A longstanding customer of not only Aston Martin Racing but also the WEC, the loss of the Canadian businessman was on one hand a surprise but on the other – not, seeing just how poorly the AMR Vantage GTE has performed within the Championship up until now. With no points on the board after two rounds for the #98 Northwest car that he shared with Nikki Thiim and Axcil Jefferies, the rationale in continuing within a season that is clearly not going to deliver him another WEC GTE Am Drivers Championship was clearly not justifiable.

Like others, we thank Dalla Lana for all his racing endeavours over recent years both with and without Aston Martin Racing and we wish him well in his racing retirement.

That said, all was clearly not lost as within the intervening period had the American Heart of Racing step up to the mantle to take over the WEC entry granted to the #98 Northwest car for the remainder of the 2023 season.

Having had to ship the #98 car back to the Prodrive facility in the UK to repair damage sustained in Portugal also gave the team the time and privacy to rebrand the car into the colours normally associated with the Heart of Racing team ready for their drivers – Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli to take their first WEC start on Saturday.

They of course join the two TF Sport prepared entries for the #777 D’Station Racing and #25 ORT with TF Sport AMR Vantage GTE teams as crews Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson within the #777 and Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood within the #25 all hope for an increase in performance for the Vantage GTE from this round in.

News from the WEC technical committee over recent hours do in fact confirm an increase for the Vantage GTE of not only an additional litre of fuel (from 88 to 89 litres) but also a boost increase across the range in the attempt to bring the car back in contention with its peers having been so underwhelming in the previous two in comparison.

We will make our own way to the circuit tomorrow so will hopefully be in a position to bring you more details on all of the above.

Photo credits – Teams / WEC / A Lofthouse / D Gibson

Although regularly used by the European Le Mans Series, this weekend will be only the second time that the WEC has attended the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve circuit (2021 during their still CV19 affected running) will retain that level of 'new' for many that this season's other ‘new’ that the Championship, especially at the front of the grid has to offer!

Sebring was unkind to the three Aston Martins that run within what is the final year of the GTE Am Class with all finishing towards the rear of the fourteen strong class with only the #25 ORT with TF Sport car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood and the #777 D’Station Racing car of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Casper Stevenson scrounging the last of the championship points in ninth and tenth respectively. The #98 Northwest car of Paul Dalla-Lana, Nikki Thiim and Axcil Jefferies finished line astern to the stable mates in eleventh.

Unlike last season, this second round entry list sees no changes to the driver line ups within these three entries as all will obviously be looking at a significant improvement upon their race fortunes during this six-hour race.

Track action around the 2.89mile Portimao circuit will begin on Friday morning with the first of three Free Practice sessions over that day and Saturday morning before each class will run their own Qualifying session later in the afternoon.

The start of the six-hour race itself will be waved off at 11:54hrs local, immediately before a midday start. With this round just two weeks before the Championship’s third round at Spa Francorchamps, which is in itself just another over fifty days before Le Mans week – damage limitation will be key as well as the race result of any of these GTE Am runners would like to be in class contention by the time the Championship finishes in Europe after its fifth round in Monza at the beginning of July.

Photo credits – WEC / A Lofthouse / D Gibson

 

 

In between the Prologue and the race week itself, we also heard from the Northwest team that Axcil Jefferies would be their silver grade driver alongside their bronze of Paul Dalla Lana and platinum of Nicki Thiim after the Zimbabwean racer had participated within the Prologue test against Thomas Merril in back-to-back comparative running.

The GTE Am Qualifying times were again set by their respective bronze ranked driver with Ahmad Al Harthy setting a time worthy of a P3 start with their #25 ORT with TF Sport AMR that he shared with Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood, with Dalla Lana from eighth and Satoshi Hoshino place his #777 D’Station Racing Vantage just behind in ninth on the grid.

At the start of Fridays race, it would be Dinan who would start the #25 car with Dalla Lana in the #98 and Tomonobu Fujii as usual within the #777 car.

Clean opening laps quickly saw the first safety intervention period as the #83 Ferrari spun into the tyre wall of turn one and rolled – thankfully without injury to the driver but would mean the end of their own race and race time lost behind the Safety Car whilst the circuit workers to make the necessary repairs to the safety fencing.

The first roll of the team’s strategy dice was also rolled at this stage as both most of the GTE grid elected to pit, including the #25 and #98 cars but the #777 stayed out to accept the lead role in class.

Ninety minute into the race however, and suspected side to side contact with the #7 Toyota left Dinan’s race in tatters with a rapidly deflating tyre at the far the far end of the circuit to the WEC pit lane. Pushing just that little bit too hard would see the flailing carcass cause more damage to the #25 which would see them quickly return to pit lane for further works and effectively ruled themselves out of contention in the early stages of an eight-hour race.

With many shorter periods of Full Course Yellow’s being shown, mainly for debris on track and with routine stint lengths taking effect upon the running orders, it would the turn of the #98 to assume the lead role of the Aston Martin’s second in class before Dalla Lana was also forced to pit, handing the #98 over to Jefferies for his first racing taste of the WEC.

The #777 was running a great opening gambit to the race as first Fujii had taken the class lead and Hoshino had held steady before he too handed his car over to the also WEC debuting Casper Stevenson for his first GTE racing laps.

More FCY’s, and this time for the leading Iron Dames Porsche as the #85 car went wide and ripped off their entire undertray and defuser before disaster was to hit the #98 car as contact between Dalla Lana and the #86 car lead to a rear puncture of their own and again, another long drive back to pit lane.

At the halfway stage, the #777 was running strong in third but the #25 were ten two laps down to the class leader and shortly, the #98 would be three laps down to the Corvette – all thanks to their own puncture and resulting issues in the earlier stages.

As the race progressed, the performance of the #777 D’Station also began to drop off – first off, the lead lap as the Corvette passed them just before pitting and also as their tyre options became limited to what was left in stock as we had to wait until just about three-quarter distance before we saw all three Pro drivers back within their cars.

With the shadows around the circuit lengthening as the end to the eight hour of racing approached, the lack of pace and luck showed its hand to the three Aston Martin’s as each struggled to maintain a running position that supported the level of effort so far used by each to eventually take the chequered flag again at the lower end of the finishing order with only the #25 ORT with TF Sport #777 D’Station Racing crews securing the last of the available Championship points on offer.

The Championship will now move back across the Atlantic to its next round at Portimao in just over three weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Teams / D Gibson / A Lofthouse

 

Officially designated as private testing, this weekend’s four available track sessions were many crews first and final opportunity to settle themselves into what may be for them a new car, race platform and circuit ahead of this week’s race preparation.

Within the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE powered entries of Northwest AMR, ORT with TF Sport and the D’Station Racing teams, that was certainly the case as new combinations were prevalent throughout compared to their running orders of last season.

The obviously talking point ahead of the Prologue test was the vacant seat position within the #98 Northwest car alongside Paul Dalla Lana and Nikki Thiim having ‘lost’ David Pittard over the winter to FIA driving grading but with seemingly nobody else mentioned as a suitable replacement until the day. 

Only ahead of the first track session on Saturday did we learn that both Axcil Jefferies and Thomas Merril would be going head-to-head for the seat – just like Pittard had done with Henrique Chaves this time last year when there was still debate over the validity of Pittard’s then silver grade so there is still a big decision to be made there for the team again.

In the #777 D’Station car, it was something new for Caspar Stevenson as he steps up a GT grade to the GTE class for the first time having spent a successful season last year within a GT3 based platform. Whilst the car, team and circuit would have been familiar for Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, it would have been important for Stevenson to hit his datum points of performance early on seeing the reliance upon the cars silver grade driver within the GTE Am class.

Finally, there is the new for 2023 Oman Racing Team with TF Sport entry of Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood as the Omani and American racers step up to the WEC for the first time and into a GTE for the first time for Dinan. With Eastwood having much more experience of both compared, the Prologue data would suggest that the #25 car was there or their abouts compared to their peers at the end of the day.

Lap times wise – stating the obvious that all three Aston Martins never featured above the final three cars in class is probably nothing to worry about as we have seen this time and time again where the crews simply run through their test and set programme without really showing any absolute indication of pace (or lack off). Comparing this weekend’s pace with that of the race weekend last year, they were all running at least 0.6 second slower but with a differing Balance of Performance set up to then.

The crews will now be stripping down their cars again ahead of this week’s Free Practice sessions that start again on Wednesday through to Thursday evening’s Qualifying session and Fridays start to the 1000miles of Sebring opener.

Before the Championship moves across to its own version of the GT3 class next season, three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE crews will again compete with returning faces probably balancing out others new to both the car and class of racing.

Returning for their third year within the WEC, the Japanese squad have grown in both confidence and speed, utilising the experience of the likes of Andrew Watson and Charlie Fagg along the way to this time hook up with former Ginetta Juniors, F4 and GT World Challenge Europe racer Stevenson.

The question over the return of the #98 Northwest AMR of Paul Dalla Lana has eventually been answered, confirming his return for the swansong year of the GTE platform with long term partners AMR although his co-drivers have yet to be confirmed.

Having apparently missed out on (or indeed not applied for) an entry into this months Daytona Rolex 24, it looked possible that the Canadian might not return but with his last years co-drivers (David Pittard and Nikki Thiim) featuring within the Rolex 24 again this year – the old trio might just be reunited (subject to driver grades again) for one last go at a second, class title for Dalla-Lana.

With the loss of Ben Keating to the Corvette team over the winter, that obviously left a hole within the TF Sport garage but that has been filled with Omani racer Ahmad Al Harthy taking another step up the ACO rules ladder again from the European Le Mans Series of last season to the WEC of this win a TF Sport supported entry under the name of ORT by TF.

Seeing that the team ran LMP3’s within the now re-profiled IMSA Sportscar Challenge with a gentleman driver who also once ran an AMR Vantage within the SRO GT4 America Series, it is not beyond the wit of man to think that the team will enter one or two cars of these cars into either that IMSA support series or the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series with GT4’s now permitted within both – but that has of course yet to be confirmed.

Then on the same side of the pond, we learn of up to three new AMR Vantage GT4’s being ordered for another team that run (principally to date) BMW’s within the World Racing League Series. Although one driver has since confirmed that news – the team have not so we will be leaving there in the meantime.

With the opening round of the WRL Series also just two weeks away, we have been informed that their new cars are not expected within the country until the end of the month, so we won’t be seeing them at the opening round at NOLA at least. The entry list does already show an AMR entry from the Automatic Racing team with one of their normally aspirated versions of the car.

In other news, we have seen that the Bullitt Racing team have just dispatched their AMR Vantage GT3 to the Middle East in time for the opening rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series in Dubai early next month but news of Viper Niza’s and Evisu Racing’s driver crews in that series remain unconfirmed.

French team GPA Racing have just launched their new website which details ambitions to run their Vantage GT4 cars in both the FFSA GT4 and GT4 European Series this season.

Finally however, we don’t know what to make of the news today that Paul Dalla Lana is selling off his beautiful Aston Martin GT12. Used by the Canadian to drive himself about at race venues, we have heard little to no information of his intent (or not) to see out the GTE era within the World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing but there’s still plenty of time with that we suppose! It is a lovely car though!!

Photo credits – Teams / Social Media / Duncan Hamilton ROFGO

This latest brace of world titles caps a spectacular year for the British ultra-luxury brand in sportscar racing as Vantage, powered by a race-developed version of the four-litre, twin turbo-charged V8 engine found in the road car from which it is derived, also clinched its first overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in North America.

The Heart of Racing won the GTD class of the premium US endurance series last month, with Roman De Angelis in the Vantage GT3 – which also starred at the Nürburgring 24 Hours – while the Vantage GT4 won multiple titles around Europe and the USA.

Keating and Aston Martin works driver Sørensen began the 8 Hours of Bahrain with a 20-point advantage over NorthWest AMR and its #98 trio of Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), two-time WEC champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and David Pittard (GBR), with 39 points available.

Keating qualified second in class and ran a punishing triple-stint at the start of the race, meaning he achieved his minimum drive time at the earliest opportunity and provided the team with the most flexible strategy for the remainder of the race, which finished in darkness.

This proved the correct decision as the #33 trio – who lost ground thanks to a pair of unfortunately-timed Full-Course Yellow periods immediately after their first two green-flag pitstops – bounced back to finish fourth; enough to clinch the title by 23 points over the NorthWest AMR crew, who came home fifth.

It is a first FIA world title for Keating and a third for Sørensen, who has claimed all his WEC crowns with Vantage. Chaves finished third in the points - behind the #98 crew of Dalla Lana, Pittard and Thiim – as he was not part of the TF line-up at the Sebring season-opener.

After a gruelling and hard-fought season, Vantage has been the class of the field in GTE Am with three victories and eight podiums in the six rounds contested, including the Sebring 1000 miles, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Fuji.

It is the second time that Vantage crews have finished first and second in the GTE Am Drivers’ and Teams’ points and rewards TF Sport’s long pursuit of the title; the British team having finished second overall in GTE Am in each of the previous two seasons.

The result concludes a season of domination by the Vantage GTE, which is based on the four-litre, twin-turbo, front-engined road vehicle, produced at Gaydon, UK.

Fellow Aston Martin’s Partner Team, D’station Racing, finished 10th in Bahrain thanks to a consistent performance by Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, and British WEC rookie Charlie Fagg. The trio, who were another crew to be badly affected by the timing of the first two Full-Course Yellows, gave D’station 10th place in the end-of-season Teams’ standings.

Marco Sørensen said: “This is a fantastic achievement for all of us. There have been a lot of crucial moments across the year; Le Mans – which I’d never won before – being the biggest; one that’s very special to be able to put on your CV. When it comes to winning a world championship, you must have a group of drivers who can show pace over a whole season and a car that can help them deliver it. We’ve been consistent at most of the races and not made any bad mistakes. That’s how you win in the WEC and we’ve had an outstanding team performance all year to achieve this.”

Huw Tasker, Head of AMR Partner Racing, said: “Today is an incredible day for Aston Martin and Vantage that wraps up an extraordinary season on the racetrack. Huge congratulations to TF Sport, to Ben Keating and to Marco Sørensen on their World Endurance Championship titles and to NorthWest AMR for their success in the magnificent one-two finish in the GTE Am standings. 

These latest successes – which take the Vantage GTE to 11 FIA World Endurance titles since the formation of the championship in 2012 – are a testament to not only the production model from which it is derived, but also to the hard work and dedication of our Partner Teams that have worked so hard to achieve the greatest prize in endurance racing. In a year in which the Vantage GT3 has clinched the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Vantage GT4 has recorded multiple titles around the world, success in WEC GTE Am is the crowning glory and a worthy testament to the performance and durability of a truly great endurance racing car.”