Tomorrow will see the confirmation from the ACO of the entry list (and indeed expected long reserve list) for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Whilst we already know that this year’s full season entries for the World Endurance Championship will again get automatic and guaranteed entry into this flagship event, there remains some doubt as the fortunes of the remaining Aston Martin Racing Partner Teams entries from other ACO rules series.

With a whole host of pre-season racing news coming out of Europe so far this week, today was the turn of Aston Martin Racing Partner teams in Asia to make the headlines.

With the benefit of hindsight, late last year D’Station Racing posted a stream of photographs taken from the inside of their Fuji based headquarters for other matters that appeared to show a number of AMR Vantage GT3’s more that we first expected them to have for their then Super Taikyu and former Super GT domestic racing commitments.

Today confirmed as to why that may have been as not only do we already know about their continuing Asian Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship commitments that will kick off next week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the ALMS and later in March for the opening round of the WEC respectively, that the team now also has an intense season planned for their domestic arena.

Again no surprise we know to see two green AMR’s confirmed by the team today for the Super Taikyu Series again this season, but this time their #47 car will no longer be an AMR Vantage GT4 but a GT4 based Vantage GT8R that racers Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido and Kenji Hama will race within the ST1 Class.

That will go alongside the STX Class AMR Vantage GT3 that series regulars Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo will compete in when gaps in the WEC Calendar allow for the reigning Champions.

In addition to all of these, the team also confirmed an AMR Vantage GT3 entry into the Japan Cup rounds of the GT World Challenge Asia Series again for Satoshi Hoshino and Fujii behind the wheel of their car. Four rounds strategically placed within Japan in the midst of their season will allows these Japanese team to enter without the worry of crossing international borders during their continuing COVID related travel restrictions.

Further to that, we also learn of the continuing re-emergence of the Chinese GT racing market at the BSEM AMR team prepare themselves for another new season – this time with the newer turbo charged variant of the AMR Vantage GT4. We do not presently know of either drivers nor Series so we will leave it like that for the time being.

Photo credits - Teams

 

There’s nothing like a piece a good racing news to start the week off as today TF Sport and D’Station Racing confirm their remaining seat aboard their #777 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE for the forthcoming World Endurance Championship.

Already supporting another GTE effort within the WEC’s season 9 with the likes of Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga, the Sussex based team has also become the strategic partner for the Japanese squad as they enter the WEC for the first time.

Aside from the earliest prototype style of race car to bear the Aston Martin badge (the AMR 1 in the late 1980's) only two further cars have been developed by Aston Martin Racing or in conjunction with Aston Martin Racing in modern ACO rules motorsport.

The first of course was the hugely loveable Lola Aston Martin B09/60 V12 which was built to race in the 2009 European Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series following the team running a smaller development car with Charouz Racing earlier in 2008. Only four examples of the LMP1 car were ever built.

The reign of the B09/60 platform was to have been replaced with an all new and fully in-house developed AMR One LMP1 car ready for the 2011season and it was during its pre-season testing where we found the car on track for the first time at Snetterton.

Technical issues unfortunately blighted this new chassis in its one and only season of racing, especially around the design and performance of its smaller engine block and after a disastrous event with the car at the 2011 Le Mans 24 (where both cars retired within the first 30 minutes of racing) the team took the decision to revert back to the liable Lola chassis to see out the season before electing to only race car platforms that they sell on a daily basis.

For some safety cells from the AMR One programme, they would go on to see more racing as part of the Nissan Deltawing programme.

With the Vantage platform now being so successful in GT racing across the entire GTE, GT3 and GT4 ranges since, it appears that the team's tentative toes into Hypercar with the Aston Martin Valkyrie would be the closest that AMR would be going back to prototype style of racing before further regulation changes forced a rethink with the factory and parent company - no more Hypercar - well not at least in the short term!

Again, many of these shots were taken from pubic areas of the circuits. Hope you enjoy them?

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This weekends second round of the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series will be something of an uphill struggle for last time winners D'Station Racing AMR as a mechanical problem during Qualifying sees them starting from near the rear of the grid tomorrow.

This weekend also marks the first ever visit by international race series to Australia's latest race track facility at the Bend near Adelaide, an event that will also see the first competitive race conducted around its mighty full 7.7km, thirty five corner circuit.


Having never had LMP2, LMP3 and modern GT3 cars race around the full circuit, set up and tyre data is something of a premium for all twenty five ALMS cars who have made their way over to New South Wales for this very inaugural event.

Surprisingly, weather has also been very much been an issue at the circuit since track action started yesterday with ambient temperatures ranging from between 40 degrees plus during circuit/car set up earlier in the week to just 20 degrees and torrential rainfall during open testing on Friday. With this mornings Qualifying session being competed back on a dry and hot circuit, the whole four race of Sunday is expected to be run in similar, if not hotter again conditions.

Despite yesterdays rainfall, the #77 AMR remained the 'greenest' on and around the parched circuit backdrop.


For the #77 D'Station Racing AMR crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Ross Gunn, the Bend has been a progressive sequence of getting both themselves and the car dialled into what is a extremely complex and technical circuit in both of driving requirements and the racing longevity of the car with fuel and tyres already an issue should either be compremised out on track almost inevitably killing off any chances of a podium finish - just because of the distances involved back to pit lane.

The Ferrari 488 GT3 entries have again been the pick of the GT bunch in the available four track sessions since Friday - similar to what they were in round one in Shanghai before they all quickly faulted in the early stages of the race never to trouble the front runners again. Unfortunately on the flip side of that, the #77 AMR Vantage GT3 has never been able to elevate themselves too far up the timing screen in the same sessions - we don't know if that is intentional or if the twists and turns of the midfield circuit really don't suit the dynamics of the AMR Vantage GT3?


Either way, and with Gunn again taking on the Qualifying duties for the team, his fastest lap time of 2:59.285 was his fastest time of the weekend - the teams first sub three minute lap but troublingly nearly three seconds slower in P7 in class than the pole setting #27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari and Davide Rigeon. A later message from Gunn confirmed a failure on an undefined front end component as as issue and may give reason to the sound of front end tyre squeal off the TV audio during Gunns Qualifying run.

But the race isn't going to be about the likes of Gunn, Rigeon and Ledogar - rather who's three driver line up can average the fastest and be at the front of the queue come the chequered flag after four hours of sweltering car craft!

Sundays start of the 4 hours of The Bend begins at 13:00hrs local (that GMT +10.5hrs) - that's a very early start for most of us who are Europe based but at least the event is again streamed live via the series Website and Youtube channel.


Hopefully Gunn will be able to knock the boys up a little something in the kitchen so that they can get the job done on Sunday (OK, it may just a ready meal but it is the thought that counts!!)


In other news with the team - this weekend had also seen the remanning members of the team back in Japan receive their series accolades for finishing second in the 2019 Pirelli Super Taikyu Series STX Class for drivers Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo aboard their AMR Vantage GT3 that they race in this weekend.

Photo credits - D'Station Racing / ALMS