Without even letting the engine oil cool down but being spurred on by Saturday's Pro and Am class podiums, the garage crews were straight back at it on Saturday night getting three cars ready for the Rookie Test day the next day.

As listed previously the #99 V8 Vantage GTE  was de-liveried, fuelled and rubbered for each of the six remaining Evolution Academy finalists to be dispatched around the Sakhir circuit for between 10-15 laps each all under the ever watchful gaze of the team technicians and fitness guru's in order to prove their worth for that coveted prize.


2015 British GT GT4 Champions Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn, fellow British GT drivers Jody Fannin, Daniel Lloyd and Matt Bell together with 24H Series SP3 Champion Devon Modell all sampled the highest echelon of GT racing that Aston Martin Racing can offer driving the Tilke designed circuit along side other machinery from the World Endurance Championship - an opportunity of a lifetime!


This test was the final process in the 2015 Evolution Academy process before one (or two as we are expecting) winners are announced by the selection panel.

Along with this test programme the team were also utilising the circuit test sessions to put further mileage onto the 2016 specification V8 Vantage GTE for the purposes of data aquisition with works drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam at the wheel with Marco Sorensen to boot.


Having previously tested only in private in Span and Portugal the team also made available the #95 Young Driver car for the basis of direct chassis comparison. They also fielded at least three further test drivers in the form of Archie Hamilton, Bahraini Salman Rashid Al Khalifa and German Fabian Hamprecht in the still liveried #95 car.



Last but no means least would see Richie Stanaway swap his #99 Vantage GTE to test the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro LMP1 as part of the series endeavours to promote accomplished drivers with the car categories.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing / WEC Adrenal Media

The inaugural FIA GT World Cup final had Craft-Bamboo Racing starting on the back foot before coming back to snatch third in both the drivers' and manufacturers' championship. Teammates, Richard Lyons and Darryl O’Young started from P6 and P8 respectively but were confident that they could make their way up the field. The lights went out and the FIA GT World Cup was underway but there was more controversy right from the start. Eduardo Mortara jumped the lights and was later given a 20 second penalty for his offence.

Lyons made a cracking start in his #99 Gulf Marine Interush Aston Martin to take several positions by Lisboa corner. Unfortunately, a late braking McLaren turned missile, rear ended Lyons and torpedoed what was looking like a very competitive challenge. The #99 driver, never having raced in Macau, made huge strides in his performance and would have been a true contender without the unwarranted contact. This put an early dent in the team’s chances of claiming the manufacturer’s title and further stacked the odds against Craft-Bamboo. O’Young made his push right from the start, but on the first lap, a damaged Porsche on its way to the pits caused the Macau champion to lose more than ten seconds and forced him to play catch up for the remainder of the race.


After an unfortunate and harsh ruling that dropped #97 w11.com driver, Stefan Mücke, from pole position to third after the qualification race on Saturday, he began the final boxed in by a slower Mercedes. It was clear though that Mücke had the pace to challenge the leaders but was finding it difficult to find a way around with the Mercedes employing a tough strategy. Over the coming laps, Mücke kept up the pressure on the Mercedes and finally got the chance to make his move but was forced dangerously close to the outside. This allowed two Audis to sneak by and dropped Mücke to fifth, but he was determined to keep his challenge alive by striking back before a wayward Porsche caused a safety car period on lap 14. After two laps behind the safety car an incident involving another Porsche making contact with the barrier caused the race to be red flagged. This was a very unfortunate end to the weekend as Mücke and O’Young were not given the chance to compete for an even greater result, knowing that they had the speed to make a difference. O’Young had been working hard in the #55 VLT and had managed to pass two drivers on the narrow Macau streets to be classified fifth by the red flag.

After being so dominant throughout the weekend, Craft-Bamboo Racing were unable to secure the FIA GT World Cup title despite the competitiveness of their trio of Aston Martins. The team scored third overall in the manufacturers’ category, missing the second spot by only one point but taking third in both categories is still a huge result for the team and a fantastic achievement among the world’s best GT teams and drivers.

Darren Turner was back in business in Bahrain yesterday, finishing the final race of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship on the podium in third place, along with his team-mate Jonny Adam.

All of the Aston Martins had a balance of performance adjustment before Bahrain. Once the practice sessions got underway on Thursday it became apparent that they were back in contention.

Turner and Adam had to wait until the race to take full advantage of their pace as they both had trouble with traffic during qualifying.

“It was frustrating for both of us,” said Turner. “I was held up by (Andrea) Bertolini who was on his out lap and Jonny got held up too so we weren’t able to show the potential that we had at that point.”

After a couple of wet races the ‘6 Hours of Bahrain’ got underway beneath sunny skies and without the assistance of a safety car. Adam was in the #97 Aston Martin for the opening stint before handing the car over to Turner after an hour. The drivers single stinted throughout the race in order to keep up the blistering pace in hot conditions.

Young Driver AMR finished it’s debut season in the GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with a fourth place finish at the season finale in Bahrain. The all Danish driver line up of Marco Sørensen, Nicki Thiim and Christoffer Nygaard missed a podium finish only by a margin of 5,9 seconds after six hours of racing in their Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage GTE. "We would have liked to finish the season on the podium, but eventually our strategy didn’t went as planned”, said Young Driver AMR´s Jan Struve. "It was a tough season, but it was good to see us competitive again in the final race.

After the GTE Pro Aston Martin were allowed to race with the Balance of Performance level from the start of the season, the #95 Aston Martin was able to fight for podium positions again, which clearly wasn’t the case in the previous races. During qualifying, Sørensen posted the quickest lap time in class. In the first part of the race, the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin raced in second position and briefly took the lead for one lap. Eventually the pit stop strategy didn’t work out and the Danish trio had to pit for an extra stop, which finally cost a podium finish.

"At the end, it was a very close race,” said Struve. "Finally, after a couple of really hard weekends, we got a performance break and more power. As a result, we reduced the gap to our competitors. The team and all drivers again did a fantastic job, unfortunately we were unlucky with our strategy. Nevertheless it was good to see us competitive again.”

In it’s debut season in the GTE Pro class, the premier class in international GT racing, Young Driver AMR finished every race it participated in and claimed one Pole Position at the season opening round at Silverstone. Young Driver AMR finished sixth in the LM GTE Pro Endurance Trophy for Teams. Sørensen and Nygaard, who drove the #95 machine in all seven rounds the team competed, finished the season in eight position in the FIA Endurance Trophy for GT drivers.

On track at least in this morning's Qualification Race, Aston Martin Racing's Stefan Mucke earned a lights to flag victory aboard his #97 Craft Bamboo Racing V12 Vantage GT3 in Macau.

Having left things late in the qualifying session yesterday to claim the inaugural pole position for this new event it appears that a race restart procedure transgression earned the German a ten second post race penalty that would ultimately drop his finishing position down to fourth.

The series later confirmed that Mucke has been adjudged to have braked suddenly and without just course directly in front of Marco Engel in the following Mercedes SLS GT3 causing Engel to take avoiding action and earning the German an unfair advantage at the restart following an incident with one of the Bentley's.


Stablemates Darryl O'Young and Richard Lyons also had a good opening race starting from sixth and seventh on the grid respectively. Lyons quickly got the jump on the #55 VLT liveried car of O'Young on the opening lap to move up to sixth - a position that he would maintain until the end.

O'Young would get muscled off what racing line exists around the street circuit to drop down to ninth by lap 3 - he would later recover to finish the race in eighth - just two seconds behind the #99 Gulf liveried car of Lyons.


Tomorrow sees the eighteen lap feature race of the GT World Cup event with the drivers starting in their finishing positions from todays race. That means Mucke starts P4, Lyons P6 and O'Young P8.

Photo credits - FIA GT World Cup

Aston Martin have won the GTE Am class and taken third in GTE Pro, as the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship reached its climax under Bahraini floodlights.

The #98 V8 Vantage GTE Am, piloted by Paul Dalla Lana (CA), Pedro Lamy (PT) and Mathias Lauda (A), started the race from pole. Thanks to a faultless and consistent race, Lauda brought the car to the chequered flag in first, securing the team’s 3rd place finish in the driver’s championship and a 23rd win overall in FIA WEC for Aston Martin Racing; more than any other manufacturer.

Dalla Lana said, “It really is a testament to the hard work of the team and my co-drivers. We’ve been fighting very hard for this. To get back to the top step at the end of the year is a great feeling and it’s also a nice way to get ready for next year. I hope that we won’t just be competing for the race win in 2016, but for the overall GTE Am championship”.

After the race, Lamy also dedicated the crew of #98’s victory to his late cousin Pedro, who passed away last week.

With the final race of the 2015 World Endurance Championship just a day away and with all Championship possibility removed from the team by fair means or foul over the course of the season, a more relaxed team has definitely turned up in Bahrain not only to race but also to help build upon their future.

With just pride at stake the team have been able to transform their relaxed position, with the help of a restored Balance of Performance setup to claim second and third in Pro Class and pole in Am class for tomorrows race. That in itself will go a long way in lifting the team following their disaster at Le Mans and the 'uneven playing field' presented to them by the series after.

More importantly for the team however will be what comes after the race. Joining the squad in the paddock are the six finalists from the team's Evolution Academy process with the winner(s) slotting in to any of the teams racing commitments for 2016 which does not dispel WEC involvement for at least one or two of the finalists. All six will drive the #99 car around the circuit as part of the final decision making process having driven it on a sim last week.


Also, the post race test will allow the team to further test their 2016 V8 Vantage GTE variant on a WEC sanctioned track against new equivalents from their series rivals as up until now all testing had been in private with the transformation process between variants being relatively straight forward. We understand that Darren Turner, Jonny Adam and Marco Sorenson have been nominated for this.

Richie Stanaway has also been selected by the series to test the Audi E-Tron Quattro LMP1 car as part of the series driver development process initiative.

Saturday's six hour WEC race is due to start at 15:00Hrs local.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing

Aston Martin Racing factory driver Stefan Mucke today secured pole position for the inaugural FIA GT World Cup at the Macau Grand Prix.

Representing the marque with customer team Craft Bamboo Racing the German joined team regulars Darryl O'Young (#55) and Richard Lyons (#99) with their vibrantly liveried V12 Vantage GT3's in the FIA's event designed to showcase everything that is best about GT racing.

The Hong Kong based CBR team quickly found pace and rhythm during the Free Practice sessions with Darry O'Young (2015 GT Asia Champion) heading the AMR trio in fourth behind the then domineering Mercedes with Mucke and Lyons behind in sixth and tenth places respectively. Come the second Free Practice session the #97 car of Stefan Mucke then turn the table to become the fastest car on the tight and twisty street circuit with O'Young down in sixth biy only a half second slower.


During a dramatic and red flag marred Qualifying session earlier this morning a flying Mucke left it until after the third crash induced red flag period to elevate himself from a still credible fourth up to clinch a dramatic last minute pole potion, beating the new Audi R8 of Edoardo Mortara by nearly a tenth of second (2:18:032).


Team mates O'Young also went on to secure sixth (2:19:427) and Lyons just behind in seventh (2:19:637) for the twelve lap Qualification Race on Saturday which will also determine the starting positions for the 18 lap Feature Race on Sunday.


Stefan Mücke

The 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season comes to a close for Young Driver AMR at this Saturday’s eight and final round in Bahrain. Young Driver AMR aims to end the season with a good result and for the final round, Nicki Thiim is back in the Aston Martin Racing entered Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin Vantage GTE for the first time since the 24 hours of Le Mans in June. Thiim will form the rapid "Danish Dynamite“ trio with Marco Sørensen and Christoffer Nygaard in the #95 Aston Martin entered in the GTE Pro class, the premier class in GT racing.

Young Driver AMR travels with good memories to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Twelve month ago, the team won the GTE Am world championship title on the track in the desert south of Manama. After the move up to the GTE Pro class, this years season was challenging and the also the final race of the year will be a difficult one. The race will start Saturday afternoon local time and is held in darkness for more then four of its six hours duration. Sand, which is constantly blown from the desert on the track, creates further challenges.

The team struggled for competitiveness after a performance cut made by the organisers for the most recent rounds, but has hope to be more competitive in Bahrain after a rule change, which re-allows Aston Martin to start in the season starting spec. "Finally we were given the power back, this power cut handicapped us in the second part of the season“, Jan Struve of Young Driver AMR says. "Our debut year in the GTE Pro class was not very easy and we are looking to finish our third season in the FIA WEC with a good result. We are allowed to race in the same specification as at the start of the season. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we will race at the very front, but we are very confident that we will close the gap to Ferrari and Porsche and hopefully give them a hard race.”

Source material - Yound Driver AMR

Entering the final round of the 2015 Australian GT Series at the Highlands Motorsport Park circuit in New Zealand this weekend the Ross STone Racing prepared Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 featured a Father/Son driver pairing for the triple header. Joining regular Andrew Miedecke in the white and green #95 car would be his 6' 6" tall son and V8 Ute Series driver George.

With the final seminar and practical sessions being held only this week the powers that be behind Aston  Martin Racing's Evolution Academy programme have now 'retired' to decide their champion.

The ten drivers aged between 16 and 25 years old all competed in either a V8 Vantage GT4 or a V12 Vantage GT3 in either the British GT, 24H Series or GT Asia series in 2015. Along with their own driving responsibilities came technical briefings, simulator sessions, media training together with fitness and nutritional advice all carried out under the watchful eyes of the selection panel.

Who will win? Who knows but the lucky individual will then embark on a factory drive in one of the many race programmes the team undertakes every year. One thing for certain is that the winner will be one of either Ross Gunn, Jamie Chadwick, Devon Modell, Daniel Lloyd, Jonathan Venter, Dennis Strandberg, Jade Edwards, Jake Giddings, Jody Fannin or Matt Bell.

Some have won their race in class, others have won their class championship whilst others have suffered abject misfortune with their race programme. The results will not be the sole basis of the panels decision that is for sure - rather who is/has the full package?

We understand that a short listed group of six finalists (now confirmed as Ross Gunn, Jamie Chadwick, Matt Bell, Jody Fannin, Devon Modell and Dan Lloyd) will also attend the final WEC race of the season with the AMR team in Bahrain, which kicks off next weekend before getting the opportunity to drive an actual V8 GTE on the circuit during the post event test before the eventual winner is announced.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing

In preparation to the final round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit next weekend it has been announced that Aston Martin Racing will indeed receive a further Balance of Performance adjustment prior to the race.

Unfortunately what has been announced is simply the restoration of the air restrictor to the size that was used by the team at the start of the season way back in April. It was after Le Mans that the team received instruction to reduce its air restrictor as a part balancing solution to peg back the V8 Vantage's and bring forward the Porsche's. What actually happened was that the Porsche's metaphorically flew off  down the pit straight and into the sunset leaving the Prodrive prepared cars languishing at the rear - sometimes even having their Pro cars behind the Am Porsches!

This action from the FIA might have also gone part way to restoring the balance between the three marques - well it might have had it not been for the tyre performance development that has been entered into by Porsche and Ferrari with Michelin. The Am cars receive a 5kg additional weight across the class.

Unfortunately for all concerned all of this is simply academic with none of the five cars being in contention for either the Pro and/or Am driver championship so the decision is almost simply appeasement by the series to the team for getting things so wrong mid year.


What is good news is the return of the #95 Young Driver AMR to the championship following their 'protest' withdrawal from Shanghai three weeks ago. They also welcome back Nikki Thiim for the first time since Le Mans.

Additionally, the #96 car of Stuart Hall and Francesco Castellacci welcome back stalwart Roald Goethe having missed the WEC rounds in America, Japan and China. Stefan Mucke again is absent from the #97 again although he will race for the team in the Craft Bamboo GT3 Vantage at the FIA GT World Cup in Macau in a couple of weeks.

Photo credits - Richard Leach

On Friday 6th November, 2015 British GT Champions Beechdean AMR celebrated an incredible season at the annual SRO Night Of Champions awards ceremony. Held at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, Beechdean AMR’s drivers and team staff enjoyed the glittering occasion where drivers and teams from around the world were celebrated for their achievements across the SRO Motorsport groups spectrum.

A good night was had by all at the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London from the sounds of it last night at the annual SRO 'Night of the Champions' Award Night.

Beechdean's GT3 driver line up of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam were on hand to collect not only their British GT GT3 Championship trophies but also those for winning the British GT Pro-Am Championship, The Blancpain Gentleman Trophy for Howard and the Sunoco Fastest GT3 driver for Adam.

An additional prize awaited Jonny Adam having scored the winning number of points in the 2015 Sunoco Whelen Challenge earning himself a drive at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January. Liam Griifin and Rory Butcher (Oman Racing) would finish third in Pro-Am.


Other British GT GT3 honours went to Oman Racing's Ahmad Al Harthy for winning the Silver Cup with his former team mate Daniel Lloyd in third.

In the British GT GT4 category, top honours went to Beechdean's Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn for winning not only the GT4 Championship itself but also the Silver Cup Championship.

For the teams, Oman Racing and TF Sport would finish second and third respectively in GT3 whilst Academy Motorsport and Beechdean would claim first and second respectively in GT4.

What a great year it has been but sadly we now have to wait until mid April for the first round of the 2016 British GT Championship. Thanks to all of you for your support and comments over the year and we hope to see you all again next year.

But then - for some - the preparation has already begun ……………………..!!

#TeamAMR

Photo Credits - AMR Social Media

Aston Martin Racing has finished the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Six Hours of Shanghai GTE AM class in second place with its #98 Vantage GTE.

The penultimate round of the WEC saw the Aston Martin Racing GTE AM teams go head-to-head. A closely fought qualifying session saw the pair start from the front row of the class grid and, throughout the first five hours of the race, they switched places at the lead of the pack.

However, a drying track caused difficult conditions and the #96 Vantage GTE had a small ‘off’, taking it out of the challenge for the race win. Come the chequered flag, it was the #98 that crossed the line to take its fifth podium of the year.