Just three AMR Vantage GT3's to grace the grids of the Asian Le Mans Series next month

Monday, January 31, 2022

It was supposed to be a mighty six Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 effort into this year’s Asian Le Mans Series double header of races at both the Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi but today’s entry list confirmation leaves things a little further short of that number again.

First, we had the unexpected news just before Christmas of a change in allegiance from the Garage 59 team from what was supposed to another two AMR car effort again this year to a new two car McLaren effort for their drivers and customer base.

Today, we have now seen confirmed the suspected withdrawal of the Evisu Racing AMR GT3 entry from David Pun’s racing empire – most likely sadly still due to the ongoing travel restrictions for anyone flying in and out of China due to their COVID-19 entry/exit requirements.

That leaves us with just the three TF Sport supported entries for both Oman Racing with TF Sport and D’Station Racing as well as their own entry for a returning customer aboard their three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entries who will now all compete amongst a now reduced entry list of thirty-six LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars, of which the GT’s make up for twenty-three of them.

Today’s news does however confirm that Tom Gamble will again partner the #77 D’Station Racing GT3 effort alongside team boss Satoshi Hoshino and ‘resident’ team professional Tomonobu Fujii in their sveltely liveried green Aston.

They join John Hartshorne, Jonny Adam and Henrique Chaves aboard the #95 TF Sport entered car as well as Ahmad Al Harthy, Charlie Eastwood and Sam De Haan aboard the #69 Oman Racing entry as already confirmed by the team.

Racing starts over the weekend of the 12th and 13th February in Dubai before concluding over the following weekend at Yas Marina.

Photo credits - Teams

Labels: Abu Dhabi, Adam, Al Harthy, Asian Le Mans Series, Aston Martin Racing, chaves, D'Station racing, De Haan, Dubai, Eastwood, Fujii, Gamble, Hartshorne, hoshino, Oman Racing, TF Sport, Vantage GT3

Magnus Racing debut AMR race records historic IMSA podium at Rolex 24

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Aston Martin recorded its best-ever finish in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, on Sunday, thanks to a brilliant performance by new-for-2022 IMSA team partner Magnus Racing, which charged through the field to second place in the highly-contested GTD class of the US endurance classic.

Four competitive Aston Martin Vantage GT3s were entered for the 60th running of North America’s most important endurance race – the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – by Aston Martin Racing regular teams The Heart of Racing and NorthWest AMR as well as Magnus Racing. But in the end, it was the Utah-based outfit that came away with a hard-earned podium after a bruising, fast-paced race that remained on a knife-edge throughout.

Driven by US trio and team regulars John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly, and joined for Daytona by Aston Martin Racing works driver and two-time Le Mans class-winner Jonny Adam (GBR), the Magnus Racing Vantage calmly established itself in the top ten early on. As a two-time Rolex 24 class-winning team, it knows how to succeed at Daytona. But progress was stymied in the fifth hour by an unscheduled pit stop and a time penalty that dropped the Vantage two laps off the lead.

Then a sequence of strong stints from Potter, Pumpelly, Lally and Adam, along with a combination of smart strategy, pass-arounds (a mechanism where lapped cars can be given a lap back to the class leaders) and excellent pit stops, not only brought the car back into contention but actually gave it the GTD class lead by the 14th hour. After that the #44 Vantage was always a contender, even though it was punted off the track by a prototype and glanced the barrier at the Le Mans chicane in the 16th hour.

The exciting nature of IMSA racing, where races are neutralised and gaps reset during Full Course Yellow periods, means that the final 30 minutes of the race were tense. Five-time Rolex 24 class-winner Lally held his nerve however and climbed to second place in the final run to the flag, just 12s away from victory.

Aston Martin has been represented at Daytona sporadically since 1964, and while it has frequently led its class, until 2022 misfortune had denied it podium glory. The marque’s previous best result was fourth place in GTD with Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Richie Stanaway in the V12 Vantage GT3.

Jonny Adam said: “This was an amazing result for Magnus Racing in this big IMSA season opener. It’s a tough race and it means a great deal to be one of the drivers who stands on the podium for Aston Martin for the first time at Daytona. The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 provided us with a strong package all weekend and was competitive throughout the race. I have to say a massive thank you to the whole team and my superstar team-mates John, Spencer and Andy. This is the perfect start to a new partner team programme with Magnus Racing.

Magnus Racing team owner John Potter said: “It’s exciting to be on the podium. It’s a great achievement. This is our first race with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 so we are still learning and understanding it and to be able to take it to second from the top step is quite an accomplishment. And, of course, it’s a tribute to the car itself, to our crew and everybody at Aston Martin Racing that helped us, that we were able to get this far so quickly.”

The Heart of Racing’s GTD entry, driven by team principal Ian James (GBR), Darren Turner (GBR), Roman De Angelis (CDN) and Tom Gamble (GBR) staged a gallant recovery to finish ninth after technical issues in the first half of the race. Meanwhile the team’s highly anticipated GTD Pro assault began strongly for Ross Gunn (GBR), Alex Riberas (ESP) and Maxime Martin (BEL), but was eliminated in a crash before nightfall.

Huw Tasker, Head of Customer Racing, said: “We’ve had to wait for too long to see an Aston Martin finish on the podium at Daytona, and Magnus Racing knows what it is doing when it comes to top class GT endurance racing in the US. That the team decided to race with Vantage in 2022 is further evidence of its growing reputation and the overall success of the GT3 programme. The level of competitiveness for Magnus Racing throughout the race is proof that Aston Martin can contend for victory in the biggest endurance races around the world, and we look forward to working with them through 2022. The Heart of Racing showed immense promise in what looks set to be a highly-competitive GTD Pro field, and I think we can expect to see them contend for the podium in the Sebring 12 Hours in March.”

Magnus Racing will contest the remainder of IMSA’s long distance endurance events; the Sebring 12 Hours, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in 2022. The Heart of Racing meanwhile takes on the full season with a two-car multi-class line-up.

The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship takes place at Sebring on, Saturday, 19 March.

Source Material and Photo - AMR / Teams

Labels: Adam, Aston Martin Racing, Daytona, GTD, imsa, Lally, magnus, potter, Pumpelly, Sebring, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship

Next race - the IMSA Rolex 24 from Daytona this afternoon

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Just a quick reminder that in little over six hours from now, the 60Th edition of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship’s Rolex 24Hr will be starting over at the Daytona International Speedway.

All the Qualifying procedure was of course settled last Sunday at the Roar Before the 24 Official Test weekend with the one-hundred-minute Qualifying Race (affectionately termed the race that nobody wants to win) ahead of this week’s remaining Free Practice sessions which has formed the grid as follows ahead of this afternoons green flag.

· The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD entry of Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Maxime Martin starts P32 overall

· The #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD entry John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Jonny Adam starts P44 overall

· The #98 Northwest Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim, Charlie Eastwood and David Pittard starts P45 overall

· The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD of Roman de Angelis, Ian James, Darren Turner and Tom Gamble starts P60 overall

With many track sessions this week being run in mixed conditions against the dry running of the Roar, its anyone’s best guess where these four cars will end up come the end of another twenty-four hour!

Good luck to them all.

Photos Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, GTD, GTD Pro, Heart of Racing, imsa, magnus, Northwest, Roar before the 24, Testing, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship

Volt Racing fly the flag as the new Porsche dominates opening round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series

Saturday, January 29, 2022

The opening salvo of the 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series from Daytona International Speedway yesterday was just another exciting round of inter-class battles around the banked and infield layout of the Florida circuit but was sadly not one to necessarily remember for many of the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 runners.

With forty-seven of the expected forty-eight entries eventually taking the green flag, it wasn’t too surprising to see the all-new Porsche 718 GT4 RS runners extended their Qualifying place lead on track to gap the main field of GS class runners even before the race was double digits minutes old so yesterday’s opener was always going to be an uphill battle for the clearly slower AMR teams.

Early laps from the more established Michelin Pilot Challenge crews of the #7 Volt Racing and Alan Brynjolfsson and the #09 Stoner Car Care of Ramin Abdolvahabi saw them each consolidate their race positions as the race quickly panned out into another exciting race for which we have become accustomed from the Series.

We also welcomed by the #27 Automatic Racing AMR of Jon Branam and Paul Kiebler to the series within its new Bronze Cup class as well as the #12 NTE Sport prepared AMR GT4 of a revised crew line up of Manny Franco, Josh Hurley and Tom Merrill.

Sadly, for both the #09 and #12 cars, early and suggestively persistent contact against the #09 car had them spinning out a couple of times to end their race prematurely back in the garage as the team tried to repair rear quarter suspension damage. Tried as they might, that damage would eventually see both Abdolvahabi and Rob Ecklin retire from the race.

For the new squad within the #12 car, their race too would end prematurely as a constant and unsustainable oil leak from the engine would also see then consigned to the garage at only just over the halfway mark of the four-hour opener. It will now be a question of time to see whether they confirm any full season continuation within the MPC Series this year or whether it would be just at ad-hoc rounds.

Unseen issues on track for the #27 Automatic car would see them eventually take the chequered flag in P36 overall and P27 in class albeit seventeen laps down to the leader whilst the #7 car from Volt Racing of Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman would come through to take a much-merited P7 overall finish at the end for some early Championship points.

Such was the dominance of this new Porsche was that there was only one other non-Porsche runner ahead of the yellow Aston Martin within the top seven which leaves us a little concerning as for the outcome of the Series next race at Sebring in mid-March.

It would be nice from our point of view if the Porsche was reigned in a little before Sebring but at the end of the day, we must salute the race winning attributes of former Aston racer Stevan McAleer aboard his RS1 prepared Porsche last night! Well done you!!

Photo credits - Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Automatic Racing, Bronze Cup, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, imsa, Michelin Pilot Challenge, NTE Sport, stoner Car Care, Vantage GT4, Volt Racing

Uphill battle at Michelin Pilot Challenge opener after this afternoons wet Qualifying

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Usually rain is the great equaliser in motorsport but todays rain over the Daytona International Speedway hasn’t had much effect in slowing the more dominating GT4 platforms within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series with Qualifying for tomorrows opening race having just finished.

With most of the full season runners in the series also having run at last weekend’s Roar before the 24 test, this week’s continuing dominance of the all-new Porsche 718 GT4 RS (as well as the Ford Mustang GT4) at the head this afternoon’s Qualifying timing screen has left all four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 crews outside of the top ten going into tomorrow’s four-hour opener.

Running two more Free Practice as well as Qualifying under wet or damp track conditions, the best placed Aston for tomorrow’s race will be the IMSA debuting #27 Automatic Racing AMR of Jon Branam who will start from P12 alongside co-driver Paul Kiebler.

Alan Brynjolfsson is the next of the Aston runners in P17 along with his co-driver Trent Hindman with the new NTE Sport Aston of Manny Franco starting in P18. He will share his #12 car with Romeo Kapudija and Josh Hurley.

Ramin Abdolvahabi suffered the most in the damp with his #09 Stoner Car Care AMR as he and co-driver will start P27 on tomorrows starting grid of forty-eight cars but then a four hour race is always different to Free Practice and Qualifying!

Tomorrows BMW M Endurance Challenge four-hour opener starts at 13:35hrs local

Photo credits - Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Automatic Racing, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, imsa, Michelin Pilot Challenge, NTE Sport, stoner Car Care, Vantage GT4, Volt Racing

Round one of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge kicks off at Daytona on Friday with four Astons aboard

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Whilst the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship grid at Daytona have already decided their starting grid ahead of this weekend’s Rolex 24, it’s just the opening day of the new season today as a grid of forty-eight GS and TCR based race cars prepare to run their first race of the Michelin Pilot Challenge season with the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge race later on Friday.

With most but certainly not all of the combined MPC grid having tested at last weekend’s Roar before the 24-official test, the official entry list for this weekend’s opening round confirms thirty-two GS (GT4) cars and sixteen TCR cars with the same four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews still amongst them.

The vibrant yellow #7 Volt Racing AMR GT4 of Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman is again joined on track by the long-term series supporting Automatic Racing AMR GT4 entry of the #09 Stoner Car Care car of Rob Ecklin and Ramin Abdolvahabi. The #09 crew will this time race within the series new for 2022 Bronze Cup Class but have sadly had to part with intended third driver Brandon Kidd for the season after he was elevated to silver grade over the winter.

Joining these two cars (at least at the opening round at Daytona) are two new crews for the IMSA support series as Automatic Racing who have also brought along their SRO GT America and GT4 America gentleman driver Paul Kiebler and his latest co-driver Jon Branam with their patriotically liveried #27 Aston to the show. They will also compete within the Bronze Cup Class.

They in turn are joined by the NTE Sport AMR GT4 entry of Manny Franco, Romeo Kapudija and Josh Hurley with their blue and white liveried #12 car. Whilst initially entered as a one off within the Michelin Pilot Challenge, we understand from the team that a full season entry is a distinct possibility subject to just how Daytona goes for the crew.

As a matter of interest, their #12 car was the former Fred Roberts car that he entered and raced in the 2020 GT4 America Series just as COVID-19 started to lock the world down and with strict cross America/Canada border controls, he would race his Aston now more. Those with a longer memory will recall that Roberts sourced his car from Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman after they won the British GT GT4 Pro-Am Championship with their Beechdean AMR supported car the season before!

Also, amongst this weekend entries (as a one off entry this time) are the names of Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley who again race one of Ian Lacey Racing’s Ford Mustang GT4’s ahead of what should be another entry into the GT world Challenge America later this year with their AMR Vantage GT3.

First action on track will be later today with the first Free Practice session with another Free Practice and Qualifying tomorrow ahead of Friday’s race that starts at 13.35hrs local.

Photo credits - Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Automatic Racing, Bronze Cup, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, imsa, Michelin Pilot Challenge, NTE Sport, Roar before the 24, stoner Car Care, Vantage GT4, Volt Racing

First race podiums for the Race Lab AMR Vantage GT8R's in the Super GT NZ Series

Monday, January 24, 2022

The second round of the Super GT New Zealand took place at the weekend from the Mike Pero Motorsport Park and marked a distinct contrast in racing and racing fortunes for the mixed GT4, Cup and GT3 field.

After the something of a ‘crash-fest’ of the opening weekend last week from Highlands Park, it took something of a stern talk and dressing down from the series Driving Standards Officer to convince the remaining field of drivers arriving at the Ruapuna circuit of the need to respect others on track and give all racing room.

Thankfully that did the trick as the twenty-four grid went from Free Practice and into Qualifying for the two half hour races and the latter headlining hour long finale for an otherwise clean weekend. Both the Race Lab Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R’s were again competing with Shaun Helms and Stephen Harrison taking charge of the #77 and #78 cars respectively.

After some adjustments to the series BoP defining mandatory pitstop (the faster you are the longer you wait in pit lane) had things teetered up for a great finish in the opening half race on Saturday afternoon as the #77 car of Helms was perfectly placed to score his first class podium finish in P3 after brake failure for one of the Porsche GT3 lead to that race being red flagged on the final lap.

Sunday morning’s second half hour race was almost a wash out as heavy rain flooded from the sun hardened infield and onto the track. Starting again from the midfield, both Astons struggled in the conditions for this time Harrison to come home first between them in P4 with Helms just behind in P6.

Luckily for the hour-long race, the rain had passed and the track had dried although temperatures remained lower that those at the start of the meeting.

Again the widened pit window allowed the twenty four cars to run their own race with many of the faster GT3 car electing to pit earlier than you would have otherwise expected and that allowed the GT4 runners to move to the front of the pack with certainly the two Astons picking up a two minute advantage.

With Helms assuming the race lead and Harrison not far behind in P3 with just twenty minutes remaining, it was to be a close-run thing to the flag with the faster cars closing in at a vast rate of knots. Unfortunately upon the penultimate lap, a large pack of tail enders was enough to distract Helms at the hairpin for him to spin off and into the midfield.

Whether he would have had the pace to take the overall race win we will never know but they gap to their peers behind was enough for the Race Lab crews to take P1 and P2 in the GT4 Class.

The third of the four round series will be on the North Island at Hampton Downs in mid-February.

Photo credits – SuperGT NZ

Labels: amr Australasia, Aston Martin Racing, harrision, helms, highlands Park, mike pero motorsport park, race lab, ruapuna, super gt NZ, vantage GT8R

Team Speed Monkeys the next squad to announce a multi car multi series AMR programme for 2022

Monday, January 24, 2022

Essen based Team Racing Monkeys today become the latest European based team to announce a new multi-series, multi-car commitment for the 2022 season after their recent acquisition of two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s.

Having had along relationship with Porsche over recent years, the teams switch to the AMR Vantage platform has already proved popular within their client base with a number of cars and race seats already confirmed for what is proposed to be two car entries into the DTM Trophy, GT4 European Series, ADAC GT4 Germany as well as possibly the NLS Series.

The team has already conducted a test with their new platform over at Valencia earlier this month and their purchases represent just two more of an expected twenty plus increase in the global AMR Vantage GT4 fleet going into the 2022 season.

Some we are already aware of but there are still many more to come!

Photo credits – Team Racing Monkeys.

Labels: ADAC GT4 Germany, Aston Martin Racing, DTM Trophy, EuropeaGT4, NLS, Team Speed Monkeys, Testing, Vantage GT4, VLN

Aston Martin's strongest line-up to date to take on the Rolex 24 next weekend

Monday, January 24, 2022

Aston Martin heads into this weekend’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with its partner teams fielding arguably the strongest ever assault on the US endurance classic by the luxury British sportscar brand. The race will feature four competitive Vantage GT3 line-ups – the most ever – spread across both classes of IMSA’s revamped GTD division, and each will include works Aston Martin Racing drivers in crews capable of challenging for victory.

Seattle-based partner team and reigning IMSA Sprint Cup GT champion, the Heart of Racing, returns in 2022 having increased its IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship entry to two cars. One of the team’s four-litre V8 turbo-charged machines carries Aston Martin’s hopes in the new top GTD Pro class for homologated GT3-specification cars, which replaces the outgoing GTLM category for specialised GTE-spec machinery. While the other will run in the regular GTD class alongside new Aston Martin Racing partner Magnus Racing which has bought a Vantage GT3 for this season. Both teams will be joined in the Rolex 24 by FIA World Endurance Championship regulars, NorthWest AMR, as team owner and driver Paul Dalla Lana (CDN) returns to Daytona with perhaps his best chance yet of tasting glory in the event.

The Heart of Racing has retained Sprint Cup champion and AMR works driver Ross Gunn (GBR) to spearhead its GTD Pro attack alongside Alex Riberas (ESP) in 2022. They will be joined for the Rolex 24 by 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro winner Maxime Martin (BEL), who makes his Aston Martin Daytona debut this weekend. Three-times Le Mans class-winner Darren Turner (GBR) returns to the Heart of Racing in the GTD class car as he aims to add a Daytona podium to his glittering list of honours, alongside the team’s principal Ian James (GBR) and newly crowned AMR Academy winner and team regular Roman De Angelis (CDN). Tom Gamble, no stranger to the Vantage GT3, completes the driver quartet.

NorthWest AMR returns after a season’s sabbatical from Daytona as Dalla Lana brings his new WEC line-up comprising 2019-20 FIA GT world champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and new AMR works driver (see below) David Pittard (GBR) for a fresh assault on the Rolex 24 in the GTD class. Another works driver and a GTD-class star of the ’21 race, Charlie Eastwood (IRL), completes a strong driver line-up.

Finally, the Magnus Racing GTD entry will be manned by US trio and team regulars John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly, as well as two-time Le Mans class-winner Jonny Adam (GBR), who returns for his first Daytona start since 2014.

Aston Martin Vantage GT4s will also feature heavily in the 4-Hour Michelin Pilot Challenge opener at the same venue on Friday at 1335 ET (-5 Hours GMT). The British luxury sportscar brand goes into the MPC season with four teams entered. Long-time AMR partner Automatic Racing returns for another season with the #09 driven by Ramin Abdolvahabi (USA), Rob Ecklin (USA) and Brandon Kidd (USA). The team will run a second #27 car for Paul Kiebler (USA) and Jon Branam (USA). Meanwhile, Alan Brynjolfsson (USA) and Trent Hindman (USA) will embark on a second season with the #7 VOLT Racing with Archangel Vantage GT4. A new team to the AMR family for 2022 is NTE Sport, which will run a Vantage GT4 for American drivers Manny Franco and Romeo Kapudija.

John Gaw, Aston Martin Racing Managing Director, said: “This is Aston Martin’s strongest representation ever for the Rolex 24, and coming off the back of a season with multiple class wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, it is a clear signal of intent ahead of an exciting season for Aston Martin Racing and the Vantage, in all its variants.”

The 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona will begin at 1340 ET (-5 Hours GMT), on Saturday, 29 January 2022.

Source material - AMR

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, GTD, GTD Pro, Heart of Racing, imsa, magnus, Northwest, Roar before the 24, Testing, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship

David Pittard confirmed as AMR works rostered driver for 2022

Monday, January 24, 2022

David Pittard (GBR) makes his works Aston Martin Racing debut in the Rolex 24 this weekend as part of NorthWest AMR’s Vantage GT3 GTD class line-up, having become the latest driver to join the AMR works roster.

The 29-year-old Briton, who turns 30 on race day, is well established as a rising international GT star following excellent performances in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie, where he is a multiple race-winner and holds the Nordschleife GT3 lap record. Pittard also produced regular stand-out performances during a four-year stint with established GT outfit Walkenhorst Motorsport in the Fanatec GT World Challenge and Intercontinental GT Challenge.

He will make his FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans debut for NorthWest AMR alongside double GT world champion Nicki Thiim and 2017 GTE Am world champion Dalla Lana in a Vantage GTE at Sebring in March, but before that he joins the duo (and Charlie Eastwood) at Daytona.

“I’m excited and proud to have signed for Aston Martin Racing,” said Pittard. “My goal is to win the biggest endurance GT races and with Aston Martin I have the platform and the machinery to achieve this. I welcome the challenge of adapting to a new manufacturer, new championships and new tracks, but Aston Martin Racing is one of the best organisations in the business so I’m confident this will be a short and painless process. Having team-mates like Paul and Nicki – one of the fastest GT drivers on the planet – will certainly help.

“I’m looking forward to racing the Vantage, which has proved a world class champion in both GTE and GT3 specification, and I’m glad Daytona has come around so soon in the year so I can get started right away.”

Head of Customer Racing Huw Tasker, added: “We are delighted to have signed David as a works Aston Martin Racing driver. He has showed enormous potential in and out of the car for a

while, so it is good for us to have secured his services. He joins a strong crew at NorthWest AMR in WEC and also Daytona, and this should give him a bright start to his career with us. We look forward to seeing what he can achieve with Vantage.”

Source material - AMR

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, Dalla-Lana, Daytona, Eastwood, imsa, LeMans, Northwest, pittard, Rolex24, Thiim, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship, WEC

Roman de Angelis confirmed as AMR Academy winner for 2021

Monday, January 24, 2022

The 2021 IMSA Sprint Cup GT champion Roman De Angelis has graduated top of the class of the 2021 Aston Martin Racing Drivers’ Academy. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driver, along with Ross Gunn, was part of the first crew to record multiple class wins in the premier US endurance racing category – the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – for the British luxury sportscar brand, last season.

De Angelis’s on-track performances were not the only area where he impressed the judging panel comprising AMR Managing Director John Gaw, Head of Customer Racing Huw Tasker, four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam, De Angelis’s team-mate Gunn and the previous AMR Academy winner Valentin Hasse-Clot. He was also measured on his ability to manage strategy, fitness, teamwork as well as his awareness of commercial and public relations. All this allowed him to come out on top of a strong 15-driver intake of candidates.

De Angelis, who will now receive financial support, as well as assistance and guidance from the factory towards his 2022 race programme, will continue with The Heart of Racing this season.

“It’s an honour to have been recognised by Aston Martin for my achievements last season,” said De Angelis, “and I’m proud to have been chosen among such an exceptional group of drivers. Graduating from the Academy is a good flag marker for my career, and now it’s important to build on this in 2022 with the Vantage GT3 in IMSA and pay back the faith AMR has placed in me.”

Gaw added: “Roman has impressed us for a number of years, but in 2021 he really matured into an exciting driver for the future. His pace continues to build, and we watched him grow rapidly through the season, allowing him to demonstrate a championship-winning mentality and a calmness under pressure that tends to underline genuine talents in our sport. The level was high in last year’s AMR Academy and it’s a testament to his rival candidates that Roman emerged successful. He fully deserves to join previous winners Ross Gunn, Tom Canning and Valentin Hasse-Clot as exciting examples of talent grown from within the AMR GT racing family.”

The Aston Martin Racing Academy will return in 2022, with entries already being accepted from drivers aged between 17 and 26 who have a confirmed race programme in either a Vantage GT3 or GT4 this year. More details on the 2022 AMR Academy will follow in February.

Source Material - AMR

Labels: AMR Academy, Aston Martin Racing, CSJ Motorsport, De Angelis, Gunn, Heart of Racing, imsa, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship

Next stop - the four hour Michelin Pilot Challenge opener for the Stoner Car Care AMR crew

Sunday, January 23, 2022

The Stoner Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team put five Roar Before the 24 test sessions to good use this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, completing final prep for next Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener, the BMW M Endurance Challenge on Friday.

Rob Ecklin, Jr. and Ramin Abdolvahabi return to the team in 2022 ready to put their No. 09 Stoner Car Care Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in contention for IMSA’s new Bronze Cup (for FIA Bronze rated drivers).

Ecklin and Abdolvahabi will share driving duties over the four-hour endurance event, but both drivers had commitments that hampered their ability to make the preview event (Abdolvahabi, a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. neurosurgeon, missed Friday while Ecklin, the President of Stoner, Inc. missed the entire weekend). In their absence, the team’s former endurance driver, Brandon Kidd, took the wheel Friday to run the Aston Martin through its paces (Kidd, now a Silver rated driver, will not be able to run with the team in 2022).

“The goal was to get the car set up for Ramin and Rob,” said Kidd. “And I hadn’t been in the car since Watkins Glen last year, so it was nice. We had some mid-corner push, so we worked on that. But overall, the BoP (balance of performance between disparate manufacturers in sports car racing) is not in our favor, there isn’t an Aston Martin in the top 16. But we have no issues and did some good laps – I’ll be here next weekend to help in any way I can, looking at data with the drivers and helping out in pit lane during the race. It will be nice to stay connected to the team.”

Abdolvahabi took the helm for two sessions on Saturday and for Sunday’s lone morning test session, with increasingly cold and damp conditions requiring a balance between aggression and caution – though he set a personal best lap time in the final session, with a lap time of 1:56.508.

“This car has an inherent understeer, it pushes in the turns,” said Abdolvahabi. “It’s the nature of the beast but we’re constantly working to balance that out so it turns better, and we can go to power earlier. It got better, though a lack of mechanical grip means we do have to change our driving style a bit. But the car feels really balanced, though of course we’re low on power compared to some of the other manufacturers. All we can do is work on our part, hopefully Rob is happy with the car when he gets here!

“And of course, this weekend is about shaking off the rust. For all the non-professional drivers, who don’t drive for a living, it’s about getting back into it mentally. We have even more to shoot for this year with the Bronze Cup, and that always puts a little more fire into you!”

For Automatic Racing team manager David Russell, the home-race weekend was about setting up the No. 09 and preparing for the season opener next weekend – while being able to head home on Sunday night.

“It’s nice to know that I can be home in just 50 minutes!” said Russell. “Yes, we’re dealing with BoP issues that are resulting in less power, but all we can do is concentrate on our own program and do the best we can with the tools we have. Ramin had a personal best and it’s hard to argue with that, and we came away from the weekend with the car in good shape. This was a good test for the race weekend especially since it looks as though we’re going to have comparable weather next weekend. It’s the same challenge for everyone, getting cold tires up to speed, and there will be more of that coming up.”

Though unable to attend the Roar, Ecklin expressed his excitement for the upcoming race weekend.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out there with Ramin,” said Ecklin. “And being part of the Rolex 24 weekend brings so much energy and excitement. You go in with a big smile on your face – the trick is to come out with that big smile! It’s just the two of us over the four hours, but with all the World Racing League endurance events we did last year, we’re used to longer stints! I missed the Roar last weekend and while Daytona is always a challenge, I got a good amount of experience last year at coming into our World Racing League weekends on Friday night and jumping into the car on Saturday so hopefully within a couple of laps, I’ll be in the rhythm.”

Part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, the BMW M Endurance Challenge takes the green flag Friday, January 22.

Source material - Stoner Car Care

Labels: abdolvahabi, Aston Martin Racing, Automatic Racing, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, Ecklin, imsa, Kidd, Michelin Pilot Challenge, Roar before the 24, stoner Car Care, Testing, Vantage GT4

All eyes onto todays IMSA Wethertech Sportscar Championship's Qualifying race

Sunday, January 23, 2022

The ‘least busy’ track day today at Daytona International Speedway as the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship Roar before the 24 Official Test comes to another natural conclusion this afternoon as the Michelin Pilot Challenge runners have their fifth and final Free Practice session of the weekend but as the IMSA runners face their first race of the season.

A daytime and then a night-time Free Practice session yesterday, punctuated only by the Qualifying for today’s Qualifying Race with three out of the four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD teams moving up the timing screen during those sessions for the #98 Northwest AMR car of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim, Charlie Eastwood and David Pittard show their pace in some horrible wet/dry conditions in the afternoon with some more competitive lap times during the latter night-time session.

The consistent pace of the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin also had them in the top five again but the #27 Heart of Racing GTD car of Roman de Angelis, Darren Turner, Ian James and Tom Gamble again looked off the pace again compared to their stable mates.

During Qualifying, it was nearly into the record books for the #23 Heart of Racing AMR as Ross Gunn momentarily held the top slot going into the final lap of the session in the all new GTD Pro Class but ultimately had to settle for a second row start in class for later today.

Issues continued to blight the #27 car during Qualifying as De Angelis was unable to post a lap time due to a wheel issue on his out lap.

Therefore, for the race, (that should start at about 20.00hrs GMT) the #23 GTD Pro car of Gunn, Maxime Martin and Alex Riberas should be starting P4 in GTD Pro, the #44 Magnus car of John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Jonny Adam in P9 in GTD with the #98 P15 and the #27 in P18 in class respectively.

Guess the IMSA 2022 starts today!!

Good luck to them all

Photo credits - Teams

Labels: Aston Martin Racing, CSJ Motorsport, Daytona, Heart of Racing, imsa, magnus, Northwest, Roar before the 24, Rolex24, Testing, Vantage GT3, weathertech Sportscar Championship

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All eyes onto todays IMSA Wethertech Sportscar Championship's Qualifying race

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