Vantage GTE bows out with a double podium in Bahrain
In a race free of Safety Car periods, pure performance mattered more in Bahrain than at any other race in the 2023 WEC, and this enabled Aston Martin Racing partner teams D’station Racing, Heart of Racing and ORT by TF to show the true endurance pace of the Vantage GTE and score a milestone 75th LMGTE Am podium in the category’s final race.
Japanese entrant D’station Racing, with a Vantage GTE operated by 2022 World Champions TF Sport, scored its best ever result in the WEC as series debutant Liam Talbot (AUS) qualified second in GTE Am and set a strong pace; the intensity of which was matched by team-mates Casper Stevenson (GBR) and Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) as the trio finished second, just five seconds from victory after eight hours of hard racing.
The Heart of Racing team made it a double-podium finish. Its trio of drivers, led by Team Principal Ian James (GBR), Daniel Mancinelli (ITA) and Alex Riberas (ESP) took third, with the team in contention for victory until contact delayed the #98 car with two hours to go.
Heart of Racing’s result is the latest in a long line of achievements for the team with Vantage in the past 13 months. The US-based operation won the 2022 GTD division in the North American IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and was the first GT car home in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona – a first for Aston Martin.
The race result means that the Vantage GTE, the prototype version of the British-built race car derived from Aston Martin’s critically-acclaimed ultra-luxury sportscar, which shares the same aluminium body-frame and a specially-tuned version of the four-litre V8 turbo-charged production engine, completes the GTE Am era as its most successful car with a record 33 wins and a total of 75 podiums.
In what was the best event of the year for Vantage, ORT by TF ran strongly inside the top four after a quick and consistent performance by Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan (USA) and Aston Martin works racer Charlie Eastwood (IRL) but retired with 20 minutes to go.
Combining both the GTE Am and GTE Pro classes – the latter of which was discontinued after 2022 – Vantage has amassed 52 victories in the WEC’s 85 races and has finished on the podium 119 times, at least one of which came in every single season since the FIA revived the World Championship in 2012.
Eleven world titles have been achieved in that time as well as five victories in the world’s biggest motor race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including a GTE Pro and Am double in 2020.
“The Aston Martin Vantage GTE has completed every single one of its objectives and covered itself in glory in the process,” said Aston Martin’s Head of Endurance Racing Adam Carter. “A multiple championship-winning race car, Vantage won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both classes and was a force throughout its six-year run in the world championship. It will be rightly remembered as one of the great sportscars in the modern era of the sport. We’re incredibly excited about what’s coming next for Aston Martin in world endurance racing, but we must also be proud of what has been achieved with Vantage GTE.”
Source material - AMR
Photo credits - Andrew Lofthouse / Drew Gibson
Sunday, November 05, 2023 |
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Another front row start for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE in its final world appearance
With the reign of the GTE platform sadly coming to an end this weekend at this this eight-hour finale, all four manufacturers entered will be keen to scoop that final class winning prize for their record books before they look forward to the new reign of the LMGT3 Class from next season onwards.
After two Free Practice sessions yesterday and another this morning before this afternoons race setting Qualifying run, it was the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of car and team debutant, Liam Talbot (with Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson) who came off best from the Aston Martin powered trilogy of teams as his 1:58:982 time was good enough for a GTE class front row start alongside the pace setting #85 Iron Dames Porsche with the #25 ORT with TF Sport AMR of Ahmad Al Harthy (with Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood) just one place and 0.179 of second back in P3 with the #98 Heart of Racing Vantage GTE of Ian James (with Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli) in P6, just under a second off the pole setters time.
Going into this final round of this seven-round season, the Vantage GTE did receive a Balance of performance break from the FIA that allowed for two further litres of fuel capacity plus a power boast increase from their Borg Warner Turbo chargers across the defined engine range.
With the GTE Am Class title already long secured by the #33 Corvette Racing team, the three Aston Martin teams have little to race for in terms of Championship position (other than professional pride and personal achievement) although a good result from the #25 crew could haul them up as far as second within the Championship standings from their present P5 position.
For the #98 Heart of Racing crew, this is of course the end of their first part season worth of racing within the Championship at the highest level of ACO rules GT racing with both themselves and D’Station Racing being openly reported as being the favourites to retain the two entries allocated to Aston Martin Racing powered teams next season.
With some wide range of weather and track conditions at the 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit so far this week – ranging from wet and slippery to dry, dusty and slippery, it has been difficult to establish just who has the pace and who will be saving something for the eight-hour race (which starts tomorrow at 14:00hrs local) although the #777 car did save its best time till last in Qualifying.
Although the ultimate prize of 2023 will be heading Stateside at the end this weekend’s events, the achievements of the Vantage GTE platform are second to none with no less than sixty-five front row starts (nearly half of those from class Pole position) and with TF Sport claiming fifteen of those themselves – thanks to @WECDATA on X for that data!
So, things have been good, it will be good again tomorrow as well as in 2024 as that is shaping up rather nicely too – so it's game on – first passed the chequered is (usually) the winner!!
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse / Teams / Drew Gibson
Friday, November 03, 2023 |
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The GTE class bows out after this weekends season 11 ending FIA WEC eight hours of Bahrain
Through its various derivatives, Vantage has been an ever-present in the WEC since scoring a podium finish in its inaugural event in 2012. It has recorded an incredible 52 class wins and claimed 11 world championship titles in that time.
With the WEC’s current LMGTE regulations coming to an end after this weekend’s finale, to be replaced in 2024 by the new LMGT3 rules for which a forthcoming evolution of Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 will be eligible, fans in Bahrain will witness the end of an incredible era of sportscar racing; one full of astonishing success for Vantage.
Fresh from its announcement as the works partner team for Aston Martin’s return to the top class of WEC with the Valkyrie hypercar in 2025, Heart of Racing prepares to end its debut campaign in the series on a high. Having taken over the #98 NorthWest AMR entry at Spa-Francorchamps in May, this year’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona GTD class winner has team principal Ian James (GBR), Daniel Mancinelli (ITA) and Alex Riberas (ESP) behind the wheel.
TF Sport, the 2022 world champion and this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans runner-up, will be spearheaded in Bahrain by the #25 ORT by TF Vantage raced by Ahmad Al Harthy – the first Omani driver to score a WEC pole position at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year. As usual he is partnered by Michael Dinan (USA) and Aston Martin works driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL), the LM GTE Am class winner at Le Mans in 2020.
As well as running its own car, TF Sport assists Japanese team D’station Racing, which features a new face driving the #777 Vantage in Bahrain. With team owner Satoshi Hoshino (JPN) unavailable due to commitments elsewhere, Australian Liam Talbot – the current leader of GT World Challenge Australia and a former GT World Challenge Europe Endurance champion – will make his WEC debut. He partners team regulars Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) and Casper Stevenson (GBR).
All three teams aim to give the Vantage GTE a fitting send-off to an 11-year, 85-race (including Bahrain) WEC career that has featured an incredible 11 world titles, 52 individual wins and five class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
AMR’s Darren Turner (GBR), Stefan Mücke (DEU) and Adrian Fernandez (MEX) began the legend with a GTE Pro podium finish in third place at the inaugural WEC race; the 12 Hours of Sebring (USA), in 2012 on what was the debut of the Vantage V8. A maiden victory followed at the season-ending race at the Shanghai International Circuit in China for Turner and Mücke. One year later and AMR recorded its first WEC title with Vantage when British duo Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall took the GTE Am drivers’ crown.
Vantage’s first Le Mans win – to add to the back-to-back GT class victories for the DBR9 GT1 at La Sarthe in the previous decade – came in 2014 when ‘Dane Train’ trio Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicki Thiim succeeded in GTE Am. Poulsen and Heinemeier Hansson made it back-to-back Drivers’ Championships for Vantage later the same season, as well as AMR securing the Teams’ crown.
It was Thiim’s turn to taste title glory two years later, in 2016. He and another Dane, Marco Sørensen, took the by-then upgraded Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE to the GTE Pro class world championship crown and confirmed the Teams’ honours for Aston Martin Racing. There was further success for Vantage in the European Le Mans Series [ELMS] that year as British trio Andrew Howard, Alex Macdowall and Turner won the LMGTE title with Aston Martin Racing securing the Teams’ crown. Over the years Vantage scored a total of four wins in the ELMS GTE class.
The final flourish for the second-generation V8 Vantage GTE came in 2017 as long-time Aston Martin racer Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), Pedro Lamy (POR) and Mathias Lauda (AUT) won the GTE Am Drivers’ and Teams’ crown and Aston Martin Racing team-mates Jonny Adam (GBR), Daniel Serra (BRA) and Turner scored a famous GTE Pro success over long-time rival Corvette at Le Mans.
The current-specification Vantage GTE, a prototype version of the British-built race car derived from Aston Martin’s critically-acclaimed ultra-luxury sportscar, which shares the same aluminium body-frame and a specially-tuned version of the four-litre V8 turbo-charged production engine, made its debut at the beginning of the 2018-19 WEC ‘Super Season’ and has since set new standards for GT racing.
Having won twice in its inaugural campaign, Thiim and Sørensen clinched their second GTE Pro title in 2019/20. Aston Martin were crowned FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Champions on the same day when Maxime Martin (BEL), Alex Lynn (GBR) and Harry Tincknell (GBR) won the GTE Pro class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and TF Sport’s Salih Yoluç (TUR), Charlie Eastwood (IRL) and Adam did likewise in GTE Am.
A further GTE Am victory at Le Mans followed in 2022 as TF Sport again triumphed with Ben Keating (USA), Henrique Chaves (POR) and Sørensen. It was not quite the end though, as in an incredible year Keating and Sørensen also became FIA GTE Am Drivers’ World Champions and TF secured the Teams’ crown. TF Sport’s outstanding contribution also ensured that Aston Martin won more GTE Am victories more than any other manufacturer in WEC history. With one race left to go, that tally stands at 32 wins…
A further GTE Am victory at Le Mans followed in 2022 as TF Sport again triumphed with Ben Keating (USA), Henrique Chaves (POR) and Sørensen. It was not quite the end though, as in an incredible year Keating and Sørensen also became FIA GTE Am Drivers’ World Champions and TF secured the Teams’ crown. TF Sport’s outstanding contribution also ensured that Aston Martin won more GTE Am victories more than any other manufacturer in WEC history. With one race left to go, that tally stands at 32 wins…
Aston Martin’s Head of Endurance Racing, Adam Carter, said: “Aston Martin has been one of the pillars of the World Endurance Championship since the very foundation of the category, and through the GTE class, Vantage has set an exceptional standard for others to follow.
“Just as racing has always been in our brand’s DNA, enduring performance is a core value that has shone brightly through the entire GTE era where Vantage is concerned. On behalf of Aston Martin, I would like to offer our sincerest thanks to all those who have raced Vantage in the GTE era, to all of our partners who have run programmes through it or contributed to it, and to all the people who have worked so hard on the project through its life-span. We know that what comes next is an intensely exciting period in sportscar racing, both in the hypercar class and also the new LMGT3 class, and we intend to play our own role in that, but for now, let’s soak in the final flourish of a glorious category that has given back so much to Aston Martin.”
The BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain begins at 1400 local time (1000 GMT) on Saturday 4 November, and finishes under floodlights as night encroaches. Practice and qualifying take place on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Source material - AMR
Photo credits - A Lofthouse / D Gibson
Tuesday, October 31, 2023 |
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Second row start for two Aston Martins as the WEC battles away at Fuji this weekend
Despite some tricky track conditions along the way through the three Free Practice and Qualifying sessions so far thanks to the passing typhoon weather system, two of these cars later went on to present themselves upon the second row on the grid (in class) ahead of tomorrow’s six-hour race.
Local track knowledge has obviously come to the aid of the circuit based #777 D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson as they collectively secured the lead Aston Martin powered roll in class, ahead of both the #98 Northwest AMR (Heart of Racing) and #25 ORT with TF Sport crews in all three Free Practice sessions.
The brightly orange liveried #25 car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood would endure something of a frustrating build up to today’s Qualifying as they battled technical issues that would restrict them to just ten laps across the entire first two sessions before finally being able to get down to business in FP3 where they finished tenth fastest out of the thirteen in class.
The brightly orange liveried #25 car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood would endure something of a frustrating build up to today’s Qualifying as they battled technical issues that would restrict them to just ten laps across the entire first two sessions before finally being able to get down to business in FP3 where they finished tenth fastest out of the thirteen in class.
Missing the last round at Monza seems not to have affected the #98 car either as Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli form their first opinions of the Fuji circuit this weekend as they finished their preparatory work mid table throughout the Free Practice sessions, going into Qualifying.
Declared wet with drizzle still falling around the circuit, the first question to be answered in Qualifying was about tyres with half selected soft slicks and the other preferring wets. Whilst both the #25 and #777 preferred the slick option and went about their opening laps, the #98 car of James was one who selected wets only to come straight back in for slicks as the track conditions at least stabilised – if not improved throughout the session.
Two quick banker laps put the #25 car of Al Harthy at the top with the #777 of Hoshino then two places further back but as the session time counted down, the position held by the #25 car would steadily drop as others improved whilst there was nothing more to give from the Omani. Into the final minutes, and Hoshino was again back up to P3 with James just behind in fourth, and whilst these two Astons had no answer to the pace setting Corvette and Porsche, the laps times where just half a second own to the GTE Am Championship winning driver of Ben Keating.
Six thousandths of a second split the #777 and #98 cars whilst the #25 car ending up just over as second down to the leader in P12 but like every event, Qualifying is one thing and the race is something else an whilst Mother Nature holds something up her sleeve this weekend – anything can happen!
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse / Drew Gibson
Saturday, September 09, 2023 |
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A question of pride for AMR as the WEC reaches Japan
The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) fires back into action this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2023 season, as three of Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage GTE return to Fuji Speedway; traditionally a happy hunting ground for the famous Wings in the Far-East.
Aston Martin Racing partner teams D’station Racing, Heart of Racing (competing under the NorthWest AMR entry) and reigning LMGTE Am class champions TF Sport are all entered in this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji, as Vantage seeks to record its first win in its final season of WEC competition.
Fuji has frequently been a scene of glory for the British ultra-luxury sportscar manufacturer since the former grand prix venue was introduced to WEC in 2012. In total, Aston Martin has recorded seven WEC class victories in Japan, including double-class wins in 2013 and 2019. It is also the venue where the current generation Vantage GTE recorded its first pole position, in 2018.
Since then, there have been two more pole positions that were converted into lights-to-flag victories – including last year, when TF Sport’s Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sørensen consolidated their championship lead with the Vantage GTE’s most recent WEC class win (and it’s third in Japan).
TF Sport, and its drivers Ahmad Al Harthy (OMN) and Michael Dinan (USA), supported by works driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL), heads to the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sunday having inched closer to victory through this season. The team has been a front-runner almost everywhere in 2023, and two podiums in the last three races mean its embroiled in a fierce fight for the runner-up spot in the championship, sitting just two points off second place.
D’station Racing, which enjoys technical support from TF Sport, returns to home soil determined to repeat its podium glory of 2023. The team’s headquarters is based less than 10 miles from Fuji, and Satoshi Hoshino (JPN), team manager Tomonubu Fujii and young British rising star Casper Stevenson are seeking to use the local support to boost their chances of a third WEC podium finish for the team.
The Heart of Racing [HoR] returns to WEC for the first time since Le Mans with its regular line-up of team principal Ian James (GBR), IMSA race-winner Alex Riberas (ESP) and Daniel Mancinelli (ITA), as it makes its Japanese racing debut. Having taken over the #98 NorthWest AMR entry vacated when Paul Dalla Lana retired from the sport prior to Spa, the US-based team has learned fast in WEC. It’s finished both races it has contested and recorded a strong sixth place in the eventful weather-afflicted 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The Vantage GTE is a prototype version of the British-built race car derived from Aston Martin’s critically-acclaimed ultra-luxury sportscar and shares the same aluminium body-frame and a specially-tuned version of the four-litre V8 turbo-charged production engine. In all its variants (GTE, GT3 and GT4), Vantage is phenomenally successful, and is currently the reigning Rolex 24 at Daytona and a three-times 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, as well as defending champion in the GT Am class of both the FIA WEC and IMSA. The Vantage GTE, introduced in 2018, has recorded 12 victories at WEC level and has won two world championship titles.
Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “We are delighted to see three Aston Martin Vantage GTEs contesting the 6 Hours of Fuji, a venue Aston Martin has traditionally enjoyed competitive form at over the years. TF Sport has been in the mix all season, and it feels like only a matter of time before the team is rewarded with a victory. D’station Racing is always strong on home soil, and we’re excited to see what Heart of Racing can achieve on the team’s first visit to Fuji. There are only two races left for this iteration of the wonderful Vantage GTE, which has proved so successful, and yet we see no signs of it fading in competitiveness and we are hoping that it can bow out on the high its pedigree deserves.”
Official practice for the 6 Hours of Fuji begins on Friday, 8 September, at 1100 local time, with the race beginning at 1100 on Sunday.
Source material - AMR
Photo credits - D Gibson
Monday, September 04, 2023 |
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The crown may have been lost already but there's still a WEC race to be won in Japan
The last round of the WEC at Monza in early July of course saw the #33 Corvette Racing team secure the final ever GTE Am Class crown with still two races to go as the ever-dominant Ben Keating retained his 2022 crown won with TF Sport and his then Aston Martin Racing powered crew.
Whilst the top slot has already been determined, there remains the principal of pride for the remaining full season entries over the final two rounds at both Fuji and in Bahrain as well as putting themselves into a position where they could be considered as part of each selected OEM’s two GT3 powered entry into next season’s full season WEC entry!
That means that three into two simply cannot go moving forward as the #25 ORT with TF Sport team contest for that accolade alongside that of the #98 Northwest AMR (Heart of Racing) crew and the #777 D’Station Racing team (amongst possibly other contenders) for that honour and that’s even IF Aston Martin Racing is given two of just twelve GT3 class entries next season.
Going into what is in effect D’Station Racing’s home event (being based just outside the circuit), the runners up position within the twelve strong GTE Am Class entry is wide open as just sixteen points cover the next five crews including that of the #25 ORT car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood.
Fortunate to have scored valuable championship points within each round so far, that achievement stands clear to the fortunes of the #777 D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson who retain just three points going into this round having blanked upon three occasions - mainly because of misfortunate and from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The #98 crew of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli stand above #777 crew on twenty points from their two starts so far this season having taken over from Paul Dalla Lana just ahead of the Spa round in late April.
The #98 crew are also due to participate this time around having elected to skip the last round at Monza in favour of their IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship commitments when only Riberas was double booked as driving. Only time will tell if that becomes a costly decision for them.
As usual going into a WEC round at Fuji, two parameters come immediately into play – those being Balance of Performance and the weather. Whilst the latest BoP requirements in class published by the WEC only last week show no planned adaptation to any control mechanisms within any OEM platform, success ballast still applies with the #25 car still running with an additional 15kg after their P3 podium at Spa whilst the #33 Corvette will only run with plus 30kg despite enjoying more podium success.
As for the weather – that will have a mind of its own as it usually does!!
The earlier published provisional entry list shows no changes to the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE line ups with the class ramping back up to thirteen cars with the return of the #98 car to the paddock.
Track action begins on Friday with the first two Free Practice sessions before the third on Saturday morning ahead of Qualifying in the afternoon. The race will be waved off on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / WEC / A Lofthouse
Sunday, September 03, 2023 |
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Disappointment and pain for the two Aston Martin Racing runners after another tough 6 hours of Monza
Moving on from the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month, this weekend’s visit to the Autodromo Nazionala Monza was also the WEC’s final leg of their European tour before proceeding onto both the Far East and then the Middle East to conclude their eleventh season.
There were just two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE powered teams in attendance this time around with the #25 ORT with TF Sport and #777 D’Station Racing crews as the #98 Northwest AMR (Heart of Racing) team had elected to concentrate upon the IMSA duties in Canada instead.
After rain leading into the race weekend, all the official timed sessions would run under intense sunshine leading to issues of its own, particularly with tyres around the high degradation circuit and high wear upon the left-hand side of the cars.
With the #33 Corvette running at its heaviest so far this season as required to do so under the class’s success weight ballast system of BoP, the two TF Sport prepared Astons were slowest in class out of their boxes during Free Practice 1 and 2 before a slight improvement was noted during Free Practice 3 and into Qualifying.
With memories of last seasons European Le Mans Series still firmly in their minds, it was again the best of efforts for Ahmad Al Harthy to claim a front row start in class alongside the Iron Dames Porsche but with the #777 D’Station car of Satoshi Hoshino a ‘more matter of fact’ P11 out of a twelve strong class.
Sunday morning’s green flag arrived bright and hot again as the thirty-six strong grid started the 6Hours of Monza and hurtled into the first chicane at a vast rate of knots. With most contact being limited to the front end of the grid, both Astons were able to settle down into a rhythm – well, at least until the Hypercars came passed them for the first time.
Whilst staying completely over to the right-hand side of the circuit entering the braking zone into the Ascari chicane, the #8 Toyota misjudged their own position on track relative to Hoshino’s car to side swipe him heavily into the concrete retaining wall and then into the gravel. With heavy front-end damage, the #777 car was clearly out of the race, and it was soon reassuring to hear from the team that Hoshino was otherwise OK for his ordeal although that would mean for another early exist for his team from another FIA WEC race.
That still left five- and three-quarter hours of the race to go, and with the #25 ORT Aston Martin already on the back foot to the season dominant Corvette, that had all the makings of a very long day for Messrs. Al Harthy, Dinan and Eastwood.
By the end of the opening hour, the #25 car was still very much in contention in fourth as Al Harthy ran through a triple opening stint to clock up the cars opening seventy laps. Next in was American Michael Dinan who would do likewise for the next two hours of racing during that time the #25 car had dropped from fifth to eighth in class as the Porsches started to show as the more dominant force on track.
Unfortunately, by the time the race clock had struck its sixth and final hour, P8 would be their finishing position on track but a subsequent time penalty for the #56 Project 1 Porsche for constant abuse of track limits, that lifted the #25 car up to P7 in the official results.
So, in the battle to be runners up within the GTE Am Driver Championship, this result loses the #25 crew ground to the Iron Dames Porsche crew as the ORT with TF Sport AMR team drop to third with now just two rounds to go.
All the cars and equipment will now be loaded into shipping containers to be next seen at Fuji Speedway in just under two months’ time before the season concludes again in Bahrain in early November.
Photo credits – A Lofthouse / D Gibson / Team
Monday, July 10, 2023 |
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Just two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs at start of the homeward stretch to WEC 2023 campaign from Monza
Having started at Sebring in mid-March before moving across to Europe for rounds at both Portimao and Spa Francorchamps, the last run out for the Hypercar, LMP2 and GTE Am grid was of course just a few weeks ago at Le Mans where the ACO celebrated its centennial event in front of a capacity grid.
This weekend’s entry list obviously drops down again to the mainly the full season entries featuring just thirty-six entries across the board but with one conspicuously fewer GTE Am entries.
Having taken over the Northwest AMR entry following the retirement of Paul Dalla Lana to the class and the sport after the second round of the season at Portimao, the Heart of Racing team eagerly snapped up the opportunity of getting their foot within the WEC/ACO door with the #98 car entry having somewhat tentatively knocked at those very doors just the season before.
Competing within their rebranded #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE for the first time at Spa, their new driver line up of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli quickly got to grips with their new package to finish mid-table in P7 at the first time of asking. To move onto the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first-time last month, that application and reward continued as the same crew finished just four laps down to the eventual class winner in P6.
This weekend, the #98 Heart of Racing car will not be in attendance as the team will be competing within the latest round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship from the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Circuit in eastern Canada. That we find a little strange as although their IMSA commitment started before their WEC opportunity, next year’s restriction to just two entries per OEM manufacturer within the new LMGT3 Class might see their preference to be absent in Italy count against them (and Aston Martin Racing) in the long run as only Riberas is doubled booked for driving duties this weekend. We hope not!
That leaves the two TF Sport prepared AMR Vantage GTE entries of the #25 ORT with TF car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood as well as the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson.
Whilst the #25 finished upon the podium at Le Mans for an incredible P2 finish, the #777 car again found their car being ruled out during the night with technical issues after the chassis issues of last year. For the Japanese based team, Monza has been good to them historically within the Championship with Hoshino/Fujii and back then Andrew Watson finishing third in the 2021 season.
After the results of Le Mans, the domineering #33 Corvette of reigning WEC GTE Am Drivers Champion Ben Keating sails high above the rest of the class – some seventy-four points ahead of the #25 ORT with TF Aston Martin in second. The D’Station Racing crew need a decent points haul this weekend if only to overhaul their new American based stablemates who already sit nineteen points above them but with Stevenson having resampled the taste of champagne after last weekend’s 24 Hours of Spa, that young Englishman will be out to impress again!
Fresh Balance of Performance data released by the WEC earlier this week sees no major tweaks being made other than the usual success weight penalties being applied to the previous round’s podium winners so that now sees the #33 Corvette running 45kg heavier than the #25 ORT car.
Track action will begin on Friday with the first Free Practice session before Qualifying to end of Saturday with the start of Sundays six-hour race being waved off at 11:30Hrs local.
Wonder what colour the #25 car will be this time..........?
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse / Drew Gibson
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse / Drew Gibson
Tuesday, July 04, 2023 |
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Le Mans 2023 - What an event and a podium to boot!!
Steeped again in passion, ambition and excitement that only the Circuit de La Sarthe and this event could muster with its capacity crowd so soon after the issues of COVID, this year’s race had enough drama, excitement and intrigue to last more than just one event and ended with the expected tears of happiness for a few but was of course tinged with the tears of disappointment and what might have been along the way for the many.
This year’s event was also the swansong 24-hour event for the venerable GTE class at the circuit, having seen the end of the top tier Pro class last year, this year’s event would witness the final running of the GTE Am class before the class eventually winds itself up by the end of the year’s World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series.
In doing that, a remarkable five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE powered teams were invited to this year’s event – three full season WEC entries of course, joined by two more from the ELMS series within a total class size of twenty-one cars within a combined grid of sixty-two cars.
In doing that, a remarkable five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE powered teams were invited to this year’s event – three full season WEC entries of course, joined by two more from the ELMS series within a total class size of twenty-one cars within a combined grid of sixty-two cars.
Eager to succeed both in terms of Championship points but also for the sheer kudos of winning such an event, the tension and anticipation was at an all-time high as the capacity grid got waved off on Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately for the guesting GMB Motorsport AMR of Gustav Birch, Jens Moller and Marco Sorenson, their participation within the event lasted little more than two hours before a simple error (one that many other would also make along the way too) saw their #55 make contact with the rear of a Hypercar going into a slow zone at the Dunlop Bridge only for their car to be struck heavily from the rear by another GTE driver making the very same mistake.
Although the damage didn’t appear to be that great, that secondary contact apparently prevented Birch from selecting drive and eventually forced them into retirement much to the devastation of the young Danish driver who had to be later consoled by those more experienced at these highs and lows than he.
Similar emotions would also soon be felt within the TF Sport garage as the ‘locally’ supported Project 24 #72 Aston Martin of bothers Max and Arnold Robin alongside Valentin Hasse-clot saw their car appear to glance along the safety barrier through the Porsche Curves as the leading Ferrari Hypercar made its way through an unadulterated pace.
Despite the resulting spin and rearward nudge into the tyre wall that appeared to just dislodge the rear spoiler, Arnold Robin was unable to restart the car and he too was later forced to walk away consigning a further Aston to the ‘marker of doom’ but at least their ambition to compete was met for those few precious hours of running.
Going into the night, the next to feel the emotion of strife within the remaining Aston Martin powered camp would be the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson after Fujii brought the car back in with front end damage. With the TF Sport team again showing what they can do under pressure having already rebuilt the #777 from scratch after its Test Day smash, the car would later re-join the race only to fail hours later at dawn due to an electrical issue. Another sad end to their own LM24 dream but another young man got to sample what that was all about.
So, by daybreak on Sunday, that left just the #25 ORT with TF Sport AMR of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood along with the event debuting #98 Northwest AMR (Heart of Racing) car of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli.
Each had already skirted the borders of their own adversity as the #98 had lost its bonnet fixings along the Mulsanne Straight, lifting it to within an inch of being ripped away whilst he #25 car had also spun and made contact with the tyre wall at one of the two chicanes along that straight amongst other things. Whilst the #98 car lost time to their repairs, the #25 was able to keep going and soon recovered to run competitively within a class podium position as the race entered its final hours.
However, the #33 Corvette had recovered somewhat better from earlier technical issues of their own to move up from last in class in the opening hour to lead the class for much of the morning and into the final hours.
Despite everything that the #25 crew could throw at the situation, the gap to the #33 car could not be reduced and it would be the #33 car who would take the win with the #25 ORT with TF Sport coming home in second (to continue the podium winning streak for the Tom Ferrier led team) and with the #98 Northwest entry finishing in sixth.
Of course, this simplistic review only captures the barest outline of events in comparison to the blood, sweat and tears that went into each entry and our utter respect and applause extends to each one of these.
These results see the #25 ORT with TF Sport crew move up to second within the GTE Am Drivers Championship table but still a whopping 74 points behind the leading #33 Corvette crew (including Ben Keating) after their third success podium finish (and his second official success win) at Le Mans.
With the centenary event now at an end, team focus revert back to both the ELMS and WEC as both will back racing next month – at Le Castellet (Paul Ricard) for the ELMS runners in four weeks’ time and at the Temple of Speed at Monza in Italy in just over three weeks’ time.
Photo credits – A Lofthouse / D Gibson / K Pope
Tuesday, June 13, 2023 |
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