Barcelona marked the season finale for the GT World Challenge Europe Championship, and for Bullitt Racing, it was the conclusion of its first season at the highest level in GT3 competition.

Led by Team Manager Steffan Pattrick, the Spanish squad arrived at its home venue off the back of steady progress in recent rounds. Spa-Francorchamps was the first ever 24-hour event in GT3 competition, and the team went the distance and finished a fine sixth. Nurburgring saw another gain with fourth position, and so hopes were high at the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. After a tough, arduous race, the #33 Aston Martin Vantage crossed the line seventh in Silver Cup.

The final round of the SRO GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season beckons this weekend from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain where another fifty-five GT3 car entry will entice a large crowd to the circuit and a larger audience to its live stream.

Having competed at a previous five rounds including the flagship 24Hrs of Spa Francorchamps, the locally based Bullitt Racing team remain the solo Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 competing team at this final round albeit with a slightly differing driver line up.

Remaining within their chosen silver class that they have competed within all season, the #33 car’s season long regulars of Romain Leroux and Jacob Riegel return to Spain to see out the year but this time they see Jeff Kingsley stepping aside for the pair to be joined by young French racer Maxime Robin.

With many of the series Championship classes already decided, this weekend’s round will be more about ‘setting their stall out’ ahead of any 2024 programme within both the GT World Challenge Series and others.

Since the last round from the Nurburgring back in late July where the #33 car finished with their best result of the season so far in P4, Leroux has been back to the Asian racing arena he knows so well to claim another double F1 Singapore support race (Thailand Super Series) within an AMR Vantage GT4 whilst Robin competed within the latest round of the European Le Mans Series only last weekend.

Tomorrow sees the first of the track action for the series with the first Paid Test session before the more formal sessions starting on Saturday with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying before Qualifying and the final three-hour race of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Having had to bear considerable challenges of their own this season, it will be great of the team can go out  with a podium finish this weekend!

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

Bullitt Racing secured its best result to date in Fanatec GT World Challenge Endurance Cup yesterday, taking the chequered flag with the #33 Aston Martin Vantage fourth in the Silver Cup class, 30th overall after three hours of frantic green flag action at the Nurburgring.

The penultimate round of the series brought heavy rain and glimpses of sunshine, but the race was dry following a wet qualifying session on Sunday morning. The trio of Silver-graded racers - Romain Leroux, Jeff Kingsley and Jacob Riegel – all produced strong drives to move from seventh on the grid to a fighting fourth at the end.

 

Late to the party again sees us only now looking forward to this weekend’s resumption of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series with their latest round from the Nurburgring and the return of the #33 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Last time out at Spa Francorchamps for the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa back at the beginning of the month saw the best season result to date for the team and trio of drivers Romain Leroux, Jacob Riegel and Jeff Kingsley after they (with Ruben Del Sarte) secured a P6 in Silver Cup class finish at the end of another gruelling twenty-four and despite some more technical issues along the way.

 

Bullitt Racing completed its very first GT3 24-Hour race Sunday afternoon (July 2nd, 2023), securing a solid sixth-place finish in the Silver Cup class in the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa with drivers Jacob Riegel, Jeff Kingsley, Romain Leroux and Ruben Real del Sarte.

A frustrating car niggle aside, it was a near-flawless performance from both the team and drivers alike, equalling its best result of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. Crucially, the result provides momentum heading into the next round of the championship at Nurburgring.

The whole week in the Belgian Ardennes was special, especially given the trials and tribulations the team had been through over recent weeks. The brand-new #33 Aston Martin Vantage (Chassis 16A-018-1) made its debut this week following an incident in testing that destroyed the chassis that started the season. The hard work paid dividends as it completed one of the toughest challenges in global GT racing, passing the gruelling test with flying colours.
The opening stint of the race from Romain was impressive, gaining six positions on the track and three in the Silver Cup class to run P7. Ruben jumped in to make his GT3 race debut, and this was a more difficult stint, losing time in the pits and finding the green track challenging in terms of dealing with the understeer.

Jeff was next up, but by this point, an electrical issue with the centre switch panel meant that some crucial functions were unavailable to the driver, including creature comforts. This made for difficulties opening stints for both Jeff and Jacob.

The replacement panel took ten minutes to fix, unfortunately under green flag conditions, and this put the #33 Vantage firmly at the back of the Silver Cup class by two complete laps. By midnight, the team had pressed on and moved to P8.There were several lengthy safety car periods in the early hours, and by sunrise (no sun, grey and chilly), the drivers had cycled through multiple stints without too much drama and ran sixth in Silver Cup and inside the top 50 overall for the first time. However, with six laps separating us from the #26 ahead in P5, it would take attrition over the final eight hours to make further gains.

Into the closing stages, Romain moved fifth as a rival hit trouble and into the final pitstop with 45 minutes to go, and all seemed to be well. However, a left rear shim failure meant a frantic final stop and the loss of the fifth position. Romain ultimately took the chequered flag and secured the team’s first 24-hour race finish in sixth position.
Team Manager Stefan Pattrick summed things up by saying “I am happy that we completed the race and took the chequered flag, albeit not in the position we were hoping for. Along with many of our rivals, it’s a challenge, and we suffered from some technical issues which hampered us in our ability to fight for a podium position.

“Nonetheless, we managed these issues very well. The electrical issue meant that we had to problem solve on the fly – especially during the night – just to survive whilst staying within the regulations. The boys did a good job behind the wheel, very consistent and cautious, which is not easy when all your instincts tell you to push. They understood the limits, did what they needed to ensure we finished the race.

 

The Spanish based Bullitt Racing team again fly the Aston Martin Racing flag this weekend as the SRO GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series reaches its flagship event around the iconic Belgian circuit of Spa Francorchamps with the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa.

After previous rounds at both Monza and most recently Paul Ricard, if there was ever one thing that the team would be looking or hoping for this weekend then that would be plain old fashioned good luck!!

 

Bullitt Racing are now busy preparing for the jewel in the crown of the Fanatec GT World Challenge calendar, the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, a true classic on the race calendar featuring over 70 GT3 cars from teams around the globe, competing at the fabled Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
 
The team, therefore, welcomes Ruben Real del Sarte to the squad, joining GT World Challenge Europe race regulars Jacob Riegel, Jeff Kingsley, and Romain Leroux in the Silver Cup-entered #33 Aston Martin Vantage.

Bullitt Racing is the sole Aston Martin customer team entry in the field, joining seven other major global brands in the event. For Ruben, who competes in the GT4 European Series in a Vantage GT4, the opportunity to team up with Bullitt Racing for this great event was too good an opportunity to miss!
 
“I am absolutely thrilled to be given the chance to drive with Bullitt Racing at Spa,” he began. “It is my favourite track, and being in an Aston Martin GT3 with them is just a dream for me.
 
“I’ve been following GT3 closely as it is my goal in the future to race for in this championship, so being given a chance to compete in the 24 hours of Spa for the second time feels unreal to me,” he continued. “I can’t express my gratitude enough to Bullitt Racing, Aston Martin Racing, my sponsors and my family for the massive help and support. I will do my very best to maximise the potential of the car together with my teammates. I’m really looking forward to it, can’t wait to hit the track with them.”

Bullitt Racing first ran Aston Martin GT3 machinery in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2022, securing regular podium positions in what was a successful campaign with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Stephen Pattrick. This year, the Spanish-based squad opted to join the GT World Challenge Europe, making its series debut recently at Monza, where Jacob, Jeff and Romain steered clear of trouble to finish a solid sixth. While Paul Ricard was more difficult, the team aims to continue its push to the front of the Silver Cup field.
 
“This series remains a learning experience for us all heading into our first 24-hour race with a GT3 car, but we can’t wait to get going,” stated Team Manager Steffan Pattrick. “The whole week will be thrilling, from the street parade in Spa town, through to the practice, qualifying and the race itself. We have a young Silver quartet; they are all hungry for success, as is the team.

“We are the only Aston Martin Racing Partner Team at Spa this year, which is both an honour and a privilege! The Silver Cup will be close and ultra-competitive, but we have confidence in our abilities and drivers. We will give our all to maximise opportunities, aiming for our first GT World Challenge podium.”

Source material - Bullitt Racing

 

Completing the final set of race events from the weekend that saw Aston Martin Racing powered team participation was totally an up or down situation as we saw the Bullitt Racing team represent the marque within the latest round of the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup and the Feathers Motorsport team competing again within the UK’s GT Cup Championship.

Starting in Europe, the Bullitt Racing team were back in action down at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France for what was only the second round of the GTWCE Endurance Cup for their new Silver Cup crew of Romain Leroux, Jacob Riegel, Jeff Kingsley and their #33 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

 

Bullitt Racing are all set for the second round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup which takes place this coming weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard. Once again, the team will field an all-silver line-up of Jeff Kingsley, Jacob Riegel and Romain Leroux in the #33 Aston Martin Vantage.

Following a testing accident at Spa-Francorchamps, the Spanish-based squad have successfully built up the team’s spare chassis for the forthcoming 1000KM challenge.

Pre-season testing proved positive for Bullitt Racing at the French venue and having finished a solid sixth at the season-opening round at Monza, head to Paul Ricard confident in building on that early season momentum.

 

Today was supposed to be the first day of a two-day official test in advance of the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps but instead turned into anything but for the Bullitt Racing team.

Being the sole Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 running within the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and 24 Hours of Spa this year, all AMR supporters eyes have been fixed upon the Bullitt Racing Silver Cup trio of Roman Leroux, Jacob Riegel and Jeff Kingsley ever since their late official confirmation and first round of the Endurance Cup at Monza a month ago.

Bullitt Racing travelled to Monza this week for the opening round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, with three new drivers to the series, two new to the team and the #33 Aston Martin Vantage and came away from the Italian venue with a solid sixth position in the all-silver GT3 class.

The Spanish-based outfit had tested at the circuit previously in the build-up to the event, but there’s nothing quite like the race action to earn the spurs.

 

Whilst the FIA World Endurance Championship is presently contesting its second round of the season in Portimao, Portugal the ACO rules ‘feeder series’ of the European Le Mans series and Le Mans Cup Series will both be getting down to business with their 2023 seasons next week in Spain.

With an official two-day Prologue test around the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona for the ELMS series and a corresponding single day test for the Le Mans Cup, next weekend will see the first rounds of each series ahead of what will be a six-round season for both.

 

Absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder as first we thought there were none, that just a solo twenty-four entry before today’s announcement from Bullitt Racing finally confirms a full season GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Aston Martin Racing entry.

Last year, that mantle was held by the Beechdean AMR team with what started as a Gold and Pro class entries before descending into a Silver / Pro class entry for the blue ribband Spa 24. We all now know that that relationship with the series became futile with continuing beyond that point (such is the cut throat competitiveness of the series) that if you haven’t scored many points between the start until after Spa - then there is not a lot of point continuing, and that is what happened.