Today saw the first Aston Martin Racing customer teams V8 Vantage GT3's shaken down ahead of their race debut at the forthcoming Gulf 12Hrs at Abu Dhabi next month.

Confirmed earlier this month as two of three such cars, AMR factory drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam today took the Beechdean AMR and Oman Racing by TF Sport Vantage's out for a brief systems check and shakedown having been recently finished at the Prodrive factory.

Team boss Andrew Howard is due to share his new £500,000 investment with former team gun - Ross Gunn as well as former American Le Mans racing dup of Chris Dyson and Humaid al Masaood whilst Darren Turner will compete with Ahmad Al Harthy and Jonny Adam in the Oman Racing entry.


Recently we have seen photos from inside the Prodrive factory showing at least three examples of the new turbo charged Vantage GT3 - one clearly being this Beechdean car with another white one for Oman Racing by TF Sport and a bare carbon one presumably for R-Motorsport - each of whom will be competing in the Gulf 12hr.

We understand from Andrew Howard that the livery shown today is an interim version purely for the Gulf 12hr and the final livery that will be worn during the 2019 British GT Championship being something different.


Todays conditions at (?) Turweston airfield are hopefully a marked contract to the weather that will be hoped for in Abu Dhabi.

The new era beckons ...................

Photo credits - AMR

Todays entry list announcement from the SRO for their inaugural GT4 International Cup event from the Bahrain GT Festival this weekend confirms that the V8 Vantage GT4 from the Generation AMR SuperRacing stable is the sole AMR entrant into the event.

Featuring a grid of 21 cars, the GT4 International Cup will run in support of the FIA Nations Cup for GT3 cars and well as the Bahrain Classic Challenge around the Grand Prix circuit.

Drivers James Holder and Matt George will race in what is expected to be their penultimate run out in their normally aspirated V8 GT4 before their final race of the year over at the Gulf 12Hr in Abu Dhabi before they (expectedly) swap to the new turbo charged platform ahead of their 2019 campaigns wherever that might take them.


Having been the money man and driver behind the new Jaguar GT4 programme with the Invictus Games Racing team, Holder and George respectively have limited themselves together to a part season within the French FFSA GT4 Series as well as other stand alone events such as this event in Bahrain and the Gulf 12hr next month.

Joining them on the grid in Bahrain will be Matt Nichol Jones and Finlay Hutchison but they will be competing within a car created on the dark side of Woking! We are expecting some AMR related news to come out of this racing relationship in due course.

TIMETABLE (GMT +3)

Friday November 30th

09:00 Free Practice 1

12:00 Free Practice 2

17:10 Qualifying

Saturday December 1st

10:00 Qualifying Race 1 (Live TV)

14:45 Qualifying Race 2 (Live TV)

17:45 Main Race (Live TV)

Beechdean AMR today announced a two-car assault on the 2019 British GT Championship, covering both the GT3 and GT4 classes with a brace of brand new Aston Martin race cars. The new cars are the next generation Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and GT4, which replace the outgoing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 and V8 Vantage GT4, which have enjoyed much success across the globe.

The double British GT Championship-winning team will enter the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and the Vantage GT4 in the full season, beginning at Oulton Park in April and ending at Donington in September.

In the GT3 class, Beechdean AMR team boss Andrew Howard will be joined by Aston Martin factory driver, Marco Sørensen. Howard is the 2013 and 2015 British GT Champion and he is looking forward to racing with the man who took four of the seven fastest laps in the 2018 British GT season.

“The new Aston Martin Vantage is looking very strong for 2019 and I am excited to be pairing up with Marco,” said Howard. “He showed exceptional pace in 2018 on many tracks that were completely new to him. It is also great to see Beechdean AMR back to running two cars in British GT. As ever it’s going to be a fiercely competitive series but we are planning to be at the sharp end in both categories. Bring on Oulton Park!”

Sørensen, a former single-seater ace, made his British GT debut in 2018 and the 28 year-old Dane is already a British GT race winner. His most recent victory though came in the FIA World Endurance Championship where, along with Nicki Thiim, he took the first win for the new Aston Martin Vantage GTE in Shanghai, China. He will be a formidable team mate for Howard.

In addition to being double British GT GT3 Champions, Beechdean AMR is also a GT4 championship-winning team. In 2019, Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher will race a new GT4 Aston Martin Vantage with the team.

Ex-Emmerdale star, Fletcher, has proved himself to be one of GT4’s fastest amateurs over the past two seasons, taking his first class victory at Silverstone earlier this year. In 2018, Fletcher raced with former Le Mans class winner and FIA WEC champion Martin Plowman. This partnership will continue in 2019 as Plowman and Fletcher make the switch from Nissan to Aston Martin with Beechdean AMR.

“I’m very excited to be returning to British GT with Kelvin and grateful that I get to continue the great relationship we’ve had so far,” said Plowman. “Even though we’ll be in a new team with a brand new car we are both hungrier than ever and aim for success from the start. Being with a team of Beechdean AMR's experience and understanding of the Aston Martin marque is a very positive step for me personally and I look forward to being a part of everything next season has to offer. We have a lot of unfinished business in this championship, so I can’t wait to get started!”

The new Vantage GT3 and GT4 boast race-modified versions of the 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged engine used in the Aston Martin Vantage and the GT3 car in particular draws heavily on the design logic in the development of the Vantage GTE, the marque’s FIA World Endurance Championship entry.

The Beechdean AMR new Vantage GT3 will make its debut, competing in the Gulf 12 Hour race in Abu Dhabi on December 15th.


Source material - Beechdean AMR

Taking the significant developmental step forward up the GT racing ladder, Red River Sport with TF Sport claimed a sensational but thoroughly deserved class podium in their inaugural Asian Le Mans Series event at the season opener in Shanghai this morning.

With what was intended to be a three driver line up aboard the TF Sport prepared #5 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 saw just Johnny Mowlem and Bonny Grimes arrive at the circuit after untimely personal issues sadly kept their other Bronze driver, Ivor Dunbar at home.


First time of competing at this higher, international level saw Grimes Qualify the car on his own for a very respectful P5 in class and despite some significant swings in weather conditions at the circuit over the available testing and Free Practice sessions. Conditions also posed doubt at the start of the event this morning with thick fog reducing visibility to a point where a 'normal' race start was only just possible by the time of the green flag lap as well as being on a very slippery track.


By the time the four race started Grimes wisely took his time for the car and tyres to warm and settle before he started to put in quicker lap times. In front of him, the GT class leading Audi R8 - a car that wasn't even in any competitive state after an engine fire during Thursdays Private test was pounding in the laps to produce a significant class lead only for that all to disappear with the appearance of a Full Course Yellow and then Safety Car to recover the then stricken, former race leading LMP2.

Fifteen minutes behind the Safety Car caused some of the GT class cars ahead of Grimes to reappraise their pit stop strategy allowing the #5 car to quietly move up to P2 in class without actually overtaking anyone of track.

Swapping over to Johnny Mowlem after forty minutes of racing saw the former Le Mans Champion presented with the class leading #88 Audi wanting to lap him whilst he was still getting up to speed although that car would soon have further fire related pit issues at their next stop - issues that would see the competitive nature of the car reduced to that of an also ran.


Their hardship was of course Red River Sports gain as that elevated them to P1 in class - a position that Mowlem and then Grimes would hang on to for the next hour or so as another FCY and Safety Car would again neutralise the race for another twenty minutes whilst another stricken LMP2 was recovered.

This Shanghai race was certainly full of bizarre and unexpected accident and incidents that led to some great inter class racing.

At interview at the half way point of the race, Mowlem commented that their leading gap would soon disappear as and when AF Corse's WEC factory drivers James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi came to the wheel of their respective Ferrari 488 GT3 Customer Car.

That inevitability final materialised after as the race entered its final hour when the #5 car was demoted to P3 in class.


The race finally ended with Grimes taking the flag for third place in the GT class just two laps behind the much stronger Car Guy Ferrari 488 - an incredible achievement together considering the prior racing experience of Grimes.

For Mowlem to say that their goal was to develop whilst having fun was certainly achieved with the duo proudly taking their place on the podium in the company of some big names in modern day GT racing - crews that ran with three very abled drivers all of which puts into context just how well Grimes drove today.


The teams will now pack away all of their equipment as the Series moves over too the Fuji International Speedway Circuit for the second round of the four round championship in just to weeks time.

Photo credits - Asian LMS / Andrew Lofthouse

Following on from todays announcement from Aston Martin Lagonda that the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi was to become the official 'home' of their Middle Eastern undertakings came the news that their new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 will make its race debut at the Gulf 12Hr event from the circuit next month.

What's already 'big' about this event was the earlier news that Oman Racing by TF Sport, Beechdean AMR and R-Motorsport will all compete at the event with three examples of the also brand new Aston Martin Racing new V8 turbo Vantage GT3.


Part of the Partnership deal announced today will also see six examples of the new Vantage GT4 platform permanently based at the circuit as part of their available racing fleet. Whilst all bar one seat within the three GT3 cars have already been confirmed, there has been no mention of any drivers within the GT4 other than it will be run by the factory team.

The Gulf 12Hrs event takes place over the 13th - 15th December.

A new day and a different series befell the TF Sport team today as the first official track action of the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series kicked off at the Shanghai International Circuit with the Red River Sport guys out to make a point in their blue and white liveried Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3.

Fielding an opening grid of twenty seven cars for the opening round in China, the four event Series will, like all ACO sanctioned series, race with a mixed group of LMP1, LMP2, GT3 and Porsche Cup cars of which the #5 Vantage will compete in a class of five similar performing Ferrari, Audi and Mercedes GT3's.

Saturday:
10:20 – 11:50 Free Practice 2
15:50 – 16:05 LMP2 & LMP3 qualifying
16:15 – 16:30 GT qualifying
Sunday: 13:00 – 17:00 Agile 4 Hours of Shanghai

Live broadcast schedule:
Saturday: 15:35 – 16:45
Sunday: 09:00 – 14:15

Hot on the heels of the World Endurance Championship packing up and vacating the Shanghai International Circuit in China comes the first round of the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series this weekend.

Racing at four venues across China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia over the European winter months, the series has confirmed at least twenty three entries across its LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 classes with Red River Sport with TF Sport entering one such example with an Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3.


Since leaving the chaos of being a factory driver behind him, Johnny Mowlem has gone on to form and run his own driver coaching and management company in Red River Sport which sees him take two of his customers on from national club and European racing to the bigger stage with a full season entry for him, Bonamy Grimes and Ivor Dunbar.

All accomplished multi platform drivers in their own right, each will be using the knowledge and experience that the Asian Le Mans Series will bring to help them reach their own racing aspirations - that of racing at Le Sarthe in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Of course, a class series win will provide them with an automatic GTE Am class entry for Le Mans 2019.


With both gentlemen drivers more accustomed to the Ferrari chassis in GT3 and an LMP3 Norma, all have had little time to convert their ways to that of the AMR Vantage GT3 but that selection of chassis was fully intended due to its renowned ability to comfortably but competitively drive within the restraints of an amateur driver.


The team tested their new car at both Silverstone and Snetterton before their race car was dispatched to the Far East as well as continuing their racing development aboard their own Norma LMP3 car at various race events around UK and Europe.


Full race entries for this weekends series opener are yet to be confirmed and we are sure that all will be hoping to avoid the rain of last weekend that dramatically affected the WEC race. The full car livery is also yet to be fully revealed although the headline photograph from the team gives us a better clue that what the following render does.

Photo credit - Steve Jackman / TF Sport

After the joy of claiming the overall pole position for Creventic's annual visit to the Circuit of the America's as the final round of the 2018 24H Series, came the hard work for Swiss based R-Motorsport as they embarked on their first twenty four hour race aboard one of their V12 Vantage GT3's.

Leading the way for the R-Motorsport team would be their Pro driver Marvin Kirchhofer who would for a time maintain the overall race lead in his Pro-Am class car that he would share with Andreas Baenziger, Florian Kamelger and Peter Leemhuis ahead of both Pro class Black Falcon Mercedes AMG's in close formation behind.


As with any multi-class racing with both professional and amateur drivers, the swing of the pendulum sees the position of any particular car sway in direct relationship with whose in not that car but those around them and by the endow the first quarter of the race the #620 was confidently holding station P5 in class - P11 overall.

The first real time lost was when Leemhuis spun off - first beaching himself in the gravel trap before another 45 minutes of repair were needed which was a shame the team as they had been running so well up till then. That was later compounded by the serving of time penalties for repeated exceeding track limits - an infringement that they were certainly not alone in breaking!


As with most races in the 24H Series calendar came the enforced overnight break for the teams, drivers and circuit workers with the cars stored under Parc Ferme conditions (unless the teams wanted to serve a penalty for doing so) overnight. With the change of day came a change in the weather with the warm and dry track conditions of Saturday being replaced with a colder and wet track of Sunday morning.


Fortunately for all, the track soon began to dry letting all get back to racing on slicks and by the sun was at its highest allowed Kirchhofer to get back in and set the then fastest lap of the race with a 2:07:822 - but he would go on and beat that time again later in the race.

More incident for the #620 was to follow with the team needing to replace the windscreen of the car - probably in a time not normally recommend to you by your local windscreen replacement companies but at least gave gentleman driver Leemhuis to availability to comment that these V12 Vantages were built like the proverbial brick built outbuilding of old!


As the race came to its natural conclusion, the #620 R-Motorpsort car would eventually finish the race P14 overall and P4 in class but some 50 laps down to the car in front on the final step of the Pro-Am podium.

Team bosses Florian Kamelger and Andreas Baenziger clearly had fun again in what was only the teams second 24H Series event of the year. When pressed about the likelihood of any full season return in 2019, Baenziger was at pains to point out the impending busy schedule that they would be placing upon themselves in not only the Blancpain GT Series with the all new V8 Vantage GT3 but also with their recently announced DTM commitment.

2019 for R-Motorsport is going to be something special!

Photo credits - R-Motorsport/24H Series

The rain soaked fifth round of the 208-19 World Endurance Championship from Shanghai, China yesterday proved itself to be another significant milestone in the relatively short racing life of Aston Martin Racing's new turbo charged V8 Vantage GTE after a brilliant team performance that so very nearly took both cars to the podium.

Having only debuted the car at the opening round of this new transitional WEC super-season at Spa Francorchamps back in early May, the team have gone onto to further develop and understand their new race car as well as themselves to attain their very first class pole position with it at the Fuji round last month before taking the significant step forward yesterday in claiming the top step of the GTE Pro podium at this rain affected race.

The race sure enough started under low grey cloud belching out a colossal volume of water over what was already a very wet circuit forcing Race Control to start the 6Hours of Shanghai behind the Safety Car but after even just twenty minutes or so of that proceedings were soon red flagged to allow the weather front to pass by.

Once the race resumed with 4:34:00 remaining on the clock track positions remained the same as the start with no overtaking obviously permitted behind the Safety Car - pit stop strategies, fuel consumption and tyre wear were all up the air due to the delays leaving all teams to calculate their position off the cuff.


Any chance of a competitive finish for the #90 TF Sport car came at the resumption when either a miscalculation from Yoluc or the effects of aqua planning shot the blue Vantage GTE off at the final corner and into the gravel trap - miraculously avoiding the armco barrier that would have caused significant damage to the car but the extraction of the car lost them two laps.

After another 45 minutes behind the Safety Car the race would again be red flagged (rightly) due to the non improvement in track conditions which had led to a number of other cars spinning off. The number of racing laps that had been possibly had seen the #97 rise up to P2 in class with the #95 just behind with the #98 car continuing to lead GTE Am and whilst the race was under either a red flag or Safety Car those positions weren't to change!


Another half an hour lost to the weather the race would again restart behind the Safety Car before going green with just under 3hours remaining for a final dash to the flag if Mother Nature permitted. With other GTE cars on different strategies the fuel economies of the new AMR allowed then to go further giving them a wholly justified 1-2 position on track as the Fords, BMW's and Corvette struggled with grip - only the two Porsches appeared to be a threat.

More incidents and accidents on track saw more yellow flagged sectors and/or Safety Car periods but at least the race went on and with the #97 and #95 trading places for the class lead all was appearing to look brighter (for AMR at least) despite the weather. Kudos to Maxime Martin in interview when he praised those who had turned out to the Shanghai International Circuit to watch what turned out to be a very truncated event.


With just half an hour remaining the weather appeared to be deteriorating again with visibility decreasing and rain intensity increasing. Despite that the two GTE Pro cars where in the best place (at the front) although both Porsches were starting to cut down the gap to Martin in the #97. Whether or not Martin would have bene able to manage that gap became irrelevant as a further Safety Car was dispatched due to an LMP1 connecting quite heavily with the crash barrier presenting a debris field right across the track.

By the time that that was cleared left just seven minutes of the race remaining but with both Porsches now behind the #97. The team have put it down to the differences in tyre condition that put pay to any aspirations of having two AMR's upon the podium with the #92 finally sneaking past the #97 half way around the final lap!


A completely bonkers race for all to watch but very profitable for Aston Martin Racing after having watched a similar position in Fuji get away from them as the track dried. Its all very well having a car that now appears to be very competitive in the wet but we can be assured that the team will be looking at ways of improving the cars performance in the dry as the WEC takes another elongated break before the next round at Sebring in March 2019.

With the difficulties and challenges that a new car brings the performance of the Pro cars in Shanghai will certainly leave them in a buoyant mood despite all the new car building (new version GT3 and GT4) that they have do do over the winter months.


Congratulations - you've deserved it!!

For the two GTE Am cars - Shanghai wasnt to be for either of them with the #98 car ending the race in P5 and the TF Sport car in P8 and two laps down. For them however, came the news that the Dempsey Proton team were being penalised (subject to appeal) for their alleged fuel refill transgressions losing all of their Championship points in the process.

If that situation prevails and despite the Dempsey team scoring well in Shanghai leaves the #98 car second and the TF Sport car P3 in the GTE Am Championship table.

Still all to race for in 2019!

Photo credits - AMR / TF Sport

Dipping their racing toe in the water for the second time in what is a Creventic 24H Series event this at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas proved very fruitful for the Swiss R-Motorsport team by securing overall pole position for tomorrows race.

Having gone through something of a baptism at their first 24H Series quest in Barcelona a couple of months ago, the additional tyre data and series experience was enough for the racing quartet of team bosses Florian Kamelger andAndreas Baenziger along with Peter Leemhuis and Marvin Kirchhofer to secure the overall accolade by over half a second from the more experience Black Falcon team and their Mercedes AMG GT3's.


The first half of the CoTA 24Hr race begins at 10:30Am local before continuing on the Sunday. The R-Motosport car is now the sole AMR entry in the event despite early promises.


Meanwhile and a few thousand miles further east in Shanghai, China saw the Qualifying session for the World Endurance Championship's 6Hrs of Shanghai where there was further success for another AMR customer team with the #98 Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda crew securing their first pole position of the season in the GTE Am class.

“I’m feeling proud and relieved,” said Dalla Lana, reflecting on the lap Lamy delivered late-on to clinch the team’s first pole position of the season. “Pedro really deserves the kudos, because he made the difference, but this is also the first pole for our car since this time last year. This track has always suited us and our car uses its tyres well here. Tomorrow is going to be challenging with the weather, but we are in the best position we can be going into the race!”

The first day of track action over in Shanghai has seen another confident start for those aboard the four V8 Vantage GTE's despite some very difficult track conditions.

This mornings first Free Practice saw the #90 GTE Am car from TF Sport eager to demonstrate an early benchmark finishing not just the fastest Aston Martin but the second fastest GTE car overall but still 1.8 seconds behind the class leading #81 BMW. Back in class groups the #97 car of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin ended that session in P3 with its sister #95 car of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim P9 in the now eleven strong class with the addition of a single Corvette C7R for the event.
This afternoons second Free Practice session of the day was equally productive (although track times had slowed presumably with the track conditions) by consolidating P3 and P4 in the Pro class whilst the two Am class AMR's had presumably eased off to finish the day in P4 and P8 for the TF Sport and AMR car respectively.

Tomorrow morning sees the final Free Practice session of the meeting before an all telling Qualifying session where the effects of the most recent readjustments in the GTE cars the Balance of Performance will be all telling.


The weather forecast for tomorrow appears to be dryer than today however race day on Sunday again appears to hold the distinct possibility of rain. If we cast our minds back to Fuji, the two GTE Pro cars were the pick of the bunch whilst the track remained wet loosing out only in that short window in-between wets being the preferred choice to that of slicks being the optimum. Lessons will have been learned by the team from that transitional period of the race.

At the moment things look promising - only time will tell!

Photo credits - AMR / TF Sport

Today may have seen the first customer tests with the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 at Oulton Park as the new race car reaches its final stages of development ahead of its formal homologation early next year.

With three British GT race teams being announced as holding the first batch of orders for both new platforms at the final round of the national championship back in September - two such  teams (TF Sport and Optimum Motorsport) have since gone on to announce a part driver line up for at least one of their new GT4 cars for British GT in 2019.


Academy Motorsport (the other remaining team announced to receive early examples of the new GT4) were of course also the first team to secure their team name across the side of an actual example of the new car back at Donington Park. Today we understand was theirs (and others) first on track experience of the new car with a number of potential drivers present.

Both the new GT3 and GT4 Vantage recently underwent an extensive endurance test at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France earlier this month with most of the factory teams GTE Pro driver line up. The new GT3 has already under gone a number of customer tests around the country to present the factory team and Prodrive with a very healthy order book for both platforms.


A great insight into the development of both the GT3 and GT4 cars can be found in this Dailysportscar.com piece HERE.

Photo credits - AMR /social media