Brands Hatch will be the place to be at this weekend if it is quantity of Aston Martin Racing cars that you are after with the GT4 European Series racing holding their second event of the year as the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe only starts theirs.

With all being well, that equates to about nine AMR Vantage race cars being at the Kent circuit in both GT3 and GT4 form as teams like R-Motorsport, Academy, Street Art Racing, PROsport Performance and Generation AMR SuperRacing go abut their business in the SRO sanction series.

Having morphed from the former Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup, this World Challenge Europe opener will feature a grid of 26 cars with two new generation Vantage GT3's being entered by the Swiss based R-Motorsport team with help from their Jota and Arden Partners. Using the cars that the team also race in the main Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, only one driver in Marvin Krchhofer makes the jump with the team from the Endurance Cup leaving new drivers Hugo de Sadeleer, Aaro Vainio and Ricky Collard to make their series debut with the team around the full 3.9km Grand Prix circuit.


Vainio and de Sadeleer will compete aboard the #62 car in the Silver Cup class whilst the young Collard and Kirchhofer go for glory in the Pro class aboard the #76 car.

With two Free Practice sessions and Qualifying taking place on Saturday, both one hour races will takes place either side of lunch on Sunday.


Joining the two AMR Vantage GT3's will be the seven AMR Vantage GT4's that are contesting the 2019 GT4 European Series for their second event of the season after their two race opener at Monza earlier this month.

Six of these cars will be the new 2019 version as raced by Belgium team Street Art Racing, German based PROsport Performance and UK based Academy Motorsport. The remainder will be the 2016 specification car from Generation AMR SuperRacing that will again race in the INV class due to its non homologated status - we believe that this will be the last time that drivers Matt George and James Holder will race this car before later acquiring one of the new 2019 models for the third round of the series.


PROsport Performance will have had a busy time repairing and maintaining their two cars after have them race at the opening round of the German ADAC GT4 Series last weekend from Oschersleben - an event where their #18 car sustained serious front end damage in the opening laps of race 1 when a tyre failed at a critical moment. Fortunately the driver Florian Thoma, who is also due to race at Brands Hatch, was not seriously injured although the car was unable to contest the second race of that event.

Also, we hope that the #7 Street Art Racing car has also been successfully repaired after its sizeable collision at the opening round at Monza when it was collected by an out of control KTM X Bow going into the first chicane after the pit stop. For the teams other car, Monza was very productive having scooped two podiums in the Am Class for drivers Clement Seyler and Pascal Bachmann.


That leaves the two new Vantage GT4's of Worcester based Academy Motorsport who will rock up to their 'home' circuit of Brands Hatch in confidence after two good opening rounds in Italy. A few repairs have been needed to the #62 Will Moore/Matt Cowley car after Moore experienced a dramatic off in the second race of the opening round of the British GT Championship two weeks ago but thankfully hitting a tyre wall at Oulton Park, the damage shouldn't have been too severe. Their sister #61 car of Tom Wood and Fiona James also enjoyed two good opening races despite the treacherous conditions which leaves then in P10 in the Pro Am table.

There is still very much everything to race for!!

The schedule for Brands Hatch is available HERE

Photo credits - GT4 European / Blancpain

If the 'difficulties' of the opening two races on Saturday within the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany weren't bad enough for PROsport Performance (racing as PROpeak Performance) to contend with, then the results of Sunday's second round of races really told everyone that Sunday wasn't to be their day either!

In Saturday's earlier ADAC GT4 race, their pole setting #18 car of Florian Thoma suffered a puncture at the most critical time, mid flow around a fast chicane that spun his car out and heavily into the tyre barrier causing some significant damage to the front of his Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4. Then, just after the resulting Safety Car period needed to clear up the debris of that incident the teams sister #19 car of Joerg Viebahn spun his car out into retirement after becoming beached in a gravel trap.


For the Vantage GT3 side of the garage things faired no better in their GT Masters opener as a technical issue stopped the #98 car of Valentin Hasse-Clot on the start/finish line just a lap before the end whilst the #99 car of Maxime Martin (despite finishing P10) was later excluded from the result on a technical issue at post race tech.

Sunday it should have been better for the team and despite the track being very wet during the two morning Qualifying sessions at least three of their cars would be on track. The #18 car would be sadly missing from the second GT4 race due to the front end damage being too severe to repair at the circuit despite six additional engineers being on hand from Prodrive in support of the team as part of their Partner status.


GT4's were again out first and this time it was the turn of the young Joonas Lappalainen to get his first racing laps within the car (having missed out on Saturday due to its early retirement) and he did well to qualify the car in P5.

This time, keeping his car out of trouble on the frantic opening laps he still was able to race those around him he was eventually able to pass the car back to his co-driver Viebahn at the half way mark who (having calmed his own driving mannerisms down a little from Saturday) brought the car home in P8 for some valuable points. Great job!


With the two GT3 cars, it was much the same as Saturday with each car never really being to bother those around them in terms of ultimate speed - whether that was due to a collective issue or BoP or something we just don't know yet and despite this, the #99 again qualified ahead of the #98 car in P16 and P24 respectively.

With the track now having dried from the days earlier ran during Qualifying at least the race would start and finish in dry conditions avoiding the drama of the final six minutes of Saturdays race. Unfortunately that didn't give either Vantage GT3 an advantage throughout the 60 minute plus one lap race as both cars would eventually cross the line in the same order but down in P14 and P19 places. That was better than Saturday but ...........................


After the race sadly came similar news of Saturday with that both Vantage GT3 cars would again be excluded from the results for what the team described as 'previously unexplained technical irregularities that were not compatible with the regulations'. Clearly there are a few technical issues to be sorted by the team with the race organisers and Aston Martin Racing in order to prevent any repetition of this as well as working out just how performance issues can be sorted within both platforms of the car.

For the two Vantage GT4 cars - they will be back out again racing at the second round of the GT4 European Series at Brands Hatch this coming weekend whilst the GT3 will out at the next round of the ADAC GT Masters at Most in the Czech Republic in about three weeks time.

Photo credits - ADAC GT Masters / PROpeak Performance

It came down to the very final lap of the second round of the race weekend as the International GT Open Championship got underway at the glorious Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France.
Ultimately, despite his best efforts, Ollie Wilkinson could not deny his rival the victory Sunday afternoon, but nonetheless, it was a sensational performance from the British racer and his more experienced teammate Bradley Ellis in the all new #96 Aston Martin Vantage. An impressive second position bodes well in what was has been a very positive start to the 2019 campaign.

“It’s been a very strong performance from the both of the drivers and the team as a whole,” stated Team Principal Shaun Goff. “It’s a little disappointing to lose the lead on the last lap with what was a bit of an ambitious move. Ollie did a good job to avoid contact. But we need to look at the bigger picture and that we are very competitive in the GT Open championship and that allows us to be optimistic for the rest of the season.

“Ollie in particular drove a great second race. He moved forward brilliantly, capitalising on mistakes of the others and applying pressure whilst making none of his own; he continues to come on leaps and bounds. Perhaps the first race we could have been stronger, but it has been a great start to the season at Paul Ricard.”


Following a fine podium performance last weekend as the British GT Championship got underway at Oulton Park, the Optimum Motorsport crew arrived at Paul Ricard for the new GT Open season confident of a strong showing.

The race weekend got off to a bit of a soggy start on Friday with little meaningful running in the opening practice session. Time lost in the second session due to a splitter issue on the #96 Aston Martin cost Optimum Motorsport additional track time. This made the first race on Saturday afternoon tough from eighth position on the grid, but a good recovery drive from Ollie and Bradley to finish sixth paved the way for Sunday’s big push.

Bradley qualified the car Sunday morning, gaining lap time as the session progressed before his penultimate lap have him a time good for fourth position on the grid. The start of the one-hour race saw action aplenty at the first turn and a subsequent safety car. As the race settled down, Bradley was on the move, maintaining the class position but moving up the overall order and by lap ten, three-seconds covered the pack in the Pro-Am class.

Bradley pitted from seventh overall, fourth in class towards the end of the pitstop window with Ollie returning to the circuit in same position. With 25 minutes of racing remaining, Ollie found himself in an intense four-way battle for the class lead.



With two rivals running wide disputing second position, Ollie seized the opportunity to move third and this soon became the race lead as Valentin Pierburg faltered exiting the final turn on lap 20.
Ollie pounced into turn one and took the lead with a decisive pass. Into the final minutes, Ollie ran at the front, but a last lap pass from the #19 of Jiatong Liang on the very final lap denied team the victory.


Optimum Motorsport now prepare for rounds three and four of the British GT Championship which take place in 18-19 May at Snetterton.


Source material - Optimum Motorsport

Swapping over to the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 platform and hiring some very impressive driving ability was certainly a message of intent from German based Prosport Performance as they took the British marque into the top flight of German GT racing for 2019 but it was to be no fairytale for the team at the end of todays opening race.

As the cars were lined up along the pit wall ready for the formation lap and the start of todays opening one hour race it was already a little bit more than just a red flag interrupting the earlier Qualifying session that would hinder both #98 and #99 cars as the race progressed.


With Daniel Keilwitz and Hugo de Sadeleer starting the #99 and #98 cars from P15 and P20 on the grid respectively, neither were able to positively adjust their track positions in the opening stint of the race as, despite an obvious power differential, the fast, sweeping but narrow circuit left things very difficult to overtake with machinery so technologically similar.

At the halfway mark both cars pitted for their minimum time pit stops but by when both cars had swapped to both Maxime Martin (#99) and Valentin Hasse-Clot (#98) and the remainder of the field had also completed theirs the #99 car had risen to P12 and the #98 P20!!!


This little degree of progression doesn't mean that there was little in the way of good racing - which there was - particularly with Hasse- Clot battling with Lucas Luhr for position just as the expected rain finally began to fall onto the circuit with only six minutes remaining.

For Hasse-Clot, that was bad news as he would spin around on track loosing further positions before ultimately stopping on the finish line with some technical issue just as the leaders were taking the chequered flag. For Martin in the #99 car, he would take the flag and in P10 which was testament to his race craft in the wet conditions whilst on slicks.


Then, later comes news that the #99 car has been excluded from the results due to a technical infringement concerning the cars fire extinguisher at post race scrutineering.

So- including their GT4 side of operations and two races they were rewarded with three DNF's and an exclusion  for all their effort - it can't get any worse so tomorrow is simply another day and the character of a team is always determined in just how they respond to adversity such as this.

Onwards and upwards then guys!!

Photo credit - ADAC GT Masters 

For the German based team PROsport Performance, today must figure as one of their most difficult in all the years that they have been racing with a four car entries in to two series giving absolutely nothing back despite early promises.

Earlier today the teams two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's qualified for the first race of the opening round of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series at Oschersleben with the team's Florian Thoma claiming pole in teams #18 car. Its sister #19 car by Joerg Viebahn would start Saturdays one hour race from P5 so all looked promising but then came the start of the race!


At the start both cars soon found themselves being overtaken into the first corner - each dropping at least two places to their starting position. In his haste to recover their situation in what was his first race with the team, the #19 car of Viebahn was seen to connect with the rear of at least two other cars going into corners on the same (second) lap and that earned him a black and white driving standards flag from Race Control.

Just moments later the #18 car of Thoma is seen entering the chiccane on the far side of the circuit to the pits - hitting the right hander kerb hard before trying to turn left only for the car only to snap away from him and pirouette heavily into the tyre wall opposite. With significant front end damage to the car that was their race already done and that was only seven minutes into a one hour race. The partially removed rear off side tyre seemed to give clues as to the cause.


With the car stranded on the outside of what is a fast corner, a Safety Car was quickly called to control the field as medical crews were dispatched to chack upon a clearly shaken and bruised Thoma and for the remnants of his #18 car to be recovered.

That Safety Car period lasted for just over ten minutes during which the #19 was holding P7 despite his early brush with the race officials. Then the worst imaginable happened to the team.

On the first lap of the restart and with still over 41 minutes remaining, the #19 was seen to place its outer wheels off the track surface before attempting to make the next left hand corner - the result was seeing the car loose adhesion at the rear and spin off into the gravel trap where another Safety Car period would be required to recover the car.


Both cars out in under twenty minutes of racing is something no team wants to see. The team have already had a busy schedule of testing and racing up to today - GT4 European Series at Monza and two 24h Series races at Mugello and Spa. Fixing the #18 car will keep them busy overnight but at least tomorrow is another day and it can't exactly get any worse.

The only way is up tomorrow for Prosport Performance in ADAC GT4 Germany!

Photo credits - ADAC GT4

Like so many races around the historic Nordschelife circuit, the weather plays a significant part in determining the outcome of such events and todays VLN3 race was no different.

Whereas the previous round of the series earlier this month never really got started due to lingering fog and unexpected snow falling around the circuit,  todays ADAC ACAS H&R Cup started under heavy clouds that soon started to deposit their large volume of precipitation around the circuit just as the cars assembled on the grids for the start of the four race.


For Aston Martin there were no championship standings to go chasing after - rather than just getting their selection of drivers through the event so that they then qualify for their full VLN Permit and to settle some other drivers in to the mannerism's of the new V8 turbo charged AMR Vantage GT4 all ahead of the full ADAC Zurich 24H race in mid June.

Going for their permits were again Martin Brundle and Alex West who would this time be joined by Aston Martin's High Performance Test Driver and Garage 59 driver Chris Goodwin, whereas already qualified for that qualification - Jamie Chadwick, Peter Cate and Christian Gebhardt would drive the new Vantage GT4 around the Green Hell for the first time in competition.


Despite the deluge of rain that fell onto the circuit during the first hour and whilst many of other cars were systematically crashing out of the race, cool heads within the two AMR Vantage GT4's cars kept them on the tarmac but unfortunately for the #134 AMR Performance Centre Vantage GT8 of Marco Muller and Tony Richards, they became victim to their own tail end damage to their car that would prove end their race early.

Cycling through their require nine racing laps apiece, the #150 AMR Development Centre supported Vantage GT4, the trio of age old experienced drivers also came through to win the SP8 class by over 11 seconds to their only other class finishing rival. Not a bad achievement considering the atrocious conditions.


For the trio aboard the new Vantage GT4, racing in the different class of SP8T because of its turbo charged engine, they were to finish P5 in class and leaves things comfortably placed ready for the Qualifying race in just three weeks time.

Photo credits - Social media

Very nearly twelve months have now passed and yet we are only now approaching the penultimate round of this 2018-19 transitional 'Super-season' of the World Endurance Championship from Spa Francorchamps in Belgium this coming weekend.

This race date shall also represent the first anniversary of the competitive launch of the new generation Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE and what a year it has been too for the latest, now turbo charged AMR race car to come out of the Prodrive factory. Having entered its first race at this corresponding race last year - mechanically reliable and steady yet slower than hoped against its competitors from Porsche, Ford and Ferrari both cars went on to finish only narrowly off the podium at the first time of asking.


Next came all the pressures of its first 24 hours of Le Mans in only its second ever event with the car going on to again show off again its reliability and more simplistic running maintenance regime to secure some morevaluable points there, through to a 'character building' home event later in the year than usual at Silverstone before embarking on its first wave of overseas racing where shipping was now the preferred mode of transportation. That initially took the WEC to the Far East where in the intervening period Aston Martin Racing worked hard to improve their own 'game from within' and were rewarded with the cars first ever pole position at Fuji through to going one better next time out in Shanghai to wins its first WEC event in albeit a weather affected race.

Mid March this year saw the WEC take to the bumpy circuit of Sebring in the USA where a good result looked a distinct possibility before untimely intervention from other competitors saw both GTE Pro cars hobbled for the remainder of the race. With the race cars now finally back at the factory there remains little time to refresh each car to be ready for the first track action of the seventh round of the season that starts in just five days time although the team have been out a couple of times testing at both at Spa and Portimao with a spare chassis that they have.


Driver line ups are adjusted again within the two Pro cars with the #95 again resorting to just Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim having enjoyed the company of Darren Turner at Sebring. The #97 car of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn remains the same despite Jonny Adam now not being listed as driving in the TF Sport #90 GTE Am car either. We we visited the TF Sport team in April, team boss Tom Ferrier was hopeful that Adam would again be made available to them so we will need to find out just what exactly has changed since then.

From a mathematical point of view, the GT FIA WEC Drivers title remain open for at least the #95 car although it would really need the Porsche team (amongst others) to face something of a points disaster at Spa to take things to the wire at Le Mans. The Manufacturers title almost has Porsche written upon it already!


Finally in the realms of the GTE Pro classes comes the news that all Pro cars will be mandated to run fuel flow meters as from the Le Mans 24 test but 'recommended' at Spa! Full details can be found within this piece from Dailysportscar.com

In GTE Am things remain a little closer despite one team having been stripped of all points for the four races up to Fuji but two great results for one of their cars has that scrabbling at the heels of the two AMR GTE Am cars that presently lie in 3rd and 4th in the FIA Endurance Trophy title race.


Two bad races (not necessarily on their part) for the factory team supported #98 car of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda and the #90 TF Sport car of the (for Spa) Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and a returning Euan Hankey sees them both lose a championship place each to the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 figure 34 and 35 points respectively behind the Championship leading Project 1 Porsche so unless either Aston can get infront of that car again next weekend will determine the championship possibilities for the class at Le Mans in June.


Lets remember, the GTE Am race winning battle at Spa 2018 was very much between AMR supported #98 and the #90 TF Sport car that went down to the final sprint down to the line from the final corner - a sprint that the #98 won by just 0.2 of a second!!

Photo credits - Adrenal Media (from Sebring)

After having the second round of the VLN Series snowed off earlier this month, round three takes place this weekend and features names already announced by Aston Martin Racing as featuring in this years factory plans for the forthcoming ADAC Zurich 24H race later in June.

As part of the two car factory supported GT4 entry effort into the big race sees that likes of newly recruited AMR Junior driver Jamie Chadwick pairing up once again with the Nordschleife guru that is Peter Cate in an AMR Performance Centre prepared Vantage GT4 in the SP8T class. They will be joined this weekend by both Chris Goodwin and Christian Gebhardt in the #156 car.


Also competing at the VLN3 event on Saturday will see the return of both Martin Brundle and Alex West aboard the #150 AMR Performance Centre GT4 in the SP8 class as both of these drivers make their way to a full GT3 Nordschleife Permit in time for June. Both drivers missed out on the weather effected VLN2 by virtue of their prior commitments in both F1 and Blancpain GT respectively.

Rounding off the trio of cars sees the return of both Marco Muller and Tony Richards again in the Vantage GT8 that they (with others) shall also race at the N24.


The ADAC GT Masters Series finally gets under this weekend from the 3.6km circuit at Oschersleben in central Germany.

Two AMR Vantage GT3's from the PROsport Performance team will be entered into the series and will compete under the PROpeak Performance banner. Their four driver line up will consist of AMR Factory driver Maxime Martin with Daniel Keilwitz as well as drivers new to the series in Hugo de Sadeleer and Valentin Hasse-Clot for their two opening races on Saturday and Sunday.


That series in in turn supported by the ADAC GT4 Germany series within which again we will see see the PROpeak Performance team enter two AMR Vantage GT4's as a third stage to a hectic schedule of GT4 racing of theirs in this and the GT4 European Series and 24H Series as well.


Drivers Florian Thoma pairs with Jeremy Lesoudier and Joonas Lappalainen pairs with Joerg Viebahn.


The International GT Open Championship opens its 2019 account this weekend with the first of a series of seven double header weekends starting at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.

Returning to the Championship will again be the Optimum Motorsport pairing of Ollie Wilkinson and Bradley Ellis this time in their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 that they raced so will in at the opening rounds of the British GT Championship from Oulton Park last weekend finishing with a P3 overall podium in race 1.


The duo have already tested at the circuit at the official winter test there back in February but that was early doors for them having only just received the car from the Prodrive factory. Despite that, they still finished seventh quickest at the end of the first day of testing.


After an emphatic win at the opening five hour endurance round from Suzuka, Japanese based D'Station AMR Racing return to the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series for its second round from the Sugo Circuit in the north of the country.


Local drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tsubasa Kondo are once again due to be joined by AMR factory driver Darren Turner for the shorter three hour race aboard the teams #777 AMR Vantage GT3 (ST-X) class car on Sunday.

Thats another hectic schedule of #TeamAMR racing from around the world - good luck to you all!

Photo credits - AMR / D'Station AMR / Optimum / Prosport

It was great to read today that amongst the fifty strong provisional entry list to this years Road to Le Mans race at the Circuit de Le Sarthe includes potentially three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3's.

As a full season Le Mans Cup entry, the #99 Beechdean AMR car of Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn of course get an automatic entry in the 24Hours of Le Mans support race as that race forms part of their six race series - a series that started earlier this month at Le Castellet and will end at Portimao in October.


Speculation has now been confirmed that in another car will be the 2018 British GT GT3 Champion Flick Haigh aboard, this time a platform supplied and maintained by the TF Sport team. Haigh competed last year in the British GT Championship alongside AMR factory driver Jonny Adam in the old Optimum V12 Vantage GT3.

What we still don't know is the identity of her co-driver and which iteration of the Vantage GT3 she will be driving as it was first stated that she wanted to drive her V12 Vantage at the holy grail of endurance racing for the final time but we can be assured that her co-driver will be someone we know and is someone who is very quick!


Finally but unfortunately still on the reserve list is an entry from Optimum Motorsport for their V8 Vantage GT3 of Ollie Wilkinson and John Gaw of Aston Martin Racing. With Wilkinson already busy in both the British GT Championship and the International GT Open Series, this will be an event that AMR will be keen to get their new young client involved in as a progressive step to their GTE platform in the coming years.


The Road to Le Mans will feature two 55 minute races - on on the Thursday evening and the other immediately before the start of the 24Hr of Le Mans itself.


UPDATE


As its turned following yesterdays entry announcement that again under the watchful instruction of Jonny Adam, Flick Haigh and the TF Sport crew went up to the Anglesey Circuit yesterday to test aboard Mark Farmer's AMR Vantage GT3 following the first rounds of the British GT Championship at the weekend.





Photo credits - Le Mans Cup / Optimum / Anglesey Circuit

Little over three hours after the opening race of the season came round two of the British GT Championship from Oulton Park, and being a split race format this time it was the turn of the professional drivers to start the one hour sprint race.

After not having much luck in the first race was AMR factory driver Nicki Thiim's chance to shine in the race as the highest placed Aston Martin in P6 with the #2 machine he shares with Mark Farmer. Plowman was the highest placed AMR GT4 crew and after their P2 podium in race 1 they would have to endure the effect of an additional five second mandatory pit time success penalty - likewise with the #96 Optimum GT3 of Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson.


Another clean rolling start and opening laps for the thirty four car field but again that didn't last that long as a Mercedes GT4 was soon tagged and dispatched to the gravel trap bringing out another early and elongated Safety Car period which in some ways dampened the expectations of the race again. Indeed, ten minutes were lost to that but the trouble with Safety Cars is that they usually only breed further accidents and incident as and when the field is eventually released.

That scenario very quickly came to haunt the #95 TF Sport car of Josh Price who, in tangling with the #42 BMW earned himself some bodywork damage as well as a later 30 second stop and hold penalty for causing a collision. That was their race ran even before it had really started.


For the second race it was still obviously apparent that the McLaren 570s's had the legs over the Astons with the Woking produced cars way out in front followed by the Astons at the rear with the two Ford Mustangs and sole Jaguar somewhere in the middle but despite that, at least the class was giving us some good racing action whereas the GT3 class had gone somewhat stale again with plenty of good racing but little to no overtaking around the tight, twisty and undulating track. Like their smaller GT4 cars, the new Vantage GT3 was clearly done on power or at least top end speed.

Just as the #96 Optimum car decided to pit early for Ellis to swap back over to Wilkinson did things really start going wrong for #TeamAMR. In the midst of something like an eight car GT4 train (all fighting for position of course) came the #62 Academy car of Will Moore who in making only the slightest of contact with the rear of one of the McLaren's coming out of T1 did his silver and black car spin violently off the circuit at high speed to ultimately make heavy sideways contact with (thankfully) into the tyre wall. That impact ended both his and Alex Both-Jones' race on the spot and fortunately for Moore he was at least able to exit the car unaided. Speaking with team boss Matt Nichol-Jones later, he confirmed that the car 'should' be OK for the GT4 European Series races at Brands Hatch in two weeks time.


Watching on TV as the #95 TF Sport GT4 car served their earlier penalty did we see the final stages of the #2 TF Sports car's pit stop with Thiim swapping positions with Farmer having made no progression from his P5 position behind. Unfortunately for all and only a matter of a few hundred metres later did Farmers weekend go from bad to worse as he spun out his car onto the outside of Casacdes in what would have been a potential podium position before becoming beached between the track and the grass on the opposite side of the track trying to recover his position. Unable to move under its own power or with marshal power assistance was another Safety Car called by Race Control. When interviewed afterwards - Thiim was clearly awash with frustration about what had happened.

That Safety Car would cost the race a further fifteen minutes to clear.


First with Marco Sorensen and then later with Andrew Howard behind the wheel of the #99 Beechdean AMR GT3, did events on track work in their favour as they edged their way up to P5 overall. Whilst this time the #95 TF Sport GT4 served a penalty for speeding in the pit lane did an Aston finally get a break of fortune.  Firstly, having only just overtaken the #99 Beechdean for position did Rick Parfitt Jnr then crash his Bentley into the barrier before then a sure podium runner - the RAM Racing Mercedes AMG go wide and onto the grass at Cascades which in turn elevated Howard up to a P3 position with just eight minutes remaining. At last - a chance of something good happening and being the experienced racer that he is, that was something that Howard wasn't going to relinquish without a fight.

At that moment in time that would have been an awesome result for the Beechdean team as their GT4 #11 car was also still holding P3 in GT4 and actively competing for more with the McLaren and Ford ahead but alas that was not to be.


Almost as the final nails in what had been until then something of a average to bad race event for the eleven AMR runners did we see within the same screenshot glimpses of both Graham Davidson spinning off in his #47 TF Sport GT3 at Cascades and crashing heavily into the padded Arco section on the infield section leading to the hairpin as well as the #11 Beechdean GT4 car recovering itself back to the circuit having also spun out. Driver error apparently on the part of the #47 driver and back marker problems reported for the #11.

For Howard and Sorensen it was simply a case of their perseverance paying off (with a little piece of fortune) to collect their first podium of the season having managed to fend off the chasing #72 Lamborghini until the chequered flag.


Beyond that there was nothing to show for all the efforts of the Academy, TF Sport and Optimum teams - nothing more than repairing some of the damage sustained at the meeting and moving on to build upon the positives. Both platforms are clearly down on ultimate pace compared with the more established marques but also silly mistakes were being made - mistakes that, by the time the penalty was served, all but destroyed the race for the offending party.


Whilst it is good to see that the Vantage GT3 and GT4 can pick up some good results, better results will only come about with more instilled discipline and control (with a little redressing of the Balance of Performance between the cars as well perhaps) and that is what we hope that we will see more off in Norfolk in four weeks time.

Photo credits - Steve Jackman / Jacob Ebrey