A quick congratulatory piece for Ollie Hancock, Devon Modell and John Gilbert for their third consecutive podium finish in the 24H Series with their P2 class finish earlier today.

Despite the Speedworks's team best efforts the #170 SP3 (GT4) class car ended the 3 + 9Hr race at the dutch seaside circuit four laps down to the class winning Lotus Evora.

The series now moves onto the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France for the second 24hour race of the year over the 11th and 12th of July.


Photo credits - Creventic

Over the last few days the Aston Martin Racing team and local crews have been working feverishly to get the five garage and paddock bays ready for not just this weekends official test but also for what will become home for the team for the next two weeks and the build up to the 24Hr itself.

Announced today is the the #97 Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Rob Bell GTE Pro car will now feature a special 'art car' livery design that will be official unveiled at Le Pesage (scrutineering) in the Place de la Republique on the afternoon of Monday 8th June. A source close to the team has described this livery as 'crazy'!! The last time an AMR car wore an art livery was back in 2013 when the #97 wore the winning design from a fan based competition.


For the test all cars will be in the new Gulf livery except for the #99 car which will again be sporting the red an yellow Hanergy sponsorship.

The #95 Young Driver car shall, like Spa be without the driving services of Nicki Thiim for the test day who will again be on Porsche Carrera Cup Germany duty.

Over in the #96 GTE Am car the test day will be Francesco Castellacci's first real experience of the 8.5mile circuit only having driven it in a virtual world when he completed the statutory simulator test at the ACO last Saturday.


Speaking earlier Castellacci said that he felt that he, Stuart Hall and Roald Gothe have a great car and will be pushing very hard for a good points finish (double points at Le Mans) but will undoubtedly need to give everything they have for each and every lap of the race.

Photo credits - Richard Leach / WEC / Social media

The Avon Tyres British GT Championship makes a welcome return to Northamptonshire’s Silverstone Circuit for its blue riband three-hour endurance race, and TF Sport is seeking to fight at the sharp end with its pair of Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3s (30-31 May).  
With its fast, sweeping corners – including the famous Maggots and Becketts complex – and long straights, Silverstone should play to the strengths of TF Sport’s Aston Martins.

Derek Johnston and Matt Bell will once again pair-up in the Steel Decking-liveried car, while Andrew Jarman and Aston Martin Racing Evolution Academy driver Jody Fannin will share the second Eurostar-backed car.

After the DNFs of Oulton Park’s Easter opener, TF Sport completed round two at Rockingham Motor Speedway comfortably inside the top ten, both driver pairings showing they have the pace to challenge at the top for race wins and podium finishes.

Johnston and Bell, who finished fifth at Rockingham in the season’s first enduro encounter, will be looking to record yet another strong finish, with points-and-a-half on offer this weekend at Silverstone.

“We have no excuses and need to get our heads down and score some very strong points,” said Johnston. “I’ve never raced on the Silverstone Grand Prix configuration before, so it will be a new experience and, with this weekend’s race being run over three-hours, I personally will be driving as hard as I can, for as long as I can to hopefully come away with a podium finish.”

Jarman and Fannin were also on course for a strong points finish in the sister Aston Martin before a series of stop-go penalties for pitlane infringements interrupted their progress and resigned them to ninth position following an intense battle with the similar 22GT Racing V12 Vantage in the dying embers of the two-hour race.

Silverstone’s high speed layout and abrasive track surface will lead to the greatest wear rates this season and will be likely to generate some close battles, as Jarman seeks to finish at the sharp end of the field and make amends for Rockingham.

“We tested at Silverstone last week and it was our first chance this season to test at the same circuit prior to a race weekend,” said Jarman. “The car felt good, so we are fairly confident of having a solid weekend. Silverstone is a lot faster and more flowing than Oulton Park and Rockingham, which will suit the Aston Martin, but, when there are also a lot of teams running the same car, it does dampen your advantage slightly.

“The only time I have raced at Silverstone was last year in the GT4 category, where we went from the front to the back at least twice and still managed to finish third. Hopefully it won’t be as dramatic this time.

“I don’t think the points we’ve scored so far reflect the performances we have put in. At Rockingham we were a lap down due to the penalties, which we took on the chin, but had we not received them, I feel that we could have had a stronger result. This weekend we need to stay out of trouble and score some good points for finishing inside the top five.”

Qualifying for Round 4 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship is scheduled to get underway at 15.35 on Saturday (30 May), with the headlining three-hour endurance race taking place the following day (Sunday 31 May) at 12.20, with live coverage on Motors TV.

Source material - TF Sport

Global Racing's Speedwork's prepared Aston Martin V8 Vantage SP3 class car will be the marques only representative again for this weekend's third round round of the Creventic 24H Series and the 12Hours of Zandvoort.

Featuring the same driver line up that finished on the podium at the 12Hours of Mugello and at the Dunlop 24Hr at Silverstone earlier this month, drivers John Gilbert, Devon Modell and Ollie Hancock will all be looking to also maintain the cars 100% series podium record.


With the race distance being split over two days again care needs to be taken as not to miss any of the action. The timetable is as follows.

After Beechdean AMR’s recent victory at Britcar 24-Hour at Silverstone, the team are keen to return to the infamous Grand Prix circuit, home to British motorsport, for the third round of the 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship this weekend.

After reaching the podium in this event for the past three years, and being Beechdean’s local circuit in Buckinghamshire, the Aston Martin Racing team are confident of a good result in both the GT3 and GT4 class. Beechdean AMR owner and 2013 British GT champion, Andrew Howard, along with Aston Martin Racing factory driver, Jonny Adam, claimed second last year in GT3 and are hoping to reach the podium again.

The Silverstone 500 will be the longest race in the championship, at three hours long, and will be screened live on Motors TV on Sunday 31^st May. Despite the length, Howard and Adam, who have competed at Silverstone many times, are familiar with the track following their recent win at Britcar 24-Hour, where they competed in the Vantage GT4 with Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn.

After great success in the GT4 Aston Martin Vantage at Rockingham for Chadwick and Gunn, and GT3 victory at Oulton Park to kick off the championship, Beechdean AMR are determined to give it their all at Silverstone to better their current positions in the championship standings: GT4 in 2^nd place and GT3 in 4^th.

Andrew Howard: “Silverstone has been a good circuit in recent years for Beechdean AMR. We have had podium success in the last three years with the GT3 car, and for our GT4 drivers, a recent victory at Britcar 24-Hour at the Silverstone circuit. The season so far has been up and down but our goal this weekend is to aim for another victory.”

Jonny Adam: “Silverstone is the highlight of the British GT calendar because of the three hour event, and is a crucial race in the season. The Silverstone GP circuit will suit the strength of our Aston Martin GT3 car - last year we had success claiming second, and our aim this weekend is to score some great points and to get ourselves back in the championship fight.”

Jamie Chadwick: "I’m really looking forward to getting back on track after a long four week break. I love Silverstone GP, and it is a track that we have had recent success at with our Britcar 24 Hour win. Our season has started well, but we won’t be taking anything for granted. Between Ross, the Beechdean AMR team and I, we’ll be working hard to remain competitive."

Ross Gunn: “This is a round of the championship I am really looking forward to as Silverstone is the home of British Motorsport and we recently had some success at the Britcar 24 hour race. It’s a circuit we expect will play the strengths of Jamie and I as well as the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. After the victory at Rockingham, I am confident we can get a strong result.”

Source material - Beechdean Motorsport

With teams and organisers presently working feverishly to install garages, grandstands and all the other paraphernalia required for such an event the event clock is ticking down to just a week before the official test next Sunday and the first practice session for the 24hr itself just ten days after that.


As with all ACO/FIA WEC sanctioned events, all participating cars and drivers need to undergo the required scrutineering checks and the Test Day is no different. The published timetable shows that the five Aston Martin Racing cars are due in the scrutineering bay in the order of #96, #98, #95, #97 and #99 from 16:35Hrs (local) on Friday 29th May in readiness for the test.

Saturday 30th shall see the completion of the scrutineering and administration checks for the sixty four cars that have been invited to the test, together with static car/team photographs at the circuit before the teams undertake two - four hour practice sessions on Sunday 31st May.

Session 1 is between 09:00 and 13:00Hrs (local) with session 2 between 14:00 and 18:00.


Whilst there is no live TV streaming for the official Test Day full audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans here
Besides the circuit re-familiarity opportunity for the drivers the test day is also the chance for new cars and drivers with no previous Le Mans experience to further demonstrate that they are 'up to the job' having already passed a sim training session. For new cars and rookie drivers the test day is mandatory with a requirement for the driver to complete at least ten laps.

Just a week later the whole scrutineering and administration process is started again for the 24Hr race with the cars being taken to the Place de la Republique for the 'le pesage' (the show) in front of the normally large public gathering. The AMR cars are due at this event from 14:10hrs (local) on Monday 8th June.


The first on track activity will be the Free Practice on Wednesday afternoon between 16:00 and 20:00hrs closely followed by the free practice session for the Aston Martin Racing Festival entry. Later that evening the LM24 entry must undertake their mandatory five night laps per driver to count towards their qualifying process.



Photo credits - ACO / Richard Leach / Aston Martin Racing

Having gone through the practice and pre qualifying preliminaries today both Leonard Motorsport's and Oman Racing's V12 Vantage GT3's are looking more racy than they were at the same points at the last round in Monza.

The #32 Pro-Am Leonard car of Paul Wilson, Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows improved throughout the day starting with a 2:03:55 to finish P9 out of 42 in the Bronze Test through Practice and into Pre Qualifying to finish the day in P6 out of 61 entries with a 2:01:766.


Over in the Pro Cup class the #44 Oman Racing car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Daniel Lloyd and Jonny Adam started their day with a 2:03:048 and P11 in Free Practice and ended the day with a 2:02:263 and P15 in Pre Qualifying.

At the same point of the Monza meeting both teams were languishing back in P33 and P45 respectively.

Tomorrow will see the three fifteen minute qualifying sessions start at 09.00Hrs (local) with the three hour main race starting at 14.45Hrs (local).

Live streaming from Blancpain can be found here

Photo Credits - Blancpain

Forty two cars are presently listed as entering the 2015 Aston Martin Racing Festival support race at the 24 hours of Le Mans in just under three weeks time, with more expected to be named as and when deals are finalised.

It was only three years ago when we last saw such spectacle at the Circuit de La Sarthe when just thirty one cars entered. That event was won by the ex. Villois Racing Vantage GT2, a car only recently sold at the Aston Martin Works Bonham Auction, with Luca Pilippi and Brian Lavio at the wheel.

The 'highlight' for this year's event shall be the inclusion of the RoFGo Collection's Lola Aston Martin DBR1-2 LMP1 car that last saw track action at Le Mans in 2010. Stuart Hall has the honour of parading the car around the circuit prior to his AMR drive in the main event.

Also competing shall be three GT2 spec cars, nine GT3 spec cars, twenty five ever popular GT4 cars with five invitational class cars to boot. Many of the cars will be very familiar to British GT, GT4 Challenge and TUSCC/PWC series viewers.

Amongst some of the eye catchers will be:-