Next stop - 1000miles of Sebring on Friday for the three AMR Vantage GTE teams
Monday, March 14, 2022
The biggest question since learning of the three full season Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE powered entries from both TF Sport (including D’Station Racing) and the Northwest AMR team was who would be the silver ranked driver aboard the #98 Northwest car after David Pittard was elevated by the FIA to gold over the winter.
Thanks to some not so specific posts from the team and others over the days leading up to Saturday’s start of the official test saw that the team had also employed the services of Henrique Chaves to be at the circuit should Pittard’s appeal be unsuccessful. Fortunately for Pittard, his appeal was apparently successful and his listing with the FIA has been reverted back to a silver grade for the season but both silver drivers were still listed as testing with the team and drivers Paul Dalla Lana and Nicki Thiim – which they did.
As with all testing and free practice sessions, little if anything is released by a team as they circle through their pre-determined list of minimum seat time per driver, changes in set up and general practice ahead of the main event, in which case is later this week when the formally timed track sessions of the opening round of the WEC begin in earnest. Any comparison between crews and teams at this stage would be pointless - the true detail will only start to emerge during Qualifying.
With trials and tribulations of their own as well as anything that Mother Nature could throw at the Floridian circuit, all three Aston Martins were scattered across the length of the GTE Am’s timing screen as the four sessions passed. Sometimes people like Thiim popped up towards the top as fastest whilst others remained towards the bottom having had limited laps in that session due to technical issues but fortunately all avoided any significant incident and damage – unlike some!
Hopefully any remaining winter gremlins have now been ironed out of all three cars as the #33 TF Sport Vantage GTE of Ben Keating, Florian Latorre and Marco Sorenson; the #777 D’Station Racing Vantage GTE of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg and the #98 Northwest car of Dalla Lana, Thiim and Pittard looking forward to competing within the 1000 miles of Sebring on Friday 18th March.
Photo credits – Adrenal Media / Teams
