Aston Martin Racing’s Drivers Academy class of 2025 has finally been confirmed today with another intake of twenty-three upwardly mobile young drivers taking to the register in hope of that final prize pathway.

Eleven years in the making has seen Aston Martin Racing encourage and reward a whole plethora of young driver talent starting with Ross Gunn back in 2014 to most recently Jamie Day last season.

This year’s intake sees a broader range of GT4 and GT3 based drivers within this year’s global series and features for the first time one from Australia and sees some from previous years too.

After a day of private testing around the 5.5km long Circuit of The America's track yesterday, all thirty nine GT4 race cars have hit the track again today for the opening Free Practice sessions for the 2020 GT4 America Series.

The opening round's entry list confirms four new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's to compete in both the Series Sprint and Sprint X races this weekend with these new cars spread across five race teams, all of whom are new converts to the British marque for this season.


With FP1 already under their belts, it has been the #15 BSport Racing Vantage of Kenton Koch who has stolen the early march on their fellow Sprint X runners being fastest in this mornings session just ahead of the #21 Flying Lizards AMR of Robby Foley just 0.162 seconds behind whilst Michael Dinan and his #210 Flying Lizards AMR car was the front runner in the Sprint class in P5, just 1.4 seconds behind that class's pace setting Ford Mustang.

With cars and drivers doubling up to race in both the Sprint and Sprint X races, you will need to keep your wits open to avoid on any confusion into who's in what and racing with whom!


A bright, warm sunny day at the circuit today has also shown these cars new racing liveries off in fine detail for the first time with other entries from Rearden Racing, Recstuff Racing and Rennsport.

Indeed, the two Rearden entries of both Jeff Burton and Paul Terry come to Texas fresh off the back of some winter competition racing in the Series Winter Invitational from the Thermal Club in California where Burton cashed in on a couple of class podiums over the three event series in the process.


The final driver not so far mentioned is Fred Roberts who swaps to the AMR marque having raced a Maserati in what was then the Pirelli World Challenge in 2017. His car is already a successful one should someone want to take a stab as to what/where and with whom???

Roberts also has the extremely talented young driver coach of Matt George by his side for this double race weekend - George has long been associated with the AMR brand having taught fashion designer and former SuperDry co-owner James Holder all he knows for them to compete together in both iterations of AMR Vantage GT4 in series such as the British GT Championship, GT4 European Series and the French FFSA GT4 Championships.


With most of these new AMR's having been procured through AMR's North American strategic partner CSJ Motorsport, it is only fitting that they also display a beautifully liveried Vantage GT4 to mark the start of the GT4 America season after what was a very successful audition at Daytona earlier this year. This car is also for sale with immediate delivery should you care to sign upon the dotted line.


Racing starts tomorrow!

Photo credits - GT4 America / CSJ Motorsport / AMR

With all the new Aston Martin Racing customer teams in North America taking much of the news attention in the last week or so, a team closer to home has also taken today as their opportunity to announce two further driver crews for their 2020 adventures.

Previously having raced Porsches Cayman's in the French national FFSA GT Series as well as Lamborghini's in the European Super Trofeo Series, French team AGS Events Racing Motorsport took an early decision in 2019 to swap over to the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 for their 2020 FFSA GT GT4 commitments as well as possibly other series within Europe.


Today sees the team confirm their third driver line up who will again race in their national FFSA GT GT4 series that starts at the Nogaro circuit in mid April.

Following on from last years primary driver line up of Mike Parisy and Nicolas Gomar sees the team confirm four more drivers in Christophe Carriere and Didier Dumaine as well as Stephane Desbrosse and Lauris Nauroy.

The 2020 season will feature six race meetings including races around the streets of Pau in late May as well as a race during the SRO's Speedweek over the Total 24hours of Spa week.

More AMR racing teams are expected within this Series but have yet to announce.

Photo credits - AGS Events Racing

Yet another racing season is sadly coming to an end but luckily the next is literally just around the corner.

As many of us around the world get ready to celebrate the arrival of the New Year this week, we at least do not have to wait too long for the first sessions of the new 2020 season to kick off with the first meeting starting on track just this weekend with IMSA's Roar before the 24 test from the Daytona International Speedway.

As previous listed, 2019 was a very successful inaugural season for Aston Martin Racing, their Partner and Customer teams as they raced AMR's latest Vantage GTE, GT3 and GT4 machinery around the world and as we see out the last few days of 2019, we at The-Advantage.org would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for supporting this website and our wittering's throughout what was the busiest year to date!

We hope that you have enjoyed what you've seen to date and we look forward to welcoming you all back in 2020 as our favourite form of motor racing gets back up to speed in the next few months.

Of course we would also like to thank all the race teams and those associated with the teams, drivers and series for their help over the year, keeping us informed as without whom things would be impossible.

Thank you again and have a great New Year.

See you somewhere in 2020 - maybe!!

Racing at Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium in support of the Total Spa 24H last weekend was the French FFSA GT4 Championship holding their fourth round out of six in their 2019 calendar.

Competing amongst that thirty eight car field was the #44 David Appleby Engineering prepared Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 with Matt George behind the wheel.


Normally competing in the GT4 European Series alongside James Holder, this is the first time one of the new iteration of turbo charged Vantage GT4's has competed within the French National GT series and what an impact George made.

Having raced around the infamous 7km Belgium circuit the weekend before in the teams Jaguar GT4 as part of the British GT Championship, George Qualified their plain black #44 car in P2 and P4 respectively for each of the two one hour races over the weekend. Despite having to endure an additional 20 second of pit stop penalty for being a lone driver, George converted these front end starting positions to complete each race in P3 overall.



Considering the high air and track temperatures of Fridays race and the cooler wet conditions of Saturdays race and as a lone driver - that is a fantastic achievement.

Photo credits - FFSA GT

Todays entry list announcement from the SRO for their inaugural GT4 International Cup event from the Bahrain GT Festival this weekend confirms that the V8 Vantage GT4 from the Generation AMR SuperRacing stable is the sole AMR entrant into the event.

Featuring a grid of 21 cars, the GT4 International Cup will run in support of the FIA Nations Cup for GT3 cars and well as the Bahrain Classic Challenge around the Grand Prix circuit.

Drivers James Holder and Matt George will race in what is expected to be their penultimate run out in their normally aspirated V8 GT4 before their final race of the year over at the Gulf 12Hr in Abu Dhabi before they (expectedly) swap to the new turbo charged platform ahead of their 2019 campaigns wherever that might take them.


Having been the money man and driver behind the new Jaguar GT4 programme with the Invictus Games Racing team, Holder and George respectively have limited themselves together to a part season within the French FFSA GT4 Series as well as other stand alone events such as this event in Bahrain and the Gulf 12hr next month.

Joining them on the grid in Bahrain will be Matt Nichol Jones and Finlay Hutchison but they will be competing within a car created on the dark side of Woking! We are expecting some AMR related news to come out of this racing relationship in due course.

TIMETABLE (GMT +3)

Friday November 30th

09:00 Free Practice 1

12:00 Free Practice 2

17:10 Qualifying

Saturday December 1st

10:00 Qualifying Race 1 (Live TV)

14:45 Qualifying Race 2 (Live TV)

17:45 Main Race (Live TV)

Todays revealing by the SRO of their provisonal entry list for the inaugural GT4 International Cup event in Bahrain at the end of November has confirmed that the Generation AMR SuperRacing V8 Vantage GT4 will be the sole AMR representative in that event.

With the International Cup running in support of the FIA GT Nations Cup headline event, the new SRO sanctioned race will again see long time driving partners James Holders and Matt George take to the circuit in two 60 minute Qualifying races followed by a 60 minute race with a grid of twenty other entries.

Having previously raced together in the British GT and the then GT4 European Series Northern and Southern Cups, the duo have this year limited their racing together mainly to their preferred French FFSA GT4 Series. It was directly after that Series final race at Paul Ricard that their car was packed away for shipping out to the Middle East.


With this event taking place two weeks and little over 500 miles from the Gulf 12Hr from Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, this winter should see the team compete in both events and see out their racing campaigns for the year together in the venerable V8 Vantage.


The more observant will notice the team name of Academy Motorpsort also appearing on the entry list of the GT4 InternationalCcup with team boss Matt Nichol-Jones this time sharing a McLaren 570S GT4 with Finlay Hutchison. Obviously too early for these guys to get their hands on one of their new V8 Vantage GT4's that they have on order!

Photo credits - FFSA / Gulf 12Hr

Having already secured their GTH Class Championship title, the Whitebridge AMR duo of Adam Hatfield and Chris Murphy are on the cusp of something big tomorrow at the final race of the 2018 GT Cup Championship from Silverstone.

A pair of class wins for Hatfield this afternoon aboard his #72 AMR V8 Vantage GT4 has stretched their Overall championship lead to 20 points over the chasing #51 Top Cats Racing Marcos Mantis with just the final, pit stop and driver change race to go tomorrow which the #51 must no win to have any chance.

Fingers firmly crossed for these guys tomorrow!


Down in the south of France, Generation AMR SuperRacing are having a great time in the FFSA GT4 Series Grande Finale with Matt George claiming overall pole position for tomorrows final race of the season.

James Holder qualified their green and black #144 car in P38 for todays race and the duo ended that race P9 overall so on that basis a podium finish is a distinct possibility!

Photo credits - FFSA / GT Cup

Its been a good start to the racing weekend for Aston Martin Racing, its affiliates and customer teams around the world as all get ready for the start of their respective races tomorrow and Sunday.

Starting at the top, the World Endurance Championship reconvenes at Fuji International, Japan this weekend for what is the fourth round of their transitional Super-Season with the factory team looking to build upon the success and promises that were delivered last time out at Silverstone in August.

Keeping their drivers actively engaged with their customer teams around Europe looks to have paid off in the early sessions with the #95 GTE Pro car of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim heading the timing screen at the end of Free Practice 2 today. With the ten cars in GTE Pro being split by less than 1 second proves just how tight and competitive the class has become and how every milli-second counts.

The AMR Performance Centre entered Vantage GT8 with drivers Andy Palmer, Peter Cate and Chris Hoy qualified P13 in the TCE grid, third in the SP3 class for the start of tomorrows 24H Series twelve hour race around Spa Francorchamps. Despite this appears to be the Aston Martin's CEO first racing experience of the iconic track the trio were fastest in class for all of the other sessions on track today.

The race begins at 09:50 tomorrow.


A bit further south at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, Matt George and James Holder stuck their #144 Generation AMR SuperRacing V8 Vantage GT4 at the top of the timing screen by the end of todays first Free Practice and then backed that up with a P5 by the end of FP2 this afternoon.

Not involved in the outstanding Championship battles, the duo are clearly enjoying themselves as they wind up their European season before looking forward to another winter campaign. Qualifying and the weekends first race take place tomorrow with the final race of the year on Sunday.


GT Cup concludes its 2018 season at Silverstone at the weekend with GTH Class Champions Adam Hatfield and Chris Murphy looking to extend that to include the overall championship win as well. Whitebridge AMR will be busy though having entered three V8 Vantage GT4's for both Hatfield/Murphy as well as one each for James Murphy and a returning Barry McMahon.


Nigel Hudson will be the sole V12 Vantage GT3 representative at the meeting and will again race solo after his very up and down return to the Championship at Donington last month.

Good luck to them all!

Photo credits - AMR / Adrenal Media / Steve Jackman / FFSA / 24H Series / TF Sport

Two more series come to the end of their 2018 campaigns or their racing involvement within continental Europe. The Creventic's 24H Series round off their European part of their season this weekend at Spa whilst the French FFSA GT4 Championship rounds of their season with a championship decider at Paul Ricard.

For the twelve hours of Spa, Aston Martin Lagonda CEO Andy Palmer makes another appearance in the series with Peter Cate after their first experiences with the Series at the 24Hours of the Circuit of the Americas in Texas last year aboard the Aston Martin Vantage GT8.


Returning with the trusted AMR Performance Centre prepared Vantage GT8 this weekend, Palmer and Cate will this time be joined by former gold medal Olympian Sir Chris Hoy. The former Nissan based GT and LMP racer has obviously been wooed away and enticed into the Aston Martin brand having enjoyed his return to the race track at Le Mans during the Aston Martin arcing Festival back in June when he shared a Vantage GT4 with former F1 racer Martin Brundle.


Running the shorter race format than the series name usually suggests, track activity at Spa starts this Friday morning with Private testing before day and night Qualifying later in the afternoon/evening ready for an 09:50hrs (local) race start on Saturday.


Seeing out their final race in the French National GT4 Championship will be the Appleby Engineering prepared Generation AMR SuperRacing V8 Vantage GT4 of James Holder and Matt George.

With the primary focus from all concerned this year being on the development of the new Jaguar GT4 Invictus Games Racing project within the British GT Championship that Holder has financed, that has left little time for the team to participate in the full FFSA season. Speaking with the team at the BGT finale at Donington last month, this race may also be the last with the normally aspirated V8 Vantage with the team holding options on the Prodrive factory for the new turbo charged car.

Photo credit - FFSA

With track action from Donington and Shanghai already grabbing our attention from over the weekend, we also saw a further quartet of Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's take to the track at Many-Cours, Snetterton and Laguna Seca.

Having already misidentified the drivers aboard the #144 Generation AMR SuperRacing car that took part in the fourth round of the French FFSA GT4 Championship, it was of course team principle James Appleby who returned to the drivers seat alongside regular driver Matt George in lieu of the cars normal co driver James Holder - the first time that we can recall Appleby competing in a race weekend for some time!


Despite having to jet set it across much of England and France to be at the circuit in time after some British GT testing aboard the Invictus Games Racing Jaguar GT4, the adrenalin was obviously still pumping as the #144 submitted some good lap times to Qualify 13th for the first race before finishing 7th overall on Saturday.

Issues for George in Qualifying 2 saw him start Sundays race from 15th before being further compounded during the race, and despite some strange racing lines being adopted, a lowly P34 finish (6 laps down) was the best that they could do.


EDF Motorsport returned to the Snetterton round of the Dunlop Britcar Endurance Championship on Saturday, the first race for drivers Mal Sandford and Ben Seyfried since damaging their V8 Vantage GT4 at Oulton Park in an earlier round.

During the mornings 50 minute sprint race, technical issues saw Sandford having to pit the car for another DNF in the Championship but better fortune was to be had in the day when the #10 car finished 7th overall after that two hour race.

Generation AMR SuperRacing duo Matt George and team boss James Appleby reconvene their AMR driving duties together as they return for their second round of the French FFSA GT4 Series from Magny-Cours this weekend aboard their distinctively liveried Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

Principally occupied with their Jaguar GT4 duties within the British GT Championship, Appleby and George have left time in their hectic diaries to participate in selected rounds of the former GT4 European Southern Cup series at tracks best suited or most enjoyed by themselves.


Having last competed on the streets of Pau back in May, George shook the car down at Silverstone last week before shipping the car out to France ready to be the sole AMR representative amongst the expected forty one car entry in the two race format event.

Photo credits - Steve Jackman

This weekend sees another incredibly busy weekend for Aston Martin Racing and its customer teams as battle lines are drawn in series and championships around the world.

Starting with the factory team, they find themselves straight back at a race track after their successful launch of the new GTE Vantage in the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Spa Francorchamps last week with a two car entry into the formidable ADAC Zurich 24H race from the Nordschleife.


The event is being used by the team and their full factory driver line up in many ways - as a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming 24Hours of Le Mans in just five weeks time, a 'single bullet' assault on the toughest endurance race against their German OEM opposition but also to pay homage to the outgoing V8 and V12 Vantage that will compete at the Green Hell for the final time as factory concerns.

In a change to normal procedures, the team will be running Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, Darren Turner and Maxime Martin in the #007 Vantage GT3 (SP9 LG class) whilst remaining factory drivers Jonny Adam and Alex Lynn partner former British GT GT4 Champion Jamie Chadwick and Nordschleife specialist (and birthday boy) Peter Cate in a V8 Vantage GT4 (running in SP8 rather than SP10) in an AMR Performance Centre entered car.


Joining them all in their rather cosy garage will be another AMR Performance Centre entry for customers Heinz Jurgen Kroner, Jens Dralle, Tony Richards and David Thilenius aboard last years SP8 class winning Vantage GT8.


Over in China, this weekend sees the opening round of the 2018 China GT Championship from Zhuhai with Partner Team China Equity AMR entering four of their six available V8 vantage GT4's with British driver Jack Mitchell racing alongside Ryan Liu.
AMR reserve driver Ross Gunn was also expected to be with the team but we understand that (other than Jack) the team will be running with a more regionally based pay drivers. Quite how that progresses throughout the season we will wait and see.


Over at the home of British Motor racing, four AMR V8 Vantage GT4's are due to take part in the second round of the Britcar Championship with both EDF Motorsport and Whitebridge AMR getting in some more crucial mileage before their trip to Le Sarthe in mid June for the AMR Festival.


Whitebridge AMR return with their double car, single driver entries for both Chris Murphy and Barry McMahon and EDF with Aussie Mal Sandford and co driver Ben Seyfried. These three should be joined by Dean Gibbs in his own GT4 entry in the Endurance class.

Moving down geographically to the historic town of Pau in the French Pyrenees, Generation AMR SuperRacing make a return to the tracks in one of their V8 Vantage GT4's in the now separated FFSA GT4 Series with both Matty George and James Holder behind the wheel of the #144 car.


Having competed last year in what was then the European GT4 Southern Cup, Holder has been backing the new Jaguar GT4 British GT racing programme that George is part of the driver line up in and Appleby Engineering help prepare. Returning to Pau was one of Holders clear intentions for 2018 despite having something of a bruising weekend last year.

Finally (we think) and back around on the opposite side of the world, sees the Australian GT Championship return for their third event of the season at Sundown Park, Melbourne after their somewhat bizarre, weather affected inaugural visit to Australia's newest racetrack at The Bend last month.


With Jeremy Gray having shared his #67 Vantage GT4 with Andrew Miedecke last time out in the endurance round at The Bend, he returns this weekend in a solo form hoping to recover the GT4 Championship lead that was lost at The bend.

Good luck to all of them................!!

Photo credits - Australian GT / EDF Motorsport / China GT / AMR / Generation AMR

LMP Motorsport will run duel campaigns in FFSA GT and FIA GT3 European Championships with two 2011 spec DBRS9s.

The team founded in 2010 by Guillaume Lecluse and Yves Migeon competed in the French FFSA series with technical support from Lompech Motorsport will now make their international début.

“We’ll be Aston Martin Racing’s only representative in France and in the European Championship. It will be a stirring challenge for us,“ says Migeon.
“(Last year) in our learning season with the DBRS9 we were just ordinary Aston Martin Racing clients,” added Lecluse. “Now we are considered a Partner Team.

“The car has undergone a lot of development work this winter with the arrival of ABS, a new aerodynamic kit and several other improvements. It is going to be quicker and easier to drive.”

“We’re entering two cars in the French FFSA GT Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship,”. “The national series has been completely rethought to give more spice to the meetings and attract even more spectators as well as boosting the broadcast of events on the internet.”

The Team will begin testing April at Portimao and plans further sessions at Paul Ricard and Navarra ahead of the opening round of the French series at Ledenon.

Frédéric Gabillon and Paul Lamic have already been confirmed in one car for the FFSA championship, with four more drivers currently in negotiations to team for the FIA GT3 Championship.

JT