Sadly neither will be the new AMR Vantage GT3 and neither will be racing within the headlining FIA GT World Cup race, but two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's will be racing in the supporting Suncity Group Geater Bay Area GT Cup race at the event for Chinese AMR Partner team BSEM non the less.


More known for their exploits in the China GT Championship with just a single 2019 specification AMR Vantage GT4, the team will very soon be receiving a second brand new chassis from the Prodrive factory in England in time for this event that starts on the 14th November.


Both cars will feature solo drivers with full China GT racer David Pun in the #19 car and Alex Chang in the #39 car as both will race amongst a grid of twenty seven cars as for a twelve lap race around the streets of Macau on the Sunday morning.


Part of this seasons China GT Championship has been around various street and hybrid circuits with Pun taking coaching advice from both Yves Volte and Ross Gunn during the season but from memory, none of these circuits will compare to that of Macau!

Photo credits - BSEM

The 2019 China GT Championship season came to an end this weekend with Aston Martin Racing Partner Team BSEM again fielding two variants of the AMR Vantage GT4 at the final two races of the season.

Hoping to capitalise upon their race winning success at the second race last time out at Tianjin, drivers David Pun and AMR factory driver Ross Gunn left the Shanghai International Circuit with penalties adversely affecting their performances on track.

With Gunn having Qualified the new #618 car on pole for race one for his amateur co-driver, the 50kg success ballast from winning the last race really hurt the performance of the car as Pun battled out his thirty minute stint amongst Pro drivers in the other cars. The older, normally aspirated Vantage GT4 would also be raced again but in a solo driver format in both races for a returning Zhang Fangxuan.


Overtaken for the lead of the race going into turn one, Pun soon had his mirrors full of car after car as the #618 effectively lumbered out of the technical sections of the 5.4km circuit before a Safety Car period 'lost' the race ten minutes of time whilst a stricken car was recovered from the side of the circuit.

By the time of pit window opening Pun had dropped to P6 overall but by the time Gunn emerged, that gap had further elongated to P9. Slow, progressive race craft was all the new AMR WEC factory could do to lift the #618 car to P4 by the time of the chequered flag. The #619 would finish P12 and a lap down to the leaders.

"The circuit was not suiting the strengths of the AMR Vantage GT4" said Gunn when asked to comment about his races.


Race two on Sunday was a different story however as despite a lower Qualifying slot of P9 for Gunn, there was no success ballast aboard the car.

Some early brave moves and some 'poetically licensed' moves in the opening few laps saw Gunn move up to P4 overall and that would improve by two more positions as a Mercedes and Ginetta tangled a few hundred metres in front to take themselves both out of contention - that was now P2 with only ten minutes of the race gone!!

Losing another ten minutes of the race to the Safety Car, Gunn was struggling to get past the Mercedes of Alex Fontana despite the Swiss driver bearing the 50kg weight penalty from race 1 but would still pit from P2 just after the halfway mark.


With new front Michelins fitted, Pun would exit the pits in P2 but he would be very quickly passed by the extremely quick Mercedes of Will Bamber not long before a huge crash involving a BMW and another Mercedes would neutralise the race for most of the remaining nineteen minutes. With the front wheel of the BMW collapsing under braking, that driver was simple a passenger as his car at first slammed into the concrete wall head on before then spearing into (and thankfully) the non drivers side of the Mercedes as that was then going around the hairpin corner.

With some injuries apparent and a huge debris field, the race would only go green again with just three minutes remaining but as Bamber controlled the restart, an over ambitious move from Pun saw him overtake this Mercedes before the control line. Like their stable partners at Automatic Racing at the finale of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Road America on Friday, the #618 car would cross the line in P2 only to have a thirty second penalty applied post race for that late transgression.


The #618 would finally be listed just ahead of their other team car in P10 (#618) and P11 (#619) respectively.

Photo credits - China GT

American based Automatic Racing and CSJ Motorsport have saved the best performance of their IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season so far  till last to claim overall pole position at tonights final round of the season at the Petit Le Mans meeting from Road Atlanta.

With young Indian racer Akhil Rabindra this time being joined by American racer Tom Long in the #09 CSJ Motorsport supplied car, a Qualifying lap time of 1:25:715 was enough by just over one tenth of a second to secure his and this teams first pole with the new AMR GT4 platform from the otherwise more dominant Ford Mustang of debuting Seb Priaulx


Seeing out this final race will be three AMR Vantage GT4's from the Florida based team with the new #97 car being piloted by Gary Ferrera and Kris Wilson from P14 on tonights grid and the older, normally aspirated #99 car of Ramin Abdolvahabi and B Waddell starting P23.

This race starts at 18:15 BST and is streamed live and free outside of the USA.

After the massive disappointment of yesterday, Chinese Aston Martin Racing Partner Team BSEM Asia Sonic Racing finished off the China GT Championship's round 10 off today in the only way possible with an emphatic 'near' lights to flag win for drivers David Pun and Ross Gunn.

With the race weekend promising so much Friday evening with a pole position for local man Pun and a P2 front row start for his co-driver Gunn in todays second one hour race of the weekend, yesterdays race had hardly got started before it was brutally ended going into the hairpin for only the second time of the race.


Racing again around the very bespoke 3.7km track to the south east of Beijing, a track that had all the charactiertics of both a true race track and that of a street circuit, incident and accident was always inevitable for the ten Pro-Am and Am class GT4's that made up the field.

With Pun starting race 1, he was soon out-dragged along the start straight to drop (but hold) second going into turn 1 whilst the #22 Mercedes AMG and #868 McLaren argued behind. Contact between these two cars at the tight right handed hairpin spin the Mercedes and left the McLaren with from end damage but all were eventually able to continue.


Next lap around and appearing relatively comfortable going in the hairpin again, the #618 Aston Martin suddenly found the #868 McLaren speeding up the inside to collide heavily with the side (thankfully no divers) side of the car. Spewing out engine coolant, the #868 was out on the spot and whilst Pun managed to get the car back to pit lane the damage was too much to effect any quick repairs with the contact having broken both top and bottom wish bones, steering linkage, door hinges and body panels. That was them done for the day after just four minutes of racing.

Another day - another dollar as they say for the team as it was now the turn of AMR factory driver Gunn to take the start alongside his competitors cars Pro drivers.


Returning the favour in out-dragging the pole setting Mercedes at the start, Gunn swung the #618 car into turn one in the lead - a lead that he soon extended as the third and fourth placed cars argued between themselves. The other car to suffer from the #868 McLarens over exuberance yesterday (the #22 Mercedes of Will Bamber) was also have a better start as he slotted in behind Gunn.

Never able to challenge the AMR Bamber soon dropped to nearly 3 seconds with 3rd and 4th another 6 seconds behind him and left left for a 'leisurely' second phase of the race for Gunn before he handed over to Pun. Leaving pit lane, Pun was a little shaky to start but soon found his rhythm to reaffirm the gap between him and the #22 Mercedes.


By the end of the hour, Pun crossed the line to take the race win by over two seconds to claim his, Gunns and the AMR Vantage GT4's first win of the season in the China GT Championship and went some way in alleviating the pain of yesterdays events.

Next up for the team is a return to Shanghai in a months time for the final round of the season.

Photo credit - China GT / BSEM

Continuing his consecutive run of Aston Martin Racing customer racing duties this weekend, AMR factory driver Ross Gunn has already found the sweet spot within the #618 BSEM Asia Sonic Racing AMR Vantage GT4 that he shares with Am driver David Pun ahead of rounds 9 and 10 of the China GT Championship from the circuit at Tianjin near Beijing.

Unfortunate to miss out on any class accolade alongside Akhil Rabindra with their CSJ Motorsport/Automatic Racing V8 Vantage GT4 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Virginia International Raceway two weeks ago, the young AMR driver did of course go some better last weekend where he and co-drivers Paul Dalla Lana and Darren Turner claimed a GTE Am class podium at the season opener and his first ever race within the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone.


Departing for China almost immediately after he WEC event, the time spent with the team this week has allowed the Prodrive supported team to get their V8 Vantage GT4 dialled into the tight urban circuit to a point where they have now dominated both Free Practice and Qualifying in the GT4 class.

Unfortunately not being in contention for the GT4 Championship this time around, the #618 will at least start both of this weekend's races from the front row of the grid after Gunn claimed class pole position for race 9 of the season and Pun P2 for race 10 so their results may well influence the Championship aspirations of others.


With a wide pit straight tapering into narrow, concrete walled sections with tight ninety degree corners - action and incident will not be far away.

Don't forget that the China GT Championship races are streamed live via their social media channels.

Photo credits - China GT

Recalled to the BSEM Asia Sonic Racing squad to see out this season's China GT Championship, Aston Martin Racings reserve driver Ross Gunn and Co-pilot David Pun came away with a mixed bag of results from last weekends two races at Qinhuangdao.


With an urban, post industrial track likened to somewhere that should only beset somewhere in the game Call of Duty, together with a non favourable balance of Performance (or words to that effect from Gunn!), the weekend proved highly eventful during the wet Free Practice sessions that saw many cars leave the circuit to make impact with the barriers only metres off line.

Wanting to continue with the improvements made by the team last time out in Shanghai when Pun and then co driver Yves Volte secured the teams first podium of the season, the meeting got off to a good start with the #618 AMR Vantage GT4 securing a second row start for both races.

Aston Martin Racing factory reserve and Beechdean AMR Le Mans Cup driver Ross Gunn is presently on his way back to China to help Chinese team Asia Sonic Racing see out the remaining rounds of the 2019 season as the team look to finish on something of a high.

Having raced in the Championship in 2017 with what was then the China Equity AMR team, Gunn finished P3 in the Championship that year with Stanley Yang in the then V8 normally aspirated AMR Vantage GT4 before his place was taken by Jack Mitchell who went some better to take the overall GT4 title in 2018. For this season the team's financial backers changed as did the team name to BSEM Asia Sonic Racing with young German, Yves Volte taking the lead and guiding role in their new 2019 specification Vantage GT4 alongside Gentleman driver David Pun.


Delays in receiving their new car from Prodrive and through the infamous Chinese customs delayed their assault on the GT4 Championship with the latest AMR machinery together for the start of the season but with some bad luck in races also took their effect including last time out at the Shanghai International Circuit where Yang broke his foot in a scary rear end shunt on the rain soaked track just before the race was abandoned. Bizarrely that weather affected race was also where Pun and Volte secured the team's first podium finish of the season in P3.


The ferocity of that collision destroyed what was one of the last normally aspirated V8 Vantage GT4's made by Prodrive.

Gunn will drive alongside Pun at this weekends street circuit races at Qinhuangdao before the final two scheduled rounds in September and October as well as the possibility of a further street circuit round in November as the 2019 season reaches its half way stage with six races still remaining.


We understand that Volte is looking at opportunities in other GT4 series including a possible drive in the ADAC GT4 Germany Series with PROsport Performance.

Track action at Qinhuangdao starts Friday

A bizarre set of circumstances befell the BSEM Asia Sonic Racing team at the Shanghai International Circuit as they competed in the third round of the China GT Championship this weekend.

Again entering a pair of Aston Marin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's - old and new specification -
Qualifying on Friday didn't exactly go to plan as the newer #618 car of David Pun and Yves Volte only just finished ahead of the normally aspirated 2016 #619 car of Zhang Fangxuan and Stanley Yang with P7/P8 and P9/P10 starting slots respectively for the two - one hour races over both Saturday and Sunday.


Featuring a lower car count than previous years, just 17 cars started race 1 under light drizzle as the cars formed on the grid. Starting and running on slick tyres, all appeared well at first until just after the pit stop window had closed when the heavens suddenly opened, drenching the circuit and leaving the struggling competitors to aquaplane all around the circuit. Indeed, such was the 'devastation' on track that the race was red flagged with still over 15 minutes left on the clock - the race wouldn't be restarted.

For the older #619 car, the early termination of the race would see them finish a very credible P4 whilst the newer #619 car has struggled throughout the race with transmission problems - forcing the crew to pit multiple times before a wild spin in the rain saw them ultimately classified as the final finisher in Race 1, down in P12.


For Sundays second race of the meeting, the rain at least arrived and fell before the scheduled start but then gave all the dilemma of tyre selection with half the track remaining wet for the start. That however, didn't effect the way Aston Martin Racing Academy driver Yves Volte ran his race as he would ultimately hand the #618 car over to gentleman driver David Pun from P3 although that would drop to P5 by the close of the race.

Importantly though, this P5 finish would firstly be their highest finish of the season so far but also marked another milestone for the new AMR Vantage GT4 in claiming its first Asian theatre podium with a P3 Pro-Am finish for the pairing.


The sister #619 car didn't appear to run in race 2 and at first we didn't know why until video footage was released of a nasty incident involving the car at the point immediately before the race was red flagged. Approaching a sharp left hand corner, the clip shows the #619 aquaplaning into the corner, spinning around before slamming into the front of another car that had already spun - sadly for the driver (Yang) that impact resulted in sizeable damage to the car and a (?) broken leg for himself.


The Championship now has six weeks off before round 4 from Shougang GT Circuit, Ginhuangdao in mid August.

Hopefully, the tide of misfortune has now turned for these guys and we wish Stanley Yang a speedy recovery.

Photo credit - China GT 

After nearly a two month break, the China GT Championship returns to the track with the third round's two races around around the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend.

BSEM Asia Sonic Racing will be back again with their mix of old and new iteration Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's after something of a frustrating audition for the brand new #618 car in the Asian arena after a pit stop infringement and then puncture thwarted early promise aboard the new race car for drivers David Pun and Yves Volte in the previous two races.


For the teams second pairing of Zhang Fangxuan and Wu Pei, they had something of a nightmare last time out with the older, normally aspirated version of the Vantage GT4 cutting out during the races forcing recovery from the circuit.

All will be hoping for some reward for their efforts this weekend.

The second round of the 2019 China GT Championship from the Ningbo International Speedpark in Zhejiang was something of a frustrating one for the sole Aston Martin Racing customer team in the race, BSEM Asia Sonic Racing.

Having finally taken delivery and tested with their new 2019 specification AMR Vantage GT4 earlier in the week, things were looking good for Gentleman driver David Pun and his German Aston Martin Driver Academy Pro, Yves Volte whom he would be sharing driving duties aboard the #618 car. Joining them were two regional drivers in Zhang Fangxuan and Wu Pei who would drive one of the teams older 2016 Vantage GT4's.


Starting P5 in Race 1, it was the responsibility of Volte to go chasing after some of the other teams Pro drivers with the new Vantage looking good and quick behind the Mercedes GT4's of Alex Fontana and Will Bamber. That was the position the #618 held when Volte had to come in at the end of the permitted pits stop period window to hand the car over to Pun.

Just after the stops, the #619 car ground to a halt on track forcing the deployment of the Safety Car. On the restart Pun was caught napping a bit and went very wide in the sequence of corners that allowed at least two cars to pass him effectively unchallenged.


With just six minutes remaining of the hour long race,  an errant Mercedes GT4 forced a BMW wide at the final corner which in turn spun and collided heavily with the pit wall. Fortunately the driver was OK but the race would end at the controlled pace of the Safety Car.

For the #618 car however, a too shorter pit stop time cost them a 60 second time penalty which effectively dropped them down to P10 and the last points paying position after what had been a good start to the race.

Race 2 on Saturday faired no better for the team despite Pun being able to maintain his track position relative to the other cars around him who were at the time running their Pro drivers as he held P6 and the #619 car held their P11 starting position for the first fifteen minutes of racing.


Again running wide, the #618 car showed possible damage to the underside of the car although Pun's pace at the time didn't seem to suggest anything performance reducing. Just after that the #619 again seemed to switch off in the middle of the track and force another Safety Car.

By the time of the pit window, the remaining #618 car was back in P7 as Pun handed over to Volte but his race wouldn't last too much longer either as the car was seen running slowly on track before making back to pit lane and retirement with an unknown technical issue.


Not the best of starts for the newest AMR Vantage GT4 in Asia, we know from other series that the car has pace and maybe just a bit more track time for both drivers and team will put them back into a competitive position fo rah next round of the Championship in Shanghai in June.

Photo credits - China GT

Just two cars from the BSEM Asia Sonic Racing team will take part in this weeks second round of the 2019 China GT Championship from the Ningbo International circuit.

Despite that, this round will become a symbolic event for the team and Aston Martin Racing as they will compete with a new 2019 specification V8 turbo charged Vantage GT4 for the first time in the championship. Originally planned for the opening rounds in Malaysia, transportation delays meant that the car only arrived from the Prodrive factory just over a week ago.


Now having two days of wet and dry private testing under their belts the drivers of the new car at the circuit - David Pun and Yves Volte are feeling quietly confident of their first race together this year after team boss Stanley Yang deputised for Pun in Malaysia due to Puns re-arrangements at the F1 opening round in Australia.

Customer team - Kings Racing, who also fielded a 2016 specification Vantage GT4 in Malaysia are not present at this round after a disappointing show first time out.

Race 1 will be on Friday with Race 2 on Saturday.

Photo credits - BSEM

Whilst the World Endurance Championship was reconvening for their double header with the IMSA Series over at the Sebring Raceway in Florida last weekend, two other series featured their first rounds of their 2019 season but on the other side of of the world.

The Australian GT Championship kicked off its new year with its usual four race support act with the opening round of the 2019 FIA Formula One Championship from the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne. Featuring just a single Aston Martin Racing car entry this year, that honour has been left to the passionate AMR/AML fan and former owner of the Australian national GT championship - Tony Quinn to race with in his V12 Vantage GT3 whilst he patiently awaits the delivery of his new turbo charged 2019 specification AMR Vantage GT3 later into the season.

With newer cars, evolutions and younger guns ahead of him, Quinn managed to collect a useful haul of points across the weekend to first Qualifying in P8 before finishing in P8 for race 1, a DNF after a spin out and from being tagged by a passing car in race 2 before a P20 in race 3 before a P9 in the final race on Sunday out of a total entry of twenty five cars.

That points haul has left Quinn in P8 in the Championship as it moves on to its next round in May.