The 2021 IMSA Sprint Cup GT champion Roman De Angelis has graduated top of the class of the 2021 Aston Martin Racing Drivers’ Academy. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driver, along with Ross Gunn, was part of the first crew to record multiple class wins in the premier US endurance racing category – the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – for the British luxury sportscar brand, last season.

De Angelis’s on-track performances were not the only area where he impressed the judging panel comprising AMR Managing Director John Gaw, Head of Customer Racing Huw Tasker, four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam, De Angelis’s team-mate Gunn and the previous AMR Academy winner Valentin Hasse-Clot. He was also measured on his ability to manage strategy, fitness, teamwork as well as his awareness of commercial and public relations. All this allowed him to come out on top of a strong 15-driver intake of candidates.

De Angelis, who will now receive financial support, as well as assistance and guidance from the factory towards his 2022 race programme, will continue with The Heart of Racing this season.

“It’s an honour to have been recognised by Aston Martin for my achievements last season,” said De Angelis, “and I’m proud to have been chosen among such an exceptional group of drivers. Graduating from the Academy is a good flag marker for my career, and now it’s important to build on this in 2022 with the Vantage GT3 in IMSA and pay back the faith AMR has placed in me.”

Gaw added: “Roman has impressed us for a number of years, but in 2021 he really matured into an exciting driver for the future. His pace continues to build, and we watched him grow rapidly through the season, allowing him to demonstrate a championship-winning mentality and a calmness under pressure that tends to underline genuine talents in our sport. The level was high in last year’s AMR Academy and it’s a testament to his rival candidates that Roman emerged successful. He fully deserves to join previous winners Ross Gunn, Tom Canning and Valentin Hasse-Clot as exciting examples of talent grown from within the AMR GT racing family.”

The Aston Martin Racing Academy will return in 2022, with entries already being accepted from drivers aged between 17 and 26 who have a confirmed race programme in either a Vantage GT3 or GT4 this year. More details on the 2022 AMR Academy will follow in February.

Source Material - AMR

 

The fourth intake of participants for the latest season of the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy has been confirmed by the team today with another group of fifteen eligible drivers eager to reach the mantle previous claimed by the likes of Ross Gunn, Tom Canning and last year, Valentin Hasse-Clot.

Again featuring drivers between the ages of 17 to 26 years old, this group of fifteen potentials feature in GT series being raced through from North America and over to Europe in both the AMR Vantage GT3 and Vantage GT4 platforms but with sadly just one competing in the UK.

Under completely contrasting skies of last year's near wash-out, the British GT Championship's class of 2019 set about their final preparations on Friday and Saturday ahead of the two opening rounds of the season from the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire tomorrow.

Eleven examples of the finest new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3's and GT4's will race competitively for the first time in the UK amongst the expected grid of thirty five cars with the established AMR teams of TF Sport, Optimum Motorsport, Beechdean AMR and Academy Motorsport amongst them.


Many of the drivers within the seven AMR GT4 entries will have relatively little GT racing experience going into this season and all bar three of them have embarked on this path as part of their racing driving developmental curve and in partnership with the Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy process. The same will apply for the youngest driver within the AMR fleet with Optimum's Ollie Wilkinson also included.



Whilst other business sadly kept us away from the excitement of yesterdays Free Practice and Qualifying for each of tomorrows two-one hour races, all looks set to be an exciting opening encounter around the 2.7mile Cheshire circuit and if you are not lucky enough to be there tomorrow, then fear not as both races will be streamed live via the British GT social media channels.


Race 1 begins at 11:15hrs with the AMR cars placed as follows on the Am starting grid:-

GT3

P8   #2 TF Sport Mark Farmer
P10 #47 TF Sport Graham Davidson
P12 #96 Optimum Ollie Wilkinson
P13 #99 Beechdean Andrew Howard

GT4

P5 #95 TF Sport Patrick Kibble
P8 #62 Academy Alex Toth Jones
P10 #11 Beechdean Kelvin Fletcher
P11 #35 Optimum Connor O'Brien
P13 #61 Academy Ben Hurst
P14 #97 TF Sport Josh Hands
P18 #75 Optimum Patrik Mathiessen

Race 2 begins at 15:35hrs with the AMR cars placed as follows on the Pro starting grid:-

GT3

P6  #2 TF Sport Nicki Thiim
P7  #99 Beechdean Marco Sorensen
P10 #47 TF Sport Jonny Adam
P11 #96 Optimum Bradley Ellis

GT4

P4  #11 Beechdean Martin Plowman
P5. #97 TF Sport Tom Canning
P12 #95 TF Sport Josh Price
P15 #62 Academy Will Moore
P16 #61 Academy Micah Stanley
P18 #75 Optimum Mike Robinson
P20 #35 Optimum Jack Butel

Obviously we wish all competing a safe and fruitful race and season ahead - Game on!!

Photo credits - Steve Jackman / Jacob Ebrey (title image)

Aston Martin is set to launch a brand new programme in 2019, where customers can enjoy exhilarating race track experiences at iconic circuits, with expert guidance available through the AMR Drivers’ Club. This customer-focused driving academy will offer various levels of tuition to suit each driver, from exploring the capabilities of their own Aston Martin to finding the limit in some of the marque’s most extreme track cars, for those with aspirations to race.

Sebastien Delmaire, Director of Aston Martin Partnerships, said: “Our customers have been enquiring about this type of programme for a while now so we are delighted to be able to offer such a strong and structured package of experiences. From the customer who would like to know what his or her Aston Martin is capable of, from the manufacturer who designed and built their car, to those wishing to hone their track skills with future ambitions of racing, we have it covered.”

Street Art Racing have recently confirmed their first driver pairing who will compete for the Belgium based team in next season's GT4 European Series aboard one of their two, recently purchased 2019 specification Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's.

Having ran with a single car in the Series last year and two in the season before that when they secured the Am Class title, it is good to see the team harness the momentum established by the AMR factory team by using the option of a brand new Vantage GT4 chassis, the possibility of any qualifying drivers being able to apply to the 2019 AMR Young Driver Academy AND have the knowledge and expertise of AMR factory driver Maxime Martin available at their disposal.


Having recently tested the as yet non-homologated GT4 Vantage at Donington late last year, the first to sign for this incredible package is 19 year old Luxembourg based driver Clement Seyler who will join the returning former rally driver Pascal Bachmann in what will undoubtedly be a very decretive car.


Relatively inexperienced in motorsport, the young racer will arrive at the first round to the GT4 European Series with just five race experiences behind him but despite that lack of experience he apparently still comes highly recommended with being a 'sporting' Godson to Stephane Ortelli and comes with the personal recommendation to the team from non other than Henri Pescarolo.

Clearly this young lad has natural talent and will be one to watch out for aver the forthcoming season. In regards to the teams second available car, we still await confirmation from the team on that.

Photo credits - SAR / AMR / Seyler