Tomorrow sees 53 of the 56 listed entries complete the official test day for the 82nd Le Mans 24Hr race that starts in two weeks. As announced previously Aston Martin Racing have entered only their four, full season WEC entries with the driver line ups that competed in 6Hrs of Spa.

With all procedural aspects already been taken care Sunday will launch straight into two 4hour sessions starting at 09.00Hrs (local) and 14.00Hrs respectively.

With the absence of full TV coverage visual images shall be limited to some closed circuit TV images and that from 14 'in car' cameras via the dual language lemans-tv.com and 24h-lemans.com/en/ feeds.

Beyond that radiolemans.0157.org/# will of course be running a concise audio feed.

Images from the build up.

Having had to test and set up their cars in almost impossible conditions on the Friday and Saturday before it came as some relief that race day was under warm and clearing skies.

Full season entrants MP-Motorsport and Oman Racing Team featured their planned driver line-ups with  Abra/Osborne/Poole in Pro-Am and Al Harthy/Caine/Jelley in Pro Class respectively. For the Silverstone round the Aston Martin Vantage line up was further increased with one off entries from British GT entrants Beechdean Motorsport (Pro-Am) and Horse Power Racing (GTR) with another GT3 car from full season VLN entry Leonard Motorsport (Pro).

Driver line ups had also been adjusted between the two of these additional customer teams - namely Jonny Adam assisting Leonard Motorsports' Paul Wilson and Stuart Leonard and Beechdean boss Andrew Howard being joined by Porsche Carrera Cup Scholarship winner Daniel Lloyd and again with Craft Bamboo WEC driver Alex MacDowall. HPR would be drive by car owner Paul Bailey and regular Andy Schulz.





The starting line up would be the #38 MP car starting in 8th position with Richard Abra behind the wheel, the #107 Beechdean car two places back with Daniel Lloyd, the  #44 Oman Racing car with Stephen Jelley in 19th, the #32 Leonard car in 28th spot with Jonny Adam and finally the #128 HPR car in 30th with Andy Schulz starting in a starting grid of 44 cars.

With the traditional GT rolling start trouble was only half way around Copse corner when the #128 HPR car was tagged into a spin on the opening lap. Difficulties extracting the car from the gravel trap would lead to waved yellows at that corner for the next couple of laps. That was Paul Bailey/Andy Schulz's raced destroyed immediately.

The inevitable 'madness' in 43 cars jostling for position around the GP circuit took well over 15minutes to calm down with MP and Beechdean line a stern in 7th and 8th respectively with Jonny Adam having a great 10 car plus scrap down in 10th before all had to avoid the debris of the 888 BMW Z4's accident, again into Copse and it would be at this point a few minutes later that Adam would be penalised with a drive through penalty for a yellow flag violation.

He wasn't the first and he certainly wouldn't be the last to receive such a penalty from the race stewards.

Towards the end of the first stint, and after some terrific racing between them would see Daniel Lloyd finally take Richard Abra for position for second position in the Pro-Am class. The #44 Oman Racing and #128 HPR cars also both received a drive through for benefiting in time under a yellow flag.

On the hour the first pit stop - driver changes - full service started with Jelley first in to swap with Al Harthy followed a few minutes later by both the Leonard and HPR cars. Abra and Lloyd would be able to sneak a few more laps into their stints before fuel limits dictated their pitting but a slicker turn around from the MP Motorsport crew would see their position relative to the Beechdean car reversed but both were still 2nd and 3rd in class.



With Joe Osborne now at the wheel of the #38 MP car it wasn't long before he had hooked onto the back bumper of the class leading #80 Nissan GT-R and a few laps later a svelte slip streaming move coming out of Stow and into Club would see him take the class lead with the chasing Andrew Howard still a third of a lap behind.

Coming to the top of the hour again would see the second and final pit stops but this time Osborne would stay out nearly 15minutes longer than the rest of the field, briefly take the overall race lead and helping to minimise the work that would be handed on to team owner and team amateur driver Mark Poole.

With only 45minutes left in this three hour endurance Osborne pits and Poole takes charge - a charge that would immediately require him to take avoiding action from the debris created by Andy Schultz loosing the back end of his HPR car and tank slapping his car into the barrier under the Hanger Straight bridge. The car suffered both front and rear damage but thankfully Schulz extracted himself from the car unaided and uninjured if not a little annoyed with himself.

Safety Car!

The Safety Car eventually came in leaving a thirty minute dash to the line - a dash that saw Mark Poole get swamped with Pro class cars along the International pit straight allowing the chasing #80 Nissan Academy GT-R to retake the class lead with only a few minutes left.

Come the chequered flag the #44 Oman Racing Vantage would be first across the line in 10th followed by the #38 MP Motorsport car in 11th overall and second in Pro-Am. A great result following their disappointment in Monza.



MacDowall would bring the Beechdean car home in 17th overall, the Leonard car would finish a very credible 23rd in their first Blancpain outing and sadly the Bailey/Schulz HPR car would be a DNF.

For some the next Blancpain event would be at Paul Ricard in June but for others their domestic season would see them return to Silverstone next weekend for the third round of the British GT. For Paul Wilson and Stuart Leonard we wait to see if Blancpain will be added to their 2014 plans or whether the lure of he Nordshleife is just too great!!.

Photo Credits - Blancpain Series/Brecht Decancq

It was an outstanding first Asian outing for Craft-Bamboo Racing today when drivers Warren Luff (AU) and Frank Yu (HK) claimed their first podium of the 2014 GT Asia Series at the Korean International Circuit. The duo, driving Craft-Bamboo Racing’s #97 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, crossed the finish line amidst an action-filled ending to the season opening race.

Luff started the race for car #97 in fifth with the team’s second Aston Martin GT3 #99, driven by Tacksung Kim (KR), started the race from tenth. Both drivers had a good start and fought hard to keep their positions, with Luff having a battle with the Aston Martin driven by Wiser Massimiliano whilst Kim had to fend off the Lamborghini from Dilango Racing.

The team then executed perfect pit-stops for both cars, Luff handing over driving duties to Yu, and Kim to his driver partner, Natasha Seatter (MY).

As Yu went out, he opened up a 3 second gap to the car behind him but a Safety Car period closed the gap right down leaving Yu to fend of the charges once again.

Meanwhile, Seatter had to come in for a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane, dropping them down to eighth. It was still an impressive performance by the two first-timers in the GT Asia Series.

Earlier in the day, the team performed well during the qualifying session with both cars setting times that placed them within the top ten.

Luff and Kim went out for the first qualifying session setting a best time of 2:08.605 to place fifth, with Kim setting 2:11.360 for 10th. Yu and Seatter were out in qualifying two with Yu claiming the sixth fastest time with 2:11.672, whilst Seatter took seventh with 2:11.919.

Post Qualifying quotes:

Team Manager, Russell Eeles – “We feel that for the season opening race in GT Asia, it was an impressive performance by both cars especially with the car #99 drivers, Tacksung and Natasha, who have performed beyond our expectations. Based on our results this morning, we are looking forward to a successful weekend with both cars.

“It is our first Asian outing as Craft-Bamboo Racing and everyone in the team is working hard and we are getting stronger by the session. The Series is also an interesting one with some really good drivers and our focus, at the end of the day, is on the Championship”.

Car #97 – Warren Luff / Frank Yu
Warren Luff, P5 Q1 – “Obviously it’s good to be in in P5. We did struggle a little bit in the second half of the session but we are faster now. It is a good start for the first race and for the Championship. Now we just have to make sure that Frank is okay with the car, anyway, we are the strongest pro-am pairing in the Series”.

Frank Yu, P6 Q2 – “We did a bit of a set-up change. We had understeer when Warren went out in the car and in my stint we had the same understeer but it was exaggerated. I couldn’t get the best laptimes and by the second fast lap I already caught traffic. I managed a clear lap at the end for P6. I wished for better but it’s the first race, first qualifying and we just want to secure as many points this weekend”.

Car #99 – Tacksung Kim / Natasha Seatter
Tacksung Kim, P10 Q1 – “The car feels much better with the new tyres and it feels more stable. The aerodynamics of the car is nice and it feels really good at the high speed corners, but I did get into a little bit of traffic on the last lap of my session but we are good”.

Natasha Seatter, P7 Q2 – “I am quite happy with the results. I was quite confident before the Qualifying session and knew that we could do 2 minutes 11 or 12 seconds. So far, the first three laps were good and I managed to catch up to Frank. The car felt good but there was a lot of traffic, toward the end of the session I managed to get a clear lap and set my fastest time”.

Craft-Bamboo Racing will return to the circuit for round two of the GT Asia Series on Sunday, 18th May at 15:00 KST. The team will then pack up for rounds three and four, to be held at the Autopolis International Circuit, Japan from 30th May to 1st June 2014.

Craft-Bamboo Racing was formed as the result of a merger between two renowned race teams - GT and endurance series participants Craft Racing AMR and touring car series participants Bamboo Engineering - to make Craft-Bamboo Racing. The partnership was announced early April, prior to its first outing at the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Europe.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s campaign in the 2014 GT Asia Series can only be made possible with the continued support of the team sponsors; Gravity Partnership, POAD, Motul, Racerlink, Tunewear and Vortex Racewear.

Follow Craft-Bamboo Racing on Twitter www.twitter.com/craftbamboo and on Facebook www.facebook.com/craft.bamboo

As confirmed earlier this week, the British GT entry for the Silverstone 500 in June will be swelled by further GT4 entries including one being driven by former BTCC racer turned commentator Paul O'Neil and former GT4 Challenge competitor Bolaji Adunsi.

The number 50 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 will be entered under the Track-Group name, a name that is already well known within the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Series and with whom which the City of London Chartered Accountant Adunsi has gained much of his racing experience.


Track-Group Team Manager - Stephen Docherty confirmed that this was the first step in the team fielding two GT4 cars in the 2015 season.

Photo Credits Richard Leach

Strata21’s switch to the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 paid dividends for drivers Tom Onslow-Cole and Paul White with a fourth-placed finish come the final reckoning at Rockingham.

After combined qualifying, the duo started Monday’s two-hour race from 14th position. White started and worked his way to ninth by the time he pitted for Onslow-Cole after an hour.

Onslow-Cole returned to the track car to the track in 12th, but the former touring car driver soon had his eye in as he deftly moved up the order to finish in fifth at the chequered flag, which translated to fourth after post-race penalties had been imposed elsewhere.

"I don’t think Rockingham plays to the strengths of the Vantage as well as the upcoming venues, so to come away so close to the podium is a great result,” said Onslow-Cole. “I really enjoyed driving and, although our pace was good, I’m confident there is still more to come. I’m looking forward to some more seat time ahead of the next round.“

The team have unsurprisingly decided to stick with the Aston Martin for the rest of the season following a great weekend.

“We have been very impressed with Aston Martin Racing this weekend,” said White. “It was a last minute decision to use the Vantage GT3 as the team had worked hard to get it ready ahead of schedule. Tom and I both gave it our all this weekend and it paid off. We’re looking forward to getting to Silverstone at the end of the month.”

BGT
Image: Richard Leach

Round three of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham on Monday, 5th May, proved highly frustrating for Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Caine as the Oman Racing Team pairing lost out on a potential podium finish and the series lead through a costly mid-race Safety Car period.

Having led the championship standings going into the first two-hour race of the season, hopes were high of consolidation at the very least and after qualifying sixth fastest the Motorbase Performance engineered team looked in very good shape indeed.

Ahmad took the opening stint and although shuffled back to eighth position, the 32-year-old moved into seventh on lap four and then took sixth a couple of laps later. Continuing his excellent progress at the wheel of his Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, the Omani moved into the top five on lap nine.

Although back in sixth when the Safety Car was deployed on lap 30, at the re-start Ahmad made quick work of the car ahead to retake fifth and as the pit window opened for teams to make their mandatory driver-change and refueling stops, the Oman Racing Team car remained on track.

Pitting at the end of lap 38 from second to hand over to Caine, the Safety Car was then re-deployed and the red lights at the end of the pitlane were erroneously illuminated. With Caine held at the end of the pitlane until the lights were extinguished, the mix-up cost the Oman Racing Team a definite chance of the podium with the Briton eventually rejoining the action down in 12th position.

With double points on offer for the 120-minute encounter, the confusion was an even bigger blow to the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group/Aston Martin Oman-backed team.

Although doing as much as he could, Caine had to settle for 11th position in the end just outside the points-paying top 10. Post-race, though, an amendment to the race order was made by officials with the Oman Racing Team car elevated into 10th place due to a 10 second time penalty for a rival.

Reflecting on the race, Ahmad said: “I was quite happy with my stint and after the first Safety Car we were in P6 and as soon as it came in we moved to P5, at that point it all looked strong for a podium finish. Unfortunately, though, things out of our control cost us that chance. When Michael took over, he was held at the end of the pitlane but it was later acknowledged that shouldn’t have happened.

“He had to wait there for ages and was in a really tough situation, all of the lead I managed to gain was wiped out so we’re very disappointed. As a team, though, everyone did a great job again this weekend and our level of performance was good. The Safety Car situation took away a high finish in the points but hopefully at Silverstone we can be back in the fight for the podium.”

Image: Richard Leach

Two weeks since their triple podium success at the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone, Aston Martin Racing were setting their sights on continuing that success this time at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium and round two of the WEC.

With some small, planned driver line up changes in both the #97 Pro and the #95 Am cars the team were confident that the differing levels of performance between them and their opposition had been levelled out with some balance of performance adjustments being handed out to all by the FIA post Silverstone.

With much of the free practise sessions being run in damp or wet conditions qualifying was certainly a tale of two halves for the team. The #97 Turner/Mucke/Senna car qualified a very respectable P2 in class with the #99 Craft Bamboo Rees/O'Young/MacDowall car in P5. However, both AM cars struggled to get in and retain heat into their tyres and qualified at the rear of the grid.

Worse news was to break over the weekend for the Craft Bamboo team with the confirmation of the untimely loss of their co-founder and co-owner Nigel Vaulkhard.

With a token of respect to Vaulkhard now on the car the Craft Bamboo team were adamant that they would pay their respects to their boss in the best way possible - on the track!


With the overnight air temperature at the circuit dropping to just above freezing Saturday was at least clear skies and sunshine if a little fresh at first, with temperatures expected to rise to a respectable 12-13degrees later in the day.

Starting line ups would be Stefan Mucke in the #97, Fernando Rees in the #99, Pedro Lamy in the #98 and Richie Stanaway deputising for a busy Nicki Thiim in the #95.

During the first hour steady progress through their respective fields were being made by all the cars with the only notable incident being as a result of a tussle between Stanaway in the #95 and the #75 Proton Porsche into the La Source hairpin. Despite the Porsche being tapped into a spin the #95 car was able to continue with only slight bodywork damage behind the front wheel.

By the end of the first round of GTE pit stops at about the hour mark of the race both the #97 and #99 had worked themselves up to P1 and P2 respectively in GTE Pro, due to the team double stinting their drivers and tyres against that of their rivals who were doing full services. The same was to happen in the Am class with the #95 car leading the way with these positions being held for the next hour or so.

At about the two hour mark Mucke pitted the #97 and was replaced by its 2014 debutant Bruno Senna and with a full service for the car. However, a fumbled wheel nut on the right front lost the car valuable seconds in pit lane against the chasing field as it rejoined the pack in 6th position.

Fernando Rees was obviously enjoying himself in the #99 car with some determined driving against Toni Vilander in the AF Corse Ferrari drawing positive comments of admiration from the Radio Le Mans cometary team. With Senna finding his racing legs again a great scrap between him and former 2013 Le Mans team mate Fred Makowiecki in the works Porsche 911 RSR was to ensue with Senna being deemed the fastest GTE Pro driver on track at this stage.

Going into the final two hours the #97 had climbed back up to P2 in class with the #99 back in P5 again whilst the #98 was P2 and #95 P3 respectively in GTE Am.

The trouble for the team was that the AMR cars were having to pit about 10minutes before their rivals and were out of sequence with them as well meaning that they would might have to pit an extra time before the end.

With Stanaway now back in the Young Driver #95 car the gap between him and the #98 car ahead were tumbling as the Kiwi sensed a higher podium finish with a great last lap inter-team dash being set up between them - but for the #98 having to pit for a 'splash and dash'.

The #97 car now with Darren Turner in was also pushing very hard, trying to catch the #71 Ferrari who was struggled with shot rubber for the final Pro class podium position but it was not to be.

In GTE Pro the #97 Mucke/Senna/Turner car turned in a still highly commendable, and point scoring 4th position just 10 seconds behind the Ferrari in third. The #99 car of MacDowall/O'Young/Rees was classified a lap down to the class leader in 5th - again another one finish for this developing squad.

In GTE Am the #95 "Dane Train" Young Driver car of Poulsen/Stanaway/Heinemeir-Hansson finished P2 with the #98 Northwest car of Nygaard/Dalla-Lana/Lamy still on the podium in third despite that late pit stop.

It is with great sadness that we must confirm the passing of Bamboo Engineering’s co-founder and co-owner, Nigel Vaulkhard.

Nigel was involved in a mountain biking accident on Wednesday and, despite being airlifted to hospital, later succumbed to the injuries sustained.

Involved in racing all his life, Nigel moved into team management in 2009 when he and Richard Coleman set up Bamboo Engineering. He was a regular attendee to events around the world and was a well-known and well-liked character in the World Touring Car Championship paddock.

Bamboo Engineering CEO and close-friend of Nigel, Richard Coleman, commented earlier: “Nigel and I started working together in late 2008 and since then became very close friends. Nigel co-founded Bamboo and was a driving force in the team – his passion, commitment and belief in the team was unparalleled.   
"We finished third in an FIA World Championship last year and were crowned independent champions - an achievement Nigel was very proud of. I was extremely proud to have Nigel as my best man at my wedding last year.”

A highly-talented businessman outside of the motorsport world made him a cornerstone to the success of the team and he will be greatly missed on a personal and professional level.

It is with heavy hearts that the team continues to race in the FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa this weekend but it is with the full understanding that this is what Nigel would have wanted.

Bamboo Engineering has always been a close-knit team and he has inspired everyone within it. We send our thoughts and support to his wife Heather, sons Harry and Ollie and all his family and friends at this difficult time.

End