Aston Martin Racing customer team Complete Racing won the British GT Championship GT4 class at Rockingham yesterday (6 May) despite some challenges and tough competition from its rivals.

The team arrived at Rockingham with hopes pinned on a successful weekend following a disappointing first round at Oulton Park. Despite putting its Vantage GT4 on pole, the weekend ended with a DNF in both races because of a collision in race one.

With the car rebuilt but not tested, drivers Steve Chaplain and Tom Wilson and their team headed to Rockingham and used the two warm up sessions to get the car set up for the race. Tom completed qualifying and started the car from fifth on the grid.

“We knew we had it all to do in the race,” comments Steve Chaplain. “But the Aston Martin GT4 is such a great car that we were confident we could achieve a good finish.

“Tom started very well and did well to avoid all of the incidents out on track. After an hour, he handed the car over to me in second place. He’d been closing the gap on the leader at more than a second a lap so I had to just continue in the same way. When the leader pitted he came out behind us and we took the win.”

Complete Racing bought the car in 2012 and completed two rounds of the championship at Silverstone
and Snetterton. This year they are making a full-scale attack on winning the championship and Steve is confident they have the car to do it with.

“The Vantage GT4 is the car I always wanted to race,” he continues. “For me, it’s a proper GT car, the only GT car to have for an endurance race in the market place today. It sets the benchmark for where GT4 cars should be.”

The British GT Championship continues at Silverstone on 25 May. Follow Complete Racing’s progress on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/completeracing or at www.completeracing.co.uk.
Aston Martin Racing
Image Richard Leach

With the first round of the British GT championship now just three weeks away, Complete Racing AMR have been testing at Silverstone with their V8 Vantage GT4.


Now an Official Aston Martin Racing partner team, Complete Racing AMR will enter the full British GT championship with their sights firmly set on taking the title after a development year in 2012.

The 2013 British GT season gets underway at Oulton Park March 30th and will feature 6 rounds in the UK with the now traditional away-race taking place at Zandvoort, in the Netherlands.

Complete Racing, the Aston Martin GT4 squad founded by Double VW Cup Champion Steve Chaplin and fellow VW Cup competitor Jonathan Wilson has today announced it’s intention to enter the GT4 category of the 2013 Avon Tyres British GT Championship for the full season. Driving duties for the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 will be taken up by Chaplin and Wilson’s 21-year-old son, Tom.

After a successful debut weekend at Snetterton in August and then another solid result in the three hour race at Silverstone in September, Complete Racing will compete at all seven rounds of the 2013 championship, which is set to visit Dutch circuit, Zandvoort for the first time.

Several teams have competed with the 4.7 litre V8 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in past seasons, including Secure Racing with Barwell Motorsport in 2011, and Appleby Engineering in 2010. Aston Martin Racing has built and sold more than 80 Vantage GT4s to customers around the world in recent years and it has become one of the most successful cars in its class.

Gloucester-based Chaplin is excited by the challenge of British GT, and the Complete Racing team will fully switch from VW Cup to British GT next year as they seek to claim GT4 honours in what is looking to be a highly competitive year of GT4 racing for the British series.

Quotes:

Steve Chaplin, driver
"I’m really looking forward to contesting the full season. We really need to pin back the Ginettas and if we can do that, I’m confident of taking the championship. I’m not doing this for any other reason than to win. The Aston has a good track record in Europe and I think on the more open circuits we’ll be very strong. Tom drove with Complete in 2011 and 2012 and finished fourth overall last year. He’s a bright guy and has proven himself to be quite quick already. For me, British GT as a package is the premier GT series in the UK; I’m really looking forward to being part of it. It’s also good to see Zandvoort on the calendar, I’ve had three wins there in VWs there and it should be good fun!”

Tom Wilson, driver
“Steve was the driving force behind the Aston Martin project and when I heard about it I took an interest. I’ve had a go in the car at Silverstone in the wet and it was really good, there are plenty of things to learn which is great, as I wanted a new challenge. If it goes well, you never know what could come from it; GT3 the following year is a definite target. It’s not every day an opportunity like this comes along!”