Multiple Aston Martins help to see out the GT Winter Series in Barcelona this weekend
With just two AMR Vantage GT4 crews going the full season course within the appropriate GT4 Winter Series, other Vantage GT3 powered teams and crews have shown interest within the GT Winter Series with two teams showing willing again this weekend.
The provisional entry lists published today confirm the #39 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT4 of Bedouin Detout and Max Hewitt although the #700 Mucke Motorsport Club class entry of Thilo Goos and (additionally this time) Mads Larsen maybe doubtful this time after Goos’ race two off at Motorland Aragon last weekend that saw sizeable front-end damage to his older example of Vantage GT4.
They in turn will be joined by the #17 Prosport Racing Pro class entry of Anton Abee and Roman Fellner- Feldegg as well as the #007 Araujo Competicao AMR Vantage GT4 Evo of Bruno Pereira and Goncalo Araujo (recently confirmed as competing within the Iberian Supercars Series together) within the twenty-nine strong listing.
That compares favourably to the thirteen strong grid last time out at Aragon but unlike last season with the Forsetti Motorsport AMR team – there will be no overall championship aspirations fulfilled this weekend.
Then within the final three races of the GT Winter Series this weekend, we will get to see two AMR Vantage GT3 crews compete – one from the Prosport Racing AMR team with Fabienne Wohlwend and Adrian Rziczny in the #17 car but also the return of the #700 Comtoyou Racing AMR Vantage GT3 Evo of Matisse Lismont and Kobe Pauwels.
The latter were part of a two car Comtoyou Racing line up from Valencia that unfortunately saw the sister #270 car of two debuting Brazilian racers all but destroyed in the second sprint race of the weekend. Hopefully, none of that will happen this time around.
Photo credits – Team / D Buergin / social media
Tuesday, March 04, 2025 |
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Mixed fortunes again for the AMR Vantage GT4 runners in GT4 Winter Series
Having endured something of a beasting last time out at Valencia were driving standards (and abilities) was questionable to say the least at times saw the #39 Vantage GT4 Evo crew of Baudouin Detout and Max Hewitt appear fortunate to leave the circuit with something resembling a race car, hopes of something better this was certainly on the agenda ahead of the Aragon meeting.
That hope proved to be well founded as the Luxembourger Detout this time took charge of the opening thirty-minute sprint race on Saturday afternoon to convert his P3 in class qualifying position to a P3 in class result at the end – albeit after a long struggle against the #812 McLaren.
Having been already spun out from a potential podium winning position, the young American Hewitt was next up for Sunday’s opening race of the day but track conditions had deteriorated overnight from the warm and bright conditions of Saturday to the cold wet and windy conditions of Sunday morning.
Unfortunately for him and the Trophy class #700 AMR Vantage GT4 entry of Thilo Goos, race two wouldn’t serve them any favours as the #39 was again punted round by the invitational BMW M4 GT4 Evo entry to lose what was still his P5 starting slot to fall all the way back to last on track. Resuming fifteen seconds down, the awarded five seconds penalty given to the #71 didn’t seem hardly enough for the error of their more ‘experienced’ driver.
Unfortunately for him and the Trophy class #700 AMR Vantage GT4 entry of Thilo Goos, race two wouldn’t serve them any favours as the #39 was again punted round by the invitational BMW M4 GT4 Evo entry to lose what was still his P5 starting slot to fall all the way back to last on track. Resuming fifteen seconds down, the awarded five seconds penalty given to the #71 didn’t seem hardly enough for the error of their more ‘experienced’ driver.
Before the race finished, there was also a hard off for the #700 Mucke Motorsport AMR entry of Goos with the car stopped on track with heavy front-end damage but with a driver otherwise OK as furthers offs lead to a single lap dash to the flag for the remainder of the runners. Hewitt would eventually come home P10 overall – P5 in class.
For their final hour-long endurance race, track conditions had at least improved with an obvious dry line around the circuit with the #39 car of Hewitt taking the start from P4 whilst the #700 Mucke car was unable to take to the grid due to damage.
Making the most of mistakes from others, Hewitt was quickly up to P2 overall as the McLaren ahead out braked themselves going into the hairpin for the first time before consolidating that position as the laps then passed by until the end of his stint.
Coming out still in second, Detout soon had his work cut out as two championship charging contenders were soon upon the rear of the #39 Aston Martin with still over twenty minutes remaining. Unable to defend that position for long, the #39 car was soon passed by the two chasing cars behind, dropping the #39 down to fourth overall and in class which is where they eventually finished too.
Final round of the season is from Barcelona next week where we can also expect to see both another Vantage GT4 for the GT4 Winter Series finale and a Vantage GT3 for the GT Winter Series finale – both from the German Prosport Racing team.
Photo credits Team / D Buergin / social media
Sunday, March 02, 2025 |
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Barcelona decider for Forsetti in GT4 Winter Series
With Mikey Porter and Jamie Day again piloting the #19 17A version of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 (unfortunately their new 2024 40A variant wasn’t allowed out to play this weekend) saw Day make another of his customary lights to flag solo race wins in the weekend’s opening thirty-minute race before Porter claimed another P3 of his own within his own sprint race.
That left the young pairing just Sunday’s hour long and pit stop punctuated endurance round but even another race win for the pairing there wasn’t quite enough for the team to seal either the Overall and Pro classes.
In Pro, the duo lead their closest opponent (Joel Mesch) by just 12.75 points and with three races remaining – each awarding 9 points to the winner, the mathematical possibilities are obvious.
Them, within the Overall Championship position, it is again the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Joel Mesch who is the Aston’s crew closest opponent. This time a 58-point advantage over the German could still be overcome with another 75 points being available at the final round of the season in Barcelona next weekend.
Whilst the team’s dominance within the GT4 Winter Series may have been obvious with just three race results off the podium, the points scoring system has at least kept things open for those behind. To win overall will obviously be a good thing for this fledgling team but with some further 2024 commitments already announced – the quality of race opposition will only increase in both number and ability.
Game on in Barcelona for the Championship next week then!
Photo credits – Daniel Buergin
Monday, March 04, 2024 |
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More silverware for both Forsetti Motorsport in GT4 Winter Series visit to Valencia
This time bringing in their team driver coach Matt George into play with the next stage of Mikey Porters GT development, the team decided to run the young Porter in all three races of this fourth round out of six for the Iberian based winter series.
With fine dry weather finally coming to bless this race weekend, it was this time Porter who would be first out in Saturday’s opening sprint race aboard the full season #19 car whilst George would ride their second #7 car. Starting second, Porter would soon scoop the race lead going into turn one for the first whilst George had to make do with P4.
Despite being challenged once or twice between them during that opening half hour race, the duo came home to secure an opening P1 and P4 for the weekend - a first solo win for Porter.
Then on Sunday, Jamie Day took charge of the #19 car whilst Porter stepped in the #7. In a similar pattern to race 1, Day would again be starting from his now customary Pole Position whilst Porter was behind in P4. Whilst Day secured track position going into turn one, Porter was tagged by the front row setting McLaren and tapped into spin that saw the #7 miraculously missed by the remnants of the fifteen strong field.
Whilst Day drove another faultless race, Porter was at least able to progress through the pack to finish at the end of the Pro class by the end of that race whilst Day achieved the spoils of another race win.
That left a new master plan from the team for the weekend concluding hour long endurance race where Porter would start aboard the #19 car with Day following before swapping into the #7 car at the end of George’s opening stint.
Another P1 start for Porter (with George P4) saw the #78 McLaren swoop fast and wide around the Aston Martin to take the lead whilst George had moved up to P3 and that positioning allowed for Porter to chase the McLaren whilst George did what he could to hold back the Champiosnhip challenging #11 Mercedes AMR GT4 albeit by gaining a five second time penalty for abuse of track limits.
Greater championship opportunity graced the #19 car when the #11 Mercedes car suffered technical issues and ground to a halt off track, fortunately not interrupting the car with a safety car or yellow flag.
Pitting first, Porter had at least five minutes of rest bite before getting into the #7 and by the time the pitstops had cycled through, both Astons had recovered their P2 and P3 positions behind the McLaren.
This time around, day was unable to break that 1.5 second gap to the McLaren before eventually finishing second at the end with Porter close behind in third in results that see the Porter/Day Championship extended as the series heads to Aragon in two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Daniel Buergin
Sunday, February 18, 2024 |
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Spa Francorchamps all set for ELMS and Le Mans Cup this weekend
Having started in Barcelona, then across to Paul Ricard and then back to Aragon last time out, the forty-two entries of the ELMS and thirty-nine cars of the Le Mans Cup Series will both be back in action this weekend from the infamous Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
With this weekends round and then two back to back rounds still to come in Portugal, the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE’s of the ELMS are sadly effectively out of championship contention (although mathematically possible) but for the sole Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 within the Le Mans Cup, they certainly still has everything to race for!
No changes aboard the three Vantage GTE runners this weekend as the venerable platform sadly counts down to its last visit to Spa as a mainstream chassis but with its replacement presently under test this week somewhere in Spain, there are still good times to look forward to.
John Hartshorne, Jonny Adam and Ben Tuck lead the AMR trio within the GTE Champiosnhip, presently standing in twelfth place in their #95 TF Sport prepared car having failed to score for the first time this season last time in the heat of Aragon. Much cooler and perhaps even wet conditions in Belgium across the weekend will certainly help to spice everything up within the LMP2, LMP3 and GTE grid.
The #72 TF Sport Aston Martin GTE of Max and Arnold Robin with Valentin Hasse Clot alongside stand below them in P14 having endured a very difficult start to their short GTE career this season, something that started with a first lap crash and elimination in Barcelona. Since then, something could have been on for them at Paul Ricard before late contact put that hope to bed before also struggling in the heat of Aragon.
Finally, there is the #44 GMB Motorsport AMR of Jens Moller, Gustav Birch and Nicki Thiim – a team who have probably suffered the most with both younger and novice drivers suffering with incident and accident along the way both in this series and at Le Mans itself.
They will come into this round with certainly nothing to lose and with a Pro driver already seat ready after his secretive two-day test with the factory team as they continue to develop this evolution of the Vantage platform in time for next season.
The more ‘spirited’ news comes with the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse Clot as the French duo maintained a slender lead at the top of the GT3 Drivers Champiosnhip after they managed to secure a P3 in class finish at Aragon.
With two lower place finishes over the course of the Road to Le Mans races in June blighting their otherwise podium-based record, the remaining races at both Spa and Portimao will need to be on their best form if they are to stop the #86 Porsche and #51 Ferrari from snatching that top prize from them at the death.
The circuit of Spa Francorchamps can be difficult enough for some at the best of times so the autumnal weather within the Ardennes will be pivotable to the success (or failure) for both grids going into race day on Saturday for the Le Mans Cup and Sunday for the ELMS.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / A Lofthouse
Tuesday, September 19, 2023 |
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Another tough day at the office for the three Aston Martins in ELMS at Aragon
With race preparatory work during Free Practice being undertaken under the hottest conditions that the Aragon circuit could muster, the writing was already on the wall as not to expect any Aston Martin Racing powered podium success except in the luckiest form possible.
Competing again within their full season class entry of twelve cars, the #44 GMB Motorsport AMR of Jens Moller, Gustav Birch and Nicki Thiim claimed the lead AMR role after Qualifying with Moller placing his red and black car P8 with the #72 TF Sport prepared AMR of Arnold Robin, Max Robin and Valentin Hasse-Clot just behind in P9. The slightly heavier (thanks to their podium finish last time out at Paul Ricard) #95 TF Sport Aston Martin of John Hartshorne, Ben Tuck and Jonny Adam would start from P11.
Starting later into the late afternoon/early evening at least allowed those working and those spectating to avoid the high heat of the day but it was still extremely hot by the time the green flag dropped at the end of the two formation laps.
Starting later into the late afternoon/early evening at least allowed those working and those spectating to avoid the high heat of the day but it was still extremely hot by the time the green flag dropped at the end of the two formation laps.
It was also back into the hot seat for Arnold Robin having already raced to podium success with Hasse-Clot during the Le Mans Cup race on Friday, but he would have the best part of another two hours of racing to do but that didn’t hamper his efforts and progress as he made early progress during the opening laps.
An early incident for one of the Porsche’s gave everyone another place lift as that car was spun to a halt along the pit straight wall but at least a period of caution was avoided once that car got back on the move in last place overall.
Maintaining their positions for the next thirty or so minutes had Robin now up to P5, Moller in P8 and Hartshorne in P11 and as the fuel loads lessened, it appeared that it was only the #72 car (out of the three Astons) who could respond to the events ahead of them in class. Having seen the top four GTE’s disappear into the distance earlier, Robin was soon very much back in contention and pushing had to make progress through the Ferrari powered class leaders.
Trouble was soon to hit the #95 car however, as a gaggle of LPM3 cars became three wide across the track and forced Hartshorne to ride off track – over both the kerbs and infield grassed areas in avoidance. That would cost him both time and an earlier visit to pit lane for service as the race hit its first hour mark and also its first Safety Car period for two cars in the barriers.
With the sun setting at the midway point, the #72 car was running a comfortable P4, #44 GMB in P7 with the #95 an unfortunate distant P11 thanks to his earlier bullying off the racetrack. The minimum driver times for these bronze rated drivers was now at an end so it was now time for the silvers – or platinum in the case of the #95 as Jonny Adam stepped aboard.
Both the #72 and #44 cars were to come to the attention of race control however as the #72 was seen to have two mechanics working upon the car during refuelling – earning themselves a plus 20 second hold at their next scheduled stop whilst Moller had banged the track limits drum again and earned them a drive through penalty for his efforts.
Both errors killed off any remaining possibility of a decent track finish for these two Aston Martin crews through by being in the right place should a further incident take place up ahead of them in class so now, the best that the more abled drivers per car could do was to finish as high as possible with the time remaining. That was easier said than done however for the #72 car after contact from behind had broken the cars diffuser, making for a large decrease in aero performance.
As the circuit descended into full dark, even the experience of the likes of Nicki Thiim and Hasse-Clot could not lift the cars up the running order as the third round of the series fizzled out into a P8 finish in class for the #44 GMB crew with the #72 TF Sport just behind again in P9 with the #95 in P11- all virtually two laps down to the eventual class winners.
These results leave the #95 TF Sport crew still the best placed AMR crew within the GTE Drivers Championship in P12 but without something of a minor miracle over the remaining three rounds from Spa Francorchamps and then a double header from Portimao, all championship winning hopes seems to be over in the final year of the GTE platform.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media / Andrew Lofthouse
Monday, August 28, 2023 |
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ELMS and Le Mans Cups visit to Aragon heating up in many ways for the Aston Martin contingent
With both ambient and track temperatures reaching far into the mid-forties, working conditions for everyone involved, from circuit marshals, to photographers, to spectator officials and to the team mechanics and race drivers all donned in their Nomex fire suits – these kind of temperatures to their working environment to new levels of hardship and stress and we hope all look after themselves accordingly!
After previous rounds at Barcelona and Paul Ricard (with Le Mans somewhere in between), forty-two cars figure upon this weekends entry list which is of course split between the Series available LMP2, LMP3 and GTE classes.
No changes within the expected running order for the three full season Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE entries as TF Sport again provide the mechanical services to their #72 (Arnold Robin/Max Robin/Valentin Hasse-Clot) and the #95 car (John Hartshorne/Jonny Adam/Ben Tuck) as well as the Danish #44 GMB Motorsport AMR of Jens Moller/Gustav Birch and a returning Nikki Thiim.
After the racing horrors of Barcelona when two of the Aston Martin runners were eliminated from the race on the opening lap, a Balance of Performance change to the Vantage ahead of round two saw much better performances all round with the #95 car claiming a class podium in P3 whilst certainly the #72 would have finished higher than its eventual P7 had it not been for earlier contact.
Yesterday’s test saw steady progress from the three Astons during both available morning and afternoon sessions with the #95 TF Sport car second fastest in both sessions whilst the other two ran something of a more conservative pace. In today’s Free Practice, we saw those performances reversed as the #44 GMB car became the fastest Aston in P4 with the #95 towards the bottom of the timing screen – so who knows who’s fastest!!
Tomorrow sees a late Free Practice 2 session before Qualifying on Saturday morning as the teams gear themselves up for this weekend’s four-hour night race.
In the supporting Michelin Le Mans Cup Series, drivers Valentin Hasse-Clot and Arnold Robin continue to run a dual ACO rules race format as they enter the #10 Racing Spirit of Le Mans Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.
That series has also ran a similar testing and practice sessions like the headlining ELMS series but have concluded their second Free Practice session already although we did not see the #10 car turn a lap during yesterday’s test – presumably again preferring to concentrate upon their GTE set up and saving their GT3 car for the main event like they have done before.
Free Practice saw the #10 car turn just seven laps as a shakedown test before Robin ran a further five laps within the Bronze Driver test before the wick was cranked right up in Free Practice 2 where the #10 car clocked the fastest lap as they prepare for tomorrow mornings Qualifying ahead of their 110minute race later on Friday.
After the previous round at Paul Ricard, the #10 crew of Robin and Hasse-Clot lead the GT3 Drivers Championship by ten points with this and two further rounds remaining.
Photo credits – LMC / ELMS / Teams / Andrew Lofthouse
Thursday, August 24, 2023 |
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One tiny mishap costs Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing team the top step of the podium
Having competed already at the opening round at Barcelona before the back-to-back shorter races that made up the Road to Le Mans event, this fourth round of the season was back to its usual one hour fifty-minute race for its LMP3 and GT3 grid.
The #10 RSLM Aston Martin of Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse-Clot had already claimed two podium positions so far as the all French crew went about their business yesterday where Robin narrowly missed out upon a class podium to the #63 Iron Dames Lamborghini by less than 1/10th of a second.
Under the intense heat of this afternoon, Arnold started the race for the team from the front row but soon passed the #63 car for the class lead as the race quickly went under caution for multiple incidences going into turn 1. That position was maintained throughout his minimum drivetime of 45 minutes as the race bounced back and forth between race pace and Full Course Yellows as the (mainly) LMP3 class ahead hindered the flow of the race.
Pitting whilst the race was again under FCY, the #10 cars entry into its pit box was slightly compromised with cars front and rear, but importantly not much time was lost by the time the class and finished its compulsory stop.
All was looking rosy for Hasse-Clot with a five second lead and with just ten minutes to go as (yet another) LMP3 car stopped on track after a spin that eventually forced Race Control to throw another FCY. Without knowing what exactly happened, the next scene was of the #10 slowing and stopping before moving off again at pace but having lost the lead to the #19 Liepert Motorsport Lamborghini as that car was allowed to pass an already stopped Aston Martin.
Going back to green, that was not enough time even for the AMR factory driver to restore the balance going into the final laps and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman crew had to settle for a P2 finishing position in class, just 3.2 seconds back.
The next round of the series takes them to Motorland Aragon in Spain at the end of August.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Saturday, July 15, 2023 |
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AMR's family test reunion at Aragon
Not since their triple GTE podium success at the last round of the World Endurance Championship to be run pre COVID-19 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas way back in late February have many of the Aston Martin Racing and TF Sport team personnel been together in the paddock.
Having competed in last weekends opening round of the European Le Mans Series from the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, the #98 AMR Vantage GTE's crew made an overnight dash across the Spanish border to the Motorland Aragon Circuit to the west of Barcelona to join up with the team's other two GTE Pro cars as well as TF Sport's GTE Am car for some tyre testing and team re-bonding ahead of the next rounds of both the ELMS and WEC in the coming weeks as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans later in September.
The enthusiasm to be back behind the wheel couldn't be move evident for both Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim with some more 'mad-hattery' on their social media channels after both had been limited to just some sim racing since the beginning of the international racing lockdown soon after the conclusion of the CoTA round and the travel restrictions there after.
We assume that all full season AMR drivers are present at the test - not sure if Paul Dalla Lana has returned home to Canada after last weekends ELMS debut (especially considering international transit issues for those entering and leaving the USA and Canada or not but we do know that Charlie Eastwood is absent from the three day test. He and his significant other are patiently waiting at home the safe delivery of a certain new (but now overdue) bundle into their lives.
Additional drivers present included the teams two Le Mans 24 only drivers in Richard Westbrook and Harry Tincknell.
That leaves Jonny Adam and Salih Yoluc aboard the bright red #90 car.
A new name within the team is certainly present at the test in Augusto Farfus who will race with the #98 crew of Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda at the next round of the ELMS at Spa Francorchamps in two weeks time before re-aligning to Dalla Lana, Gunn and Farfus for the remainder of the WEC season again from Spa the week after that. Aston Martin Racing confirmed that Darren Turner would be stepping aside for Farfus two weeks ago.
Whilst it is highly unusual to hear of any official feedback from the teams at these private tests, the teams should however have no issues with getting temperature into their Michelin tyres with air temperatures pushing 40 deg C - indeed, overheating may become a real issue here!!
But its good to see them back!!!
Oh - and many congratulations to Mr and Mrs Adam and their recent announcement!
Photo credits - Social media
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 |
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Four days at Aragon for AMR (Updated)
This test at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain will be the second test event of this duration that the team has participated in with their new technical partners since announcing the arrangement with Dunlop at the teams official launch at their Gaydon headquarters last month.
The previous test at Paul Ricard was enough for both parties to optimise improvements with the Sport Maxx GTE tyre that has been specially built around the characteristics of the front engined Vantage.
From social media we understand that Darren Turner and Nikki Thiim (at least) shall be there with the single factory car for the duration of the test.
Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing
Monday, March 07, 2016 |
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