Keating and TF Sport claim GTE Am Pole position at Spa WEC opener

Friday, April 30, 2021

This evening saw an incredible display of performance and incident as two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE cars locked out the front row of the GTE Am class ahead of tomorrow’s opening round of the 2021 World Endurance Championship from Spa Francorchamps.

Having all but destroyed one of their original chassis and seriously damaged another on the opening day of the events preceding Prologue Test earlier this week, TF Sport came up trumps with the #777 D’Station Racing car being rebuilt and the #33 car replaced with another chassis in time for them to take part in the test’s second and final day.

That effort from the team was rewarded in the only way possible earlier this evening with Ben Keating (who was at the wheel at the time of Mondays accident) secured class pole position by nearly a second from the #98 Northwest AMR Vantage GTE of Paul Dalla Lana who finished in P2.

Circulating around the classic 7km circuit in temperatures less than half of that from the Prologue Test, todays earlier GTE Qualifying session was interrupted twice with seperate accidents involving rivals in their class (fortunately no injuries but both cars were heavily damaged) before Keating, Dalla Lana and Satoshi Hoshino (and the remaining GTE field) had just six minutes to complete their ultimate Qualifying lap.

Despite Dalla Lana himself improving on his lap time on his final lap of the session, that was not enough to stop the American from posting purple sector times to claim his first pole in an Aston Martin.

For Hoshino however, the two breaks were enough to disrupt the flow of the Japanese Gentleman driver to have both flying lap times (after the two red flags) deleted for track limits meaning for them that they will have to start towards the rear of the grid for tomorrows six-hour race.

It’s going to be interesting tomorrow!!

Photo credits – AMR / TF Sport / WEC

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Dalla-Lana, Farfus, fraga, Fujii, Gomes, GTE Am, hoshino, Keating, Northwest, Pereira, RL, Spa, TF Sport, Vantage GTE, Watson, WEC

PROsport Racing secure Heinemann for his DTM Trophy title defence

Friday, April 30, 2021

German based PROsport Racing have completed their two-car driver line up for the 2021 DTM Trophy season this week with the signing of last year’s Champion from his Mercedes team of last year.

Having already raced with the team last season at the penultimate round of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series, 23-year-old Tim Heinemann joins PROsport team aboard one of their two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s that will be entered by them this season, in a car that he will drive alongside Patrik Matthiessen (in another) who was announced earlier this year.

Sporting the #1 aboard the car for Heinemann and #19 for Matthiessen, this season will see them compete at seven double header race weekends after their season official test from the Lausitzring at the beginning of May.

Photo credits – PROsport Racing

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, DTM Trophy, heineman, Matthiesen, Prosport Racing, Vantage GT4

Ten Aston Martins again feature in SRO's visit to CoTA

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

If this weekend isn’t already busy enough with track action back in Europe, the new trilogy of series from SRO America gets back to the track for their second round of the season from the Circuit of the America’s in Austin, Texas.

Now featuring two races per series per race weekend, Aston Martin Racing Partner and Customer teams together with their Pro-Am or Am driver crews are again in action in all of the GT World Challenge America, GT America and GT4 America races.

The Ian Lacey AMR Vantage GT3 of Frank Gannett and Drew Stavely remain the sole AMR representative in the GT3 grid that makes up the GTWC America series, this time out featuring a slightly larger grid (16 cars) than the opening round at Sonoma in early March.

That race was their first competitive time out in their brand-new AMR and with the further help of factory engineers and technicians there and during recent testing (who will again be present at the circuit this weekend) the Bronze/Silver crew are hopeful of a better performance at the fast, sweeping CoTA circuit during their two, 90-minute pit stop punctuated races.

The restoration of the GT America Series was something new for SRO at Sonoma for a series that caters only for Bronze rated drivers in both GT3 and GT4 cars for two forty-minute races over the weekend.

The AMR Vantage GT4’s of Matt Dalton (#00 Notlad Racing), Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing) and GT racing rookie Gray Newell (#25 Heart of Racing) all return for the next round of the series after a podium finish for Bell in the opening race and other ‘near’ decent results before incident and accident robbed them of that chance.

For Newell, who was new to GT4 racing this season, an improvement was evident over the last weekend as his car craft improved under the watchful eye of the teams IMSA GTD racer Ian James.

That leaves the six AMR’s that make up the thirty-seven car grid expected for the next two races of the GT4 America Series, a series that produced some surprising but deserved results at Sonoma for all bar two of the AMR teams present.

Debuting in their AMR Vantage GT4 were the Dexter bothers (Ryan and Warren) in their family run motorsport team who came through as the surprise of Sonoma having claimed a P2 overall/P1 in Silver Class finish in that weekends first race followed up with a P2 in class result in the next.

Those results were supported with a P2 finish in Pro-Am for the Bsport Racing team of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch in race 1 and a P2 in Pro-Am for Paul Terry and Brandon Davis in their WR Racing AMR in the second race. The only crews not to succeed there were the #24 Heart of Racing car of Gray Newell and Ian James as well as the #2 GMG Racing car of Jason Bell and Andrew Davis.

They will all race in two, sixty-minute pit stop punctuated races again this weekend.

We expect the results this weekend to be different again across the board, mainly because of the different circuit characteristics between that of CoTA and Sonoma although most (if not all the AMR teams) have been testing at the circuit over the past week so they should all have a decent ‘feel’ for the circuit by now.

Whilst we are not sure if public access to the circuit will be permitted, the SRO on-line streaming service is second to none and is available free for all races.

Happily, for AMR’s North America strategic partner CSJ Motorsport, they will all get to have something of a lay-in as CoTA is metaphorically just ‘down the road’ from their base in San Antonio!! 

Photo credits – SRO / Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Bsport Racing, CoTA, CSJ Motorsport, dexter Racing, GMG Racing, gt America, GT world challenge America, GT4 America, Heart of Racing, Ian lacy racing, RL, Vantage GT3, Vantage GT4, WR Racing

More Aston Martins at this weekends GT Cup from Brands Hatch

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

The second round of the GT Cup Championship comes from the Grand Prix circuit of Brands Hatch this weekend with an increased Aston Martin Racing contingent to that who featured so well at the opening round at Donington Park two weeks ago.

The #52 Deranged Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Oli Brown and Matt Lewis make a return after suffering terminal issues that scuppered their earlier pace and podium success at Donington park as well does Chris Murphy (again running solo) aboard his older generation #72 Whitebridge Motorsport ran car who enjoyed equal class success last time out.

Also running the new turbo charged version of the Vantage GT4 like Deranged, sees both the #82 Feathers Motorsport Aston of James Guess and Darren Turner as well as the #15 Century Motorsport Aston of David Holloway and Adam Hatfield return to the tracks having secured four class podium positions between them.

Joining them on track this time around is the #47 Ultimate Speed AMR Vantage GT3 of Mike Brown and Matt Anderson as they get their latest race car out for the first time for a mixed bunch of GT Cup and British GT action. This weekend features just two pit stop punctuated races as it was due to run in support of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series that moved its race date in Kent back to the summer.

Unfortunately running again behind closed doors, the Championship has already proven that its live stream is very effective.

Photo credits – GT Cup / Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, brands hatch, Brown, Century Motorsport, deranged, Feathers Motorsport, gt cup, Guess, Hatfield, Holloway, lewis, Manderson, Turner, Ultimate Speed, Vantage GT3, Vantage GT4, Whitebridge

High-fives all round at TF Sport

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Following in the footsteps of the Aston Martin Racing factory team who in 2018 looked racing adversity in the eye with a destroyed new AMR Vantage GTE of their own at that years Le Mans 24Hr Test Day, last night saw TF Sport face up to similar issues after a literal damaging opening day of the 2021 World Endurance Championship Prologue.

With barely double-digit laps clocked aboard both their #33 and #777 AMR Vantage GTE’s in the opening test session of yesterday, saw both cars suffer similar resulting front end accident after heavy impacts of their own with the tyre wall on the outside of Raidillon at the Spa Francorchamps.

The cause of the #777 D’Station Racing incident for Satoshi Hoshino was later attributed to a rear puncture whilst the #33 car of Ben Keating suffered no obvious mechanical issue immediately before the American lost control but whilst the cars were damaged, it was very fortunate that the drivers were not!

Either way, the team was left with two cars with significant damage. Whilst the #777 was repairable at the circuit – the #33 was a write off (at least with the facilities available to them at the circuit anyway) so the teams ELMS chassis was freighted in overnight from their base in the UK as well as a significant volume of spares from the AMR factory at Banbury.

The result of their collective efforts was to get two near fully liveried cars back into the second and final day of the Prologue for that vital test mileage ahead of Saturdays opening race of the season with the #33 car ended third quickest in todays morning session and then fastest of all in the GTE Am class by the end of the day. The #777 car also improved their morning session times to finish just behind the #98 Northwest car of Paul Dalla Lana, Augusto Farfus and Marcos Gomes in the mid table of the class.

Another remarkable collective achievement from all the guys and girls involved both in Belgium and in the UK.

Take a bow and the applause – you deserve it!

Photo credits - AMR / TF Sport / Spa / WEC

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, D'Station racing, fraga, Fujii, GTE Am, hoshino, Keating, Pereira, Prologue, RL, Spa, Vantage GTE, Watson, WEC

AMR Vantage GTE hunts fresh glory in WEC

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Three Aston Martin Vantage GTEs will compete for FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) GTE AM honours as D’station Racing, NorthWest AMR and TF Sport all vie to give the car its first world title in the class when the 2021 series begins at Spa-Francorchamps, in Belgium, on Saturday.

The Vantage GTE, powered by a version of the four-litre, twin-turbo-charged V8 engine found in the road car from which it derives, was all-conquering in the WEC GTE Pro category during the 2019/2020 season. Recording five wins from eight races, including both Pro and Am classes at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car took Aston Martin to the FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Championship title and carried Danish duo Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen to the drivers’ crown.

It also helped TF Sport come within a hair’s breadth of winning the GTE AM crown, as the Le Mans class winners and long-time Aston Martin Racing partners finished runners up in the championship with four class victories – the most of any team. This year TF Sport aims to go one higher with a new driver line-up and a fresh resolve as GTE Am race-winner Ben Keating (USA) joins the squad along with co-drivers Dylan Pereira (LUX) and Felipe Fraga (BRA).

The last driver to win the GTE Am world championship with Aston Martin, Paul Dalla Lana (CDN) – in 2017 – also returns with his Vantage GTE, this time with his own team NorthWest AMR. Dalla Lana, embarking on his eighth season of WEC, is the most experienced Aston Martin driver in the field, and the most decorated having won 16 class victories during his stint with the works team. He is joined by two-time Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winner and Intercontinental champion Augusto Farfus (BRA), and the 2020 Asian Le Mans Series champion Marcos Gomes (BRA).

TF Sport will also play an assisting role in D’station Racing’s first full foray into WEC, as the Japanese team enters a Vantage GTE for the first time at world level. No stranger to the famous wings – D’station leads the Super Taikyu Championship in Japan with its GT3 variant of Vantage – Satoshi Hoshino (JPN) is joined by regular co-driver Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) and rising British GT star Andrew Watson.

David King, President of Aston Martin Racing, said: “The Vantage GTE set the standard in FIA WEC last season, ensuring that Aston Martin is the reigning FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Champion. The car was equally competitive in the GTE Am class, and only missed out on the title at the last round. This year our aspirations lie in the hands of our world class partner teams, and I am confident they will be front runners in a very competitive class.”

The WEC will be contested over six rounds in 2021, beginning with the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 1 May. New rounds in Portugal (8 Hours of Portimão) on 13 June, and Italy (6 Hours of Monza), follow before the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place on its non-traditional date of 21-22 August. The championship then concludes with the 6 Hours of Fuji, in Japan on 26 September, and finally the 8 Hours of Bahrain on 20 November.

The WEC action begins on 26-27 April with the official two day Prologue test, also at Spa. Free practice for the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will begin at 1530 CET on Thursday, 29 April, with the race taking place from 1330 CET on Saturday, 1 May.

Source material - AMR

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, D'Station racing, Dalla-Lana, Farfus, fraga, Fujii, Gomes, hoshino, Keating, Le Mans, Pereira, Prologue, Spa, TF Sport, Vantage GTE, Watson, WEC

Just waiting for racing in Asia to get going

Monday, April 26, 2021

A pivotable moment for the new Motorsports Services AMR Asia (MSAA) team was delivered to their Zhuhai facility in China last week ahead of an exciting programme of racing that is hoped to be announced soon.

Receiving the first 2019 variant of Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 into China last week, it didn’t take the Weiron Tan lead team long to get their latest acquisition on track for a brief shakedown run around the Zhuhai circuit.

Strategic partners for Aston Martin Racing in the Asia theatre (like CSJ Motorsport are in the USA), it is hoped that the new team will make inroads into series like the Asian Le Mans Series, GT World Challenge Asia and the China GT Championships from their bases in China and Malaysia. The dual facilities are designed to lessen the impact with travel in and out of China due to CV-19.

Announcements for this new AMR Vantage GT3 are expected for events as early as next month.

Photo credits - MSAA

Labels: Asian Le Mans Series, Aston Martin Racing, BSEM, ChinaGT, GT World Challenge Asia, msaa, RL, Vantage GT3, zhuhai

TF Sport face big challenge ahead of WEC opener after Prologue crashes (UPDATED)

Monday, April 26, 2021

Despite the fine sunshine and warm Ardennes temperatures, the first day back at the World Endurance Championship office from Spa Francorchamps this morning has sadly proven to be something painful and busy one for one Aston Martin Racing team as early accident damage to both of their race cars saw them both side-lined with damage.

Having kicked of the day with the customary tracking photographic shots around the 7km circuit prior to the first testing session of this week’s Prologue Test, both TF Sport supported AMR Vantage GTE cars suffered near identical accidents at near identical section of circuit (coming out of Eau Rouge and up into Raidillon) which brought out the red flags and ended their own days running each with substantial front-end damage apiece.

Fortunately for those involved, both drivers Ben Keating aboard the #33 car and Satoshi Hoshino aboard the #777 D’Station Racing car each manage to remove themselves from their cars and into the medical car unaided before a quick check over at the circuit’s Medical Centre allowed them to return to the team for a debrief. The causation of each incident is as yet unclear.

Both cars had only completed 18 laps each before their accidents with leaves the team now facing an early late night to facilitate the required repairs although TF Sport are still yet to confirm the extent of damage (and required repairs) to either car so as yet, we do not know if either are expected to take part in tomorrow’s final day of the Prologue.

The #98 Northwest AMR car of Paul Dalla Lana, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga meanwhile took stock of the misfortunes being suffered by their stablemate team to get in the testing mileage at a reduced rate of knots that they needed to achieve in time for Saturday’s race. Over the day, the car completed nearly 100 laps!!

Tuesday is again scheduled to have a morning and afternoon test session before the start of more formal track sessions connected with this weekend’s opening race begin on Thursday. Time is tight for TF Sport if either car does have structural damage but, as we have seen before with the factory team at Le Mans, where there is a will – there is a way!!

UPDATE:

The team has now confirmed that the #33 car is not repairable at the circuit and have they therefore made arrangements for their ELMS AMR Vantage GTE to be brought over from their base in West Sussex overnight so that car should be ready in time for some running during tomorrows sessions.

The #777 D'Station car is less badly damaged and will be repaired overnight and completed once more spares are delivered from the Prodrive factory which should again be overnight.

Photo credits – AMR / TF Sport / WEC / Spa

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Dalla-Lana, Farfus, fraga, Fujii, Gomes, GTE Am, hoshino, Keating, Northwest, Pereira, Prologue, Spa, TF Sport, Vantage GTE, Watson, WEC

Three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE's for Season 9 of WEC

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Six weeks and another continent later, it appears as that Season 9 of the World Endurance Championship will finally get under way next week from Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.

Originally intended as starting in the second week of March at Sebring, Florida saw the FIA Championship move its opening round and its preceding Prologue (Official Test) from the USA To Portimao in Portugal only to have further national and international effects of COVID-19 strike again with the Championship then having to move onto Spa (its original second round) for next weekend opening race with its Prologue Test due Monday/Tuesday of next week.

With teams, cars and drivers now assembling at the historic racetrack in the Ardennes area of Belgium, it appears that all will now proceed – all with the now customary but essential PCR CV-19 screening protocols now firmly in place of course.

For this season of the WEC, there will be no Aston Martin Racing factory effort to defend their 2020 crown in GTE Pro with the cars from Banbury missing for the first time in the history of the WEC – a sad but unfortunately necessary reflection of the arena in which it and its parent company find themselves at this moment in time.

Despite that (and from what could have been far worse a situation) Season 9 sees three AMR Vantage GTE’s take to the track as full season efforts – all in the GTE Am class – two supported by TF Sport and another in pseudo guise for the previously factory supported effort for Paul Dalla Lana who now races under the Northwest AMR team name.

Indeed, the Canadian was the last to name his pairing drivers aboard his #98 car only two weeks ago as Augusto Farfus makes a return to the team (having raced with then periodically last season) as well as newcomer to the team and GTE platform Marco Gomes.

They will race against the two stablemate cars from the TF Sport team who this season support efforts from the Japanese D’Station Racing team who enter the WEC in an AMR for the first time in their #777 car with Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Andrew Watson as well as the extremely experienced and talented crew within the #33 car – a car that features Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga.

Not seen collectively aboard their cars to date, next week’s two-day Prologue test will give many of the drivers their first taste of the Spa circuit as well as the latest iteration of the Vantage GTE ahead of next weekend’s opening race of the season. The Prologue will also be used by race organisers to lock in the classes respective Balance of Performance requirements ahead of the race.

Whilst all of this is good news indeed, the worst is of course that all of this will again be conducted from behind closed doors as Europe struggles again with rising infection rates from the pandemic.

It’s just great to see them all back for another year of great multi-class endurance racing.

Photo credits - AMR / Eat my Pixels

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, D'Station racing, Dalla-Lana, Farfus, fraga, Fujii, Gomes, GTE Am, hoshino, Keating, Northwest, Pereira, Prologue, TF Sport, Vantage GTE, Watson, WEC

PROsport Racing take class win in drama filled 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard

Sunday, April 25, 2021

If Team Brit had to endure a little bit of drama in order to secure their podium finish at Silverstone yesterday, the #401 PROsport Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 had to endure significantly more along their route to another podium finish at the latest round of the 24H Series.

Moved to the Paul Ricard in the south of France as another COVID-19 related precaution, the #410 car would feature a slightly new line up behind the wheel as team ‘resident Pro’ Nico Verdonck would share the car with two of his Gentleman driver clients in Rodrique Gillion and newcomer Kurt Hensen who we believe was racing for the first time?

Issues for the German based team started before Qualifying as collision damage from an as yet unidentified GT3 left the team rebuilding their race car, missing Qualifying in the process so they would have to start Saturday’s race from the pit lane.

Then during the race, and as their immediate GT4 class rivals (ST Racing) also suffered engine related issues, the #401 suffered from turbo charger related issues themselves that, although fixable one the engine had cooled enough, would lose them significant track time.

Eventually able to return to the circuit before the end of the 12 hours, the #401 claimed their first class win of the season that leaves them in P2 after three rounds. Next stop Hockenheim towards the end of May.

Photo credits – PROsport / 24H Series

Labels: 24H Series, Aston Martin Racing, Gillion, hensen, hockenheim, Paul Ricard, Prosport Racing, RL, Vantage GT4, verdonck

Team Brit secure podium finish at opening round of Britcar Endurance

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Congratulations to the #68 Team Brit pairing of Aaron Morgan and Bobby Trundley who yesterday secured their first podium finish of their 2021 season at the opening round of the Britcar Endurance Championships around the shorter International circuit variation at Silverstone.

On a tight one day schedule and having had something of an adventurous opening race yesterday where they got spun around whilst competing for third in class, the crew came back from a long Safety Car interrupted second hour long race of the day to finish P2 in class with their specially adapted, dual controlled Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

A speedy young pair and despite that spin in race one, the #68 crew still finished first ahead of the other two AMR Vantage GT4 cars from both Whitebridge Motorsports and Triple M Automotive in both of the day’s races.

The Britcar Endurance Championships moves onto Round 2 at Snetterton on May 8th.

Photo credits – Britcar / Team Brit

Labels: albutt, Aston Martin Racing, Britcar, Morgan, Murphy, Silverstone, Team Brit, triple M Automative, Trundley, Vantage GT4, Whitebridge

Britcar out on track at Silverstone with three old school Vantages

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Well not for the first time and probably not for the last time either, we have got this weekend’s racing calendar wrong again as the 24H Series event at Paul Ricard is not the only event featuring an Aston Martin Racing Customer team within it as this weekend’s opening round of the Britcar Endurance Championship from Silverstone features no less than three customer AMR Vantage GT4’s.

All the older normally aspirated model of the Vantage GT4, Saturday’s two one-hour races will see entries from Triple M Automotive for Dale Albutt and Mark Albutt aboard their #38 machine, Bobby Trundley and Aaron Morgan aboard their #68 Team Brit car and finally Chris Murphy keeping himself busy along with his GT Cup commitments in his #72 Whitebridge car.

Thanks to Steve Jackman at Eat my Pixels, we have seen these cars on track at Silverstone earlier this month as their took up an early opportunity to circulate at the circuit during their pre-season official test day.

The race meeting itself will be conducted around the International circuit at Silverstone which incorporates the Wing pit lane, around Village, back onto the Hanger Straight through Stowe and finally in and out of Club.

Photo credits – Eat my Pixels / GT Cup

Labels: albutt, Aston Martin Racing, Britcar, Morgan, Murphy, RL, Silverstone, Trundley, Vantage GT4, Whitebridge

PROsport Racing represent AMR at 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard (Updated)

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

After last weekend’s extremely busy race calendar, this weekend thankfully reverts back to something more sedate as just one event (as far as we are aware) will take place this weekend that features an Aston Martin Racing Vantage from a Customer or Partner Team.

(We were proved wrong there with three AMR GT4's competing at Round 1 of the Britcar Endurance Championship from Silverstone)

Already having had to reschedule their third round of their calendar from Spa Francorchamps down to the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France due to local COVID-19 restrictions, the 24H Series will feature a twenty-five car mixed GT and TCR class grid for its twelve hour event this weekend.

Within that grid will again feature the #401 PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 car of Nico Verdonck and (this time) two of his Gentleman driver clients and countrymen in Rodrique Gillion along with relative newcomer Kurt Hensen.

Whereas Gillion has been racing in this series and others with Verdonck for some time now, Hensen is a fresh name to the Verdonck ‘academy’ so it will be interesting to see how he fares at such a fast, sweeping circuit like Ricard amongst the multiple class grid.

Unofficial practice is available to the teams starting tomorrow (Thursday) before Qualifying and night practice on Friday before the start of the race at 10:00hrs local on Saturday.

Photo credits – 24H Series / Verdonck

Labels: 24H Series, Aston Martin Racing, Gillion, hensen, Paul Ricard, Prosport Performance, Vantage GT4, verdonck

Tentative steps for Hartshorne in Spain as he looks to the future in GTE class racing

Monday, April 19, 2021

TF Sport’s return to the European Le Mans Series at the weekend marked itself as another new chapter for both the West Sussex based team and their latest Gentleman driver client as each looked to replicate their previous successes in GT racing.

Having raced in the then top-flight of European GT racing nearly two decades earlier, John Hartshorne had his birthday date to mark his return in today’s top-flight of GT racing in Europe with the TF Sport prepared Aston Martin Racing AMR Vantage GTE that he would share with Ollie Hancock and Ross Gunn.

No stranger to racing in modern GT3 machinery with most recent efforts in both the GT Open and the Asian Le Mans Series in a Ferrari 488 GT3 and AMR Vantage GT3 respectively earlier this year, it is still something of a very steep learning curve for the team’s new bronze driver as they only received their factory converted AMR Vantage GT3 from the Prodrive factory in time to conduct a private two day test at the Circuit de Catalunya the week before the Official Prologue Test the week before Sundays opening race.

Whereas AMR factory driver Gunn is obviously well versed with the characteristics of the new turbo charged GTE race car, to have then both your bronze and silver ranked drivers in the same bracket of class/car inexperience was always going to place the #95 crew on the back foot compared with their class opponents and Sunday’s results were a fair reflection of that.

With an entry also already accepted into the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans for the team and crew, what mattered most to them in Spain was to ascertain a progressive learning curve in understanding and performance in time for the revised LM24 date in August that gives the team only the next two rounds of the ELMS at both the Red Bull Ring and at Paul Ricard to finely fettle everything before Hartshorne makes a return to the Circuit de La Sarthe.

Looking at earlier Free Practice session times from Barcelona where Hartshorne was some five seconds a lap slower than his nearest Bronze rival, to then go on to post his fastest lap of the meeting during his actual race stint (effectively halving that gap) proved that his progress has already started with similar lap time improvement seen from Hancock as he too gets to know the ‘feeling’ of the GTE iteration of the AMR platform.

Qualifying P5 in class thanks to Gunn, the #95 car eventually went on to finish P8 overall in class.

The next round of the Series is at the Red Bull Ring, Austria on the 16th May.

Photo credits – ELMS / TF Sport

Labels: Asian Le Mans Series, Aston Martin Racing, Barcelona, ELMS, GT Open, Gunn, Hancock, Hartshorne, Le Mans, Red Bull Ring, TF Sport, Vantage GTE

Keating and TF Sport claim GTE Am Pole position at Spa WEC opener

PROsport Racing secure Heinemann for his DTM Trophy title defence

Ten Aston Martins again feature in SRO's visit to CoTA

More Aston Martins at this weekends GT Cup from Brands Hatch

High-fives all round at TF Sport

AMR Vantage GTE hunts fresh glory in WEC

Just waiting for racing in Asia to get going

TF Sport face big challenge ahead of WEC opener after Prologue crashes (UPDATED)

Three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE's for Season 9 of WEC

PROsport Racing take class win in drama filled 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard

Team Brit secure podium finish at opening round of Britcar Endurance

Britcar out on track at Silverstone with three old school Vantages

PROsport Racing represent AMR at 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard (Updated)

Tentative steps for Hartshorne in Spain as he looks to the future in GTE class racing

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