As eastern Australia prepares to wake itself for a second day at Mount Panorama and the opening round of the 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge Series from Bathurst, just one more Free Practice session lays ahead of the now thirty eight car entry before Qualifying starts later Saturday afternoon and the the Top 10 Shoot out later into the evening.

Four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3's with thirteen drivers split between the R-Motorsport and Garage 59 teams, they spent all of yesterday preparing their cars and themselves for the tasks ahead around what is one of the most picturesque yet equally demanding circuits anywhere in the world - certainly one of best according to Garage 59's Alex West.


Four sessions where available yesterday amounting to 3hrs 20mins of available track time though some time was lost due to the recovery of cars 'taking themselves out' over the the top of the mountain whilst others, like the #62 R-Motorsport car suffered from prolonged technical issues that saw the Ollie Caldwell/Luca Ghiotto/Marvin Kirchhofer car run no competitive laps over the opening two sessions.

Thankfully, their ailments were soon resolved to let their two debutants get their first taste of the Bathurst circuit after which saw most of the AMR drivers enter times within the top half of the collective timing screen over the remaining sessions.


Last years R-Motorsport sensation Jake Dennis ended the day being the quickest AMR driver in P12 overall with a lap time of 2:05:5601 with Garage 59's silver rated driver Andrew Watson next up in his #159 car with a lap time of 2:06:7143 but all of these times are still over four seconds slower than last years pole setting time - so there is still a long way to go.

Being a twelve hour endurance race some would question the worthiness of a decent qualifying position towards the front of the grid but we must remember that the race starts in total darkness and along a totally unlit circuit. Most incidences tend to happen at the start whilst cars are at their closest, tyres at their coldest and the track its greenest (on race day at least).


Then we have heard talk of substantial rain being forecasted for race day (bizarre as that may sound for an area blighted with severe drought and wild fires and on a circuit that has also recently been resurfaced with little subsequent rainfall to follow to wash away all those slippery oils from the tarmac surface!

At least there will now be live TV streaming (free outside of Australia we believe) for all Qualifying sessions on Saturday and the race in full on Sunday.

Photo credits - Bathurst 12hr

At the time of posting this piece, only a couple of hours (Australian time) remains before the first track session of the Bathurst 12hrs and the first round of the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge from Mount Panorama in the east of Australia.

Over the course of Thursday, the thirty nine cars spread across GT3, GT4 and Invitational classes took their now customary leisurely drive down from the circuit to the town of Bathurst to meet the locals and the many thousands of converging race fans ahead of the more formal track activities that lead into the start of the race proper on Sunday morning.


Four new turbo charged Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3's grace the grid this year having not been able to compete at last years event due to the ruleset demanding only race cars with homologation papers at least a year old and as the new Vantage platform wasn't formally homologated under March 2019, that meant that R-Motorsport had to make do with the older, normally aspirated version. Of course by saying 'making do' means that they still damn near won the race overall had it not been for a pesky Porsche!!!

This year, Swiss based R-Motorsport bring two such machines to Australia this year for a full two car attack on Class A Pro for drivers Jake Dennis, Scott Dixon and Rick Kelly aboard their #76 car and Marvin Kirchhofer, Oliver Caldwell and Luca Ghiotto aboard the #62 car. Dixon and Kelly both need no introduction as multiple Indycar and V8 Supercar race and Championship winners respectively whilst Ghiotto and Caldwell have their first real GT3 experience around one of the toughest permanent public road circuits about.


Garage 59 also commit to the series as a full season entry as well as with two of their AMR Vantage GT3's for this event. As published only a day or so ago, team co-owner Alex West described his race intentions to us by confirming just why they had employed the driving talents of AMR WEC driver Maxime Martin alongside their existing three driver line up of them plus Chris Goodwin and Come Ledogar as they look to take the Class A Pro-Am race win by storm. They will be complemented by their Class A Silver #159 car of Andrew Watson, Roman de Angelis and Oliver Hart who all (along with Martin from the #188 car) debut at the circuit this weekend. Obviously, both Watson and de Angelis will be hoping of something better after their respective AMR Vantage GTD's suffered early race ending damage at last weekends Rolex 24.


Four Free Practice sessions lay ahead of the teams today (Friday) before a fifth session on Saturday morning ahead of Qualifying and the Top 10 shootout later in the afternoon. Race itself starts very early at 05:45hrs local (GMT + 11hours).

We were originally hoping for five such beasts as the IGTC grid is this weekend being supported with cars from the Australian GT Endurance Championship - looks like we will have to wait a few more weeks for the Australian GT debut of the Tony Quinn Vantage GT3!

Cant wait............!!!

Photo credits - IGTC / Castrol

Situated within an Aston Martin dealership in a side street of central Paris tonight saw Beechdean AMR become the latest team to confirm a 2020 British GT campaign with an all new silver-silver driver line up aboard their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3.

First put out there by team boss Andrew Howard back at the Brands Hatch round of the domestic GT Championship last year, saw a commitment being made by Howard and his race team to investment more in future racing talent having just obtained the racing services of a young Frenchman who had been unceremoniously cast aside by another team in Central Europe earlier in the year.


Bravely electing not to continue with the co-driver services of AMR World Endurance Championship factory driver Marco Sorensen after his mammoth accident at last years Le Mans 24, Howard took Valentin Hasse-Clot under his wing for a two race introduction in the finale of last seasons British GT Championship at both Brands Hatch and Donington Park - a process that clearly grabbed the eye of both Howard and others within the AMR family as to his potential to make him a swift sign up for 2020.

At this time, Howard also spoke of the fact that the next Beechdean AMR car may or may not even have himself aboard it as he turns to a more business arrangement for himself within his own team rather than taking it as a given for his presence aboard a car the bears his company name - that is very much the case in tonights announcement.


Stepping up from last year's endeavours see's Alex Toth-Jones change from Academy Motorsport and their new AMR Vantage GT4 to Beechdean and the larger, more powerful GT3 platform for an all Silver rated driver attack on the Silver Cup - a title won last years by Optimum Motorsport and their AMR Vantage GT3.

Part of the AMR Drivers Academy intake of last year, Toth-Jones will have presumably impressed those back at the factory during that driver development process enough , together with his performances during his 2019 British GT GT4 campaign for Beechdean to have the confidence in him to step up to GT3 racing.


The British GT 2020 season again starts on its customary Easter Bank Holiday weekend up at the Oulton Park circuit over the 11-13th April. Media Day is at Snetterton at the beginning of March and somewhere in between will be plenty of test mileage!!

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey 

With the start of the European 2020 season not that far away, there still seems to be a number of Aston Martin Racing teams still offering seats aboard their AMR Vantage GT3 and GT4 machinery in a number of potential series.

These are just a few that we have picked up in from the public domain, which could be more interesting now to the right driver have had Aston Martin Racing just recently confirm another - albeit this time restricted intake for the 2020 Drivers Academy.

With just under six days ahead of the start to the 2020 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12Hours sees the Garage 59 announce a bold step forward in their attempt to win the Pro-Am class aboard their #188 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3.

Having only last week confirmed their first full season participation in the International GT Challenge  Series that the Bathurst event is now the first round of, Garage 59 and Aston Martin Racing today confirmed that Belgium factory driver Maxime Martin would now be joining Alex West, Chris Goodwin and Come Ledogar as a late addition to the #188 car.


We asked why this may have come about and a certain 'little bird' directly connected with the team confirmed that it was a simple case of driver times and how that differed between Pro and Am driver ratios aboard the car.

We were told that in a car with one Pro and two Am drivers, the Pro is limited to a maximum drive time of just 280 minutes whereas two Pro's with two Ams in the same car, each Pro has a maximum drive time of 240 minutes each - that's a total of 480 minutes against 280 minutes. Simple mathematics on drive time which maximises the chances of overall class victory.


The teams second entry the #159 Silver car was last week confirmed to include Andrew Watson and Roman de Angelis together with so far little known Dutch historic and most lately GT4 European Series racer, Oliver Hart. The former two are now en route to the New South Wales circuit after their endeavours at this weekends IMSA Rolex 24 with Aston Martin Racing and Heart of Racing.

With the start of the race beginning in the early hours of Sunday morning, first track action begins Friday morning for the non Platinum/Gold rated drivers .

Photo credits - AMR / Garage 59

Success can be measured in many ways but succeeding in taking the chequered flag at the end of this weekends opening round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship at the Rolex 24 from Daytona was sadly not one of them for the two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD runners.

Looking at the positives though for this race, we were blessed with the appearance of not one but two examples of the new turbo charged variant of AMR GT3 race platform for the first time in an event that has been seriously lacking in the Aston Martin front since those heady days of the TRG-AMR entries with 2020 hopefully being a stepping stone with a full season entry to a return to GTLM or even another destination for Hyper-car with other news from the track this week.


Long time AMR customer, Paul Dalla Lana was first to confirm his ambition in taking one of these new race cars over to Florida to again race in an event that has so far eluded him whilst racing in both Aston Martins and Ferrari's but his dream took a blow just before the Roar Official Test when an ankle injury kept him away from both the test and subsequently the race.

Then we had confirmation that AMR had secured their first full season GTD entry in the form of the Heart of Racing team returning to the series whilst continuing with the Seattle Children's Hospital fundraising cause so going into this weekends event looked positive.


Dialling in a new car car to the Championship around a very bespoke race track that Daytona International Speedway is took its time especially after five of the eight allotted drivers across both the #23 Heart of Racing and #98 Northwest cars had never driven the car in competition.

With the race starting under gloriously clear Floridian skies yesterday afternoon, both cars would be starting the Rolex 24 behind one another with the #98 of Mathias Lauda starting P12 having pipped Ian James in the #23 car, starting P13 during Fridays Qualifying.


As with the start of Fridays Michelin Pilot Challenge, the start of the Rolex 24 was a very orderly affair with only the mildest of bumping and bashing going on within the midfield of the low thirty eight number starting grid during the opening laps.

Whilst the AMR managed #98 Northwest car quickly cycled through its four drivers during the opening stints to give each early track time, Heart of Racing preferred to run multiple stints for the starting James and subsequent Roman de Angelis was the remainder of the daylight hours diminished.


With a stronger, more experienced driver line up of Pedro Lamy, Andrew Watson and Ross Gunn joining Lauda in the #98 car, it wasn't long before that car started to progress up the class timing board to as high as P3 on track as some points. The #23 car meanwhile would strangely not be able to cast itself away from the bottom end of the class despite their averse lap times not being too dis-similar to that of the #98.

Daytona debuting drivers Gunn and (late call up) Watson both drove extra-ordinary opening stints in the race - each going around the outside of the same Acura GTD to recover its P3 position on track after their full service stop. By the time the sunshine gave way to night, both AMR cars were running comfortably in P6 for the #98 and P16 in class for the #23 by the end of the four hour mark.

Then came trouble........................

Coming up toward the end of only the fifth hour of racing Alex Riberas, now aboard the #23 car strangely collided heavily with the rear of the #47 Lamborghini with their momentum sending both cars spinning across the infield grass section to the front of pit lane. Full Course Caution!


As the rescue crews reached the scene and attended to Riberas (who was evidently unharmed although high on adrenalin at the time) it was clear that the damage to the Heart of Racing car was extensive and their continuation within the race was somewhat unlikely. Twenty five minutes later when the track went back to green all we knew at the time was that Riberas had fortunately been declared well by the Championship medical team.

As Race Control delivered their 'incident responsibility' report with a penalty of s stop and 60 second hold for the #23 car for its part on the collision (if the car was to return to the track) we then heard from John Gaw of AMR that the #98 car was also harbouring an internal issue that was puzzling the team. That news was only just ahead of the Heart of Racing team team confirming the early retirement of the #23 car with damage specifics not being able to be repaired at the circuit.


That just left one more AMR gun in the barrel and for the next hour or so, all appeared well despite this apparent issue until the about the quarter race distance mark!!

With Lamy now at the wheel, a Corvette GTLM had just come past the Portuguese driver on the inside of the banking at the finish line and towards turn 1 but then moved over onto Lamy's line and that resulted in slight side to side contact between the two that sent both cars spinning. Flat spotting all tyres as well as suffering secondary contact with the Corvette during the spin, both cars were at least able to recover themselves back to pit lane for service and repair.


Having completed the work necessary, AMR swapped out Lamy for Gunn who went on to make the simplest yet most damaging of mistakes on his way out of pit lane. Understeering on cold, fresh rubber Gunn pushed the car too hard coming out of pit lane and struck the immoveable concrete barrier to his right sustaining yet further damage. When he came back to pit lane, the car was sent immediately back to the teams paddock area for repairs - mainly to the front end but also to the rear right quarter.

Without being aware of the specifics of the damage and despite the valiant efforts of both the AMR and Heart of Racing mechanics the damage was adjudged to be too significant to repair to make the continued race effort viable or indeed necessary. From postings on his social media, Gunn has taken full public responsibility for the incident that he described as 'thoroughly embarrassing and disgusting' but we all know that he is just in a long line of drivers to make that mistake and many more will do the same in the future!


That, unfortunately was about that for both Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD's with still nearly seventeen hours on the clock.

Whilst that is a simple statement of fact, like we said at the start is that success can be measured in many ways.


Firstly - welcome to the IMSA Championship Heart of Racing and their AMR Vantage GTD, the damage will get repaired and results will come their way (like they have with many teams already across Europe) as your knowledge and experience with the car develops.

Secondly - all the drivers (except for Nicki Thiim who never actually got to drive the car in the race) have boosted their own knowledge and experience that will go onto benefit them somewhere/sometime in an AMR - like both Watson and De Angelis at Bathurst 12hrs next weekend maybe?!

Finally (but not limited to of course), we have heard the news that despite their early race finish, Heart of Racing have raised over $100,000.00 at the Daytona circuit this weekend alone and that is an incredible achievement in its own right.


Next stop for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship is Sebring in March. Things will be just as exciting there (hopefully not as damaging of course) but the #TeamAMR family will be even larger and stronger with the World Endurance Championship crews also being there.

Photo credits - AMR / IMSA / Heart of Racing

Monday 27th January 2020 should see the 'green light' being lit for TF Sports charitable auction for many items motor racing regalia all in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Like the post originally put out by the team last week, the joy of sight is something that many of us take for granted.


"The biggest sense we need in Motorsport is sight. Without it, we could not compete. These dogs do amazing work with people who are unfortunate enough not to have vision, not only do they help with day to day life but they provide companionship. We at TF Sport really want to support this amazing and important charity" was quoted team boss Tom Ferrier within that piece.

Memorabilia, clothing and other 'Nik-naks' gathered by the team and drivers over the course of their season of British GT , Blancpain GT Endurance, FIA Games and WEC are all items with provenance and now up for sale to the highest bidder in aid of much needed funds that will allow this charity to continue its important work.


TF Sport eBay listings

Individual ten day listings will be posted throughout the week so keep an eye on the teams social media channels with the above link a shortcut to their eBaypage Home once it becomes operational.

Many thanks for any help that can be extended to this cause.

Photo credit - Spa24 TF Sport

Yesterdays opening salvo into the 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge proved itself to be yet another exciting four hours of inter-twined GT4 and TCR class racing around the banked and infield track of the Daytona International Speedway.

Having seen Aston Martin Racing international debut their then brand new V8 Vantage GT4 with the Florida based Automatic Racing team at last years event, 2020's event saw four such cars take to the track as well as featuring two brand new AMR Customer teams to boot.


Automatic Racing fielded two such cars this year with their #99 car of Kris Wilson and Gary Ferrera being supported by the return of Rob Ecklin Jnr, Brandon Kidd and Ramin Abdolvahabi aboard the #09 car but it was only immediately prior to the Roar Official test two weeks ago did we learn of two existing Michelin Pilot Challenge crews swapping over to the AMR platform in the form of Cameron Racing and more recently, Kohr Motorsport. That news brought the Michelin Pilot Challenge AMR headcount up to four cars

Limited track/testing time for these two new teams prior to race day yesterday obviously didn't have too much of an impact upon their individual performances as both were the more dominant Astons throughout the four hour BMW Endurance Challenge.


Having Qualified in P4 yesterday, the #60 Kohr Motorsport car of Nate Stacey made early inroads through those in front on the opening laps of the race, quickly moving up to P2 and taking the early fastest lap in the process holding that position until he was pressurised into outbraking himself going into the bus stop where he lost himself four places as a result of going wide.

For Stacey and his co driver Kyle Marcelli, there had only been enough time for a quick shakedown test and general familiarisation with their new car as having only received it at about the time of the Roar. As Marcelli explained, they have a rough idea of what it could do but not how to fine fettle it to be able to extract every last drop of performance out of it turbo charged V8 engine. Generally, these new AMR drivers were very please with their CSJ Motorsport supplied machinery.


During the opening phase of the race, the other three AMR's also made steady progress up the leader board from their starting positions before a stray tyre carcass laying just off track coming out of the bus stop compelled many GS runners to pit early - fearing a Full Course Caution that eventually never came.

For those AMR cars with just two drivers (that was all except for the #09 Automatic crew with three), that stop meant for a double stint for their amateur driver, a stint that was soon interrupted just after the first hour mark with the first actual Full Course Caution as an Audi GS car spun out and collected a TCR car as it returned to the track facing the wrong way. Miraculously, the spinning Audi had only just overtaken the Invisible Glass #99 Automatic car of Ferrera before his mishap was to unfold but luckily Ferrera was on the other side of the track.


Again being able to pit (under caution), that again put the teams strategists on the spot to work out how minimum driver times would work out and where that would leave them out on track but that, of course is the beauty of endurance GT racing!

Losing about fifteen minutes to that caution period another would soon follow just after the halfway point and that at least allowed those teams who had yet had a driver change to swap over from their starting drivers to get their Pro's aboard for the first time.


Greg Liefooghe was now in the #43 Cameron Racing car and he quickly became the driver moving up the timing screen the most as he closed down of Marcelli who was now aboard the #60 Kohr Motorsport car in P6 and it wasn't too long before the new stable mates were running in succession to one another. Kris Wilson, now aboard the #99 was also doing his 'special' in also slowly lifting his yellow and blue liveried car up the order board to P12 before his fuel tank ran dry and forced him to pit.

As the race clock hit the three hour mark all the lead group of GS cars had just one splash and dash stop to make before the end and with all bar Marcelli elected to stop with about 35 minutes remaining. He however decided to stay out and try and make up some ground on the now clear track in front as only the introduction of another Caution period would ruin that idea and the few laps where the #60 car actually lead the race overall must have felt good for all concerned.


With just twenty five minutes remaining, the top half of the leader board had now all pitted for the last time, that left a clear sprint to the flag with both the Kohr and Cameron car still in a position of opportunity in P6 and P7 behind the leading gaggle of Mercedes AMG GT4's.

That opportunity however quickly spiralled into nothing as the Ford Mustang of Scott Maxwell was to be involved in a very sizeable accident at it clipped the front of Brandon Kidd's #09 Autotmatic Racing car just as the cars entered the braking area for the bus stop. Turning the Ford sideways across the front of the Stoner Care Care AMR, the #19 car would violently career into the tyre/concrete wall on the infield spinning and flipping it over round onto its roof.


Going immediately to Full Course Caution as rescue crews raced to the scene with all eyes of concern into that of the welfare of the driver, there seemed little chance of the race resuming considering time needed to extract the driver from the wreckage and repairs to the tyre wall. Thankfully, it wasn't many minutes before Maxwell was seen standing with medics and rescue crews before being taken away to the circuits medical centre for assessment.

That was unfortunately that as far as the race itself was concerned as, with only two minutes remaining, the waved final lap flag was shown to the field with barrier repairs still to be completed.


That meant, that the #60 Kohr Motorsport car of Nate Stacey and Kyle Marcelli, they would complete near seamless lights to flag front run in their Aston Martin eventually finishing P5 overall at the first time of asking. They were followed by the #43 Cameron Racing car of Ari Balogh and Greg Liefooghe not too far behind in P7 - an incredible achievement for both teams considering their unfamiliarity with the car prior to the event.

The two Automatic crews would also both finish - not as high as they may have liked but considering the bumping and grinding of being in the midfield they all did a good job with no obvious significant performance issues to dial out for the next round at Sebring next month.


As for the Series in general - 2020 appears to be another 'corker' to watch over the season and maybe - just maybe an AMR will come out on top??

Photo credits - IMSA / Kohr / Cameron / Automatic / Lagunas Photo / CSJ Motorsport

Garage 59 will take on the mighty Mount Panorama Circuit in New South Wales, Australia, next week, kicking off the team’s first full season in the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The team will run the #188 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Pro-Am class throughout 2020 with the proven driver line-up of Alexander West, Chris Goodwin and Côme Ledogar.

For next week’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour the team has also entered a second Vantage for a Silver class driver line-up. Garage 59 regular Andrew Watson will be joined in the #159 Vantage by two drivers new to Garage 59, Olivier Hart and Roman De Angelis.


Dutchman, Olivier Hart is best known for his mastery of historic racing cars and has taken some significant wins in some very special, very high-powered cars. A career highlight came at the 2018 Goodwood Revival when Olivier, along with his father, David, won the headline event – the RAC TT Celebration – in their 1963 AC Cobra. Olivier also topped off a great weekend by winning the second part of the St Mary’s Trophy race.

In 2019, Roman De Angelis became the first driver in history to win both the US and Canadian Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Championships. The Canadian racer started out in go karts at nine years-old and never looked back, progressing through the ranks before making his car racing debut in F1600 in 2016, taking five wins and a ‘Rookie of the Year’ title. Alongside his Porsche campaigns he won on his prototype debut at Daytona, winning the IMSA Prototype Challenge race during the Roar weekend in 2018. He will race an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for the Heart of Racing team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2020.


“As a team we enjoyed the Intercontinental GT Challenge races that we competed in last year so it was an easy decision for us to commit to the full season in 2020,” said team principal, Andrew Kirkaldy. “We think our driver line-ups are strong and we have a season of experience with the Vantage under our belts now so we are more than ready for the challenge that lies ahead of us.”

The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour has seen some incredible action over the past few years and has become one of the top international endurance events for GT cars so the team is excited to debut its pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s against some of the world’s top GT teams.

Both Garage 59 Aston Martins will run in Class A, which is divided into three sub-classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Silver. The #188 Vantage will run in Pro-Am and the #159 will run in the Silver class.


Of the #188 crew, just Chris Goodwin is a Bathurst rookie. Alexander West made his debut there in 2018 and Ledogar made his Mount Panorama in 2017, taking a class podium.

In the #159 Vantage, Watson has the most experience after making his debut in 2016, whilst De Angelis and Hart are rookies.

“Bathurst is my favourite track in the world,” said Watson. “It has a great layout with lots of undulation and the people there really make it an incredible event. Starting the race in darkness and watching the sunrise is amazing. I’ve been quick there in the past and the Vantage GT3 should be well suited to the circuit so I can’t wait to get out there and challenge for a podium with my new teammates.”


The first practice session for the Bathurst 12 Hour gets underway at 08:40 local time on Friday 31 January. Qualifying starts on Saturday 1 February at 12:40 local time and the Bathurst 12 Hour starts at 05:45 local time on Sunday 2 February (which is 18:45 on Saturday 1 February in the UK). The full race and all of the Qualifying sessions will be shown live online at www.intercontinentalgtchallenge.com and on SRO’s YouTube channel ‘GT World’.

Source material - Garage 59

Tomorrow afternoon sees the start of the 2020 IMSA season as the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series kicks things off at the Daytona International Speedway with their opening precursor to the Rolex 24 with their four hour BMW Endurance Challenge.

With four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's now entered into both the race and expectedly full season, three of these four crews arrived at the circuit earlier this week with little to no prior running in their new race car and zero miles around the banked and infield layout of the Florida circuit.

Local team, Automatic Racing sat out the first of the Free Practice sessions to formally launch their second AMR Vantage and its drivers of the #09 car in Rob Ecklin, Brandon Kidd and Ramin Abdolvahabi and they will join up with Kris Wilson and Gary Ferrera who will drive the #99 car.


Recently revealed teams Cameron Racing and Kohr Motorsports are both teams who have recently transferred from BMW M4 and Ford Mustang chassis respectively with both running proven driver pairings.

Indeed it has been the most recently confirmed team - Kohr and their drivers Nate Stacey and Kyle Marcelli who have been pushing the hardest to be the highest placed Vantage GT4 crew after this mornings Qualifying session for tomorrows race finishing an incredible P4, just one second behind the pole setting McLaren 570s from AWA.


The remaining cars qualified P21 #09 Automatic; P27 #43 Cameron Racing car of Greg Liefooghe and Ari Balogh with the #99 Automatic car starting from P29 out of the 33 GT class field.

In the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship, the two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD cars from the Northwest entered, AMR supported #98 crew and the #23 Heart of Racing car have also both been taking early track proceedings very steadily ahead of this evenings Qualifying session. The mixed track conditions persuaded many to sit sessions out today preferring to concentrate on pit lane procedures and strategies.


The charity fund raising Heart of Racing team with drivers Roman de Angelis, Alex Riberas, Ian James and Nicki Thiim  taking just as much attention to raising those critical funds for their Seattle Children's Hospital charity to their track activity, they were just out pipped by the crew of the #98 AMR car in Qualifying tonight meaning that both AMR GTD's will start next to each other in class in P12 and P13 respectively.

Unnervingly, both AMR's were an incredible 1.8 seconds behind the ultimate pace of the GTD pole setting Porsche although we must remember that for the #23 car, this is their first racing experience of the new Vantage whilst the #98 car didn't complete that many laps having missed half the available track time at the Roar two weeks ago so both crews have been very much still upon a learning curve.


Then - there are no prizes or points for Qualifying position and it's who takes the chequered flag first that counts. Heres to the new season.

Photo credits  - AMR / Automatic / Cameron Racing / Kohr