This week has seen the first steps of many Aston Martin teams preparing for their 2015 season - some embarking on a journey into the unknown and some returning to pastures covered previously hoping to improve on past performances.



TF Sport were first out of the garage door on Tuesday morning at chilly Snetterton running a simple systems check on both of their V12 Vantages entered into the British GT. Jody Fannin was at hand to put just a few miles  onto the car he shares with Andrew Jarman together with Derek Johnston with his and Matt Bell's car in readiness for the Aston Martin Racing's (and partner teams) test weekend at Monteblanco, Spain next weekend.

In the orange and black car we understand that this will be crewed by two drivers returning to the team  - but who will they be and in which series will they race?

As yet nothing is known about the third Vantage.

Thursday it was back to a biblically wet Snetterton and with 'soggy bottoms' it was the turn of British GT returnees Beechdean Motorsport to try and strut their stuff!. A British GT entry for team owner Andrew Howard (now sporting a proper 'man beard' for the season alongside stalwart Jonny Adam were announced some weeks ago for their #007 V12 Vantage GT3 but nothing has yet been confirmed regarding their GT4 car nor indeed their proposed second GT3.

There were a few other drivers there testing the V8 Vantage GT4 alongside its bigger brother but we have been asked not to identify these people in the short term. Hopefully, all will be revealed by the end of next week.


Unfortunately the weather was to severely restrict their running in preparation for their test weekend along side the works and other partner teams in Spain next weekend.



Also alongside Beeechdean was the return to the circuit of TF Sport for the second time in the week. This time it was with their as yet unassigned V8 Vantage GT4 which now appears that it will be  entered into the GT Sup series alongside its two other stablemates with a single driver.



Finally we move to today, Friday 27th February and a whole plethora of Vantages testing at a gloriously sunny Silverstone circuit. Testing there today were  British GT returnees 22GT Racing with Jon Barnes and Mark Farmer in their V12 Vantage GT3 together with their V8 Vantage GT4 entered into selected GT4 Cup and Britcar rounds with father and son Chris and Mika Brown.

Alongside them were full season Blancpain entrants Leonard Motorsport with their V12 Vantage GT3 nicknamed 'Bumblebee' out for a shakedown test with Paul Wilson and Michael Meadows together with the Quantamatic liveried Vantage GT4 of another set of British GT newcomers in Mike Hart and Terry Langley with Team Parker Racing.


A gearbox sensor issue would see their day cut short  after just seven laps with the team having to return the car to Prodrive to effect repairs. The team are due out again at Oulton Park next week.

Taking breathe to continue the above cars were also accompanied by a further two ex GT4 Challenge V8 Vantage GT4's belonging of Vantage Racing with Tom Black and another with Chris Kemp under the guidance of Gulf Racing's Stuart Hall.

We will hopefully update this report with pictures from each event as and when available.

Photo credits - Richard Leach / team and driver social media

Today it was confirmed the the #28 A6 Pro class KPM V12 Vantage will now NOT compete in the next round of the Creventic 24H Series at the 12H of Mugello in mid March.

With many of the cars being returned to the UK from the 24H of Dubai only last week it has been decided to withdraw the car due to the amount of work that would be required to prepare it for Mugello and the amount of factory time that is currently available.

This decision will also have a 'knock effect' on the race preparation of the AMR factory drivers who were due to share the Strata21 car with Paul White in their preparation for the WEC Prologue and 6Hrs of Silverstone.

As we come out of the winter doldrums here in Blighty,  the next few weeks should start to brighten our days and give us all a good taster of what's coming up from an international, european and national racing perspective.

For the Aston Martin Racing stable that journey literally starts with what is considered to be their now annual pilgrimage to southern Europe for their works and customer teams (with other invited guests) to this years choice of the Monteblanco circuit, southern Spain for the weekend of the 7/8th March.

It is expected that many of their full season WEC entry drivers will be at the event gaining valuable track time, particularly the 'as yet unannounced' drivers for both the Gulf Racing and Rees/MacDowall cars whose identities should be announced any time between now and the end of the month. Alongside the works team it also the custom to invite their customer teams such as Beechdean, TF Sport, Strata21 and Motorbase, etc along so that they can test with their own GT3 and GT4 cars under the full technical guidance of the factory. We are expecting most of the British GT/Blancpain series entered teams will attend.

This event sadly normally takes place only behind closed doors with only small pieces of information being allowed to flow out on social media - so we may have to wait a bit longer to find anything out!


Next up, and just a few days later will be the official test days for the Blancpain Endurance Series over the 11/12th March at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.

It may be the case that a few teams taking part in this test will also have been in Spain for the private AMR test. Whilst only Leonard Motorsport have confirmed their full BES season entry it is understood that they will be joined by at least three other cars from the AMR stable including driver placements for those taking part under the new driver Evolution Academy.

Further information regarding the test, together with information regarding free admission can be found here


Following that,  next up will be Media Day (and official test) for the British GT series at Brand Hatch on Wednesday 25th March. In the absence of any confirmed information it is expected that all named series AMR entries shall be at the Kent circuit with is also allowing free public admission to the event.

Again, it is still expected that there shall be at least another two to three (possibly more) Aston Martin entries announced prior to this date. Particular reference is made towards Motorbase, who have to date not announced any 2015 participation.



Finally, at the end of the month it will be the turn of the 'big boys' to officially test with the European Le Mans Series testing at Paul Ricard on the 23/24th March followed by the FIAWEC 'Prologue' (Official Test) at the same circuit on the 28th March.


Whilst further information on the WEC event and free trackside admission can be found here the  ELMS test is unfortunately a closed event.

If all of this isn't enough then you'll obviously need to include all the other private testing that many of these teams shall be doing over the coming weeks all in readiness for the 2015 racing season that effectively starts in April.

Don't forget to breathe as the season is only about to begin ……………….!!

Earlier this week a young racing driver from Market Harborough was amongst of very small group of talented individuals invited to attend a private test with Aston Martin Racing. The test (in the Beechdean Motorsport Vantage GT3) was conducted under the watchful eye of factory drivers Jonny Adam and Richie Stanaway.

This is what he said ……………..

"I was privileged to be invited to test an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 on the Silverstone GP circuit yesterday.

As the day started with fog and a damp track we only achieved a few installation laps in the morning but as the afternoon was forecasted to be better and we managed to achieve about 20 laps running each.

This was my first time in a GT3 car of any description and also my first time ever on Pirelli tyres so there was a lot to learn and understand in such a short amount of time - things like traction control, ABS, engine mapping, different tyres and pretty much everything else really that isn't fitted to a lower formula single seater.

I believe that I did pretty well really considering all of these 'firsts' plus the fact that it was only on the Sunday prior that had I driven any race car with a roof so I'm really pleased with my performance and  especially through Sector 1 which has some of the fastest corners anywhere in the world (Copse/Maggots/Beckett's and Chapel). To achieve overall lap times comparative to those of the factory drivers was great achievement.

I'm really happy that I've made the decision to switch from single seaters to GT's for 2015, the cars are amazingly fun to drive yet somehow more challenging than that of the open wheelers that I've been used to up till now.

I will announcing my driving plans for 2015 very soon."

Cameron Twynham

As many of us have been noticing over the winter months, a certain TV baker, better known for his obsession in checking for soggy bottoms on the BBC programme "Great British Bake Off" has recently passed his ARDS test.

Why?

Well, it is now apparent that Paul Hollywood's 2015 driving ambition is to drive at the Aston Martin Festival at the 24Hours of Le Mans in June.

With the continued coaching skills to hand of Aston Martin Racing factory driver and Beechdean stalwart Jonny Adam guiding him along the way it looks like Hollywood is now in the position to gain those all important licence signatures to realise that dream. Would even hazard a guess that he'd be in a Beechdean car!!!

Tonight, it is being reported on the Dunlop 24Hr (Britcar) webpage that Beechdean Motorsport have confirmed their return to their racing roots and have signed up to compete in the revitalised and rebranded Dunlop 24Hr endurance race at the Silverstone circuit at the end of April 2015.

They have entered their Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the 2015 event, a very similar car to their Aston Martin Vantage N24 GT4 that they entered in 2008 when they came second overall.

Andrew Howard comments; ‘We are looking forward to returning to the Dunlop 24hr in April – we’ve had good history at this event, and with the Beechdean AMR teams’ success of late, we are hoping for a strong result. This race provides us with great seat time, and with the reliability behind the Aston Martin GT4 vantage we are quietly confident.’

More information can be found Here

No further statement has been made by the team.

Photo Credit - Richard Leach

Fresh on the heels of TF Sports announcement earlier this week concerning a second Aston Martin Vantage GT3 entry in the British GT, TF Sport have today confirmed that Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz have also rejoined with the team for 2015 but this time for an assault on the GT Cup Championship.

Having been paired up together for the first time last year in the British GT Championship, both drivers and team where able to develop their respective skills in this highly competitive arena and end the season with their heads held high and with some great results in their very distinctively liveried Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Paul Bailey, a multi millionaire and proud owner of countless sportscars, and his long term driving partner Andy Schulz have already experienced the GT Cup series by attending the Brands Hatch event in early 2014 with his Ferrari 458 GTC finishing 6th in a 35 car multi car class grid.

He and his Horsepower Racing operation also retain the ownership of the Vantage GT3 that Derek Johnston and Matt Bell shall race in the British GT with TF Sport in 2015.

For their new racing venture Bailey and Schulz shall be driving a McLaren 12C as seen at the Autosport Show recently.



Photo Credit - Richard Leach / Horsepower Racing

Streamed live over the internet from the beautiful Pavillon Cambon Capucines in Paris, the FIA today announced the accepted entries for both the World Endurance Championship (including the 24Hours of Le Mans) and the ACO rules European Le Mans Series.

For the WEC it was confirmed that Aston Martin Racing would field a three car squad within GTE Pro with a further two cars within GTE Am class - a nett increase of one from the previous season.



Within GTE Pro the full factory #97 car of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke; the re-generated Young Driver team (recently confirmed as transferring from from Am to Pro class) featuring Nikki Thiim, Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sorensen together with a third car for Fernando Rees and Alex McDowell were all confirmed. The third driver for the #99 Rees/McDowall entry is we understand expected to sign within the next few days and will be announced in due course.

As intimated last night, it was also confirmed that the #99 Pro car entry will not be entered under the Craft Bamboo banner.

In GTE Am we will see the return of the 2014 GTE Am Championship runner's up #98 car of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. For 2015, and returning from their 2014 sabbatical within the ELMS championship will be the Gulf Racing Vantage of Roald Goethe and Stuart Hall. Due to the recent rule changes within GTE Am concerning driver ratings a third but now silver rated driver is also currently under negotiation but will be announced until prior to the Prologue in March.



Over in the European Le Mans Series a GTC entry for Caspar Elgaard and Kristian Poulsen in their new Massive Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 was confirmed but there was disappointment for Beechdean Motorsport however, who's season ELMS entry was rejected.



All thats left now is the 50 day (and counting) until the official Progue (test) at Paul Ricard, France over the 27/28th March.

Photo Credits - WEC / Richard Leach / Massive Motorsport

Preparations continue to be made by the Asian based team in readiness for the 12Hours of Bathurst this weekend. Also representing the Aston Martin brand for the first time at this iconic race track will be the Motionsport team with their own V12 Vantage GT3.

Craft Bamboo may also be back into the forefront of motorsport news tomorrow with a reported decision not to re-enter the 2015 World Endurance Championship if certain speculations to be believed. Full confirmation of the full season entries for both the WEC and ELMS shall be announced by the FIA starting at 2pm GMT tomorrow.

Live announcement at 2pm GMT

The 2014 British GT (GT4) runner up Andrew Jarman and BRDC Rising Star Jody Fannin have today confirmed his much anticipated British GT GT3 campaign for 2015 in a TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3

The campaign package has come together thanks to a title sponsorship package from Eurostar.

Commenting on the announcememt Andrew said: “I am thrilled to welcome Eurostar onboard as my title sponsor for this season and I’m extremely proud to be representing such an iconic brand as part of my graduation to the GT3 category.  I would like to thank Eurostar for giving me this opportunity and welcome them to sportscar racing.



 
"After narrowly missing out on the GT4 title last year, I am looking forward to the challenge ahead and delighted to be staying with the Aston Martin Racing family and Official Partner Team TF Sport for a second season. The British GT Championship is one of the best in the world and the driver line up this year looks even stronger; you always want to manage expectations but at this level you have to go into a season with one goal, to win and that’s the aim for this year."


Photo Credits - Andrew Jarman / Richard Leach/Jody Fannin