Safronov and Vaintrub - CHAMPIONS again - this time in GT4 European Series
Having defended a slender class lead into this final round of the season, race one’s Safety Car affected race at the Circuit de Catalunya didn’t exactly play out well for the #7 Vantage GT4 crew as their lowly P6 in class finish yesterday left them with it all to do today.
This weekend’s finale didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts as the #39 Racing Spirit of Leman Vantage GT4 of Baudouin Detout and Cement Seyler did not take part in any of the event although (certainly) Seyler was at the circuit.
The other two silver class entries from the same two teams continued with their unfortunate tale of woe for the season in race one as both cars came to grief (in separate incidents) after the Safety Car restart just ahead of the halfway stage to the race that saw both crews listing another DNF to their season.
Going into today’s final hour long race, the battle was certainly on for the #7 crew but were at least starting ahead of their Porsche rivals but the ultimate defining event came upon the opening lap again when the #32 Porsche was involved in one of three separate incidences upon track that saw them sustain race ending damage – effectively giving the Pro-Am crown to the #7 crew regardless of the eventual race result.
This also gives Safronov and Vaintrub the SRO GT4 double having earlier secured the sister FFSA GT4 Pro-Am Championship win as well.
Results subject to official confirmation
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, October 12, 2025 |
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Safronov and Vaintrub chase the SRO Pro-Am double as the GT4 European Series concludes this weekend
The French based Mirage Racing team return with their pair of crews but it will be all eyes on the #7 pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandre Vaintrub again as they look to continue after their championship win in the FFSA GT4 Series from Paul Ricard last weekend.
Going into this final two race weekend, the #7 Mirage Racing crew protect a modest eight-point lead over the Porsche powered crew behind after the five previous rounds so far but with up to twenty-six points available per race, nothing is guaranteed.
Joining them will again be the three silver classed entries – the sister #5 Mirage Racing entry for Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria with two from the Racing Spirit of Leman stable for drivers Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler aboard their #39 car and Will Orton and David Kullmann aboard their #74 car.
Private testing on Thursday will precede the more formal Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Friday before two qualifying sessions on Saturday with the first of two – one-hour races spread over Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, October 07, 2025 |
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Four Vantage GT4s go again in GT4 European from the Nurburgring this weekend
Like the GTWCE series before it, successes over the four rounds so far from Paul Ricard, Zandvoort, Spa Francorchamps and most recently Misano has been dependent upon which of the two classed these four AMR’s have been competing in.
The three silver classed entries of the #5 Mirage Racing AMR of Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria and the two Racing Spirit of Leman entries of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler with Will Orton and David Kullmann aboard the #39 and #74 cars respective – 2025 has been something of a tough season so far as both the #39 and #5 crews sit equal on points in twelfth whilst the #74 crew sit way down in P20 after just three points finishes so far.
The #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandre Vaintrub, however, sit second within their drivers table, albeit it twenty-seven points behind the leading Porsche crew but with four races still at their disposal.
The GT4 European grid also hits the Nurburgring track for the first time in four years on Thursdays private testing before more formal track sessions on Friday before Qualifying and race one on Saturday before race two on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 |
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Still only four Astons within GT4 European Series visit to Spa this weekend
Headlining at the Belgian circuit in build up to the Spa 24 hours, forty-four suitably driven GT4 crews will be racing what will be their third round of the season after its season opener from Paul Ricard in mid-April before moving onto the coastal dunes circuit of Zandvoort last time out in mid-May.
The French based Mirage Racing team will be back again with their two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo’s of both Ruben Del Sarte, Roberto Faria within the #5 silver class entry as well as Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub within their #7 Pro-Am entry.
The latter pairing will be continuing from the parallel FFSA GT4 Pro-Am commitments that ran at the Spa circuit only last weekend in build up to the SRO’s annual Speedweek programme of racing.
Joining them will be the two AMR Vantage GT4 Evo’s from the Swiss based with both Baudouin Detout/Clement Seyler and David Kullmann/Will Orton paring up again within their respective #39 and #74 silver class entries.
Last time out in the Netherlands, it was an event worth attending for the #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am pairing after their secured both a P2 and P3 class finishes at the end of those two, hour long races whilst the three silver class pairing again struggled within their ever-competitive class to finish no higher than P7 for the #5 crew in race one.
The championship positions for all crews is reflective of that situation with #7 holding P2 within their table albeit with less than half the points of the so far domineering Porsche crew in front. Within the silver class, you must scroll all the way down to P10 to find the first of the AMR pairings with (surprisingly) that being both Detout and Seyler in that position over and above seemingly more abled crews.
Fitting in and around the Spa 24, the “race weekend” gets underway on Tuesday with private testing before Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Thursday before both Qualifying sessions and race 1 on Friday with race 2 just ahead of the start to the 24 hour on Saturday morning.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Saturday, June 21, 2025 |
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Racar Motorsport dominate in Iberian Supercars visit to Jarama
Although three of four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews entered amongst the thirty-three strong, multi-classed field, it was sadly not the same for the NGT Classic entered GTX car of Miguel Ferreira after his freshly re-liveried #700 car failed to finish within Sunday’s opener and for it not to appear within the second race of the weekend.
That said, that didn’t stop the Racar crews and in particularly the two Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy entered Roberto Faria and Mathieu Martins from almost continually leading from the front within their #77 entry as they embraced two second row starts for each of the two, hour long races to bring back an overall P2 at the end of race one before winning race two later in the day within their GT4 Pro class.
The #79 Racar crew of Vasco Oliviera and Francisco Carvalho did similar within their Bronze classed entry as they rewarded their new car service provider with an improving P3 in race one to a P2 in race 2 for their efforts.
Likewise, the #707 Racar entry of Philipe Videira and Antonio Lopes also enjoyed this weekend’s rich vein of AMR powered success within their GT4 Am class as they cemented another weekend with a straight set of P2 finishes within both qualifying and both races.
The series will now get a month off before returning at Vila Real in Portugal.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
The series will now get a month off before returning at Vila Real in Portugal.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, June 01, 2025 |
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Four AMR Vantage GT4 crews go again in second round of GT4 European Series from Zandvoort this weekend
Within their midst, four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s will be racing from both the Mirage Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams for their mainly silver and one Pro-Am classed crews.
Having supported the Endurance Cup series at their season opener from Paul Ricard back in mid-April saw familiar competitive class battles around the power mistral circuit where no crew was able to beat a class position of P5 as the #7 Mirage Racing crew of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub did in race two.
The entry list shows no driver changes within any of the four cars with Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria making up the sister Mirage entry with the two Racing Spirit of Leman entries again being the #39 car of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler and the #74 car of Kevin Kullman and Will Orton.
Hopefully, the change of circuit design compared to Paul Ricard will assist the four AMR powered crews over the weekend’s two, hour long races.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 |
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Solid start to the GT4 European campaign for the four AMR Vantage entries from Paul Ricard
This season sees just four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered entries with two cars apiece from each of the Mirage Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams.
Working this time around the track requirements of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup six-hour opener from the circuit on Saturday, the GT4 field found themselves with race on Sunday after the dual qualifying sessions earlier on Saturday.
The #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vanintrub were the best performing AMR car during Q1 starting from P9 on the grid with the sister #5 car of Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria just behind in P11. The #39 RSLM car of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler was next best in P13 overall whilst the #74 RSLM car of Will Orton and David Kullmann suffered the effects of one mistake on track to drop them way down in P41 overall.
Under cloudy morning conditions, the 2025 got underway with the #7 car running well in P7 overall, second in class as the hectic pace of the opening laps finally calmed into a rhythm. Stanislav, however, would quickly be consumed by the chasing pack as he was forced to pit with power steering issues even before the start of the compulsory pit stop window had begun.
By the time that window had opened, it was the sister #5 car of Faria leading the remaining three Astons from P6 with Detout just within the top ten and Orton still within his recovery drive from his earlier Qualifying mistake.
With the second driver now taking charge, there was little progress for either the #5 or the #39 cars as they become embroiled amongst equally abled silver grade drivers but there was significant progress from Kullmann who elevated his #74 car up to P16 overall at the end. The #5 Mirage would eventually finish P8 overall with the #39 RSLM P9.
Sunday afternoons second race was much of the same but this time all four Aston’s gave themselves a chance with top ten qualifying slots.
Still the sun was struggling to make an appearance as low double digit ambient temperatures and a persistent Mistral wind make their marks upon the grid as some cars took to some extra ordinary racing lines around the first three to four corners of the opening lap before the first Full Course Yellow of the season brought the proceedings to a temporary halt due to a stranded car at the end of the lap.
Due to that Safety Car restart, that left just a twenty-minute dash for the drivers aboard before the pit window again came into play as Luxembourger Seyler lead the AMR powered field from his P7 position at the end of his stint. Coming out the other side of the pit window, none of the Aston Martins would figure within the top five in each of their two classes but only just with Detout in P6 within silver.
Racing out their final laps would see the #39 car finish top in P7 overall and with their sister #74 car just behind in P9. The P5 Mirage car would round off the top ten within silver whilst the #7 Pro-Am Mirage car finished P18 overall but P5 in class this time around.
A good start to the season with plenty of learning points to move along with as the series looks at its ahead to its next round from Zandvoort in a months’ time.
Photo credit – Team / Series
Monday, April 14, 2025 |
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Just four Aston Martin GT4s take the start within this weekends 43 car strong GT4 European Series opener
Unlike the heady days of years gone by when Aston Martin powered participation within the series featured entries in the low double digits, this season sadly sees just four crews from two teams take the plunge into this six round season that starts in France before moving across to Zandvoort, Spa Francorchamps, Misano, the Nurburgring before concluding at their more customary circuit of Catalunya near Barcelona.
French based Mirage Racing were the first to confirm their quartet of drivers as Ruben Del Sarte returns to both team and series, this time alongside Roberto Faria within the silver class as well as Pro-Am pairing Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub returning to what they know best from last year too.
Those two AMR Vantage GT4 Evo entries will now be complemented by a similar pair from the Swiss based Racing Spirit of Leman team who now return with two silver class entries for both Baudouin Detout, Clement Seyler and David Kullmann and Will Orton.
Whilst both Detout and Kullmann are team/series returnee’s, Orton makes the natural progressive step up from the British GT Championship where he drove the Forsetti Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 alongside Marc Warren to narrowly miss out upon the class title at the end.
Seyler, we remember from his early GT4 European Series days within the Street Art Racing Vantage GT4 where he and Pascal Bachmann secured the Am class title. Since then, the Luxembourger has competed within both GT4 and GT3 series within the SRO Europe family.
Going into this opening two race weekend, the likes of Faria, Detout and Kellmann come race ready having already participated within the Iberian Supercars Series, GT4 Winter Series and Ultimate GT Series respectively over the previous couple of months.
The forty-three strong entry will hit the Le Castellet track for the first time tomorrow with private testing before Free Practice on Friday, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying on Saturday before two, one-hour races on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, April 09, 2025 |
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First AMR powered crew confirmed within the GT4 European Series
First news out from the many Aston Martin Racing powered teams regarding crews regarding this season’s GT4 European Series endeavours.
Continuing his presence within the headline GT4 based series in Europe sees Dutch racer Ruben Del Sarte confirm another season within the French based Mirage Racing team within the series, this time alongside young Brazilian racer Roberto Faria.
No strangers either of them to the European Series as Del Sarte raced last year alongside Josh Miller in the #5 Mirage AMR Vantage GT4 – starting off the year with the outgoing 17A edition before swapping over to the new 2024 Evo halfway through the year once their new chassis was available.
Faria did likewise alongside Baudouin Detout within first the #39 GPA Racing AMR Vantage GT4 17A model before swapping over to the Racing Spirit of Leman team with their Evo edition.
Faria did likewise alongside Baudouin Detout within first the #39 GPA Racing AMR Vantage GT4 17A model before swapping over to the Racing Spirit of Leman team with their Evo edition.
Two fast drivers for sure as long as one can control their raw speed.
The first round of the season will be from Paul Ricard in France mid-April before extending through four more rounds before concluding (this time) in Barcelona again in mid-October.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 |
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Six Aston Martins to feature within opening round of Iberian Supercars at Jerez this weekend
Within the list we will also welcome an incredible SIX Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered teams amongst the entry as the Araujo Competicao AMR team is this time joined by both the Racar Motorsport team and the Mirage Racing team with their respective, and mainly all new for 2024 driver line ups.
Unfortunately, gone are Araujo’s reigning GTX Class Champions of Alvaro Ramos and Fernando Soares but the increased AMR line ups will help cater for that fact.
Earlier this week, we posted about how the French Mirage Racing team will be providing one of their cars to young Russian karter Stephan Suslov as he contests a GT4 race for the first time in which we would imagine will be one of their older 17A versions.
Then taking over the #007 Araujo car we have Bruno Pereira and Goncalo Araujo who will compete within the topflight GT4 Pro class as well as Vasco Oliveira and Guilherme Lemos aboard the #28 GT4 Pro entry for the Portuguese team.
The Portuguese Racar Motorsport team will also feature a two car GT4 Pro entry for both Manuel Giao and Mathieu Martins aboard their #2 car and Francisco Cruz and Roberto Faria aboard their #3 car.
Both Martins and Faria will be familiar names having been one of the few race rivals for the Forsetti Motorsport AMR of Mikey Porter and Jamie Day in the GT4 Winter Series as well as Faria also now competing within the #39 GPA Racing AMR within the GT4 European Series.
The final #777 Racar AMR of Ruben Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende concludes the six car Aston Martin Racing entry within the GT4 Am class.
Track action for these crews will start on Friday with Free Practice before Qualifying on Saturday with two forty-five-minute races on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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Three car Aston Martin Racing entry for Racar Motorsport in Iberian Supercars
In pursuit of this objective, the Portuguese team will field three competitive Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4s, with two competing in the GT4 Pro category and one in GT4 Am.
Manuel Gião, the 2022 Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade Champion and Supercars Endurance Champion, will join forces with Mathieu Martins, the Portuguese-French youngster and member of the Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy, forming a partnership in one of the GT4 Pro cars.
Meanwhile, Francisco Cruz, the 2022 Porsche Sprint Challenge Iberia Am class Champion, will team up with Roberto Faria, a Brazilian driver also affiliated with the Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy, in the other GT4 Pro entry.
Ruben Vaquinhas, who showed promising signs in his motorsport debut last year, will also compete in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 in GT4 Am. He will be accompanied by Pedro Bastos Rezende, a driver who has been building his career in classic racing and participated in the Estoril round of the Iberian Supercars and Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade in 2022.
“Last year we showed that we can be very competitive in a squad that was already very strong. This season, the level will be even higher, but over the off-season we've been preparing and investing in our structure so that we can take on the competition. The team is ready and we have a very strong group of drivers and we're determined to fight for wins in our respective divisions and titles. We know it's going to be a huge challenge, but we're going to work hard to achieve our goals,” said Ricardo Antunes, the Team Principal of RACAR Motorsport.
Iberian Supercars and Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade will kick off at Circuito Jerez in Spain.
Source material - Iberian Supercar Series
Thursday, May 16, 2024 |
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Three AMR teams fill in the blanks ahead of their Paul Ricard season opener this weekend
Having already confirm three entries for the new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 platforms amongst the Pro and Silver Classes, the Belgium Comtoyou Racing team still had their #11 Bronze class entry to confirm.
This week saw that final detail be revealed as being a driver line up of Porsche Cup racer John De Wilde, European Le Mans Series racer Job Van Uitert and TCR racer Kobe Pauwels ahead of this weekend’s three-hour opener.
In GT4, the GPA Racing team have also confirmed the remaining driver slot within their #39 AMR Vantage GT4 of Baudouin Detout as being Roberto Faria.
Having previously tested alongside various drivers, it will be the former Racar Motorsport entrant from the GT4 Winter Series who got the nod for this weekend’s pair of hour long races around the Mistral circuit.
Finally, the Racing Spirit of Leman team have also just confirmed that Forsetti sensation Jamie Day will be joining Teo Villagomez aboard their #82 car.
Photo credits - Teams / P5 Photography
Photo credits - Teams / P5 Photography
Wednesday, April 03, 2024 |
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Racar Motorsport claim the GT4 silverware as the Ultimate Cup Series starts at Paul Ricard
Having got themselves race ready with a few rounds within the now concluded GT4 Winter Series, the team entered both of their available 17A versions of the Vantage GT4 for the series opener from Circuit Paul Ricard in France for drivers Antonio Lopes/Matthieu Martins aboard the #09 car and Ruben Vaquinhas and Roberto Faria aboard the #777 car.
Racing within the GT Sprint races as well as within the new for 2024 AMR Trophy class (although they were the sole Aston Martins entered), that give each driver two twenty-five-minute races (approximately eleven laps for a GT4) around the long mistral circuit.
In Friday’s first races, the #09 car of Martins claimed a class win whilst the sister #777 car of Vaquinhas claimed third in class for a decent season opener. The second race saw the #777 car of Faria move up the order by also claiming a class win whilst the #09 car of Lopes finished fourth in class.
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Saturday wasn’t quite as successful however for the #777 as Vaquinhas suffered early issues of his second race to retire the car on only the third lap whilst Martins went on to claim his double with another class win – as did Faria in his final race of the weekend with Lopes again coming home in fourth.
The series now gets onto home turf for the Racar Motorsport team as the next round will be at Portimao at the end of May.
Photo credit - Team / social media
Monday, March 18, 2024 |
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