Well, there was simply nothing dull or predictable about the second round of the British GT Championship yesterday from Rockingham with positions changing even after the throwing of the chequered flag in what can only be described as a classic GT race.

Thankfully for all, Sunday's stiff wind had cleared the rain of yesterday and most of the 1.9 mile track was now dry although still incredibly slippery due to its low abrasive state. During yesterdays Qualifying, all five Aston Martin teams had been blown away by the incredible pace of the  #33 Lamborghini with just the #75 Optimium and #11 TF Sport car coming anywhere close with the remaining three cars from the MAR stable starting from the lower half of the GT3 grid.


The 22 car GT4 class again fielded an incredibly challenging line up with Will Moore and Matt Nichol-Jones bouncing back from the Oulton Park disappointment to start P6 but with the teams younger guns way back in P20.

Sunday's Warm up was more about driving a track that was finally dry with all cars entering laps times 10-15 seconds quicker than yesterday however, as the clock neared the start of the GT race at just after 13:00 the clouds began to build again and light rain began to fall.


At the drop of the green flag, the #33 Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw quickly established a early lead over Flick Haigh in the Optimum car but her attentions were soon turned to the second Lamborghini close behind before soon dropping back to P3. Unfortunately for one, a heavy impact with the outside retaining wall for another GT3 brought of the first of many Safety Cars that at least allowed the field to bunch up again when the time came.

The drizzly rain had just about stopped but the wind had picked up considerably and that must have been very noticeable to the drivers at the far end of the circuit to the pit straight.


Mark Farmer's #11 TF Sport car was suffering from an unquantified electrical ailment that necessitated a quick visit to pit lane - that dropped him a lap in the process. Even from the track side it was possible to identify cars that were on the move - the main one being Graham Davidson in the #47 Jetstream car who had spent too many laps languishing behind the slower Nissan GTR GT3 - but once passed the gap to those ahead collapsed.

Another Safety Car for a beached GT4 again slowed and tightened the pack with Davidson now up to P3 with a three way AMR battle going on behind him between the Optimium, Beechdean and #17 TF cars who had had their own trackside issues up till then. A further Safety Car allowed Davidson to make stick an ambitious move on De Haan on the #69 Lambo as the cars turned into the first chiccaine off the bank circuit - P2 for the Scotsman in only his second BGT race.


Just before the pit window opening Johnston got a drive through penalty for avoidable contact with the #1 Bentley that would be compounded with the 15 second success penalty from Oulton Park when the #17 final pitted. What was bad news for them was good news for Haigh and Howard as the moved up to P4 and P5 respectively.

By virtue of the #33 cars own success penalty, AMR works driver Maxime Martin suddenly found himself leading his first British GT race before even lapping his factory co-driver Nicki Thiim (now in the #17 TF Sport) soon after!


Two more quick Safety Cars caused chaos in the ranks with GT4's again being caught in the chain amongst faster, race challenging GT3. Martin had himself a very close call coming from the infield and onto the banking when a GT4 driver lost control of his car right infant of him but soon the Belgium and Scots elation was to be turned into dejection as the #47 was themselves given a drive through for track limit violations.

Stealthily down in GT4, the #62 Moore/Nichol-Jones had been slowly moving up the order to take the final podium position with just five minutes left on the clock whilst its sister #61 car had moved up from P20 to be holding a comfortable P9 in class for youngsters Wood and Jonck.


Normally, the chequered flag is the end of the race and that may still be so but it's normally over until the results have been officially verified. The podiums showed a jubilant Derek Johnston and (nearly) smiling Marco Sorensen take second place in GT3 whilst Moore and Nichol-Jones saw out their own class to finish on the final step of the GT4 podium.

Post race however would see the #17 Johnston/Sorensen car have a 30 second penalty applied to them (for query a secondary penalty for avoidable contact), a move that would knock them down to P7 but would see the #99 Howard/Turner Beechdean car take the final step of the podium in their place and maintain their own momentum in the Championship so far this year.


Although a great racing spectacle for us watching, the levels of frustration was obvious in both the Jetstream and TF camps in a race that should have been much different for them both. For Jetstream the washout of Oulton Park and the missing of FP2 yesterday confirmed the teams resolve and ability which was rightly rewarded with Davidson being given the Blancpain Driver of the Day Award despite the visibly annoyance in their Pro driver. For Sorensen, breaking the circuit lap record still earned him the Fastest Lap trophy.


Beechdean AMR now hold top spot in the GT3 Championship for a AMR team in P3 with Optimum just behind as the BGT season moves on to Snetterton at the end of May. For many within these AMR teams next weekend presents them with a new challenge - the first round of the WEC aboard the new Vantage GTE!

Come rain or shine, the British GT Championship is never a dull place to be at and with todays incessant rainfall, that just adding to the excitement.

Thinking of all the testing, practicing and racing has so far been completed in 2018 by the teams in this championship a large percentage of that has been on a wet track so not many of them have really experienced what the new Pirelli slick tyre can offer - certainly not under full race conditions at least.


This morning's first Free Practice was very wet, with the constant rainfall continually subtracting grip from a circuit already renowned for offering little grip, making the drivers experiment with differing lines just to stay on the track.

Both the TF Sport V12 Vantage GT3's were the leading #TeamAMR cars finishing third and fourth for Mark Farmer/Marco Sorensen and Derek Johnston/Nicki Thiin respectively by the end of FP1 with the Jetstream car finishing the session in P6, Optimum P10 and Beechdean finishing just behind the leading AMR Vantage GT4 in P16 - but it was simple free practice!


Issues arose for Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin in their #47 car after prolonged snaps of understeer/oversteer caused him to brush the outside wall, no obvious damage but the team would need to sit out FP2 replacing the clutch hopefully in time for Qualifying.


Still very wet, FP2 was a much better affair for all of the Aston Martin Racing runners (except the #47 of course) with Optimum's Jonny Adam piling in a quick time to finish top of the pile again (just like at Oulton Park), the two TF Sport cars consistent in P2 and P3 and with the #99 Beechdean AMR up to P6. In GT4 Will Moore/Matt Nichol-Jones' Academy car finished the session P4 in class whilst their younger guns in the #61 car would end fourth from bottom.


This afternoon came the the four qualifying runs for the respective Pro and Am drivers in both GT3 and GT4 classes and with Jon Minshaws Lamborghini again on a charge it looked as though the Am side of the grid would take a familiar path - or at least until Flick Haigh saved her best lap till last!
Taking almost a second off Minshaw, Haigh claimed her second consecutive 'pole' although in this single race event it would be the aggregate time of both drivers that would decide Sundays running order so not quite a prize but still a job well done.

With Adam just missing out on the GT3 fastest lap by about half a second to Phil Keen, the #75 Optimum car will still be starting on the front row but will have the championship leading #33 Lamborghini just ahead - what a drag race into the first hairpin tomorrow will be with the #11 TF Sport car right behind (or infront)!!


The GT4 Qualifying was interrupted with red flags for stranded cars on track, but allowed the #62 Academy car of Moore/Nichol-Jone stop secure P6 in class albeit a whopping 4.5 seconds down to the pole setting McLaren 570S. The other Academy car of Tom Wood and Jan Jonck would continue to struggle, as had been their problem all day finishing their days work in P20.


Tomorrow sees the traditional Sunday morning warm up at 09:30 before the start of the two hour endurance race at 13:10. Again, the race will be streamed live via the SRO's social media channels.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey / Optimum / Beechdean / Academy

It was something of a wild return to the track for the teams of the China GT Championship as they hit the Beijing Goldenport circuit for their three day pre-season test earlier this week.

Unfortunately for those who attended, track time was somewhat limited as torrential rain hit China's capital for the second and third days of the test as well as smog affecting the opening day as well.


For the Prodrive supported China Equity AMR team, it looks like their two new V8 Vantage GT4's did indeed arrive from the factory just in time for the test as four cars lined up in the garages at the test - two in plain white and presumably the two new chassis' plus two featuring last years colours schemes.

With the teams two British drivers (Jack Mitchell and Ross Gunn) absent from the test, driving duties were left to others with the series listing Chen Wen and Sen Cheng being the fastest GT4 for the team in the opening session on day 1 just ahead of fellow China Equity driver Huang Yiqing.


Having lost virtually all of day 2, the team's Stanley Yang clocked the fastest GT4 time on the final day as the Championship now looks forward to the opening races of the new season from Zhuhai in two weeks time.


Photo credits - China GT /Social Media

By the looks of it, it will be another damp start for the teams and drivers as the second round of the British GT Championship kicks off from Rockingham circuit tomorrow.

For many, it will be a case of still trying to dry out from the monsoon like conditions that befell the opening round of the Championship from Oulton Park at the start of April and to try to comprehend what actually happened during the opening event.


For the new Optimum Motorsport crew of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam, the first race from Oulton Park was a dream come true providing them with a day of many firsts as Haigh scooped the accolades for being the first woman to achieve outright pole, outright win and in securing the Blancpain drivers award and with Adam also extending his own winning streak record within the Championship.

Close behind them on the podium for Race 1 were the returning Beechdean AMR crew of Andrew Howard with championship 'newbie' Darren Turner who earned themselves a very commendable and just deserved second in some extremely difficult track conditions in their first event back in the Championship for over a year.


For former GT3 Champions TF Sport, Race 1 was a race of 'what could have been' as early spins for their respective gentlemen drivers Mark Farmer and Derek Johnston always left them on the back foot, wasting good qualifying positions and leaving their AMR factory drivers Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen much to do to wrestle their cars anywhere to recover from their earlier mistakes to finish in the lonely midfield.


Series newcomers Jetstream Motorsport, it was always a case of Oulton Park being a steep learning curve for Graham Davidson and his Pro driver, AMR factory driver Maxime Martin having previously had little time together or in the car itself.

Rounding off the AMR entries were of course the two Academy Motorsport V8 Vantage GT4 cars of Matt Nichol-Jones pairing up again with Will Moore as well as Jan Jonck swapping from MacMillan to join former Ginetta Junior driver Tom Wood.


For that team Oulton Park was a very injurious round for their two cars with Jonck badly damaging his GT4 during Free Practice, Will Moore being forced off and heavily into the tyre wall on the opening lap as well as Wood then having a very close call with the barrier for little/no reward in what is now a highly competitive class.

Then, and on top of all of that we had the post race 'controversy' of the abandoned Race 2 being declared a result after just four laps behind the Safety Car - a decision (although correct) sadly relegated the #75 Optimum car from the top of the table to P5 having spun off on the grid formation lap and not being classified at the point of that race being red flagged.


Certainly, TF Sport will be looking to come back from the disappointments of Oulton Park in a very dramatic fashion with a circuit being very suited to the driving characteristics of the V12 Vantage - remember how Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn dominated last years two hour race before being pipped at the post by the chasing pack! The teams double podium from the abandoned race will only  penalise their two cars by now having to serve an extended minimum pit stop during Sundays race.

Optimum will be looking to prove that Race 1 last time also wasn't a fluke, certainly Haigh more than proved her worth driving in the wet around the twists and turns of Oulton so the more open layout of Rockingham should be easier whilst Jetstream will seek to benefit from their increased track time together in their new car to look for a stronger finish.


The weather for tomorrow's Free Practice and Qualifying sessions looks like heavy showers will periodically affect track proceedings through the day whereas Sunday features a Met Office Yellow weather warning for rain! Whilst the circuits infield sections are quite spacious, the main concern will surely be 'loosing' the car on the tracks fast, swapping banked sections either side of the start/finish line where any loss of control would result in serious damage to their machinery from the unforgiving wall.

Sunday's two hour race starts at 13:10 and will again be streamed live from the Championship's Youtube channels

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

Thanks to George Miedecke for sharing these latest images of their freshly constructed Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage that he shook down at Sydney Motorsport Park yesterday ahead of any decisions of returning to the Australian GT Championship.

Previous post is available HERE



Photo credit - G Miedecke

This naked Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 is the latest of Prodrive's creations (but not the newest) to hit the tracks having been only just pieced together this month over in Australia.

This is chassis #39, an acquisition made by Andrew and George Miedecke nearly a year ago and at the same time as another GT3 was supplied via the Miedecke Stone Motorsport team to fellow Australian John Kaias - which is itself another car that we have yet to see!


Seen here in its semi constructed state going for a dyno test this week, this GT3 will debut/shakedown at this weekends New South Wales Racing Championships event from Sydney Motorsport Park in the hands of George Miedecke. After that it is hoped the team can make a decision after whether or not to enter the car at that circuits round of the Australian Endurance Championship later in the year.

It was with some regret last night that we learned that California based, The Racer Group will not be defending their Aston Martin Racing Festival crowns at this years event from Le Mans.

Having fielded a very sizeable grid of seven cars of the 35 car entry last time out in 2015, as well as shipping over one of their extra-ordinary trailer rigs, we believe that the team has failed to generate sufficient interest from their racing clientele to make the long trip to Le Sarthe cost effective as well as having other, more pressing local racing challenges.


2015 saw the team came first in the GT4 class and second in the GT3 class in the red flagged event.


Although the teams cars will not be there, the Kevin Buckler lead team will still be coming over in force for the more refined, social event!

Last weekend saw the first round of the newly created Masters Endurance Legends Series at Monza for eligible cars from major endurance series that raced between 1995 and 2012.

That event saw two Aston Martin Racing DBR9's take part as well as a familiar AMR V12 Vantage GT3 in the two race meeting. German's Nikolaus Ditting and Domonik Roschmann each racing their respective G2-GT1 class cars with another German, Alexander Lienau racing his Bilstein liveried Invitaional class GT3 that we more affectionally knew as Billie.

It was something of a triumphant return to the Bute GT Cup Championship for both Hud Motorsport and Whitebridge AMR at season opener from Donington Park last weekend.

Nigel Hudson returned with his JMH prepared V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 running in the top flight GTO class with professional co-driver Adam Wilcox again by his side. Despite having won a whole plethora of silverware last season the duo will be looking to do something better this year to win the championship outright.


Also returning to the Championship was Chris Murphy's Whitebridge AMR outfit, again running a 2016 spec V8 Vantage GT4 in the newly established GTH class along with team newcomer Adam Hatfield.

After most teams enjoyed a test day at the circuit on Thursday, the #12 JMH Aston was fastest at the end of Free Practice enjoying a half second lead over Paul Bailey in his Ferrari. For Whitebridge AMR, it was still a case of track time having had limited running since the driving pair came together for the first time at the AMR Collecive Test in Portimao earlier last month.


For the Hudson and Wilcox team, that quick start to events transpired into dream start for Race 1, with Hudson having firstly claimed overall pole before he then went on to claim an emphatic lights to flag win with a winning gap of over ten seconds to the second place Mosler. For Hatfield, he was also able to replicate the marque's GTO success by turning around his own perhaps 'slower' start to the weekend to claim P2 in his own class


For Race 2 is was this time  a P2 start for Hudson in the #12 car with an improved P11 start for Murphy in the #72 car. For most of the race the outcome appeared to have hinged upon the outcome of a failed move from the Aston on the pole sitting Mosler at the first corner that allowed the Gibson McLaren to out manoeuvre the #12 for position. Fortunately for Hudson, the delicate Mosler faulted mid race allowing them to reclaim their second place on track and a second place for the race.


The Murphy/Hatfield crew continued their own continuity by claiming their second - second in class finish of the weekend having started P2 in class which was all a pretty successful start to a Saturday's motorsport!


The final race of the opening round came on Sunday with the pitstop round where both drivers would compete. Hudson and Wilcox again took the honours in morning warm up before the duo later qualified P3 overall for the final race behind their main protagonists in the 650S McLaren and Mosler. Murphy and Hatfield meanwhile qualified their GT4 again second in class, P11 overall.


The final fifty minute race took a familiar tone, the #12 JMH Hud Motorsport car was this time able to overcome the Gibson 650S McLaren but unable to catch the more powerful (but sometimes delicate) Mosler to finish the day P2 overall 23 seconds down to the winner.

For Hatfield and Murphy, it was a simple case of being second, second, second as the #72 car clocked up its third second place of the weekend, again behind the more nimbler #23 Maserati GT4.


Overall, that was a very successful start for both teams as they now look forward to the slower but more technical GP circuit at brands Hatch next time out in May.

Photo credits - Steve Jackman (Eat My Pixels) / Adam Hatfield
Source material - Steve Jackman

The final details were today put into place for the three car Aston Martin entry into next months ADAC Zurich 24H Rennen from the Nordschleife.

Already known is the #007 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 (running in the SP9 Last Generation class) with a full factory driver line up Darren Turner, Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Maxime Martin.

Finishing last weeks Qualifying Race in P5 overall will put the car in good stead at the Top 30 shoot out come qualifying for the actual race.


Joining that car in another factory supported, AMR Performance Centre entry will be the remainder of the team's factory driver contingent of Jonny Adam and Alex Lynn joining Nordschliefe specialist Peter Cate and British F3 racer and N24 debutant Jamie Chadwick.

They will drive a V8 Vantage GT4 but in the SP8 class rather than the regular SP10 class for SRO GT4 homologated cars as to avoid competing directly with any of their customer teams were they to have entered the 24 hour (which they now appear not to)! That move will also give them a slightly larger fuel tank as well.


Completing the Aston Martin line up is the SP8 class winning Vantage GT8 car of last year which will this year be a full customer programme entry, again via the AMR Performance Centre, for N24 and VLN regulars Heinz Jurgen Kroner, Tony Richard and Thilenius who will now be joined by journalist Jens Dralle (who raced with Cate and Chadwick in the last VLN meeting earlier this month).

From previous releases, we believe that all three Aston Martin cars will race in Sterling Green and lime livery.

The ADAC Zurich 24H race takes place over the weekend of 10-13th May.

Photo credits - VLN / AMR