Two Astons amongst twenty nine entries for GT Opens opener from Portimao

 

A healthy entry of twenty race cars including two full season Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s with the International GT Open Series certainly raises a smile at our end as we get to watch another fantastic multi-talented Pro-Am grid do battle across some of Europe’s finest circuits starting this weekend from Portimao, Portugal.

The British based Blackthorn AMR team were first to confirm their full season involvement this time around as gentleman driver Charles Bateman looked to get back into mainstream GT3 racing as he paired up with AMR factory driver Jonny Adam.

 

However, being the popular driver that he is, Adam is already on racing duty this weekend at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship from Imola, Italy so for this round and all other diary clashes – he’s place will be taken by Henrique Chaves as they race within the Pro-Am class.

Joining them is an all-new AMR powered team and crew from the Polish Good Speed Racing team and their two Am class drivers Piotr Wira and Tomas Magdziarz.

Established in 2020, the team have been racing a Mercedes AMG GT3 in various series but this year is their first with the Vantage GT3 so the transition should not be that onerous.

 

The #14 Good Speed Racing AMR will be competing this weekend within a class set of eight entries whilst the #97 Blackthorn will be competing within the more popular twelve strong Pro-Am class

Thursday sees the first track activity with private testing before the sessions get more formal across Friday before Qualifying on Saturday morning ahead of the seventy-minute race opener wrapped up with a further sixty minute race on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media