Our friends over the pond at The Racer Group have asked us to cordualy extend their invite to all race car fans to part in their exclusive and up front and personal live video interview Q&Q session with TRG-Aston Martin Racing driver Derek deBoer.

TF Sport concluded a hugely positive pre-season tour of the European continent at Circuito do Estoril in Portugal yesterday (Monday 28 March).

The official Aston Martin Racing Partner Team has been preparing intensely for what will be its biggest campaign to date as full-time participants in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, International GT Open and British GT Championship.

Euan Hankey and Salih Yoluc have been clocking up countless meaningful miles over the course of eight days at some of Europe’s most hallowed race circuits and the driver pairing notably set the pace in an official International GT Open winter test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, before completing the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Series Prologue with the second fastest time.

The outcome has also been encouraging for TF Sport’s British GT contingent. Testing continues for reigning Champion Jonny Adam and Derek Johnston, as well as former British title-holder Jon Barnes and his co-driver Mark Farmer on 5-6 April, but the pairings were remarkably level when they partook in an exclusive Aston Martin Racing test in Valencia in late February.

TF Sport’s programme also encompassed a wet test at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France and it was there that Turkish gentleman racer, Yoluc, showed a demonstrable improvement in his speed and technique compared with this time last year, largely thanks to expert tutelage from Hankey.

A two-day test in Estoril (27-28 March) allowed TF Sport to assess Yoluc in different disciplines by conducting further race and qualifying simulations that account for many of the variables the team and its drivers might expect to encounter over the course of a season and there’s a good vibe about what can be achieved in 2016.

TF Sport Director, Tom Ferrier, said: “I’m left feeling very positive about TF Sport’s prospects for the 2016 season following a highly productive pre-season test programme. Salih (Yoluc) and Euan (Hankey) were fastest overall in almost every session during the International GT Open winter test in Barcelona and they looked very strong when we went on to Paul Ricard for the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup Prologue, where they were never out of the top two.

“A lot of our time has been focused on Salih and qualifying runs, but we have also done a little more setup work. It has been particularly important to get Salih used to running on cold tyres for the GT3 LM Cup, where you aren’t allowed to use tyre warmers; it’s definitely something that’s worth experiencing and I’m expecting the opening laps of the races to be pretty interesting with this rule!”

Ferrier added: “Ultimately, we know where we are with the tyres and we’ve reached the end of our European tour with this test in Estoril, at least until the racing season begins. We’re been very thorough by completing race and qualifying simulations of different lengths to ensure our drivers are prepared for every scenario and it has been relatively straightforward and incident-free. As a result, I’m raring to get the 2016 season underway!”


Source material - TF Sport

Yesterday saw the conclusion of the final preparatory test that many of the teams would undertake before they arrive at Silverstone in readiness for Round 1 of the 2016 World Endurance Championship that starts in just under three weeks time.

Participating within the five scheduled sessions over the two day Prologue, the order of the day for the two AMR cars appeared to be that of continual set up and Dunlop tyre elevation for both the #97 and #98. What was noticeable was that both cars were continually lapping within a few fractions of a second of their respective reference track time throughout the five sessions with neither car braking the 2 minute lap time marker.



With both the cars sporting the new for 2016 green livery and drivers their new race suits, the aero adapted #97 GTE Pro car of Jonny Adam, Fernando Rees and Marco Sorenson secured a 'best' lap time of 2:00:298 whilst the 2015 specification #98 GTE Am car of Paul Dalla-Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda was just behind with a 2:01:508. Both of those times were however at least 2.5seconds behind those set by their class rivals with (in the case of the GTE Pro) their brand new machinery.


One point of note was that in session 1 Marco Sorensen was caught in the speed trap with a outright speed of 279.8kph - that was the fastest GTE recorded speed and put the #97 in the midst of the LMP2 cars!!

Our conclusion from that was that whether by design or by circumstance both AMR cars were not showing their full potential on a track that they have already extensively tested at earlier in the year and in todays language thats called 'sandbagging'!

Speaking on Radio Le Mans yesterday Fernando Rees confirmed that data acquisition for a very long list of tasks was the necessity within a race arena without the stresses of doing so at an actual race meeting. "We know what we have and we know where we want to go" he said.


The cars will now be returned to the Prodrive factory for their final strip down before being prepared for scrutineering on Friday 15th April before the first 90 minute Free Practice just after midday.


The six hours of Silverstone itself starts at noon on Sunday 17th April.

Photo credits - Adrenal Media / Aston Martin Racing

Born from of the remnants of Belgium racing team GPR in 2014 the forthcoming season will see relative newcomers Street Art Racing enter the SRO's GT4 European Series.

Sporting a very distinctively liveried Aston Martin racing V8 Vantage GT4 the four Belgium drivers (Albert Bloem / Rene Brugmans / Jean-Marc Bourdouch / Damiaen Dupont) take a step up from Belgium Racing Car Championships and selective Creventic International Endurance Series races to concentrate full time on this years GT4 championship sporting the very AMR/AML fashionable car number #007.


The livery comes about from a "street artist' - Steve Locatelli who has for this project substituted has normal wall canvas for the curvaceous lines of a V8 Vantage.


The six round 2016 GT4 European Series starts in mid April at Monza before visiting Pau, Silverstone, Spa Francorchamps, Hungaroring before finishing at Zandvoort in Holland in October. The Silverstone event is an invitation to the series to compete in the SRO's sister British GT Championship event and will be a three hour race so at least us British GT fans will get to see the car in the flesh.

Photo credits - SAR

With all pre season formalities now completed, car launch photographs, videos and interviews taken together with colossal amounts of testing completed, emphasis now turns to the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship proper starting tomorrow morning with day one of the series Prologue at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.

With Aston Martin Racing delivering both a single 2016 specification GTE Pro and a single 2015 GTE Am V8 Vantage to the test (as required by the series regulations) this shall give everybody their first chance (on European soil at least) to see just how the 2016 GTE regulations of the Pro class will compare in performance against those the 2015 regulations that will be used in the Amateur class cars. With the AMR cars it will also be interesting to see of any obvious difference in performance between their new Dunlop tyres and those the Michelins as used by their class competitors.


Within the two AMR cars testing (out of the teams three car full season entry) will be Jonny Adam, Marco Sorenson and Fernando Rees in the #97 Pro car alongside Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda in the #98 Am car.

Most of the factory's drivers will have already completed a large amount of car mileage in 2016 either at a Dunlop tyre test either in France or Spain or at the factory's official winter test in Valencia. Others will have been competitively racing in other classes of GT cars in other series, so for the crew of the #98 Am car the last week has been a particular busy one.

That leaves drivers Darren Turner, Richie Stanaway and Nicki Thiim are not officially listed as participating within the test although Turner and Thiim may well be there at some point.


The Prologue starts with two test sessions behind closed doors tomorrow (Friday) with a total of eleven hours of track time possible followed by a further two sessions (7 hours of track time) but with public access to both the circuit and paddock on Saturday.

All teams at the test will be careful not to show their full hand in performance just yet as any significant increase in performance there shall result in them receiving a Balance of Performance adjustment in time for Silverstone with that remaining in effect until after the Le Mans 24H.

No true competitive performance will be seen until we get to Silverstone in just over three weeks for round one of the 2016 season.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing / WEC

After the disappointing news coming out of France earlier this week of the immediate withdrawal of the TDS Racing entered Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE form both the European Le Mans Series and the 24H of Le Mans itself it has been left to Andrew Howard's Beechdean Motorsport team to fly the flag with the AMR factory in the 2016 ACO series.

Only on Monday did the team formally confirm the return of the Andrew Howard, Jonny Adam and Alex MacDowall driver line up for the full season ELMS series - the driver line up that took second place first time out in the final race of the 2015 series at Estoril.


Having already tested the car together at the Official AMR Winter Test at Valencia, emphasis of the test in France this week with the year old GTE car was based upon getting credible track time (mainly for Howard) purely because of the widely reported driving dissimilarities between any GTE and GT3 platform, not to mention the continuing the new relationship between AMR and tyre supplier Dunlop.

Seeing a mixture of track conditions being experienced at the two day test by the attending teams Andrew Howard delivered the most number of laps of all completing 158 laps which is a distance higher that last years actual race at the Paul Ricard circuit.


Having a quick Twitter 'chat' with Howard after the completion of the test he confirmed that quick lap times were not of the essence for the team  - it was simply quality seat time for all, set up for the race at the circuit later in the year and to 'have a look at the opposition'. He concluded his messages by saying that 'it was going to be a very hard championship'.

The team will now regroup in readiness for round one of the series at Silverstone next month - a date that conflicts with other driver engagements for both Howard and Adam at the British GT opener at Brands Hatch. This situation will need further examination once the timetables for both events are published to see if (even if the controlling series organisers allows) the transiting between circuits and driving stints will even be possible.

Photo credits - Adrenal Media / Beechdean

Following last week’s announcement by Beechdean AMR, confirming that Paul Hollywood will be part of the team, further exciting news has emerged regarding his co-driver. Reigning

Beechdean protégé Jamie Chadwick, the first female and youngest ever champion in British GT history, will team up with Hollywood. This will create a unique driving partnership not to be underestimated. Their opening race will be at the spectacular Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, taking place on the 8-9th July. Hollywood and Chadwick will be racing in Beechdean’s second V8 Vantage GT4 car, which has a 445+ brake horse power.

The Beechdean duo plan to compete in the further two British GT races Hollywood originally planned to participate in. These will be Snetterton in Norfolk on the 6-7th August and Donington Park on the 10-11th September. Further to these British GT races, Hollywood has plans to participate in other championship races towards the end of the year.

Beechdean AMR have high hopes for Paul Hollywood and are keen to see him develop as a driver and expect him become a key member of the already successful, multiple title winning team. Andrew Howard, reigning British GT3 champion and Beechdean AMR team owner said “I am pleased Jamie is re-joining Beechdean in 2016, once she has fulfilled her educational commitments”

Paul Hollywood echoed Howard, commenting that “I am pleased both mine and Jamie’s schedules are compatible, and am looking forward to competing in three British GT races”

Jamie Chadwick is equally excited about the to-be-partnership with Hollywood, stating that “Racing with Paul is a unique opportunity for me and it is exciting to be starting at the glorious Spa Francorchamps. I am looking forward to being back in the Beechdean GT4, after such a successful season in 2015.”

Source material - Beechdean Motorsport
Photo credits - Beechdean / Jacob Ebrey

Reports coming out of Paul Ricard at the European Le Mans Series Prologue are that 2015 ELMS GTC Champions - TDS Racing have withdrawn their Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE entry from the series for 2016.

Having noticed last night that their expected visit to the Prologue had been removed together with that of their series entry, sources close to the series organisers are saying that the car has now been officially withdrawn.

We believe that this withdrawal also includes their automatic entry into the Le Mans 24H itself as last years class champions.

Whilst others have been actively testing over the winter months it became apparent that what would have been a new chassis for the team was not being tested at either the official Michelin or Dunlop tyre tests and the arrival at Paul Ricard of only the teams Oreca P2 car also didn't bode well.

It is understood that the teams LM24 entry has already been taken up by a team on the official reserve list.

The European Le Mans Series Prologue tomorrow and runs into Wednesday 23rd March. It will feature five test sessions spared over the two days but will now only include the Beechdean Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE.

Photo credits - TDS Racing

Today, Beechdean Aston Martin Racing has announced they will enter a factory Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE car for the 2016 European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

Andrew Howard, Beechdean AMR team owner and driver will be teaming back up with Jonny Adam (despite the pairings recent parting when it comes to British GT). The duo will be joined by former Aston Martin Racing GTE driver Alex MacDowell, for what will be the teams first full season in ELMS.

Andrew Howard commented on the team’s plans for the full season and on McDowall, stating that “the goal has always been to race at the highest level we can, the ELMS Championship was the next logical step after doing GT3 for so long. It is great to have Alex’s experience in the team and we are all looking forward to the competition.”

The trio achieve a convincing debut podium last year, after a successful introduction to ELMS at the 2015 season finale in Estoril (Portugal). Beechdean AMR, who will be entered under Aston Martin Racing, will compete in the hotly contested GTE class. The 2016 European Le Mans programme, will run across six of the best circuits in Europe, with races scheduled for; Silverstone (UK), Imola (Italy), Red Bull Ring (Austria), Paul Ricard (France), Spa Francorchamps (Belgium) and Estoril (Portugal).


Aston Martin Racing Factory Driver, Jonny Adam (who will also compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing in GTE Pro), mirrored Howard’s previous statement saying “Alex is a great addition to the partnership, his knowledge and experience is brilliant and I am looking forward to working with him. We ended the 2015 season with a good result, in a strong position – so I am hoping this year we will only improve.”

Alex MacDowall, who has several valuable years of experience in the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE car, will be an asset to this successful team. MacDowall commented on the 2016 plan, saying “I am thrilled our plan to race in the full ELMS season has come to fruition. Andrew and Jonny have proven time and time again that they are a force to be reckoned with, and I hope we can continue what has already been a winning formula”


Beechdean AMR look to be shifting up a gear for the coming season, competing in the full ELMS schedule as well as Le Mans 24 Hour race as well as running GT3 and GT4 cars in the British GT. All in all, they certainly will have a strong presence across all GT categories in 2016.

Source material - Beechdean Motorsport

The first official test of the new ACO sanctioned Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup series concluded today at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France with just a handful entries out of the expected 'many' taking part.

As announced several weeks ago British based TF Sport will be at least one team flying the AMR flag for the brand when the full entry list is finally made publicly available just two weeks prior the series first event at Imola in mid May. This is despite the closing date to new entries being just last week.

The test, apart for the obvious to the teams seems to have been an opportunity for the series organisers to obtain marketing material and promotional videos for the new series with at least some of their confirmed participants.


We have found out today that TF Sport already have one confirmed full season entry for their existing Salih Yoluc and Eaun Hankey lineup (who were testing in France over the weekend) but also have a potential of entering a part season entry for another GT3 Vantage for their former British GT GT4 drive line up of Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell (subject to official confirmation by the team and series).

Those with clear vision will have seen the now customer blue with yellow neon line  of the Yolic/Hankey ES Motors sponsored car but the test also produced footage of a grey and yellow neon line car as well!!


Whilst many details regarding the series are still sketchy the series organisers have confirmed that all races will be streamed live through their new website www.gt3lemanscup.com.

Some of the video shot at the test can be viewed HERE and HERE

Photo/video credits - GT3 Le Mans Cup / Adrenal Media

Series debutantes Massive Motorsport were left ruing a tyre failure that possibly robbed the team of a potential podium finish at the end of the two part 12Hours of Mugello race.

Starting Saturday's Part 2 race from fifth with new boy Nicolai Sylvest at the wheel, the Danish squad  were soon looking to push the series solitary Aston Martin further up the leader board to pressurise those with much newer race machinery.


By the time Sylvest stopped to refuel he had elevated the #55 up to P2 overall but that was soon lost as he served a 34 second stop and hold penalty caused by Kristian Poulsen speeding in the pit lane during yesterdays four hour segment of the race.

That time dropped them back down to P5 but that was soon to be the least of their worries…….!

At about 90minutes into the race Sylvest suffered a right rear puncture just into the start of another lap forcing him to crawl back to the pits where the resulting pit stop would loose the team a further three minutes.


The bodywork turned out to be only superficial damage - the real damage from the puncture was underneath and the car was again forced to return to the pits for repairs, this time to damage brake lines loosing the #55 yet more track time relative to the overall leaders and dropping themselves down as low as thirteenth overall.

Cycling through the remain four hours or so of the race the four driver line up would again push themselves up through the leader board as some of those around them also incurred technical or mechanical issues and by the time Sylvest took the chequered flag at the end of another eight hours of racing Massive Motorsport would finish their first 24H Series race in fifth - eight laps down to the winner.


A6 cars are not eligible for the next round of the series at Silverstone so the team will regroup in readiness for their second venture into this series at Zandvoort, Holland at the beginning of May.

Photo credits - Creventic / Massive

2014 British GT GT4 Championship runner up Andrew Jarman will this weekend rekindle old acquaintances in Japan by competing at Fuji Motor Speedway with Alpha Classics Racing in the next round of the GT Challenge Japan Series.

His last venture with the Japanese team was at the Aston Martin Racing Festival at the Le Mans 24H last year when he shared their Vantage GT2 cars with team owner Hiroyuki Akane before technical issues sidelined the car during the races prolonged Safety Car period.


Having finished his 2015 British GT season strongly in his TF Sport Vantage GT3, this one off event for Jarman will see him again share the teams GT3 car (they are also entering a V8 Vantage GT4 into the same event) before confirming his continued 2016 race plans.


Having read an article on Dailysportscar.com available HERE this morning, those future plans obviously now include the reuniting of the old 2014 British GT team and co driver for a part time entry into the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup series.

Photo credits - Alpha Classics Racing

Earlier this month Aston Martin Racing quietly announced a new technical partnership with a team called R-Motorsport who will operate as the racing division of Aston Martin St Gallen, the brands leading Swiss dealerships.

That, together with todays announcement that Aston Martin will be entering into an innovation partnership with Red Bull Racing to create the latest hyper car - Project AM-RB 001 there appears to be a link between that project, AML and this new team?


R-Motorsports subsidiary company, AF Racing AG will provide a european wide parts and race car distribution service to other Aston Martin Racing customer and partner teams from its Swiss bases and the team will also be about to support other AMR teams entered into the VLN Championship whilst racing their own V8 Vantage GT4 under the R-Motorsport banner at those events.


Company bosses Andreas Baenziger and Florian Kamelger joined AMR at their winter test last month at Valencia where that team and their prospective clients were able to sample the characteristics of the V12 Vantage GT3 and V8 Vantage GT4 with the help and assistance of the factory engineers being on site as well.

John Gaw, Managing Director of Aston Martin Racing, said: “We are delighted to introduce
R-Motorsport into the Aston Martin Racing family and we look forward to supporting the team in every aspect of its motorsport programme for the future, while providing technical support as and when required”.

Danish squad Massive Motorsport have taken to their first outing in Creventic's International Endurance Series like a duck to water with their red, white and black V12 Vantage GT3 competing in the series top A6-Pro class.

Competing on the control Hankook rubber for what must have been the first time in anger, the Caspar Elgaard, Kristian and Roland Poulsen together with Nicolai Sylvest driven car was fast straight out of the box right from their first rack action in the Private Test session yesterday when the finished P8 fastest out of the 64 car entry.


That performance level increased during the official Free Practice session when they elevated themselves up to P5 overall but that fell back a bit cum Qualifying this morning when they finished in P12. At the green flag that starting position would increase to P11 when the Ram Racing Mercedes AMG failed to start.

The 12hours of Mugello are split into a four hour and then another eight hour race spread over Friday and Saturday. By the end of the first hour of the race the #55 car had moved up to P6 and by the end of the second hour up to P3. Indeed at some point at the half way mark the then Elgaard driven car was leading the race overall.


At the end of the first four hours of racing and with Kristian Poulsen in the car, the #55 would be resuming the remainder of the race tomorrow from P5 - all to play for!!

Photo credits - Massive / Creventic  

Finally, but certainly no means least where the attendance of both old and new teams in the forms of Beechdean and PFL Motorsports respectively.

Stepping up to the full British GT championship from the series supporting VW Cup series will be security consultant company boss and amateur rally driver Peter Littler,  together with his AMR factory supported V12 Vantage GT3 under the guiding assistance of AMR Evolution Academy finalist and co driver Jody Fannin.


Having tested previously at both Donington and Silverstone Littler has only had a partner driver recently confirmed and despite his obvious physical disability has plenty of pace of his own within the car. With the car arriving late(ish) at the circuit the team were hard pressed to complete the required livery/sponsor decalls prior to the test starting but once that was done the car looked great.




Then there was Beechdean…….!!

Returning to the championship in 2016 to assist young driver turned 2015 GT4 champion turned Evolution Academy winner Ross Gunn, team boss Andrew Howard has plenty to shout about in 2016.

Not only does he have a chance to win what would be his third BGT championship but he also has a full season GTE entry into the 2016 ELMS series together with an automatic entry into the 24hours of Le Mans with former team mate Jonny Adam and Alex MacDowall (unconfirmed)


Following "his divorce from Jonny and being left with the kids" the Beechdean team have again recruited another pair of up and coming, ex single seater races in Jack Bartholomew and Jordan Albert who are both looking to emulate the performance of both sets of drivers in the teams #407 GT4 car before them - no pressure there guys!!