The 2021 motor racing season started with continuing restrictions in track attendance and travel and it sadly looks like it will see out the year that way as well as the last two major GT series of the year suffer further effects of the continuing global situation.

Whilst we were not expecting to see any Aston Martin Racing powered teams there, yesterday should have seen the entry list published for the fourth and final round (having already been scaled back for the same reason) of the Intercontinental GT Challenge next weekend from Kyalami in South Africa. 

Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 team Racing Spirit of Leman yesterday become the latest team in a (hopefully) long line of many to confirm a new pathway for next season along with Aston Martin Racing as their supplier of choice for an extended 2022 season expected to consist of both the FFSA GT4 Series in France and the GT4 European Series wider afield with the AMR Vantage GT4.

Having already taken delivery of one of their two new AMR Vantage GT4’s at the start of the month, it was straight into winter testing for the Swiss based team with a two-day test at Le Castellet alongside another new AMR convertee in GPA Racing and the now established AGS Events Racing team with their four Aston’s between them.

Today’s news from TF Sport regarding their Pro-Am Class Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry in January’s 24H Series Dubai 24hr now places names behind three of the so far four Aston Martin’s presently listed upon the race’s provisional entry list.

Long term Creventic series racers in the UAE based Moutran brothers sees them re-joining forces Charlie Eastwood as well as experienced GT3 racer Sam De Haan, making for a potent force within the GT3 Pro-Am class which presently stands at twelve cars.

 

Creventic regulars, Duel Racing, have teamed up with UK-based TF Sport, to compete in the 2022 Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai GT3 Pro-Am class, in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Brothers Ramzi, Nabil and Sami Moutran will be joined by Charlie Eastwood and silver-graded Sam De Haan. Eastwood previously tackled the 24 Hours of Dubai with the UAE-based brothers, where they claimed victory in the 991 Cup class in 2019.

Just one weekend after announcing their transition from Ginetta Junior racing through to GT4 racing in the British GT Championship next season had Josh Miller and R Racing up at Donington Park today sampling something of what was to come.

With the help of TF Sport and the temporary loan of what was Connor O’Brien and Patrick Kibble’s 2020 entered Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4, had Miller get some early mileage in with his new chosen stead all under the watchful eye of Phil Glew and Matt George.

Having spoken with the team, this test with TF Sport was something of a matter of convenience and information learning curve as the R Racing team develop their early knowledge of the AMR GT4 platform prior to their new chassis arriving over the winter.

Still no news on a co-driver!

Photo credits – Team social media

With the street circuit lined Armco barrier being as unforgiving as usual, the 68th running of the Macau Grand Prix was just as a bruising affair at it usually is for the nineteen strong entry that competed in the Sands China Macau GT Cup races at the weekend.

Featuring two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3’s from the Uno Racing team, this event was the first time that the latest generation of AMR Vantage GT3 had competed in the event since 2015 when three V12 examples raced for the then AMR powered Craft Bamboo team.

Tomorrow sees that start of the formal track proceedings ahead of the running of the 68th Macau Grand Prix this weekend around the distinctive street circuit of the semi-autonomous region of coastal China.

For the first time since a three-car effort back in 2015, this weekend’s event shall see the return of Aston Martin Racing’s latest Vantage GT3 platform, this time running in the hands of Uno Racing for their drivers David Pun and Marchy Lee.

We like surprises – and especially so during the long, drawn-out days and nights in-between the end of one season and the beginning of next so today’s unexpected news on social media was warmly welcome.

Having heard in recent weeks (from many sources inside of Aston Martin Racing and out), that AMR powered attendance in many GT3 and GT4 series across Europe would potentially increase in numbers for the 2022 season, the first of hopefully a long line of news announcements came through today to support that theory.

 

Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 recorded a glorious class victory in the US endurance classic Petit Le Mans thanks to partner team The Heart of Racing (THoR) and drivers Ian James (GBR), Ross Gunn (GBR) and Roman De Angelis (CDN).

Introduced in 1998, the 10-Hour race held at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia, represents the finale of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, North America’s premier endurance series. Over the years it has grown in stature and is now considered one of the most coveted prizes in GT and sportscar racing. For the Seattle-based THoR team, a hard-earned victory in the GTD class that went right to the wire in Saturday’s day-to-night event caps a brilliant season with the British luxury sportscar brand.

Powered by a four-litre, twin-turbo-charged V8 engine derived from the road car, THoR’s Vantage also recorded its first IMSA-sanctioned championship title in 2021. Gunn and AMR Driver Academy candidate De Angelis clinched the Sprint Cup GTD title at Long Beach, following race victories at Belle Isle and Lime Rock. But their Road Atlanta win marked the team’s first long distance race victory, and its most significant, at the highest level with Aston Martin.

The win also marked the first triumph for Aston Martin at Petit Le Mans since Darren Turner (GBR) and Tomáš Enge (CZE) led home Pedro Lamy (POR) and Stephane Sarrazin (FRA) in a famous one-two in the GT1 class for Aston Martin Racing with a brace of DBR9s in 2006.

Having started this year’s incident-packed event cautiously, James initially focussed on staying on the lead lap and running long stints to maximise track position before handing over to Gunn and De Angelis who went on the attack as the race ramped up into the night. Rarely out of the top three, Gunn and De Angelis were persistent front-runners. And following a superb final stint from the Canadian, Gunn was able to pit earlier than his rivals in the climactic run to the flag and soaked up the pressure from the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche in the final laps of the race. The victory ensured that the team and its drivers secured third in the overall GTD standings.

“This win means so much to everyone at The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin Racing,” said works driver Gunn after the race. “We’ve put a lot of time and energy into working with THoR, and the car and the team have been brilliant all season-long. For me personally it’s a career highlight to win my first major ‘blue riband’ race in the US, and for us as a team it proves what we are capable of, with the right equipment.”

THoR team principal and driver James added: “This is an awesome result and it’s a testament to all the hard-working and talented individuals we have in this team. The Aston Martin Vantage has proved to be a competitive machine all season, and today Roman and Ross were simply brilliant; they weren’t going to let anyone beat us, we were just on fire all day!”

John Gaw, Managing Director of Aston Martin Racing, said: “The second half of this season has proved emphatically just how much of a force the Aston Martin Vantage is in international GT racing at present. To win at Petit Le Mans, Aston Martin’s first win here in 15 years, is an outstanding achievement and an example of why the car is such a fierce competitor in the hands of our capable partners. Coming off the back of championship wins in Japan’s Super Taikyu series, British GTs and IMSA, as well as race victories in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship, and not forgetting the overall podium finish in the Spa 24 Hours, Vantage is now the equal of any machine at all levels of GT competition.”

 

There were extraordinary events at the final round of the Ultimate Cup Series from Estoril, Portugal at the weekend for the two Aston Martin Racing runners that rounded their European seasons off on something of a high.

Part time season entrant Team Virage returned with their young Mexican and AMR Drivers Academy racer, Jose Antonio Ledesma as he joined his third different co-driver in the series (Xavier Follenfant) for the final endurance race on Sunday to decide the winner of that Championship.

Up until this weekend, the IMSA sanctioned Michelin Pilot Challenge had provided us with nine cracking rounds of inter GT4 and TCR class racing but last night’s final two-hour round of the season around the picturesque circuit of Road Atlanta left us disappointed from a race spectacle although there was some final progress for one of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 cars.

Going into the final race of 2021 were the full season #7 Volt Racing with Archangel AMR Vantage GT4 of Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman as well as the #23 Notlad Racing with Rennsport 1 AMR of Pat Gallagher and Stevan McAleer who came back to the series halfway through. 

Two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from two European based teams have made the long trip south to Estoril for the final round of the Ultimate Cup Series there this weekend.

The #16 Team Virage crew of Antonio Ledesma and Umberto D’Amato presently lie in second place of their GT class 5a class going into this final round having racked up a class win and second place finish in the two rounds that they have contested at both Paul Ricard and most recently at Le Mans.

Just seven points behind the leading CD Sport car of Thomas Accary and David Monclair after their two class wins from the opening two rounds that they attended; it will be as simple winner takes all affair this weekend.

Joining them in Portugal this weekend will also be the PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 for drivers Nico Verdonck and his Gentleman driver client Rodrigue Gillion as they will race in both the NAPA GT Touring Endurance and Kennol GT Touring Sprint grids.

We expect this to be part of one final race weekend before winter and the Dubai 24 in early 2022 for both the team and drivers.

Photo credits – Team Virage / 24H Series

 

This month’s Macau Grand Prix will mark a momentous event in the realms of Aston Martin Racing as the marque again gets represented at the prestigious event for the first time since 2015.

Racing back then with the venerable V12 variant of the Vantage GT3, the Craft Bamboo Racing team entered three such cars into the first running of what was then the FIA GT World Cup for drivers Stefan Mucke, Darryl O’Young and Richard Lyons for which Mucke claimed pole position for the weekend’s first race before eventually finishing P3 in both races.

This weekend also sees the final round of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series take place from Okayama Circuit with another packed multi-class grid of over fifty cars expected for the final three-hour event.

Whilst the D’Station Racing Team would normally be expected to field both an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 and a Vantage GT4, their #777 GT3 crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo secured the ST-X (GT3) Championship at the last round from Suzuka.

That was just as well as both Hoshino and Fujii would have been required to self-isolate after their return from Bahrain where they and third driver Andrew Watson completed their first World Endurance Championship season together with two tough races in the desert to finish ninth overall at their first time of asking.

That leaves the team’s #47 AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Takuro Shinohara and Kenji Hama to fight it out in their thirteen strong ST-Z (GT4) class where they presently stand P2 in class going into this weekend’s finale where they lay just 9.5 points behind the class leading #3 Endless AMG GT4 team.

Photo credits – D’Station Racing