Whilst we were busy being entertained by the rejuvenated performances of the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE teams within the World Endurance Championship at Spa Francorchamps, around the world saw seventeen similar crews to part in the latest rounds of their 2023 seasons around the world.

Principally in North America saw the second rounds of the GT World Challenge America and GT4 America Series as well as the third round of the sister GT America Series from the Nola Motorsport Park near New Orleans.

 

Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage scored its first podium finish of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] as ORT by TF made history in a thrilling 6 Hours of Spa last weekend.

This result marked an incredible 10th successive year in which Vantage has finished on the LM GTE Am podium in the WEC at Spa, and it was also a sixth rostrum appearance in as many world championship starts at the Belgian circuit for Aston Martin Racing partner team TF Sport – the reigning class champion team.

Ahmad Al Harthy became the first Omani driver to take pole position in the WEC with a stunning effort in Friday’s LM GTE Am qualifying session. Al Harthy, along with American co-driver Michael Dinan, and Aston Martin works driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL), then put on an impressive performance in a race that started in ultra-tricky weather conditions, to finish third – just 0.2 seconds from the runner-up spot.

Rainfall minutes before the cars pulled away from the grid prompted many drivers to select wet-weather tyres for the start, but Dinan – who was chosen to begin the race –
opted for slicks in the hope that the track would soon dry out. With grip almost non-existent in the early stages, he dropped to eighth place, but quickly gained ground and was back among the leaders within 45 minutes.

The ORT by TF Vantage remained in the lead pack for the rest of the race; third place coming its way after an intense wheel-to-wheel fight for second spot during the final 10 minutes between Eastwood and the Corvette.

North American Aston Martin partner team Heart of Racing made its WEC debut at Spa, having taken over NorthWest AMR’s entry – and its #98 plate – in the wake of the retirement earlier this week of 2017 GTE Am World Champion Paul Dalla Lana. Anglo-American driver and Team Principal Ian James qualified a strong sixth on his Vantage GTE debut and dealt with the early conditions superbly before handing driving duties onto co-drivers Daniel Mancinelli (ITA) and IMSA GTD Pro class race-winner Alex Riberas (ESP). Despite it being the team’s first time racing the Vantage GTE, its trio remained in the top-six hunt throughout, eventually finishing seventh.

Japanese team D’station Racing played a starring role during the early stages of the race. Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) mastered the damp, but drying, conditions on slick tyres to climb from eighth on the grid to lead within the first 25 minutes and pull five seconds clear at the head of the field. With multiple safety-car periods bunching the field and Satoshi Hoshino (JPN) later being forced into a gravel trap by another car, the duo and British rookie Casper Stevenson finished ninth.

Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “It’s great to see TF Sport get a reward for the effort so far this year, and to see Vantage back on the podium in the third round of the WEC season is very welcome. I’m particularly happy for Ahmad, who became the first Omani to record a podium and take a pole position in WEC. For Heart of Racing, it was a strong debut and great preparation for Le Mans. It was a tough ask for the drivers to come in cold and perform at such a high level against world class competition, so their performance was very impressive and shows great promise. D'station Racing also showed very well and it was unfortunate that the team was unable to capitalise on its strong start.”

The FIA WEC continues with not only its showpiece event, but the biggest sportscar race in the world - the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which celebrates its centenary this year – on June 10-11.Vantage was a winner in GTE Am last year as TF Sport’s Marco Sørensen (DEN), Ben Keating (USA) and Henrique Chaves (POR) celebrated a famous victory.

Source material - AMR

The Heart of Racing (HOR) will head to the bayou for the next rounds in Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS. HOR will return to NOLA Motorsports Park after a podium finish for Gray Newell and Ian James last season, but a new face will drive with Newell this time around.

Newell will be joined by Roman De Angelis to pilot the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entry in Pirelli GT4 America in hopes of repeating a podium finish from last year’s race. 

De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD Champion and 2023 Rolex 24 Hour of Daytona winner, will make his first SRO America start since the 2020 season where he earned wins at Circuit of the Americas and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Newell / De Angelis duo already have previous racing experience together, as the two have teamed up most recently in the 24H Series scoring a class win at the 12H of Mugello in March.  

“I’m super excited to be in SRO GT4 America,” said De Angelis. “I’ve had the opportunity to do once before with another team and not only had a lot of fun racing in the series, but had some good results. Being with Gray in the car who knows the series well will be nice to help me understand the weekend’s layouts and how the racing is.”

Rianna O’Meara-Hunt and Hannah Grisham will team up in the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, with both looking forward to making their first SRO competition laps at NOLA Motorsports Park for rounds 3 and 4 in Pirelli GT4 America. 

“I am excited to get going at NOLA,” said O’Meara-Hunt. “I feel like Hannah and I are yet to show what we truly have on track so it’s going to be a good next round! I managed to get some sim time, thanks to Matt from Track Tec in Cromwell, NZ, so I am hoping it pays dividends over and above the practice sessions we will get prior to racing.” 

The duo looks to rebound after the team suffered from contact in the very first corner of the first race of the weekend at Sonoma in the season-opener. The team was able to come back and bring home a top ten finish in the second race of the weekend. 

“I’m really excited for race weekend number two with the Heart of Racing,” said Grisham. “I have been to NOLA once before so I’m excited to be at a familiar track. I’m excited to also continue to learn and grow on our opening round at Sonoma. I think Rianna and I have a better idea of the series and our competitors so I think we have a great weekend ahead of us.”  

Newell will also be behind the wheel of the No. 25 Aston Martin GT America powered by AWS entry. This will be the first time the GT America series has raced at NOLA Motorsports Park. Newell goes into rounds 5 and 6 sitting third in GT America championship points standings.  

“NOLA presents a good challenge for us to get back on the horse and dig in,” said Newell. “I’m looking to apply some new techniques from my time at Mugello and make my place in the championship stick.”

Source material - HoRT 

 

The difference a day makes within the World Endurance Championship is sometimes incredible as today we saw some real pace being delivered by the three Aston Martin Racing powered teams that appeared to bring them all right back into contention ahead of tomorrow’s six-hour race at Spa Francorchamps.

Waking up to the predicted wet track conditions around the circuit, the productivity to be achieved by the ORT with TF Sport, D’Station Racing and Heart of Racing teams was debatable, but seat time remained precious as each crew were still running at least one driver new to the Championship this season.

Great to be back at Spa Francorchamps todays for the first of a three-day event that will constitute as the third round of the World Endurance Championship.

Despite the sudden but not entirely unexpected situation with the former #98 Northwest Aston Martin Racing entry and Paul Dalla Lana stepping away from the Championship and their position taken by the American Heart of Racing team, this weekend’s event will be a pivotable event for all three crews leading into the 24 Hours of Le Mans event in June as well as the remaining three rounds of the season thereafter

Despite the chilly days of late in northern Europe, today turned into a glorious day for the thirty-car entry and an encouraging large crowd around the circuit today, allowing decent laps to be put in for those who need to hone the skills and for those who simply need laps in with their new AMR Vantage GTE.

All was not plain sailing though as the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson suffered an untimely off during Free Practice 1 this morning, with impact damage fortunately causing just superficial looking damage to the nose of the car.

Laps times for them and the #25 ORT with TF Sport GTE of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood as well as the new #98 Heart of Racing crew of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli all completed a healthy number of laps with their new Balance of Performance setting to end the morning session well up the running order in comparison to this stage at previous events.

This afternoon’s second session featured a similar vein but a multitude of Full Course Yellows, local yellows and then ultimately, a red flag blighted the testing programme of many going into tomorrow’s final Free Practice session and later Qualifying.

Even with the Aston’s new BoP applied, it’s hard to see just how much that will affect the AMR runners in Saturdays race as their pace today is still over a second slower than that of last year when the #33 TF Sport AMR of Ben Keating was very much the in-form partnership.

Mother Nature will also have an effect tomorrow with rain being forecasted in the morning although race day should remain dry.

We will see what tomorrow brings!

 

 

The third round of the World Endurance Championship takes place this weekend around the iconic circuit of Spa Francorchamps in Belgium only two weeks after the previous round in Portimao.

What’s changed since then has obviously been fairly monumental within the Aston Martin Racing powered camp after Paul Dalla Lana announced his retirement from the WEC and motor racing in general immediately after the Portimao round and with immediate effect.

 

The International GT Open and GT Cup Open Europe kick off their opening rounds to their 2023 season this weekend with a sizeable contingent of GT3 race cars within the GT Open and a growing number of GT4 based cars within the other.

Thirty-three GT3 cars to be exact, will travel down to the Autodromo de Internacional do Algarve near Portimao for their traditional Saturday and Sunday, pit stop punctuated races for entries competing within their Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes.

 

Having just finished its latest season of racing down in the GT New Zealand Series, the former Stephen Harrison #78 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R is up for sale should you fancy it with you name over the door at a racetrack somewhere!!

 

Having been artful enough to populate their class podium in all four races of the opening round at Donington Park at the start of the month, the Feather Motorsport team will be back in action this weekend as the GT Cup Championship enters the full Grand Prix loop of the Brands Hatch Circuit.

Competing again with their #82 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4, gentleman driver James Guess will again be partnered by former AMR Academy winner Tom Canning for this weekend’s two sprint and pit stop races over both Saturday and Sunday.

 

It was a positive return to the Thailand Super Series at the weekend for the Viper Niza Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew of Douglas Khoo and Dominic Ang.

Having already embraced a ‘challenging’ 2023 season so far within an ill-fated Asian Le Mans Series campaign and a visit to the Sepang 12hr, this weekend’s visit to the Chang International Circuit in Buriram gave the Malaysian based team precisely what they needed after a difficult season so far that necessitated the rebuilding of the front end of their car after a big accident for Khoo during the second race of the Asian Le Mans Series in Dubai.

 

This weekend sees another busy weekend for SRO racing with the reconvening of the three North American based series at the Nola Motorsport Park in New Orleans for the second rounds of the 2023 GT4 America and GT World Challenge America and third round of the GT America Series.

With all three series hitting the racetrack collectively at Sonoma at the start of the month, the intervening weeks has been made of car repairs for some and some more all-important testing ahead of another fast and furious venue with maybe a little intervention again from Mother Nature along the way – just to spice the racing up a little further.

 

Reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class champion team, Heart of Racing [HoR], will make its FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] debut at Spa-Francorchamps, in Belgium, this weekend.

The North American squad already runs multiple Aston Martin programmes with its fleet of Vantage GT3 and GT4 race cars in IMSA and the US-based SRO-run GT World Series GT4 categories, as well as the 2022 Spa 24 Hours. It now adds WEC to its roster with Anglo-American driver and team principal Ian James, IMSA GTD Pro class race-winner Alex Riberas (ESP) and Italian GT racer Daniel Mancinelli. Heart of Racing’s WEC campaign will run through to the end of the season, and will include the team’s first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the centenary edition taking place on the 10-11 June.