News from Spa 24Hr test days
With the final names falling into place over the course of this week for the Spa 24Hr Official Test, it has been great to welcome some very familiar names back into the fray but also sad to see a 'not so old' fan favourite move aside.
Yesterday, Swiss based R-Motorpsort confirmed that Alex Brundle would be taking a back seat with the team at the 24hr race in just over three weeks time and moving forward with the remainder of the Blancpain GT Series season as experienced GT racer Dominik Baumann moves in and joins Maxime Martin and Marvin Kirchhofer aboard the teams #62 AMR Vantage GT3 in his place.
The reason for the change is presumably performance based but the team did confirmed that Brundle would be staying with the team to help launch their 2019 racing programme with the all new V8 Vantage GT3 as raced by Ross Gunn so successfully at the Aston Martin Racing Festival at Le Mans a few weeks ago once the new car goes into production later this year.
For Baumann, this weeks test was his first experience of the venerable V12 powered car.
Things didn't go quite so well for the teams #76 car which was forced to sit out the whole day yesterday with the car requiring an engine change. We're not sure if that was due to a fault or just component life related but at least both cars were able to run today and collect vital set up data ahead of the big event despite the torrential rain.
The other full season entry from Oman Racing by TF Sport elected to run for just a single day, picking the best weather that the two days had on offer yesterday as new recruit Ross Gunn joined the #97 crew of Ahmad Al Harthy, Euan McKay and Charlie Eastwood for the first time. Knowledgeable in both GT4 and GTE 24Hour races we believe that this will be his first 24hr at Spa and in a GT3? (awaiting to be corrected on that one!)
Joining them as a one off entry was local team Brussels Racing with their distinctly 'local' entry of Tim Verbergt, Koen Wauters, Sam Dejonghe and Nicolas Vandierendonck in aboard their #100 Pro-Am entered car. Being the teams only second race this year aboard their AMR Vantage GT3, this driver line up will be entering into perhaps the most competitive class of the series (like they all are really) at the end of the month.
Having topped the timing screen yesterday, the British GT entry from Optimum Motorsport remained at the circuit today as Pro driver Jonny Adam continued to coach Flick Haigh around the infamous Spa circuit in their V12 Vantage GT3 ahead of that Championship's race at Spa in just two weeks time. The two other AMR cars from TF Sport concluded their testing yesterday.
Track action for the 70th Edition of the Spa 24hours starts Tuesday 24th July with the Bronze Driver test.
Photo credits - R-Motorpsort / BES
Wednesday, July 04, 2018 |
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Welcomed guests on this weekend's racing card
Some unexpected guests join another intensive weekend of Aston Martin Racing customer racing in Northern Europe as battle lines are drawn, not only for the events of this weekend but also in preparation for those taking place next week.
With this years International GT Open has been an AMR free series so far but this weekend we see the Aston Martin Racing Brussels team dust down their V12 Vantage GT3 in time for their local round of the series at Spa Francorchamps. As previously reported, the usual driver within the team, Tim Verbergt is this weekend partnered by former Playstation Academy and Bentley driver Wolfgang Reip in the 27 car entry.
With the Aston Martin Racing Festival due on track at Le Mans in just a weeks time, the Silverstone round of the British GT Championship sees two guest entries as those teams continue with their preparation for that race of a life time next week.
About to embark on an extra-ordinary feat, Matt George will race two different cars within the same race at the Silverstone 500 as he (a) continues with his Invictus Racing Jaguar F Type GT4 commitments but also (b) returns to the championship with James Holder aboard their V8 Vantage GT4 that both both will share at Le Mans. This weekend will be just their second race weekend together with the Vantage having also raced at the Pau round of the FFSA GT4 Championship in France last month.
Joining them at this 'dress rehearsal' will be Mike Brown and Matt Manderson aboard their Ultimate Speed V12 Vantage GT3 that they will also be taking to France early next week. Whilst it is expected that neither car will be ultimately competitive within the class in which they will race, the experience and preparation will be everything.
Also revealed tonight, it now appears that Euan Hankey will be returning to the Championship at Silverstone round prior to his GTE Am commitments with the TF Sport team in the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself as he replaces Pro driver Ben Barnicoat in the Track Club McLaren 570S GT4
They of course join the usual British GT protagonists from #TeamAMR after they collectively enjoyed one of the best racing collective weekends for those running an Aston Martin Racing car since their V8 Vantage GT4 and V12 Vantage GT3 cars were first raced.
Locking out the GT3 podium in race 2 at Snetterton and having representatives on each of the other podiums in both classes, the Silverstone 500 will be a hard act to follow but the inducement will be high with additional points being on offer at the seasons only three hour race.
Note only that but with the exception of just three people racing in a full season entered AMR car, everyone else has an appointment at Le Mans next week either within the AMR Festival or in the main event itself!!
Photo credits - Jaco Ebrey / Steve Jackman / FFSA / Bas Fransen
Thursday, June 07, 2018 |
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