It’s unfortunate what happened to Darren but it was totally unavoidable. The team did a great job and we’re pleased that the car has otherwise run faultlessly. The #97 is very well prepared for Silverstone and we’ve had excellent reliability for a car that has a number of new parts.

“The #007 car and team have also had a really good week. Pedro put in a seriously impressive qualifying lap yesterday to start the car from fourth on the grid. The race started very well for the car and the crew did a great job to fix it and get it back out on track so we could continue to gather data. It’s not an ideal start but we’re here in preparation for the WEC and, in that respect, everything is good.”

When the chequered flag flew at the end of the 12-hour long endurance race, the #97 was in eighth, having complete 318 laps of the 3.4 mile circuit. The #007 completed 307 laps to finish in ninth.

The cars and crew will stay at Sebring International Raceway this week so that newcomers to the team; Peter Dumbreck, Kristian Poulsen, Christoffer Nygaard and Allan Simonsen, can have time in the car ahead of the start of the WEC season, which kicks off on 14 April with the Six Hours of Silverstone.

Aston Martin Racing

Aston Martin Racing’s new #97 Vantage GTE has qualified in third place on its competitive debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Florida, setting a time within 0.2 seconds of the pole-winning lap. Its sister car, the #007 2012-specification Vantage GTE, also enjoyed a strong session and qualified fourth in the GT class.

In the fiercely competitive 15-minute qualifying session, Aston Martin Racing factory driver Stefan Mücke (D) took to the 3.74-mile track in the V8-powered #97 Vantage GTE and delivered his fastest lap of the week, stopping the clock at 1:58.990.

Pedro Lamy (PT) set a time of 1:59.208 in the #007 Vantage GTE, which will see the car start from fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

John Gaw, team principal at Aston Martin Racing, comments: “The test programmes at Portimão and Road Atlanta went really well and enabled us to start this race weekend problem-free. The car and team have both run smoothly all week and this was carried through into the qualifying session.

“It’s great to have both cars up towards the front of the grid. Pedro did an outstanding job to qualify nearly a second quicker than the same specification car managed here last year. The only hiccup has been the illness in the team, but it looks like everything will be sorted for the race tomorrow.”

Stefan Mücke comments: “We're here at Sebring to prepare the new car for the FIA World Endurance Championship. This week has been a very promising start to the campaign but there's more to get out of the car, for sure."

Pedro Lamy adds: “I got a nice clear run at the best moment of the tyres. I was getting faster each lap but then the session ended. The car feels good and the team did a great job. The car is not quite as quick as the #97, but our set-up work this week has made it incredibly good to drive around the Sebring International Raceway.

“I’m feeling good ahead of the race. It’s a long race but if we can get good rhythm and can stay out of trouble we should get a really good result.”

Aston Martin Racing is running a pair of Vantage GTEs in the American Le Mans Series season opener in the GT class. The 2013-specification #97 car will be driven by long-standing factory drivers Darren Turner (GB) and Stefan Mücke (D) alongside new signing Bruno Senna (BR), while the #007 machine – built to 2012 specifications – will be driven by Aston Martin Racing newcomers Billy Johnson (US), Pedro Lamy (PT), and Paul Dalla Lana (CA).

Aston Martin Racing

With the first round of the British GT championship now just three weeks away, Complete Racing AMR have been testing at Silverstone with their V8 Vantage GT4.


Now an Official Aston Martin Racing partner team, Complete Racing AMR will enter the full British GT championship with their sights firmly set on taking the title after a development year in 2012.

The 2013 British GT season gets underway at Oulton Park March 30th and will feature 6 rounds in the UK with the now traditional away-race taking place at Zandvoort, in the Netherlands.

Multimatic Motorsports rose to a host of challenges in a weekend that saw one car withdrawn before practice even started and its Daytona podium finisher suffer electronic problems that took it out of contention during the first few laps of the race.

A technical non-compliance caused by an error during the car build in England resulted in the #16 Aston Martin Vantage of Nick Mancusso and Frankie Montecalvo being permanently parked by Grand-Am on Thursday morning. This car had been flown to Florida from England the day before the Daytona race practice in January and the non-performance related issue had been missed by both Multimatic and Grand-Am in the run up to its excellent fourth place finish in its debut event. Aston Martin Racing has pledged to have the car sorted for Multimatic well in advance of the next event at Barber Motorsports Park which was of no conciliation to the nascent driver pairing of Mancuso and Montecalvo who frustratingly watched the Austin event from the sidelines.

Despite this major setback the team persevered and the remaining three entries were always near the top of the timesheets through to qualifying where Jade Buford made it two poles in a row for the Multimatic #55 Vantage. Although out dragged at the green by the mighty power of the #01 Camaro, Buford slotted in behind the Chevy and the two leaders proceeded to pull away from the field through the first phase of the race. Michael Marsal in the #71 and John Farano in the #15 immediately started a climb through the field, ultimately running nose to tail until the latter reported that he had lost power and was having to dive for the pits only a handful of laps into the race. The ensuing sequence of events resulted in his driving partner David Empringham falling off of the lead lap and finishing the race a distant 22nd in class. Marsal put in a stellar shift handing off to Tonis Kasemets at the first caution period, who then proceeded to drive an inspired race to finish 5th, the team's best placing on a day when the competition was fierce and the #96 BMW of Bill Auberlen was untouchable, turning a race best lap a full second faster than the rest of the field. Scott Maxwell took the #55 from Buford at the first caution and battled in the top group throughout the remainder of the race, always in contention for the podium even as alternative strategies mixed-up the order in the middle hour. However, it all went wrong just a few laps from the end when the #9 Camaro of Matt Bell got sideways at the front of the tight 3rd through 7th group and Maxwell dove to the inside to take advantage only to meet with contact in the scrum. Grand-Am deemed the ensuing mayhem to be the Multimatic driver's fault and a 60 second stop and go penalty dropped the #15 to a lowly 18th at the end. Highlights of the weekend were as follows:

With Montecalvo/Mancuso only able to watch from the sideline, qualifying transpired to be a fraught fifteen minutes as Grand-Am race control surprisingly initiated a stringent new standard for course cutting that resulted in no less than 20 top five lap times being excluded, including Buford's first two fliers and all but one of Farano's qualifying efforts. As there was no warning of the new criteria and no detailed explanation of the resulting infractions it was a testament to Buford that he drove the most conservative lap that he could and grabbed his second pole in a row for the #55 car just as the session ended. Marsal and Farano ended a frustrated 11th and 17th respectively with none of the Multimatic drivers really understanding what Grand-Am was penalizing them for.

The race started well with all three Multimatic Aston's showing good pace and Buford in the #55 stuck to the bumper of the leading CKS Camaro as they pulled away from the field to a comfortable eight second margin. However, it was only a half a dozen laps in that Farano reported that his engine had gone flat and was heading for the pit box. The team quickly reset the ECU and sent the #15 back into the fray but it was forced to run through the lane again due to a speeding infraction on the first visit at which point Farano fell back to just 15 seconds ahead of the two leaders. In anticipation of a yellow flag period the team chose to stop the car again just after the 30 minute mark for a full service and driver change to Empringham, counting on the wave-by when the leaders stopped under caution. The caution ultimately did come 20 minutes later but not all the leaders stopped and Empringham was caught a lap down, never able to recover; an illustration of how competitive the series has become, that even a small problem cannot be salvaged.

Both the #55 and #71 took the first yellow with the majority of the field and changed drivers and fuel with the former also opting for four tires while the #71 did not. With the balance of the pack stopping under a second caution at lap 25, Maxwell and Kasemets cycled up the order to compete in the leading pack. With the race heading towards 55+ laps with most cars capable of 25 on a full fuel load it appeared that everybody would still need to take on fuel and the Multimatic engineers chose to stop the #55 and #71 just as they entered their finishing fuel window, under green with an hour to go. This coincided with the Auberlen BMW and #13 Rum Bum Porsche making identical moves.

As the race wound down Auberlen started to pick-off the guys that had not stopped and ultimately pulled away from the field while a gaggle of six cars fought it out behind him. Maxwell tried every trick in the book to get past the rabid crowd but two more yellows slowed his progress and allowed the gamblers to be able to make it to the finish. Meanwhile the #71 of Kasemets closed in on the same battle having had to make up time after taking tires at the last stop. Just as he got to the battle a few laps from the end Maxwell and the #9 Camaro exited in a cloud of dust and Tonis found himself in fifth while his teammate was called to the sin bin for a full minute.

A totally exciting on track squabble for the fans but not the outcome that the Multimatic team was looking for, although Kasemets' and Marsal's steady drive gave the #71 a solid top five finish.

The third race of the season is at Barber Motorsports Park. It will be held on Saturday, April 6th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ET at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jim Clark raced an Aston Martin DBR1 for the Border Reivers at Le Mans in 1960, finishing third overall, and now Jonny Adam takes the Border Reivers Racing name back to Le Mans in the 100th Anniversary year for Aston Martin.

At the official 2013 team launch, Jonny Adam was announced as the development/reserve driver for the Aston Martin Racing team to compete at the world famous endurance race. He will also continue with his commitments with Andrew Howard and Beechdean Aston Martin Racing in the British GT Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Jonny said: “It’s a great opportunity to be involved with Aston Martin Racing in their 100th anniversary year. I am looking forward to racing with Andrew and Beechdean Aston Martin Racing again but also looking forward to the experience of Le Mans and the chance to take the Border Reivers name back there”.

Ian Scott Watson who is the custodian of the Border Reivers name was delighted to have the name linked once again with Aston Martin and Le Mans. Jonny will carry the iconic logo on his helmet and race suit throughout the 2013 season.

Closer to home Jonny will also be part of another venture for Border Reivers in a new project ‘Racing for Scotland’. The ‘Racing for Scotland’ project aims to create a pathway to take young Karters through their Karting experience and into Scottish Motor Racing.  Jonny will be performing a driver coaching and mentoring role passing on his knowledge and experience of both karting and car racing from the Scottish kart scene to British Touring Cars and now international GT’s.

The first Karter to race in the Border Reivers colours is Jamie Thorburn. The name of Stuart Thorburn has been synonymous in Scottish Formula Ford with the Border Reivers Racing name for over 15 years and his son Jamie is now set to pick up the mantle. The Duns youth was the Raceland Junior Karting Club Champion in 2012 and is now committed to racing in the Scottish Formula Junior Blue series within the Saltire Motorsport team.

Jamie, 14 said “I am looking forward to racing in my first season of Scottish Championship Karting and the opportunity to learn from an experienced racer like Jonny Adam will be great.”

Last year’s Scottish Senior Formula Blue winner Ciaran Haggerty is stepping up to Scottish Formula Ford 1600 in 2013 and will be running in the Border Reivers colours with Graham Brunton Racing. Ciaran, 16 from Johnston, Renfrewshire is making the step up to car racing said “I have been given a golden opportunity to race with a multiple championship winning Formula Ford team.  As part of my prize for winning the Scottish Senior Formula Blue I had the opportunity from Ryan Dalziel to go to the USA to watch the Daytona 24 hour race. While there I met with Ryan and Allan McNish and they gave me a lot of good advice and to have the likes of Jonny Adam and 2010 Scottish FF1600 Champion Craig Brunton mentoring will be invaluable.”

Graham Brunton who is the mastermind behind the Racing for Scotland project explained the need for a pathway for Scottish Karters, “I wanted to bridge the gap in Scottish motorsport between the karting community and the car racing. The idea of creating a home-grown racing ladder is really exciting. The plan is to hold workshops with driver mentoring including media skills. With Jonny and Craig we will be able to have a breadth of knowledge and experience that the young drivers will be able to benefit from. We have on board some great Commercial Partners who also see the merit in developing young drivers.

Image: Richard Leach

During the past years, the GPR outfit has become one of the main references on the Belgian motor racing scene. 2013 should confirm this position.

GPR team principal Pino Sperlinga was for many years an avid Porsche fan. However, at the end of the 2011 season he fell in love with the “very British” Aston Martins. During the past BRCC Championship, GPR’s DBRS9 GT3 with Michaël Schmetz at the wheel, was a regular frontrunner in Sprint as well as in Endurance. The other GPR Aston, a Vantage GT4, was a regular entry last year and Sperlinga was already more than happy to announce this car’s entry in the 2013 BRCC edition.

“Albert Bloem, the car’s owner, will definitely enter the Aston Martin  in the BRCC Endurance series,” says a delighted Sperlinga. “This gentleman driver, in the purest meaning of the word, is still looking for a co-driver to share the wheel of the car during these Endurance meetings. There is a big chance that the car will also be entered in the Sprint races. The car has been fitted with the latest developments straight from the Aston Martin factories in the UK, and with a V8 4,7l 425 bhp engine under its bonnet, I’m sure it will be a major contender in the battle for both championships !”

During the course of the recent weeks, it has become clear that the BRCC 2013 Sporting Rules offer a huge chance to cars competing in the GT Light class - mainly GT4’s – to gun for outright victory in both championships (Sprint and Endurance). In the Sprint series, these cars will definitely be in front, and with the specific Endurance sporting rules – a certain number of obligatory pit stops per class – it is clear that the Astons have their chance to finish very high on the BRCC leader boards.

Besides the Vantage GT4, GPR Racing has a GT3 version waiting for action. This car took part in the Blancpain Endurance Series and in the GT Open competition with some fine results. Needless to say that Pino is very anxious to enter this car in the BRCC. “Considering the enormous possibilities of this racer I’m sure this Vantage will do extremely well in the BRCC. Furthermore, the car has an enormous “appeal” value and is very popular with the fans. I’m still looking for drivers and I am sure that they will not be disappointed !

Image: Richard Leach

Aston Martin Racing will have five Vantage GTEs at Le Mans following the first withdrawal from this year's race.

The Withdrawal of ESM from the GT ranks has promoted the 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE on to grid, giving Aston Martin Racing five entries in the historic event.

The car will now run in the GTE Pro class instead of the GTE Am class (as previously listed) thanks to reclassification from the ACO.

“We are delighted to have received the news of a fifth entry into the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans” Said team principal, John Gaw. “To have been named as first reserve was good news in itself and we kept our fingers crossed that it would be upgraded to a full entry. To have it confirmed so quickly is great news as it allows us extra preparation time.

“The four Vantage GTEs competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (the #97 and #99 Pro cars and the #95 and #96 Am cars) will now be joined in the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the #98 car. And, in a change from the original entry, the #98 will now compete in the Pro class instead of the Am class.

“In this significant year for both Le Mans and Aston Martin, we would particularly like to thank the ACO for reclassifying the car from the Am to the Pro class. The 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE line-up is extremely competitive and the extra Pro class entry has further supported our ambitions in the category.

“This year is important for Aston Martin as it celebrates its centenary year, and having five cars on the grid for the biggest event on the motorsport calendar is a fitting way to celebrate.”

Lotus Formula 1 development driver Richie Stanaway and Grand-Am regular Dane Cameron will both test the V8 Vantage GTE at Road Atlanta next week, where they will test alongside Pedro Lamy, Billy Johnson and Paul Dalla Lana as they prepare for the Sebring 12 Hours later this month.

The line up for the 98 car is expected to be comprised from the drivers testing at Road Atlanta and Aston Martin Racing’s Development drivers,  Daniel McKenzie and Jonny Adam who raced for AMR at Silverstone last year.

Image: Richard Leach

2013 sees the launch of the new Aston Martin GT3 Cup, a three race series open to competitors in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and DBRS9.

The series is an invitational class within the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain, which is now in its fourth season, and the cars will race alongside the Vantage GT4s at the Silverstone, Donington and Brands Hatch rounds. 

To commemorate Aston Martin’s centenary this year, each of the races will be held over either 100 laps or 100 minutes, with the Brands Hatch round forming part of the Aston Martin Centenary Festival in July.

At each circuit, the series takes prime position in the paddock with our exclusive Aston Martin VIP Race Centre for drivers and guests to relax between sessions and separate garages for all competitors.

Points scored in the GT3 Cup will count towards the Aston Martin Racing Global Challenge.

Calendar:

• 6 April             Silverstone
• 1 June            Donington Park
• 7 July              Brands Hatch GP

For more information please click here 

Image: Richard Leach