An Aston Martin Racing entry finally takes on Pikes Peak this weekend
Driven by Steve Wetterau and supported by the BBI Autosport team, aside from a few ‘club’ events at the California based Thermal Club, this will be the first competitive outing for the Pikes Peak Rookie Wetterau.
Despite that, training runs up the near 12.5 mile ‘street’ course have been going well with the #85 car leading his GT4 Trophy class in the latest batch of training runs this week with a best of 4:19:334 giving him a 16 second cushion from his first to the last car in class on the lower stages.
Today (Thursday) see the GT4 class move onto a similar time attack process upon the middle stages of the route and will continue in a similar vein for the rest of the week before ‘race day’ on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / PPIHC / social media
Two Mirage Racing AMR Vantage GT4s looking to continue from where the left off in FFSA GT4
Since scaling back from including a silver graded class within their otherwise Pro-Am and Am classes at the end of last season, entry numbers have obviously fallen slightly as the faster grade of driver was forced to look elsewhere in Europe.
As per the previous two rounds this year from Nogaro and Dijon-Prenois, we again welcome back the two Mirage Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo’s of both Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub within their #7 Pro-Am entry as well as the #5 Am class entry of David Levy and Jodie Sloss.
Last time at Dijon-Prenois back in early May, it was a return to podium winning form for the two Mirage entries as the #7 crew scored an overall race win in the first hour long race before finishing fourth overall next time around whilst the #5 crew scored both a P2 and P3 in class respectively across the two races.
These results lift the #7 crew up to second in class within Pro-Am (twelve points off the leading pair) whilst the #5 move up to fourth albeit with only half the points of the so far dominant #63 Alpine pairing.
Track action for this series will begin on Friday with their first Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying session before moving onto Qualifying and the first race on Saturday with the concluding race then on Sunday afternoon after the three-hour British GT affair.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Chasing that illusive top class win as well as class wins again this weekend at the Nurburgring 24
Aston Martin continues its long and successful association with the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend as the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 goes for overall glory in the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring with partner teams Walkenhorst Motorsport, PROsport and Dörr Motorsport.
Just days after Vantage finished fourth with the Heart of Racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGT3 class, the legendary German venue hosts the second of three consecutive world-renowned ‘twice around the clock’ endurance races, with Aston Martin chasing a second-straight overall victory at the Crowdstrike 24 hours of Spa just a week later.
Nine Vantages, of GT3 and GT4 specifications, will carry the hopes of the British sportscar manufacturer at the 15.8-mile circuit, known throughout motorsport as the ‘Green Hell’. Renowned for pushing machinery to its limit over its hundreds of bumps, crests and blind curves, the Nordschleife punishes even the smallest errors thanks to the track’s unique microclimate, narrow, tree-lined straights and huge entry of almost 150 cars.
Aston Martin has enjoyed a winning tradition at the Nürburgring for more than 60 years. Sir Stirling Moss recorded a hat-trick of 1000km victories with Aston Martin in the 1950s, including the 1959 edition that helped to secure the World Sports Car championship crown. That was in the same year that Aston Martin’s DBR1 claimed its famous overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Since returning to sportscar racing in the mid-2000s, Aston Martin has been an ever-present at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, whether through works-entered cars or with its most trusted partner teams. From 2006, through each iteration of Vantage, the Wings have claimed 10 class victories and more than 25 podium finishes.
Aston Martin has once again partnered with an ultra-successful team – Walkenhorst Motorsport – as it strives to become the first British manufacturer to win the race outright. The German outfit, which won the 2018 Spa 24 hours and the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, will run three Vantage GT3s, which share the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury performance brand’s most focused sportscar, and which are built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, in the SP9 Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes.
The #34 SP9 Pro-class Vantage features an all-star line-up of Aston Martin works drivers, who boast seven overall or class wins from Europe’s three premier 24-hour races between them. Renowned Nordschleife specialist David Pittard (GBR) took victory in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2023 and is joined by another overall winner of the race; two-time FIA WEC GT champion Nicki Thiim (DEN), who triumphed in 2013. The Dane’s Spa 24 hours-winning team-mate from 2024, Mattia Drudi, (ITA) makes his event debut and is the only Aston Martin driver taking on the Le Mans-Nürburgring-Spa treble. Completing the line-up is 2018 Spa 24 hours winner Christian Krognes (NOR), the overall champion in the Nordschleife-based Nürburgring Langstrecken Series (NLS) in 2012 and lap record-holder on the track’s NLS layout.
Another Vantage GT3 tackles the SP9 Pro-Am class with Oliver Söderström (SWE) partnered by Anders Buchardt (NOR), who scored a class podium at the recent Qualifying Races for the event, and Nico Hantke (DEU). Krognes is an additional named driver in the #35 Vantage, meaning he will be on double duty.
Walkenhorst’s #30 Vantage, which will contest the SP9 Am category, features four Nurburgring 24 Hours class winners behind the wheel. Team founder Henry Walkenhorst (DEU) and Jörg Breuer (DEU) – the latter scoring his first category victory in 1993 – share with Stefan Aust (DEU) and US-born Christian Bollrath (DEU). Walkenhorst will also field a Vantage GT4 in the SP10 category. The drivers will be Aris Balanian (BEL), Hermann Vortkamp (DEU), Jean-Christophe David (FRA) and Josh Hansen (USA).
PROSport Racing have entered three cars in three different classes for this weekend’s event, including a Vantage GT3 in SP9 Pro-Am car that is anchored by two-time GT World Challenge Europe Silver Cup Champion and two-time Nürburgring 24 Hours overall podium finisher Nico Bastian (DEU). Sharing the #37 entry with him are multiple class winner Marek Böckmann (DEU) and Steven Palette (FRA), a category victor on his only previous appearance in 2012.
The team’s Vantage #175 GT4, which has been a multiple podium-finisher in the NLS this year, will be driven in the SP10 class by Yannik Himmels (DEU) and Michel Albers (DEU), who were part of the line-up than won the category in both of the recent Qualifying Races, plus Nurburgring 24 Hours class winner Jörg Viebahn (DEU) and Benjamin Hites (CHL), the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Silver champion.
A third entry, the #140 Vantage GT4, will contest the SP8T category and will be raced by regular NLS podium finishers, the father-and-son duo Guido and Maxime Dumarey (BEL) – the latter finishing third in SP9 Pro-Am last year in a Vantage GT3 – plus Raphael Rennhofer (AUT) and Marcel Marchewicz (DEU).
Dörr Motorsport, who claimed the most recent class win for Vantage at the 2022 race, have added two Vantage GT4s in SP10. The #169 car features Peter Posavac (DEU) and Michael Funke (DEU) while Sven Schädler (DEU) and Frank Weishar (DEU) will be in #179. Further drivers for both cars will be announced before the event gets underway.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “For fans of endurance racing, 2025 is a particularly special year as three of the world’s most prestigious 24-hour races, at Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Spa, are held on successive weekends. Aston Martin has a special connection with each of the three events, with the Vantage platform placing our partner teams as contenders in each. The Nürburgring 24 Hours has a unique atmosphere and the sheer challenge of its 15.7-mile track, bordered by its unforgiving barriers – not to mention the size of the entry list – are just two factors that make winning here such a huge challenge. Vantage has been ultra-competitive in both GT3 and GT4 series this year so naturally our target is to see our partner teams challenge for victory. Aston Martin is globally-renowned but proud of its roots, and to potentially become the first British manufacturer to win this race outright is an important landmark to chase. In Walkenhorst Motorsport, PROsport Racing and Dörr Motorsport we have three partner teams who know how to succeed on-track and we wait to see what they can achieve.”
Aston Martin made its Nürburgring 24 Hours debut in 2006, with an almost standard V8 Vantage that provided the springboard for the ultra-successful GT4 version. Since then, the marque has enjoyed notable class successes, including victory in the SP9T class in 2018, when Maxime Martin (BEL), Thiim, Darren Turner (GBR) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) finished fourth overall, having led into the final hours amid heavy rain in the last competitive outing for the V12 Vantage GT3. The result stands as the marque’s best finish in the race.
In recent years the Vantage GT4 has flourished. The previous generation won the SP8T class in 2019 with Jamie Chadwick (GBR), Alex Brundle (GBR) and Peter Cate (GBR). In 2020, Garage 59 finished third in the same class with an upgraded GT8R driven by works driver Jonny Adam (GBR), Alexander West (SWE), Chris Goodwin (GBR) and Turner.
The most recent class win for the brand came in 2022, when Dörr Motorsport clinched a one-two victory in SP8T on its Aston Martin debut with a Vantage GT4. The team also finished third in SP10 behind the second-placed PROsport Vantage GT4, the best result yet for the Nürburgring-based team.
First qualifying for the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring begins on Thursday, 19 June at 1300 local time (1200 BST) with the race beginning at 1600 (1500) on Saturday.
Source material - AMR
Just two Astons to tango at the start of Speedweek from Spa Francorchamps this weekend
It’s the start of the SRO Speedweek this weekend and that means its again time for the British GT Championship to kicks things off with their fourth round of the season from Spa Francorchamps.
Two endurance rounds from both Donington Park and Silverstone before the first of two sprint races that made up the third round from Oulton Park just over three weeks ago where the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews from the Blackthorn AMR and Beechdean AMR teams featured upon their respective Pro-Am or Silver-Am podiums at least once over that weekend.
Despite this weekend’s Spa round also being another three-hour endurance round, we again only see the two AMR Vantage GT3’s of Jonny Adam/Giacomo Petrobelli and Andrew Howard/Tom Wood with the #50 MKH Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall missing from their GT4 Endurance Cup obligations. We suspect that Hall is again double booked with his RoFGO driver coaching duties in Austria this weekend.
A P3 and a P4 results from Oulton Park gets the #7 Blackthorn crews GT3 Championship hopes back on track after the disaster of the opening round as they now climb up to fifth within the overall and Pro-Am GT3 Drivers Championship whist the Silver-Am pairing within the #97 Beechdean car lost some of their advantage to their only class advisory after they finished second fiddle to the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX GT3 crew at the end of those two sprint races.
Having already tested at the Belgian circuit just after the Spa 24 Official test two weeks before Oulton Park, these two cars join another (lowly) twelve GT3 cars spread across the Pro-Am and Silver-Am classes as well as just eight GT4 crews with a further two cars joining them from the Endurance Cup only entrants.
As usual, the British GT track action begins on Friday with paid testing before the start of Free Practice, Pre -Qualifying and Qualifying on Saturday before a 12:30hrs local start on Sunday to this three-hour affair.
Four Aston Martins back in Michelin Pilot Challenge for Watkins Glen this weekend
Last time out at Mid-Ohio, the series enjoyed the status of the main event as they embarked upon another four-hour race for the second time this season two weeks ago – an event which again saw the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entries struggle.
Despite claiming a front row start, the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb only managed to secure a P11 finish at the end whilst the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis ran out of time with their recovery driver to secure an AMR powered best of P8.
Only the Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM AMR of Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson enjoyed any kind of success with a P17 in class finish – P2 within their Bronze Cup sub class whilst the #15 Van Der Steur Bronze Cup entry of Christine and Ben Sloss failed to finish (although they were classified as finishing third).
Track action will begin on Thursday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before an 11:45hrs local start to their two-hour fifth round of the season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
From Le Mans to Watkins Glen for many an Aston Martin driver this weekend
This weekend coming sees the sixth round of the North American series take place with another six-hour running from Watkins Glen for the whole IMSA class structure which for Aston Martin fans will mean the return of the both the IMSA Valkyrie GTP car as well as three AMR Vantage GTD’s this time around.
Having raced in opposite Valkyries this weekend at Le Mans, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis pair up again within the blue liveried #23 car for this six-hour race on Sunday amongst a GTP entry of twelve other cars.
Being another Endurance round within the IMSA season, this will mean the return of the #19 Van Der Stuer Racing AMR Vantage GTD of Rory Van Der Stuer, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Anthony McIntosh alongside that of the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD entry of Zacharie Robichon, Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson.
Again, all six drivers listed featured somewhere with last week’s proceedings at Le Mans with Van Der Steur competing within the two Road to Le Mans series with his Code Racing Development AMR Vantage GT3 team whilst Stevenson raced within a Ferrari LMGT3.
This time around, however, also sees the welcome return of the Magnus Racing team and their #44 AMR Vantage GTD of John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly. Since their last showing within the series at the Rolex 24 at the start of the year, third man Andy Lally has since retired from competitive motor racing in favour of series management elsewhere with his place now being taken (at Watkins Glen at least) by Marco Sorensen.
This weekend’s event features a healthy combined GTP, LMP2, GTP Pro and GTD entry of fifty six cars with their first session on track starting on Friday with Free Practice 1 with Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Saturday. The six Hours of the Glen race starts at 12:10Hrs local on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Four Aston Martins finish another gruelling at Le Mans 24
The new #007 and #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars were of course a new phenomenon at the Circuit de La Sarthe this year and although the differences between the ACO LM24 and direct FIA World Endurance Championship Balance of Performance parameters allowed the #009 car to feature within the Hyperpole process for the first time this season, the cars ultimate race pace was still behind where it could have been to have allowed both cars to feature more prominently in the race.
That being said, the old adage of ‘being able to finish first – first you have to finish’ was where the two cars of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble/ Rogg Gunn within the #007 alongside that of the #009 car of Marco Sorensen/Alex Riberas/Roman De Angelis managed to do just that as the #009 completed the years gruelling edition P13 overall with the #007 just two places behind out of the twenty strong class entry.
Being the cars first live twenty-four-hour race, that will go down as a great achievement on the grounds of longevity for the more vital race components within the engine and drivetrain as well as the suspension and serviceability of the overall package although their race results today still fall short of those illusive first FIA WEC Championship points.
Within the LMGT3 class, it was a similar case for both the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James/Mattia Drudi/Zacharie Robichon and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage of Derek DeBoer/Valentin Hasse-Clot and Eduardo Barrichello.
With the #27 car taking Pole Position after Hyperpole 2 earlier in the week, the car also broke with traditional as pole setting driver Drudi was allowed to take the start to the race (as opposed to James) as did Hasse-Clot aboard the #10 as opposed to DeBoer.
During the opening hours, both Aston Martins enjoyed time at the head of the class before technical issues aboard the #10 car consigned them to the garage for repairs – something that would cost the crew three racing laps and that proved itself to be a gap that was just too big to cross during the many hours left within the race.
As the hours passed and the rate of attrition increased (particularly during the hours of darkness, the #27 remained well placed somewhere within the top ten whilst all the #10 car could do was to climb its way off from the bottom of the timing screen as with just one hour remaining, the #10 car now sat P13 out of the remaining seventeen LMGT3 entries still running.
Double points on offer at Le Mans and a bonus point for Pole Position see the #27 crew raise up to fourth within the LMGT3 Drivers Championship with the #10 crew down in P16 as the FIA WEC now heads to Brazil for its next round in just three weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)
Another class win for the Janik Motorsport Aston Martin in GT Cup Series
This time racing at the Lausitzring at the end of a back-to-back race weekend last time out where the #73 car of Vaclav Janik and Petr Koukola secured a GT4 class P2 result at the end of that race within a race format from the Slovakia ring.
This time around, however, it was a solo race for the namesake of the team with Janik improving from his P11 overall / P3 in class qualifying position to win his class in P6 overall.
The series now gets one weekend off before reconvening at Poznan at the end of June.
Photo Credits – Series
A tough day at the Le Mans Cup office for the two Aston Martin GT3s today from La Sartre
Again, featuring another large fifty-eight strong LMP3 and GT3 grid over the more modest forty-two strong mixed classed grid for the usual seasonal rounds, that number of cars and the varying degrees of racing abilities spread amongst the two driver crews again saw the track sessions descend into some form of anarchy even before we got to the two, hour long races on Thursday and Saturday.
Indeed, Qualifying was one of the sessions badly affected with both incidences and accidents on track to such a degree that the grid sessions for both races were set from their times posted during Free Practice 1.
The full season #11 Code Racing Development AMR of Philipp Sager and Rory Van Der Steur would be down at the tail of the grid as a result with Sager starting from P56 overall whilst the Le Mans only entered #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson would fair little better with a P55 overall starting slot.
Despite a good start from both Astons where they each picked off a few early places, the inevitable Safety Car was called upon even before the first lap had been completed but at least was a just a brief affair before the race went back to green. As the laps ticked by, both Aston Martins had worked their way into the top ten with the #59 car still leading the #11.
Pitting at the available midway point, the faster drivers of Thompson and Van Der Steur were now aboard as the #59 looked to better it then P5 position whilst the younger American looked to replicate the podium winning feats of his from the opening two rounds of the season. Whilst the guesting #59 car would come home P3 in class to win those two drivers a debut Le Mans winning trophy for their efforts, the #11 car had to make do with a P9 in class finish – but they were at least, still in the points.
Race two on Saturday, however, couldn’t have got any worse for both crews if it tried as the #59 RSLM AMR failed to take the start and the #11 crashed out just after the pits stop.
Again, another Safety Car punctuated start saw Sager survive his lowly starting position again but was unable to elevate himself up the order in the remaining laps that he had. Eventually handing over to Van Der Stuer, their race would come to a premature end as the #11 lost adhesion going into the very fast Indianapolis complex – spinning through the deep gravel trap before impacting into the adjacent tyre wall. Fortunately, uninjured but that, Van Der Stuer Le Mans debut came to an abrupt end.
The series will regroup at Spa Francorchamps with its usual full season line up at the end of August.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker) / Team / social media
A very encouraging day today from Le Mans
Unlike what was previously reported from yesterday evening’s Qualifying session where we though that the #009 Valkyrie of Marco Sorensen (Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis) had missed out on progressing through to at least Hyperpole 1 thanks to them being baulked upon one flying lap to be pipped at the post at the end of his final flying lap – a post session disqualification for the #6 Penske Porsche for being underweight suddenly threw the #009 Aston Martin back into the equation.
That was a lap time with a decreasing gap between him and the rest of the field as Sorensen finally came home fifteenth at the tail end of the fifteen strong Hyperpole running with a best lap time just over two seconds off the lead pace but still a motivationally quicker than one of the Toyotas and both Peugeots that didn’t make it through last night.
That means that the #009 will start the race on Saturday from P15 whilst the #007 sister car of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn start from P20 with that disqualified Porsche bringing up the rear of the Hypercar class.
If that was good (which is was for the still new race car programme), the results from the combined LMP2/LMGT3 Hyperpole 1 and 2 session were even better as both Zacharie Robichon and later Mattia Drudi thrust their Heart of Racing AMR Vantage up to class pole position at the end.
It was all plain sailing though as Hyperpole 1 was interrupted with a midway point red flag for a Ferrari beached in the gravel at the Porsche Curves and by then, the #27 car of Robichon hadn’t posted a notable lap time. Quickly out of pit lane at the restart saw the #27 place a better P3 placed ‘banker’ lap – position which elevated down to P6 before going back up to P4 by the end of the first session.
Before that, however, they have just one more Free Practice session to run tonight before a track free day tomorrow. Congratulations to all so far – and we still have a 24-hour race still to go!
Photo Credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)
Valkyrie Hypercar Qualifying torment today from Le Mans
After Sunday’s two pre-event test sessions, this afternoon saw the first Free Practice session run for the full sixty-two car entry, something that gave the teams a final three hours of track time before they were launched into the first of the Qualifying sessions later in the day and tomorrow.
Early indications appeared to be favourable for both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars from the Heart of Racing team as well as their and the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s.
Having been bolstered with a favourable power to weight ratio (amongst other power related parameters), both Valkyries finished that session off the bottom of the Hypercar class as the #007 outgunned the #009 sister with its British driver line up of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn with a best lap time of just 1.920 seconds off that of the frontrunning cars.
Within the LMGT3, it was the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman car that stole the stable honours from the #23 Heart of Racing entry as Valentin Hasse-Clot, Derek DeBoer and Eduardo Barichello finished third in the timing screen nearly three tenths faster than that of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi.
That lead the proceedings into Qualifying Practice with the LMGT3’s sharing the track with the guesting LMP2 classes for what was supposed to be a thirty-minute session, however, with a car stopping on track near the Dunlop Bridge saw the session red flagged. That thrust strategy for most into a two fifteen-minute dashes and allowed everyone to take fresh tyres for the restart. Whilst James was already comfortably placed to make his way through to tomorrows Hyperpole again, DeBoer was on the cusp to start the second bout of hot laps that sadly saw the American drop to P18 in class at the end.
His initial charge was badly hampered with at least two or three other Hypercars dawdling for track position up to and within the final chicane onto the start straight. The presence of those cars effectively lost the Dane his best lap and in F1 would he seen one or more of those cars handed a penalty for impeding.
Thinking that the Valkyries turn was already over, a lap last lap dash from the #009 saw it leap-frog those above and into the final Hyperpole position only for the last struggling Porsche to come through to spoil the fairytale. The results from that session would mean that the #009 would start the 24 hour from P16 with the sister #007 from P21.
That does not complete the track action for the day, and the drivers now look forward to their first nighttime running around the circuit with the two-hour Free Practice 2 session before Free Practice 3 tomorrow alongside the new Hyperpole 1 and 2 sessions.
Photo credits – Teams / DPPI / ACO / social media / Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker Media)
Tough times for the Aston Martin Racing powered contingent at Mid-Ohio
Within the earlier two VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races, there was only the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew within that twenty strong LPM3/GT3 and GT4 based cars but perhaps the less said about that the better as DePew had earlier contact within Race 1 and was forced to retire after only three laps before lasting only slightly longer in the second forty-five-minute race to retire after twelve laps.
That left four AMR powered crews competing within the four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race as its fourth round of the season.
Hopes from the Team TGM team were again elevated in qualifying as Paul Holton again stuck his #46 car onto the front row of the grid in P2 whilst the other three Astons from the Van Der Steur, Team TGM and Rebel Rock stables all struggled towards the rear of the GS class.
Unfortunately, the sun had all but gone ahead of Sunday’s start and it wasn’t long before the GS leaders were lapping the GS class tail enders (including the #15 VDS car of Christine Sloss just after the fifteen-minute mark. Dropping down to fifth at the half hour mark, Holton soon had more cars around them to what he would have preferred before the first full course yellow of the race.
Two more quick FCY’s then followed before eventually going back to green which unfortunately saw the #15 VDS car of Ben Sloss edged off the track and into the tyre wall. By the end of the second hour both Team TGM cars and the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of DePew, Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell found themselves behind some of the faster TCR based cars on track.
With the order of DePew handing onto Davis and then onto Liddell sparked something of a wonder recovery drive from the Scotsman who gradually elevated his position from its lower third position on track into more palatable by the end. Going into the final hour, by taking service Matt Plumb in his #46 car dropped out of the top ten with Liddell just a few more places back as the Aston was clearly struggling for pace compared to its Porsche and BMW rivals.
With the sun finally trying to make an appearance, it was a mad dash to the flag before a late FCY for a spun car on the infield heightened the tensions. Getting back to green and with all the pack line astern to one another, it was Liddell’s final opportunity to make up ground as he was now within the top ten although eventually, he and his #71 crew would finish P8 overall and in class.
With the #46 Team TGM car finishing P11 overall and in class, their sister #64 car of Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson did earn themselves another Bronze Cup podium finish by finishing P17 in class and second within the Bronze Cup sub-class. The #15 Van Der Steur car of Christine and Ben Sloss were sidelined after that restart incident and failed to finish for the first time this season.
The next round of the series will be from Watkins Glenn in two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Aston Martins latest Le Mans Hypercar based play thing!!
Surely just a strange coincidence that Aston Martin today release news of their most exclusive car package yet in the Valkyrie LM!!
Further cementing the link between this new model and the Aston Martin Valkyrie that the Heart of Racing team will be racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since its inception this week, today’s news sees a more than exclusive road going version of that Valkyrie Hypercar in it’s Le Mans version.
Not as powerful as the Valkyrie AMR Pro and (again) coincidentally limited to the FIA WEC limiting 697bhp from the 1000bhp plus of the Pro variant, this run of cars will of course be limited with just ten such models being made available globally.
Aston Martin CEO, Adrian Hallmark said: “In all its forms, there is nothing on Earth that compares to Valkyrie. The Le Mans contender is unique amongst its peers, not least the breathtaking 6.5-litre V12 engine that provides the beating heart for the only competitive hypercar bred from a road car.
“Valkyrie LM is an exquisite opportunity to be part of the most exclusive Aston Martin owners club in the world; a group who can immerse themselves in the purest and most comparable endurance driving experience, one that would otherwise only be available to our works drivers operating at the very limit of sportscar racing’s highest echelon. Through the decades, Aston Martin has striven to give its owners the truest sense of the performance bred from its racing cars. With Valkyrie LM, there has never been an opportunity to get closer to the raw dynamic forces and state of the art technology deployed by the hypercar currently competing in WEC and IMSA.”
The Valkyrie LM truly represents a driving experience directly comparable to the elite performance levels of sportscar racing’s pinnacle Hypercar class. Its differentiation is minimal to the cars competing in WEC and IMSA and focusses on ensuring the Valkyrie LM is fully accessible to amateur drivers. Race series specific items such as ballast and FIA-regulation electronics will be removed, with a bespoke cockpit interface tailored for track day usage. User-friendly open-loop torque control (rather than closed-loop which exists for competition regulation and homologation), torque sensors that manage power delivery on the race car are removed, optimising the driving experience for customers. The V12 engine will be recalibrated to accept readily available fuel.
The rear-wheel-drive Valkyrie LM is driven through a seven-speed sequential transmission operated by semi-automatic paddle shift gear change, just like the competitive version. The racing suspension configuration features double wishbones front and rear, with pushrod actuated torsion bar springs with adjustable side and central dampers. The Valkyrie LM will run on bespoke performance tyres from F1® tyre supplier Pirelli.
The cockpit is optimised for driver safety, access and visibility, with a custom carbon-fibre race seat with shoulder support and headrest padding surround. It features a six-point FIA 8853 safety harness and fire suppression system, while the steering wheel has an integrated driver display and shift lights.
These cars will become available in Q2 next year but if (like us) you’re wondering how much these beasts might be – then we probably cannot afford it!!
Source material – Aston Martin
