There both young guns Gustav Birch and Simon Birch will open the team’s account within the series before Kasper H Jenson after the Belgium based Comtoyou Racing had earlier confirmed that former motocross racer, Matisse Lismont will be joining the squad having served just two seasons so far in GT racing.

With the closing of the entry list just a few weeks away together with the prospect of up to eight AMR Vantage GT3 teams eager to part within the two available series, further news will soon be following.

Rounding of the news was from the French Mirage Racing team who have confirmed their first of an expected two AMR Vantage GT4 entry into the GT World Challenge supporting GT4 European Series.

Today saw drivers Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub step over to the Aston Martin having started within a Mercedes AMG GT4 together two years ago. The pairing and team will also compete together within the French FFSA GT4 Series.

Photo credits – Teams / Social media

Running quite the alien timetable that most would note for this ACO rules series sees the forty strong multi-class entry list which includes the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE crews from both TF Sport and GMB Motorsport, all see a track timetable that starts tomorrow (Wednesday) with the first of the private testing sessions. Track action then becomes a little more formal moving forward as the entry prepare to race the opening 4Hrs Algarve into the night race on Friday before having to repeat most ahead of the 4Hrs Portimao on Sunday.

Unfortunately for all three Aston Martin crews, there will be no championship winning celebrations this time around after another ‘difficult’ series visit to Spa Francorchamps which saw the Danish #44 GMB car fail to finish after an outlap crash for the young Gustav Birch after a great opening stint from Jens Moller and Nicki Thiim whilst the all-French #72 TF Sport crew of Max and Arnold Robin with Valentin Hasse-Clot ‘struggled’ with both inter team and inter brand contact that kept losing them time for a P6 finish at the end.

The #95 TF Sport AMR of John Hartshorne, Jonny Adam and Ben Tuck was also never on the pace as they eventually mopped up the last of the available Championship points with a P9 finish but that result still leaves the #95 crew the best placed AMR crew in twelfth, with the #72 now just behind and the #44 sadly at the foot of the table still.

Latest information shows that the Vantage GTE platform will get a final BoP break with an additional two litre fuel capacity and increase in boost pressure across the range. A little late for Championship hopes but at least that may allow this GTE platform to go out on something of a high.

Joining them in Portugal for just one more round will be the LMP3 and GT3 cars of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series, which happily this time sees the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse-Clot remain in front in class after the previous round at Spa Francorchamps.

Despite a major hic-up during Qualifying last time out in Belgium that saw the #10 fail to refire in the pitlane after an outlap crash for another competitor which brought out yet another red flag, the French duo did eventually come home in fifth after a late time penalty added five seconds to their race time after a miscalculation on driver time ‘forced’ Robin to drive extra-ordinarily slowly into pit lane for their compulsory stop.

“Getting away’ with those issues in Belgium has left the crew twelve points clear at the top of the GT3 Drivers Champiosnhip but with twenty-six points still available for both Pole Position in Qualifying and the class win, things are far from safe for the French duo as another three crews line up behind them to take their chances should they stumble at the final hurdle.

All three races will be exciting to watch with all three again visible to watch live via the series media channels.

With TF Sport again supporting a two car ELMS entry for that of Arnold and Max Robin with Valentin Hasse Clot aboard their all French supported #72 car and the #95 car of John Hartshorne, Ben Tuck and Jonny Adam, they were of course joined by the Danish #44 GMB Motorsport crew of Jens Moller, Gustav Birch and Nicki Thiim.

Whilst both the #44 and #95 cars head recent track data from their earlier test to run mid table within their class during the opening session, it was something of a game of catch-up for the #72 crew as they built up their own momentum and used cross series data available to them from their dual Le Mans Cup Series entry with the Racing Spirit of Lemans AMR Vantage GT3.

Next came the Bronze Driver test session and the first signs of real pace from the Aston Martin as both Arnold Robin and Moller took control of the first two places on the timing board with a gap of just over half a second to the chasing pack ahead of Saturday’s second Free Practice and Qualifying sessions.

Declared a wet track in the morning, track limits blighted the #44 crews position where Race Control forced them to sit time out within pit lane whilst the #95 moved up to a mid-table position with the #72 maintaining its momentum to end up P5 as the bronze rated drivers about to perform again in Qualifying.

This time the Aston Martin’s would not get everything their own way as Arnold Robin had to settle for a front row P2 start with Moller immediately behind in P4 whilst Hartshorne again struggled for pace, eventually starting from last in class.

Race day, and with the words of Race Control about the race being a four-hour affair and not just the first corner already in distant memory in the minds of some – the chaos ensued as the now collective forty strong grid hurtled its way into La Source for the first time.

Scattering LMP2 an LMP3 cars around the first corner, the chasing GTE field did at least avoid the carnage, but the race was immediately brought back under the control of the Safety Car for the first time whilst the debris was cleared having already seen a change to the running order with the #44 up to P2 and the #72 down to P3.

Twenty minutes were lost to that caution as the first racing laps showed a great dual in the making between the two lead Aston Martin’s whilst Harthorne had already pitted for a splash of fuel and a change to his cars strategy under the Safety Car.

At the top of the first hour, the first FCY was called for debris on track after which saw both #44 and #72 cars pit for the first time (for only fuel and tyres each) whilst the #95 car inherited the class lead thanks to their earlier stop. Once that sequence had cycled through, the biggest problem for the Aston Martin’s at the time was the pace of the #16 Proton Porsche which was doing more than enough to keep the chasing pack at bay.

The earlier challenging #66 JMW Ferrari meanwhile had clipped the tyre wall at Raidillon have spun coming up from Eau Rouge and their damaged steering would see that car stop on track bringing the Safety Car back out for a second time. Whilst the #72 benefitted with track position after their misfortune, the #44 GMB car would get a Drive Through Penalty for track limits (again), and that would cost the Danes heavily in terms of track position by the time that Nicki Thiim had come out for his hour stint at the midway point.

A further FCY was called for a stranded car in the barriers with 100 minutes remaining, a place in the race where the #72 car was P6, the #44 car was down to P8 and the #95 in P10. Those places would soon change again however as on the restart, small rear contact from Thiim with the #72 car of Robin saw the #72 get turned around but was thankfully able to re-join, albeit twenty or so seconds in arrears.

Ninety minutes to go and a heavy impact in the barriers for an LMP3 car saw another, prolonged appearance of the Safety Car as debris and repairs were made by the ever-efficient circuit marshals. This gave the #95 crew the chance to make their final stop under the slower pace of the caution as Ben Tuck got his first racing laps of Spa in an Aston.

An hour to go, and Thiim pitted the #44 car for their final driver change as the young Gustav Birch stepped aboard form their now P8 position in class. Unfortunately, the combination of cold tyres and over exuberance from the young Dane saw him ride the kerb at Les Combes to get spat back out to nose and tail his #44 car into the tyre wall whilst trying to catch the end of the Safety Car train ahead of the packs impending release.

Losing the rear wing, damaging the defuser amongst other things saw that car limp back to the garage and into immediate retirement leaving just the #72 of (then) Hasse Clot and the #95 of Tuck to see what each could both rescue from their P8/P9 places respectively.

Despite their best of efforts and the further intervention of two further Safety Car periods within the final half hour, the capabilities of those aboard the cars ahead and the gaps between them were too much to overcome in such little time for the #72 and #95 cars to finally come home in P6 and P9 respectively.

A disappointing end to the race and the GTE’s final appearance at the Belgium circuit for the AMR Vantage powered crews as the series now looks ahead to its final two quick fire rounds of the series at Portimao in late October. 

As far as the Championship goes – that has already been determined that it won’t be going to any AMR powered team unfortunately – not this season anyway!!

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

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.

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

 

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.

This weekend’s four-hour race around Le Castellet sees for a provisional grid of forty-two entries across both LMP2 classes, LMP3 and the GTE class within which we welcome back both the TF Sport prepared entries as well as the Danish GMB Motorsport AMR.

Whilst the #95 TF Sport entry of John Hartshorne, Ben Tuck and Jonny Adam did not get to race at Le Mans this year, the #72 AMR of Max and Robin Arnold with a recently married Valentin Hasse-Clot did as well as the #44 GMB entry for Jens Moller, Gustav Birch. Re-joining the ‘Dane Train’ this weekend will be AMR factory driver Nicki Thiim and his place within the team at Le Mans was taken up by former crew mate Marco Sorenson.

Both ACO series have been particularly unkind to both the #72 and #44 Aston after both GTE powered crews suffered from early exists in France as well as race ending accident damage within the opening lap of the opening race whilst the #95 TF Sport crew again faced adversity with their cars permitted BoP against those of their peers to finish as the last of the GTE runners at the end of that four-hour race.

Since then, the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE has been afforded a positive change in BoP by the series with a small 1.0 litre increase in fuel capacity alongside a small increase in turbo boost pressure across the engine range whilst changes to the minimum tyre pressure and wheel camber have also been set out by Goodyear.

What difference that makes has yet to be proven.

Supporting the ELMS will again be the Le Mans Cup Series after their two Road to Le Mans races in June at the centenary event of the 24 Hours of Le Mans where the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse-Clot did rather well again.

At the opening round at Barcelona, the #10 crew lead the GT3 class from start to finish to earn themselves an early lead within the six-round series after that 110-minute race and at Le Mans, a P3 then a P13 finish in class after those two 55-minute races sees the all-French crew in a tight second place within the GT3 Drivers Champiosnhip going into Paul Ricard.

As far as we can see, there will be no BoP adjustments across the GT3 grid of twelve cars going into this 110-minute round and these cars will again be joined by thirty LMP3 cars.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / Andrew Lofthouse

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.

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