Sundays third and final day of the fourth round and third triple header weekend of the GT4 America Series at Road America proved itself to be another display of driver domination from Flying Lizards Gentleman driver Michael Dinan over the events three races in both Sprint and Sprint X.

Having already secured three class podium finishes out the four races so far, Sunday would see Dinan extend his 2020 trophy haul with another two class wins over the day as Dinan literally raced with the class of driver above his own all weekend. Indeed, Road America proved itself to be another fine display from all the Aston Martin Racing teams over both series of racing as Rearden Racing, Bsport Racing and Rennsport One all enjoyed multiple visits to the socially distanced podium.


Road American even became the first event since the opening round of the Series at the Circuit of The Americas to enjoy the company of race fans over the weekend although not many probably enjoyed the torrential rain of Friday. Their patience was ultimately rewarded with clear skies and sunshine for the remainder of the race programme so hopefully all came away with smiles on their faces.

With Sprint X being the first race of Sunday, Dinan would again be the front AMR car on the grid starting from P4 on the grid with the #15 BSport AMR of Bryan Putt in P10 and the #33 Rennsport One of Matt Dalton in P17. This race also saw the return of the Rearden Racing #91 car of Jeff Burton and Vesko Kosarov after engine issues early on Friday saw that car not compete in either of the two opening races.


Despite an initial clean start the race soon came under the control of the Safety Car as car cars tangled  into the concrete wall with another car having its bonnet lift and obscure its windscreen. Fortunately that was just a quick FCY and soon the remaining twenty cars were on their way.

Having missed all racing since Race 1 of Sprint and his accident, Burton was the one making quick progress through the field as having started from last on the grid he was soon snapping at the heals of Putt and Dalton in P10 whilst Dinan was way out front in the Pro-Am class (P3 overall) and chasing after the Silver Cup race leader and the Pro-Am Porsche ahead.


With all four AMR cars electing to pit for their respective Pro drivers as soon as the pit window would allow, as Kozarov (#91), Gallagher (#33) and Koch (#15) exited pit lane almost line astern and that would lead up to a great battle between them to the flag.

Buoyed by there earlier two podium finishes, AMR Academy Driver Kenton Koch managed to pass both the Rearden and Rennsport One car for position and after one more overtake found himself upon what would be the final step of the Pro-Am podium early on into his 30 minute stint.


With little over ten minutes remaining, Dinan passed the #47 Nolan Porsche to take both P2 overall and the lead in Pro-Am as both Gallagher and Kozarov continued battle for P8 overall. By the chequered flag, Dinan and Foley continued to secure P2 overall and P1 in class with the #15 BSPort holding on to their third podium in P5 overall and another P3 finish in class.


The efforts of Rearden Racing to sort the engine issue of the #91 out was rewarded with the cars P6 finish in class whilst the red, white and black Rennsport car finished just ahead in P5.

The final race of the GT4 America programme was the third Sprint race - another event so far dominated by the #210 Flying Lizard Vantage with Dinan having secured two wins out of two so far.


With fastest laps per class again deciding the starting order for the final race it came as no surprise that the #210 car would again start as the lead Aston from P4 overall and P1 in the Am Class. Paul Terry's #59 Rearden car would be close behind in P5/P2 whilst his team mate Jeff Burton would also return to for this final race of the day aboard his #91 car. The #191 that he usually races in this class was obviously too badly damaged to repair at the circuit following his Race 1 accident but at least it was good to have him back on the grid.


As with all the races so far, Dinan again made his move right from the start temporally stepping up to P3 overall before leaving the door open for that car to repass him going through the opening sequence of corners and whilst Terry dropped two early places, his team mate Burton picked up tow early places as he again had to start from the rear of the grid.

With three Pro cars ahead, Dinan soon realised that he didn't need to pass any of the cars infront as long as he could keep up with them and they were faster than the chasing Am pack and soon that gap elongated itself to nearly ten seconds.


In their efforts to close that gap, both Terry and Burton started to make mistakes and errors of judgement as first Burton went wide and ragged through Turn 6 and Terry locked up heavily a few corners later.

With nobody able to close down the gaps to the cars ahead, Dinan would go onto secure another class win with his P4 overall finish as Terry would collect another podium finish for his weekend in P6 overall - P3 in class with team mate not too far behind in P7 overall - P4 in class. Hopefully that went to brighten up and otherwise expensive weekend for the lumber merchant!!


As the Series moves back to CoTA for the penultimate event of the season in little over three weeks time, the results from Road America still leave both Sprint and Sprint X as achievable targets for others should Dinan's excellent roll of race results come to a sudden end. Terry remains Dinan's nearest threat in Sprint bing just 40 points behind whilst in Sprint X Dinan/Foley remain 22 points behind Matt Travis and Jason Hart in Pro-Am.


So there is still all to play for at both CoTA and the season finale at Indianapolis in early October.

Photo credits - GT4 America / Flying Lizards / CSJ Motorsport

Having already scored on class win on the opening race day of the GT4 America's visit to Road America for another one of their race recovery triple headers, Michael Dinan and his Flying Lizard team went on to dominate proceedings with two more class and outright wins yesterday.

Starting with the second of three fifty minute Sprint races, the timings from race 1 are used to determined the grid order via their previous fastest laps. That placed the #59 Rearden Racing AMR Vantage of Paul Terry in P3 overall (P1 in Am Class) on the grid with the yellow accented AMR of Dinan next to him in P4 (P2 in class) with the #191 Rearden car of Jeff Burton again missing out as his team worked on to repair the damage of race 1's smash that took him and another car out in the wet on Friday.


As opposed to the wet of Friday afternoon, the now reduced starting grid of twelve cars were to enjoy a bright, sunny start to their second race of the weekend with Dinan being the more aware of the AMR runners to mug Terry at the start to take P3 from him as the pack went into turn 1. With the two Pro Class cars ahead, Dinan found himself being able to run with these guys as htheir collective pace gapped them from those in P4 and P5.

After twenty minutes of running Terry was eventually able to take the Ford Mustang of Staveley for position, lifting himself up to P4 overall and still P2 in class but minutes later Terry went into T1 too fast and spun himself around on the kerb (much like what his team mate Burton did in race 1 on Friday) to quickly loose out on his earlier hard work as he soon dropped down to P6 overall.


As the two leading Pro cars pushed on ahead, Dinan found himself being dropped into the no-mans land between them and the chasing pack but with the minutes counting down all he had to do was to keep it on the track to secure his 7th class win of the season.

So similar to race 1 of Friday, Race 2 produced another double AMR Am Class podium as Terry did enough to (a) keep his title challenge alive against Dinan and (b) secure his second podium of the weekend by claiming P6 overall and P3 in Class.


Then came after that perhaps Dinan's and Flying Lizards best performance of the season so with a P12 to overall race win in the second Sprint X race yesterday afternoon.

With the starting grid again being affected by the torrential rains of Friday, it wasn't possible for all the drivers to set a competitive lap time being Qualifying was red flagged due to the deteriorating track conditions. That again meant that many cars were out of their natural position at the start of the race and that certainly made for some very entertaining racing.


The #15 BSPort Racing AMR of AMR Academy Driver Kenton Koch was the highest placed AMR at the start and he certainly didn't waste anytime at the start as he both held onto his starting position and then pushed the Silver Cup drivers ahead. After Pat Gallagher's race of the season so far yesterday when he and his #33 Rennsport One car claimed their first podium of the year, he too was on a mission from his P12 start as he battled to keep ahead of Robbie Foleys #21 Flying Lizard AMR who started one place behind.

A slower BMW in P8 effectively served as an early chicane for the first five minutes of running that allowed the front runners to establish a large gap to the pack behind by the time that Gallagher finally got past. Foley meanwhile was having something of a slow or calculated start as his position in the field was steady as he had only climbed up to P11 by then.


With Koch enjoying himself at the front keeping the Silver #2 Porsche busy, Gallagher had moved up to P6 by the time that the pit window opened as Foley was carefully negotiating the teams fellow McLaren 570s for P8.

With the Pro's having done their work it was now down to their amateur drivers to capitalise upon any headway that had been made up till then. Bryan Putt emerged in overall second after his swap into the white #15 car with Dinan now up to P7 and Matt Dalton P10 in his #33 car.


The Flying Lizard team trimmed as much time off at their stop as they could and had to invoke their pit stop 'joker' by actually undercutting their minimum time by about a second. Having rode their luck there, Dinan 'rode his luck' on track with an outstanding demonstration of confidence and speed. Catching those in front by the rate of 2-3 seconds per lap it wasn't too long before the #21 car was upon to P4 overall but only had ten minutes or so remaining to make up the 10 seconds to the leading BMW.

Having dispatched Putt for P3 overall it only took Dinan another five minutes to get onto the tail of the leader and with a brave move into T1 on the final lap, Dinan had taken the overall lead - something that he would even extend to nearly 4 seconds at the chequered flag.



With Foley and Dinan claiming the top step, the #15 BSport Racing crew of Putt and Koch had also done enough to claim their second Sprint X podium of the weekend by finishing P5 overall and P3 in Pro-Am. The #33 Rennsport One AMR of Gallagher and Dalton would eventually finish P10 overall and P7 in class.

So that's yet another great result for the Aston Martin Racing runners in both Sprint and Sprint X with still one more race each on Sunday!!

Photo credits - GT$ America / Flying Lizards / CSJ Motorsport

Last weekends third round of the revised 2020 SRO GT4 America Series from the Sonoma Raceway on northern side of the Bay to San Francisco produced what must be for most national series, a record breaking streak of podium winning achievement for the most of the Aston Martin Racing teams that made the long trip to the west coast of the USA.

All very sadly missed by us due to prior commitments within our 'day job, like the previous round at VIR three weeks ago, Sonoma was to see their second consecutive triple header race weekend over the Course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the Series sought to catch up on races missed from their national lockdown problems from earlier in the year.


Flying Lizard Motorsports Michael Dinan was proving to be the man to beat with his #21 AMR Vantage GT4 having achieved a continuous podium streak since the start of the season from CoTA and this weekend was to be no different in the Sprint races just as he and Co-driver Robbie Foley would again reproduce in the longer Sprint X races.

Not too far behind them this weekend after having lost their way a little at VIR with some simple errors on track were the entries from Utah based Rearden Racing team. Again featuring three cars over the two race formats for customer drivers Paul Terry in Sprint and Jeff Burton alone in Sprint with Burton being again joined by resident team Pro driver Vesko Kozarov in Sprint X.


The #15 BSport Racing AMR of Bryan Putt and AMR Drivers Academy newest recruit Kenton Koch would again only compete in the three Sprint X races of the weekend as would the #33 Rennsport 1 AMR entry of Matt Dalton and Pat Gallagher.

The weekend for the #33 entry would however get off to a disastrous start and then end badly as Dalton would suffer an early testing accident at the circuit that would inflict significant front end damage to his car and whilst the crew and CSJ Motorsport would get that car back on track overnight, gremlins would soon creep back in leading to two DNF's and a DNS over the course of the weekend.


The snippets that we saw of the six available races was one of sheer dominance by the AMR Vantage running teams as the Flying Lizard and Rearden crews white washed the podium in races one and two of the Sprint Series before 'only' taking the top step in the final race on Sunday.

That level of performance almost crossed over into the larger competitive field of the Sprint X races as Dinan and Foley took three from three in their #210 car backed up by two podiums for the ∫Sport Racing crew in race two and three.


From a statistical point of view that was seven podium positions out of a possible nine for the Aston Martin Racing teams in Sprint and 5 podium finishes out of a possible nine in Sprint X. These, added to other podium successes for AMR teams elsewhere in the world attributed to a sizeable eighteen items of silverware going to AMR drivers last weekend alone!!

Now that must be some kind of record??


Whether or not that level of performance can be sustained by the teams or even be allowed to repeat itself under the Series Balance of Performance is yet to be seen but at least we won't have to wait too long as the Series returns at Road America in just two weeks time!!

Well done all!!

Photo credits - GT4 America

It appears that the long wait for competitive motor racing to begin somewhere around the world is finally over as news on social media confirms another class podium for one of the many Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's now competing over in the United States yesterday.

Well known for being a competitor in the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Series for 2020, Gentleman driver Jeff Burton and his Rearden Racing prepared AMR Vantage GT4 have again been racing this weekend in the National Auto Sport Association Utah Regional Series at the Utah Motorsport Campus - a programme that we understand that always was to run in Parallel to his new SRO commitments.


As expected, the event is heavily controlled in the wake of that States recent relaxation of control measures during this Corona-virus pandemic which has allowed the event to take place on the basis of following measures be ensured.

No spectators nor media personnel have been allowed to attend and all those permitted entry have had temperature readings taken and must wear gloves/masks/eye protection where appropriate. Only one car is permitted per garage and there will be no podium celebrations or post event BBQ as would usually be the case amongst many other things as well.


Either way - at least racing is beginning to pick itself up again where permitted and that can only be a good thing!! Oh, and congratulations on another piece of silverware guys!!!

Photo credits - Rearden Racing / GT4 America.

This weekends opening round of the 2020 SRO GT4 America series has already proved itself to be a successful one for the five teams running the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

Spilt between the hour long Sprint X and the fifty minute Sprint races, both the Flying Lizard and Rearden Racing teams came away with their first racing spoils of the new season with a close 1-2 in yesterdays Sprint race having been running as an AMR 1-2-3 in the opening stages of the race.


With four new Vantages running in each of the Sprint X and Sprint races, all the teams had to make adaptions to their earlier Free Practice running setups due to the lower ambient and track temperatures (and slight rainfall in the morning) that were experienced on Saturday as well as (for some) differing characteristics within the car brought about by an apparent change in Balance of Performance within the chassis since the Series Winter Invitational earlier in the year.

For the fifty minute Sprint race, it was a simple case of letting the Pro cars go and race their own race for the rest of the Pro-Am field that was lead throughout by either the #210 Flying Lizard car of Michael Dinan or the #59 Rearden car of Paul Terry.


Whilst the then third placed #91 Rearden car of Jeff Burton was sucked into the battles of the chasing pack behind, both Terry and Dinan were allowed to race away and squabble between themselves for the right to lead the class, producing some great racing as a result that would go all the away before being decided  at the penultimate corner of the race for Dinan to snatch the Pro-Am win from Terry at the death. That race brought large smiles to both drivers at the podium celebrations.

Burton would eventually finish P4 in class whilst the series returning Fred Roberts brought in the last of the runners with his #89 Vantage as he gets himself back up to speed with the Series and his new AMR with the help of driver coach Matt George.


In the earlier Sprint X race, things were a little harder for the for runners and the Pro-Am line ups with the amateur drivers taking the start on what still a greasy circuit following the earlier rain.

The top running AMR was Jeff Burton who would share his #91 car with co-driver Vesko Kozarov and they were closely followed by Michael Dinan and Robby Foley with his (other) #21 AMR. The other coverts to the AMR marque were the #15 BSport Racing car of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch who would start from P16 and the #33 Rennsport 1 predared car of Joe Dalton and Pat Gallagher.


At the rolling start, both front running Astons would go side by side into the tight turn 1 and that battle would continue into the opening laps although the simply lead to them being both caught and passed to drop them back from the Qualifying position.

Both cars were fortunate just ten minutes into the race when the #91 Mercedes collected both Astons going into a corner too hot, leading to race ending front ending damage for himself and a delayed return to the race for Dinan.


Running up to the mid way point and compulsory part stop, Burton was still P3 in class whilst Dinan had dropped down to P6 in class. Putt and Dalton hadn't really got going running and were down in P12/13 respectively as all four Aston pitted at the first available opportunity within the ten minute window.

Bizarrely, all the Aston's lost track position over the course of the pit window leaving the top runner the #21 Flying Lizard car of Robby Foley whilst the #91 Rearden car had dropped down to P10 in class.


Despite from flying laps from Kenton Koch aboard the #15 BSport car in the early laps of his stint, no other AMR could really muster any challenge to better the position that they were already. First race of the season and early issues with bad tyre management were some of the reasons why so that should change as the season progresses.


Second Sprint and Sprint X races take place this afternoon.

Photo credits - Rearden / Flying Lizards / CSJ Motorsport / GT4 America

Utah based Rearden Racing will be looking to maintain their winning record as the SRO GT4 America Series sees out their Winter Invitational at The Thermal Club in California again this weekend.

Having entered their first brand new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 at the opening round of this three round amateur driver only series just prior to Christmas, their 2019 GT4 Sprint X West Am Championship winning driver Jeff Burton opened his AMR driving account with two wins out of two in his black and red #91 car.


That event was followed up with then two new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's being entered for the second round in mid January where Burton was joined by Dimitri Novikov in his own white and green #29 AMR Vantage GT4 and over the course of that weekend, Burton and Novikov won a race a piece.

This weekends final round of the Winter invitational is the final chance for these amateur drivers to settle in with the teams and cars ahead of the opening round of the GT4 America Series itself in just under four weeks time from the Circuit of the Americas at Austin, Texas.


It has also come to light since the last round of the series, the team (or at least a driver within the team) has secured the purchase of another AMR Vantage GT4 from AMR North America's strategic partner CSJ Motorsport and that takes their GT4 sales tally over the winter months to four cars in the SRO GT4 America Series alone.

We have been told that we may have to be patient to see if this new owner turns up to race at this final meeting before the full season gets down to business later next month.

###UPDATE

We have since had it confirmed that Rearden Racing's driver Paul Terry will now also be at this final Winter Invitational event with his new AMR Vantage GT4

Photo credits - GT4 America

Rearden Racing maintained their 100% track record at last weekend's second round of the SRO GT4 America Winter Invitational from The Thermal Club in California.

The difference this time around was that the team fielded a second brand new and CSJ Motorsport supplied Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 for yet another client of the team's to go with return of Jeff Burton's AMR GT4 that he debuted with a brace of race wins at the first round of the Winter Series back in mid December.


This Winter Invitational is, like its title suggests an off-season opportunity for the non-professional driver to compete against the same ability/grade opponents around the exclusive circuit of The Thermal Club in SRO homologated GT3, GT4 and GT2 classes as well as entries from the TC and TCR categories.

The opening round of the Series saw long term Rearden Racing customer Jeff Burton secure comfortable race wins in each of the weekends 40 minute sprint races but this weekend he had to share those accolades with fellow team driver Dimitri Novikov as the Russian split his race weekend between his brand new AMR GT4 and his brand new Audi R8 GT2.


Novikov won race 1 by a margin of over 11 seconds, a race within which Burton took himself out of contention with a mistake on track before the American came back to secure the GT4 class win by a massive 56 seconds in race 2 on Sunday whilst Novikov his first class win aboard his new GT2.

The final round of the series trilogy will be held at the circuit in three weeks time ahead of the formal start of the SRO GT4 America Series from the Circuit of the Americas in early March.


Happy Birthday Susan at CSJ !

Photo credits - Rearden Racing / GT4 America

Whilst the Aston Martin Racing factory teams were busy showing the world what competitive GT racing is all about, the latest member to the #teamAMR family was quietly going about their 'winter business', claiming their first race win at the first time of asking.

Regular competitors within what is now SRO sanctioned GT World Challenge GT4 America Series, California based Rearden Racing have added a brand new AMR Vantage GT4 to their arsenal of GT4 machinery for one of their racing regulars, Jeff Burton to 'have a go with' in this series official winter invitational.


Racing under the watchful eye of those at CSJ Motorsport (AMR's strategic partners in the USA and who brokered this deal with the team) from The Thermal Club in California, the Rearden Racing driver first claimed pole and then ran a lights to flag victory in the first of two races this weekend in his new #19 car.

Three rounds of this invitation only event have been specifically designed for the Bronze rated drivers to race amongst equals and get the valuable track experience that would hopefully take them up into a full GT4 America commitment. This weekends event will be followed by another double header in mid January before being rounded off in early February.


We have already heard of the increased interest with the new AMR hardware within the American markets and with another series competitor racing with another AMR Vantage GT4 over in the Gulf 12hr with Optimum Motorsport, maybe that will lead to a few more sales for CSJ Motorsport as the American series' look to kick off their 2020 campaigns early next year.


The final race of this weekends meeting took place later today and it appears that Burton did the double with two race wins on his first AMR race weekend!!.

Photo credits - Rearden / GT4 America