Heart of Racing and D'Station Racing secure podiums in IMSA and Super Taikyu Rounds this weekend
Double podium delight for two Aston Martin Racing Partner teams last night and early this morning as both the Heart of Racing and D’Station Racing crews brought back the silverware in their respective rounds of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship and Super Taikyu Series.
Reunited for this event only, had the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD being driven for the final time around the Belle Isle circuit in Detroit by car regular Roman de Angelis and his last year’s Sprint Cup co-champion, Ross Gunn.
With the young Canadian Qualifying the car in second place within the grid of just ten GTD cars and six DPi’s, a quick start from De Angelis saw him take an early class lead from the #17 Lexus which he would hold until he pitted just before the halfway.
Two super quick in-laps from the #17 car however, saw them leapfrog Gunn out of pit lane to the tune of about 3.5 seconds but Gunn being Gunn, he was having none of it and chased the #17 car down to be onto its rear with just twenty odd minutes to go.
Sadly for the crew of the #27, the was to be no opportunity for Gunn to Challenge for the lead as the passing DPi leaders thwarted the remaining possibility with track position but this was still after all, the #27 cars first podium finish of the year so not all bad.
In a similar vein but over at the Fuji International Speedway in Japan had the #47 D’Station Racing team competing in the second round of their domestic Super Taikyu Series, this time with their annual 24-hour race at the circuit.
Sporting this year an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R in lieu of their GT4, the team had already had podium success in their first outing in the car at Suzuka where they secured a race debut P3 in class.
This time featuring a 24-hour specific extended driver line up of Max Orido, Tsubasa Kondo, Kenji Hama, Kosuke Matsuura and Australian Jake Parsons, the #47 Qualified second within their SP1 class and extended that run of form throughout the race to finish it in fifth overall, second in class and just two laps behind the class winning KTM.
The next round of the series will be at Sugo in early July where the teams AMR Vantage GT3 crew will again sadly be absent due to their WEC commitments that weekend at Monza.
Photo credits – AMR / D’Station
Yet more PROsport Racing news!!
Having already seen a two car Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 effort into this season’s GT4 European Series confirmed alongside one car into the ADAC GT4 Germany Series, yesterday’s test at Hockenheim as saw the team confirm a second within the GT4 Germany Series with Ukrainian Yevgen Sokolovskiy re-joining the team after a couple of rounds out with the team in the Series Trophy Class last season where he and co-driver Yannick Fubrich claimed a class podium at the Nurburgring round.
Making for another busy season for the Christoph Esser ran team, the entries are on top the Nurburgring Langstrechen Serie and 24H Series entries already mentioned and takes the AMR ‘headcount’ of confirmed entries into the series up to six cars.
Prodrive enter the virtual world of the Le Mans 24Hr
Having competed in many different motorsports categories throughout its storied history, Prodrive has always been used to taking on new challenges and now it will be taking on a new and unique challenge.
Prodrive’s team comprises of Pro and Sim drivers, Tom Canning, David Pittard, Logan Hannah, and Lasse Sørensen, who together tackle the biggest E-Sports challenge of them all. Celebrating Prodrive’s beginnings as a company in 1984, Prodrive E-Sports will be competing as car #84.
David Richards, Prodrive Chairman says, “We have watched with interest over the last few years as the technology and competitive nature of virtual racing, and e-sports in general, has improved. With gamers and world class racing drivers now mixing together in races, the real and virtual worlds are moving ever closer. Now is the time for us to get involved and we are excited to start at Le Mans.”
Josh Banks, Prodrive E-Sports Team Manager comments “This is a very exciting time for E Sports, and we are up for the challenge that we will face as a team attempting to conquer the biggest E Sports race of them all, we have had great success over the years at Le Mans and I am hoping we can mirror this in the virtual world!”
The race will be streamed live on Twitch, Facebook and YouTube, and fans can follow the Provide E-Sports Team on Prodrive’s social media channels.
New clients take 'go to' team TF Sport to the 2022 Dubai 24Hr with one of their AMR GT3's
Brothers Ramzi, Nabil and Sami Moutran will be joined by Charlie Eastwood and silver-graded Sam De Haan. Eastwood previously tackled the 24 Hours of Dubai with the UAE-based brothers, where they claimed victory in the 991 Cup class in 2019.
Whilst the Moutrans are well known to the Creventic events, scoring multiple podiums and victories over the years, TF Sport will be making their 24H Series debut in January and will be looking to add to their twice-around-the-clock win tally, adding to their 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Spa first place-finishes.
Sami Moutran from Duel Racing - “As Duel Racing, we have been involved in the 24H Series’ events for many years and had our fair share of success, winning two championships outright. We have been fortunate enough to have class wins at the Dubai 24 hours in both a Seat and a Porsche 991. When we decided to step up to the top category the choice of partner was a relatively straight-forward one, we were looking for a team that could bring the same level of competitive spirit, winning culture and family values that we as Duel Racing have always had.
The ‘night and day’ livery which dons the Aston Martin GT3 is based on Duel Racing’s 2015 24H Series championship-winning colours.
Two older gen. Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 race out the WRL season at a 24hr from Sebring
Two older generation Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s will take to the track of the Sebring International Raceway this weekend in what will become the World Racing League’s first continuous twenty-four race in its history.
For those of you who may not be aware of this series, the series specialises in low cost, endurance races around many of the iconic circuits that North America has to offer with next years calendar again featuring race weekends like an 8Hr + 8Hr, 9hr + 7Hr or a 14hour long races at places like Sebring, CoTA, VIR, Daytona, Mid-Ohio and Road America to name just a few.
Two Aston Martin teams have been dipping in and out of this year’s calendar so far this year and both return to see the season out with the biggest race yet.
We have already heard of the Prosport Competition team turning up this weekend with their #143 GTO classed AMR Vantage GT4 GA spec car with drivers including Pippa Mann, Zach Arnold, Jim Cox and Dwayne Moses.
Also confirmed in joining in the multi-class entry of over fifty cars is the #909 Automatic Racing AMR Vantage GT4 entry for the ‘regular bunch’ of Rob Ecklin, Ramin Abdolvahabi, Brandon Kidd, Steven Davison and maybe even Automatic Racing’s boss David Russell.
Friday sees the teams have up to four hours of testing ahead of the start of the 24hr at noon on Saturday. There is usually a live stream available via the series social media channels, but these are sometimes limited to just circuit cameras.
What a great way to see out the season!
Photo credits – Prosport / Automatic / Drivers / WRL
News from the PROsport Racing team as they look to see out 2021 on something of a high in other series
News out from the PROsport Racing team this week indeed confirm their unfortunate withdrawal from the DTM Trophy Series but also highlights what will take its place as well as aspirations to move up the GT ladder with some potential help from a certain Aston Martin Racing factory driver.
The actions taken against the team by the race officials at their last round of the DTM Trophy from the Red Bull Ring a couple of weeks ago was for them the final straw that warranted their immediate removal from the series in protest.
Team boss Christophe Esser said that “It is a shame that we ended our involvement in the DTM Trophy prematurely, because the format with sprint races and one driver is really good and the DTM is a myth. Unfortunately, there were already incidents at the start in Monza and especially recently at the Red Bull Ring that neither our drivers nor we as a team can accept. Our drivers, Mike David Ortmann and Tim Heinemann, told us that they no longer want to drive in the DTM Trophy under these conditions. We respected that and share this attitude."
In order to fill those gaps now conspicuous upon the team’s race calendar, the team have been accepted into the final three rounds of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series at the Sachensring, Hockenheim and then a the Nurburgring at the beginning of November.
Whilst Mike David Ortmann has already been confirmed as the first of two drivers aboard one of their two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entries, the team are still looking for potential drivers to fill the remaining seats.
For their second driver who was competing with them, reigning DTM Trophy Champion Tim Heinemann, he is looking to continue his GT3 pathway that he presently does within the DMV-GTC Series with another team. The team is hopeful that they can field their remaining AMR Vantage GT3 into the final races of the ADAC GT Masters Series with (not sure if this is confirmed or just wishful thinking by them) with non-other than reigning World Endurance Champion GTE Pro Champion Nicki Thiim.
Esser added to this point that “Tim Heinemann is an absolute driving talent and we would like to continue working with him. That's why we want to do guest starts in the ADAC GT Masters with him and, if possible, with Nicki Thiim. In the past few weeks and months, Heinemann has already completed tests with our Vantage GT3 on the Nürburgring, Grand Prix circuit and Nordschleife, also in Hockenheim. "
Photo credits – DTM Trophy / PROsport
Le Mans 24Hr Test Day - done
Today saw the running of the official Test Day at the Circuit de La Sarthe ahead of next weekend’s running of the 89th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the fourth round of the World Endurance Championship.
Under virtually clear blue skies and sunshine, the three full season WEC Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE’s from TF Sport, D’Station Racing and Northwest AMR (and this time joined by TF Sport’s European Le Mans Series entered AMR GTE) all put in a appearance for the days two, four hour sessions as all four crews were mandated to do as were running with LM24 rookie drivers.
Session 1 pace setters were the #98 Northwest AMR crew of Paul Dalla Lana, Marcos Gomes and Nicki Thiim who came away fastest in GTE Am with the #777 D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Andrew Watson a not-so-distant P4. Looking through the individual times, a debuting Fujii was quicker than Thiim but it was another debuting driver – Marcos Gomes from the #33 TF Sport entered AMR with Ben Keating and Dylan Pereira who was the quickest Am driver of the session before they averaged out back in P12.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the AMR contingent however, as both the #777 and #95 TF Sport car of John Hartshorne suffered accident damage after varying degrees of contact with the barriers – more so for the #95 which lost them a significant period of time as the TF Sport team set about repairing and getting the Hartshorne, Ollie Hancock and Ross Gunn back out before the end of the day.
The timing board however showed a different set of results by the end of the days final session with all four cars featuring in the second half of the table. Nothing to be concerned about their as the test day is about setting the record straight with attending where necessary and also housework within the time as in brake bedding, general familiarisation and practice before the more formal sessions of Wednesday where minimum lap times and compulsory day and night laps will also be needed from those who haven’t raced at the circuit before.
That all starts this Wednesday afternoon, by which time we should be blessed with the sights and sounds of a paying public lined around the circuit for the first time since 2019.
Photo credits – TF Sport / LM24 / Teams
Round 3 of European Le Mans Series for TF Sport from Le Castellet
First time out in a current GTE specification car after many years out of a car at the start of the season, this year is not about pretending to compete for overall Class titles for TF Sport’s latest Gentleman driver client John Hartshorne, rather than living the moment and the dream of competing again at the highest level of GT racing and (soon) at the home of endurance racing at Le Mans.
Driving the latest Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE under the watchful eye’s of Tom Ferrier’s team and co-drivers Ollie Hancock and Ross Gunn, Hartshorne has been noted as progressing nicely along his projected learning curve in time for him to re-savour the magic that is the Le Mans 24hr later in August, whether that be with a crowd or without!
Gunn returns to the team having missed the second round in Austria thanks to his new full season IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship commitments with the Heart of Racing team, a seat that was filled in his absence by fellow AMR factory driver Jonny Adam.
Hancock also came fresh to a modern GTE car at the start of the year and he has clearly been enjoying himself in this European series with the #95 car, competing within a class of nine other GTE cars amongst the grid (at Paul Ricard) of forty one cars.
Tomorrow (Friday) sees the first Free Practice session and bronze driver test of the round before moving to the second Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday.
The race will begin at 11:00hrs local on Sunday.
We wish them well.
Photo credits – ELMS / Team
Next stop for PROsport Racing - 24H Series at the Hockenheim ring
Who seem to be the busiest team around are back at a racetrack again this weekend, this time for the third round of the 24H Series from the Hockenheim ring in Germany.
Literally fresh from their double podium success at the opening round of the 2021 GT Open Cup Series at the Circuit de Paul Ricard in southern France only four days ago, the PROsport Racing team with drivers Nico Verdonck, Rodrique Gillion and (this time again) Kurt Hensen will compete in this weekend’s twelve-hour event with their trusty Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.
Having raced at the opening round of the series at Dubai where they finished second in class, the team then went on to claim a class win at their next round at Paul Ricard at the end of April for the #401 car to stand a close P2 in the GT4 class and forth overall in the series as a result of their efforts.
This weekend’s entry list shows a mixed grid of up to thirty cars with (unfortunately) just two cars competing again in the GT4 class. However, and like most sports, you have to be in it at the end to score any points though!!
Good luck to these guys
Photo credits - 24H Series / Team
Fuji 24 beckons the D'Station Racing AMR team this weekend
It’s another busy week ahead for the Japanese D’Station Racing team as they prepare for the third round of the Super Taikyu Series at the weekend, with this round being the pivotable Super Tec 24-hour race from their home track at Fuji International Speedway.
Again, entering both their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 and GT4 race cars, it has already been something of a productive year for the team in the series so far as they presently lead in the SP-X (GT3) class and stand in a competitive fifth spot in the SP-X (GT4) class after the previous rounds from Motegi and Sugo.
The teams #777 AMR Vantage GT3 car is again due to be driven by team boss Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii (both fresh form their recent experiences at the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Spa) and Tsubasa Kondo. Kondo undertook the cars testing duties (alongside another GT3 debuting driver) for the 24Hr at Fuji whilst both Satoshi Hoshino and Fujii were racing their AMR Vantage GTE in Belgium of the first time.
Their #47 AMR Vantage GT4 will again be made up of a four-man team including Max Orido, Tatsuya Hoshino, Takuro Shinohara and Kenji Hama amongst a grid of ten SP-X cars.
The biggest issue for the weekend remains the weather with rain again being forecasted for the event.
Photo credits – D’Station Racing
PROsport Racing aim high in next season's GT4 arena
Having competed in most of this year’s 24H Series Europe endurance races to come away as winners of that series overall GT Team Europe Championship as well as cameo appearances in a handful of other European races in other series, has the German based PROsport Racing Team this week announce that they plan to compete within the DTM Trophy Series with at least one – maybe with both of their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s.
With the DTM Series itself now more secure going into 2021 with a recently confirmed framework of GT3 racing, their new for 2020 GT4 Series looked more than promising after teams like Maxime Martins new squad had hoped to compete within this year – before that virus ruled out many racing opportunities so 2021 should be no different as long as drivers can find those suitably cash rich sponsors
Having dipped their toe into the Series this year at the Lausitzring where drivers Tim Heinemann and Moritz Oestreich showed off the potential of the car, Team boss Christoph Esser added “In the coming season, we want to rely on Aston Martin in the DTM Trophy and bring one or two Vantage to the start line. We will announce the driver line-up at a later date."
As with anything motorsport, nothing is confirmed until all monies have been paid and the car and crew arrives at the circuit and hits the track for the first session but at least this news give us positive encouragement ahead of this year’s long bleak winter months before we hopefully come out the other side fit and well, with a vaccine and raring to get back to the business of racing.
We should also see one of the team’s AMR Vantage GT4’s compete at the 24H Series yearly 24 hour opener in Dubai in mid-January 2021 – again, no drivers have yet been mentioned for that or any of the other sixty five indicated entries.
New AMR Vantage GT8R to debut at ADAC Total N24
The new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R will make its debut in the ADAC Total Nürburgring 24 Hours on the world-famous Nordschleife in Germany this weekend, with partner racing team Garage 59.The Aston Martin Vantage GT8R, based on the same chassis that has proved successful in its GTE, GT3 and GT4 variants around the world, is set to compete in the SP8T class. It will be raced by works drivers Darren Turner (GB), and Jonny Adam (GB) – who won the GTE Am class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend – as well as Aston Martin test driver Chris Goodwin (GB) and GT World Challenge class race winner Alexander West (SWE).
Sitting between the GT3 and GT4 Vantages, the GT8R’s performance has been optimised around the race’s SP8T regulations, with reduced weight, increased power and improved aerodynamics compared to its GT4 counterpart. The aerodynamics package includes a larger rear wing, as well as new dive planes and splitter, whilst power and weight are targeted at the SP8T class limits of 549hp and 1450kg
An early concept of the GT8R actually won the SP8T class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours last year, in the hands of British trio Alex Brundle, Pete Cate, and Jamie Chadwick. Since then the production specification has been comprehensively developed and recently completed its sign-off testing at Aragon in Spain before making its race debut last month in round five of the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series (NLS).
Aimed primarily at customers wishing to race in the NLS and the Nürburgring 24 Hours, it is also eligible for the GT Cup in the UK, Super Taikyu in Japan, America’s Transam Series and the New Zealand Endurance Championship, as well as being an ideal candidate for a track day car. A run of 50 will go on sale at a list price of £225,000, while kits will be made available for existing Vantage GT4 customers to upgrade their cars.
Aston Martin Racing works driver Turner said: “The GT8R is such a fun car to race – it’s really easy to drive and gives the driver so much confidence. The car performed extremely well on its debut at the Nürburgring, and once we’ve applied the lessons we learned during the six-hour race – where it ran faultlessly – I expect it to be able to allow us to fight for class victory in the 24-hour event. You can really feel the step up in performance, but it remains a far less demanding car to race than a high downforce GT3 or GTE. I’ve loved driving it around the Nordschleife and I can’t wait to return there this weekend.”
Aston Martin Racing President David King added: “This car was borne out of a desire from our existing customers who wanted to step up to a faster machine than the Vantage GT4, and from our desire to have a truly competitive car in the increasingly important SP8T class at the Nürburgring. The GT8R exploits a gap in the market that allows drivers to experience the user-friendly accessibility of the entry-level Vantage, while delivering a significant step-up in performance.”
The 2020 Nürburgring 24 Hours starts at 1530 CEST on Saturday 26 September. More than 100 cars in 21 classes will battle it out in what is regarded as one of the toughest endurance races in the world.
Aston Martin Racing wins 24 Hours of Le Mans and Manufacturers title
Aston Martin has won the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans. The British manufacturer, which was last victorious in the world famous event in 2017, recorded its best ever result at the Circuit de la Sarthe by winning both GT classes and with three crews standing on the podium. The result means that Aston Martin scored enough points to secure the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) manufacturers’ title with one round remaining.
It was works drivers Alex Lynn (GB) and Maxime Martin (BEL), along with former Le Mans class-winner Harry Tincknell (GB), who took the most coveted win in endurance racing after a flawless performance in the #97 Vantage GTE and a thrilling and nail-biting 24-hour battle with the works team Ferraris.
Lynn, who set the fastest lap of the GTE classes at 03.10 on Sunday said: “I won’t lie, that was emotional… I had a few tears on the last lap. I have driven this exact car for the last three years and so much hard work and sweat has gone into it. It honestly feels incredible.”
TF Sport’s Vantage GTE took class-winning honours in GTE Am with works driver Jonny Adam (GB) and Charlie Eastwood (GB), and team-mate Salih Yoluç (TUR) and, with it, the lead of the WEC GTE Am drivers’ title going into the season finale at Bahrain International Circuit. The British outfit is the first privateer team to win Le Mans with the Vantage GTE.
Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Marco Sørensen (DEN), who were joined this weekend by Richard Westbrook (GB), will also take the WEC pro-class drivers’ title to the wire – they now lead team-mates Lynn and Martin by just 15 points after taking third place in the GTE Pro class.
In the GTE Am class, huge disappointment came for long-standing Aston Martin Racing driver Paul Dalla Lana (CAN), who had high hopes for his eighth Le Mans. Outstanding pace from the Canadian and his team-mates Augusto Farfus (BR) and works driver Ross Gunn (GB) proved fruitless after an extended pitstop put a halt to their race-leading charge.
The trio of podiums at the double-point-scoring event was enough for Aston Martin to take the WEC Manufacturers’ title for the first time – the British manufacturer crossed the line 76 points ahead of Porsche and 97 ahead of Ferrari.
Tobias Moers, Aston Martin CEO, commented: “I am extremely proud of everyone who has played a part in this momentous victory today. To win both GTE classes and the WEC Manufacturer’s title is testimony to the quality of both the team, the Vantage GTE and the Vantage road car that is the basis of the race car.”
AMR miss out on GTE front rows in LM24 Hyperpole
All four Aston Martin Vantage GTEs entered for this year’s race made it through to Hyperpole, having dominated yesterday’s 45-minute qualifying session. The exciting 30-minute event, new for 2020, gave one driver from each car the chance to take advantage of the clear track and show what they can do.
FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) leaders Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Marco Sørensen (DEN), who are joined in the #95 Vantage GTE this weekend by Richard Westbrook (GB), qualified in third place in GTE Pro, putting them in a strong position to start the biggest race of the season.
“I think we can be happy with that,” said Sørensen. “Obviously, we wanted pole to get that extra point but we didn’t get that today. It was nice to be out on the track with no traffic around – usually in practice and qualifying you all go out in one go and 99% of the time you end up hitting traffic. The Hyperpole made it more like actually qualifying with the track for yourself and that was great. We’ve come here the most prepared we’ve ever been so I’m really excited and motivated for the race.”
The #97 sister car qualified in fourth in the GTE Pro class thanks to works driver Alex Lynn (GB). He and Maxime Martin (BEL), who are also able to clinch the WEC title this year, will be joined by experienced Le Mans racer Harry Tincknell (GB) for this weekend’s race.
In the GTE Am class, Ross Gunn (GB), who stepped up to the works team line-up for this season, will start his second ever 24 Hours of Le Mans from fourth in GTE Am after setting the pace in yesterday’s qualifying session. He will be joined in the #98 Vantage GTE by Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), contesting his eighth Le Mans, and new team-mate Augusto Farfus (BR).
The TF Sport-run Vantage GTE qualified in fifth in the GTE-AM class with Charlie Eastwood (GB) behind the wheel. Fellow works driver Jonny Adam (GB) and Salih Yoluç (TU) complete the customer team line-up.
President Aston Martin Racing David King said: “Obviously Le Mans is the most important race of the season, and with so much at stake in the WEC GTE Manufacturers and Drivers’ championships this weekend, our main objective was to get through practice and qualifying unscathed and fully prepared for 24 hours of racing. We’ve done that, and we’re confident we have a package that can contend for victory in both classes on Sunday. It’s one of the strongest line-ups we’ve ever brought to Le Mans, and there is, quite literally, all to play for.”
The 88th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans starts at 1430 CET, Saturday, 19 September.
