Not Aston Martins day at the latest round of the GT4 European Series from Misano
Both the Prosport Racing and Racing Spirit of Lemans crews had enjoyed some fine results in the series (and others) up until now and everyone was hopeful of similar performances that helped both teams settle at the top of the Silver Cup Drivers Championship leader board going into the weekend.
Whilst we all know that Qualifying may not necessarily paint an accurate picture of overall performances, the results of Q1 did show that the two Spirit of Lemans cars of Tom Canning/Akhil Rabindra (#19) and Gus Bowers/Konstantin Lachenauer (#10) were still amongst the top runners with their P5 and P8 overall positions whilst the double race winners of last time, the #24 Prosport Racing AMR of Higo Sasse/Mike David-Ortmann was way back in P17 overall.
With five other Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4s amongst the grid of forty-five cars (after the unfortunate early demise of the #9 Racing One car during Free Practice), the odds were surely still stacked in the favour of at least one of these coming through by the end of the first hour long race.
Due to sheer numbers involved, the opening corners were of course a little bit fraught but at least they were clean as the natural hierarchy of performance soon made clear who was fastest and who wasn’t – sadly for the AMR runners, the utter dominance of the Mercedes AMG GT4 quickly proved that it wasn’t to be Astons day this around.
The next pain for some came just after the pit stop window as Wilfried Cazalbon parked his #89 Am Class AGS Events Racing car with a clear technical issue having only just taken over from Julien Lambert. Whatever the problem was, that car would not compete again over the weekend.
With the two Pro-Am Aston Martin being the last to pit, by the time debris was cleared from the AGS car, Am drivers Rodrique Gillion and Henrik Lyngbye-Pederson each found themselves running within the top 10 on merit as the race went back to green but with just fourteen minutes remaining, contact between two Mercedes spun one of them around and straight into the path of the #25 Prosport Car of Gillion causing extensive front end damage to both cars.
Another Safety Car and then more issues for the AMR runners as Bowers pitted his #10 car with technical issues that would lose the then Silver Class leaders valuable points as the #24 Sasse/Ortmann car eventually came through for a P15 overall/P3 in Silver finish with the #19 Rabindra/Canning car just behind in P17/P4. The #5 Racing One car of Thijmen Nabuurs/Kenton Koch car would persevere for a P6 Silver finish with the #18 Racing One AM car of Pederson/Lungstrass fifth in Am and the #80 AGS car of Tom Verdier/Ruben Del Sarte the last of the AMR finishes in P27 overall/P10 in Silver.
Sundays second race was sadly not a great deal better as the #24 Prosport car of Sasse failed to finish even the opening lap as an early puncture saw the young German elect to call it a day rather than risk the pointless process of limping his car back to the pit lane.
Despite this early negative, the #80 AGS car of Verdier and the #5 Racing One car of Nabuurs at least looked racy as they put early challenges onto those in front before an early Safety Car was called as a McLaren impacted along the pit wall.
The #10 Racing Spirit of Lemans car would again suffer an untimely exit from the race as Lachenauer would this time be forced to retire his car with technical issues just after the pit window as again, the Mercedes AMG cars just ‘walked away’ at the front.
Despite the best of efforts from all those involved, the best AMR result in Race 2 would be the P10 overall and P6 in Silver finish from the #19 Rabindra/Canning car with the #5 Racing One Nabuurs/Koch effort at least being the more consistent of them down in P12 overall/P8 in silver.
These results have seen the #10 crew lose the lead of the Silver Class to a Mercedes powered crew after their double race win in Misano and the Aston Martin crews double DNF. The sister #19 crew and the #24 Prosport crew remain in P2 and P3 respectively with a similar fate with the #89 AGS crew of Cazalbon/Lambert losing their Am class lead thanks to their double DNF as well.
Next top for the Series will be at Spa Francorchamps later this month during the SRO’s annual Speed Week.
Photo credits – GT4 European Series
Successful opening weekend in the GT4 European Series for three Aston Martin crews
The weekend proved to be more of a success for some Aston Martin Racing GT4 runners than the races and the ensuing accident and incident around the Imola circuit may have first portrayed.
Having taken the win in the opening race of the season on Saturday, the #10 Spirit of Lemans AMR Vantage GT4 of Gus Bowers and Konstantin Lachenauer would start from pole position in Sunday mornings race and would go onto to secure a lights to flag class and race win by the end of another multiple FCY and Safety Car affected race in what was still their debut AMR event for the team.
The performance of the team’s #10 would be supported in race two by a P4 overall/P2 in Silver Cup podium finish from the sister #19 car of Tom Canning and Akhil Rabindra, marking a welcomed return (despite some mistakes being well recovered) of the proficient young Indian racer after a year in the doldrums in the FFSA GT4 Series before. Further performances like these from the #19 crew should hopefully see them contest for overall race wins like their #10 crew peers.
Also repeating a double podium over the weekend was the #89 AGS Events Racing Am Class crew of Julien Lambert and Wilfried Cazalbon who improved upon their P3 class podium during race 1 with a dominating class win during race 2.
Other than the #89 crew, Imola presented itself as another steep learning curve opening round of the season for the French team as both their #80 and #7 crews suffered DNF’s in the opening race followed by mid to low table finishes in the second.
Also running three cars for the first time this weekend was the German based Racing One team with an AMR Vantage GT4 entry running in each of the Am, Pro-Am and Silver Cup classes. With a probable podium thrown away by the #5 car of Kenton Koch and Thijmen Nabuurs after late contact in race 1, a grid penalty and further technical issues saw them pit and retire from the race just before the opening of the pit stop window.
Christian Gisy was again racing with son Vincent aboard their #9 Pro-Am entered car and being the first mainstream GT4 event for Vincent, their possibilities within the highly contested class were somewhat limited for them to follow up their race 1 result P44 overall and P19 in class with an improved P34overall / P18 in class.
The team’s returning Am crew of Henrick Lyngbye Pederson and Marcus Lungstrass would put their pre-season racing mileage to good use with an improved (and just off the class podium) P4 finish in class by the end of the final hour of racing.
For Prosport Racing’s first full season two car entry into the series, it would sadly turn into something to forget after Hugo Sasses’ catastrophic exit from race 1 where the resulting damage would negate their ability to race on Sunday, with Rodrique Gillion and Nico Verdonck going backwards in race two to finish a lowly P38 overall after contact having finished P5 in Pro-Am in race 1.
Hopefully, all the contact and long periods of caution can be avoided next time out at the openness of the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France where round two of the 2022 season will be held in. just under two months’ time.
Photo credits – Teams / GT4 European Series
Incident, accident and podiums all part of the opening race of the GT4 European Series for the Aston Martin Racing teams in Imola
With so much going on today within the opening race weekend of the 2022 GT4 European Series, we had better get on with things after today’s earlier opening race.
With forty-eight GT4’s taking part in the opening race weekend from the historical race circuit of Imola, the entry list also included the sizeable presence of ten Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from the Racing Spirit of Lemans, Prosport Racing, Racing One and AGS Events Racing teams.
There was however a slight driver line-up change within the #9 Racing One Pro-Am entry going into the race weekend as Christian Gisy shared a team Aston with son Vincent rather than the stated Ralf Kelleners – why, we are not quite sure yet!
Anyway, and after the wet/damp test session at the circuit that Thursday allowed them and Two Free Practice sessions later on Friday, Saturday morning gave us the two Qualifying sessions for each of the weekends two, one-hour races with each driver mandated to run and start the race in one of them.
With both track and air temperature still low, each Qualifying session was a battle to warm up the tyres and brakes and with further incidents on track made for shorter sessions than usual as the 48 cars battled for space around the tight Italian circuit.
By the end, it was the #10 Spirit of Lemans and #5 Racing One Aston Martins of Konstantin Lachenauer and Kenton Kock respectively that secured the highest starting places for the AMR contingent with their P5 and P6 places as the cars thundered around the curved start grid and into the opening chicane for the first time.
Expecting absolute carnage, only a spinning Audi blotted an otherwise clean start in the opening half of the lap – that was before the #7 AGS Events Racing Aston of Noah Andy got heaved off the tarmac, missed his braking point to end up in the gravel on the opening lap! Luckily for his and co-driver Hugo Conde, Andy was able to remove himself from the gravel trap and continue although the GT4 rookie would then be pinged for speeding in the pit lane.
An interesting battle quickly played itself out up front as Koch and Lachenauer battled it out for fourth on track as the three race leading Pro-Am class cars made their escape ahead whilst the #89 AGS Events and #18 Racing One Am class runners of Julien Lambert and Markus Lungstrass did similar in the midfield.
Tom Canning was also battling to defend his P14 overall/P6 Silver Cup position from a whole gaggle of cars behind including the #25 Prosport Racing entry of Nico Verdonck/Rodrigue Gillion as the Belgian duo embarked upon their first full season in the Series together.
With just over twenty minutes gone, the #7 AGS Events Aston Martin of Andy finally came to a halt on track bringing out the first FCY – an event however that caught many, including the #24 Prosport Racing Aston of Hugo Sasse off guard. Rapidly coming up behind a slowing Alpine and Mercedes, the #24 Aston slammed into the rear of both cars, climbed up over the back of them and nearly rolled, losing one wheel in the process.
Fortunately, all drivers were OK although all would be out of the race as marshals worked hard to clear the debris.
By this time Lachenauer was now P3 overall and first in Silver Cup whilst Koch was seventh overall and fourth in class. Verdonck headed the AMR Pro-Am field fifth in class and the #89 and #18 cars maintained the front two positions in the Am class as the race went back to green (with the pit lane opening) with twenty-nine minutes remaining.
By the end of the ten-minute pit stop window, the #10 Spirit of Lemans Aston Martin of now Gus Bowers had assumed the overall race lead with the #5 Racing One car of Thijmen Nabuurs in fourth overall.
Looking for a clean finale to the opening race, a stranded Toyota and a suspension damaged Aston Martin again mandated another FCY – replays showed the #7 AGS Events Aston Martin of Tom Verdier hitting some kerbs hard and breaking his rear quarter suspension in the process putting the car he shares with Ruben Del Sarte out of the race.
Going back to green with just five minutes remaining, a move from Nabuurs into the first chicane caught the rear of the Mercedes ahead, taking them both off track and into the gravel and retirement with just two laps remaining. Words were had by both drivers as they exited the scene on foot with a possible first podium now lost to the Nabuurs/Koch car.
That event was enough to see the season opening race finish under the FCY was Bowers/Lachenauer claiming their first and the team’s first race win together under Aston Martin power. The sister #19 car of Canning and Akhil Rabindra had recovered enough to come home P7 overall and P4 in Silver Cup whilst the #89 AGS Events Am car of Julien Lambert and Wilfried Cazalbon completed their class podium with a P3 finish.
Gillion and Verdonck would finish the race P16 overall and P8 in Pro-Am whilst the Gisy family partnership would end up P29 overall and P16 in Pro-Am. The #18 Racing One Am car on Henrik Lyngbye Pederson and Marcus Lungstrass would complete the remaining Aston Martin runners in P32 overall, P8 in class.
Tomorrow morning, they do it all again with Bowers again heading the field after his pole position Qualifying earlier today.
We get the feeling that tomorrows race will be equally exciting – especially if the expected rain arrives!!
Photo credits – GT4 European / Teams
GT4 European Series kicks off its 2022 season from Imola today (Updated)
With one or two already having started, this weekend sees the start of the season for two headline European GT3 and GT4 series as the SRO’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and GT4 European Series finally get underway from the Italian circuit of Imola.
As you will have seen over the last couple of months, it has been a busy winter for the Aston Martin Racing facility at Banbury as they have been building over twenty new Vantage GT4 race cars for their new and expanding customer base – many of whom will be competing this weekend.
As a result of some intense work by many in the background, the AMR Vantage GT4 headcount has risen from the six full season entries of 2021 to a remarkable ten entries featuring this weekend with another waiting in the wings for the next round at Paul Ricard in early June.
Whilst we have lost the French Mirage Racing team from this SRO series over the winter, the French AGS Events Racing team return with another three entries of their own whilst we now welcome three from the German Racing One team (with another in the wings as said), two from the German based PROsport Racing team and two from new Swiss team Racing Spirit of Lemans.
Confirmation of entries are: -
#5 Racing One Silver Cup - Kenton Koch/Thijmen Nabuurs
#18 Racing One Am Class – Henrik Lyngbye Pederson
#9 Racing One PAM – Christian Gisy/Ralf Kelleners
#7 AGS Events Silver Cup – Noah Andy/Hugo Conde
#89 AGS Events Am Class – Julien Lambert/Wilfried Cazalbon
#80 AGS Events Silver Cup – Tom Verdier/Ruben Del Sarte
#19 Racing Spirit of Lemans Silver Cup – Tom Canning/Akhil Rabindra
#10 Racing Spirit of Lemans Silver Cup – Gus Bowers/Konstantin Lachenauer
#25 PROsport Racing PAM – Rodrique Gillion/Nico Verdonck
#24 PROsport Racing Silver Cup – Mike David Ortmann/Hugo Sasse
The opening track action is already in effect at the circuit with Private testing today ahead of the start of more formally timed sessions this Friday with two Free Practice sessions before Qualifying for race 1 and 2 on Saturday morning before the opening one-hour race on Saturday afternoon and race 2 on Sunday morning.
Photo credits – Teams
Gillion and Verdonck commit to a full season of Pro-Am racing together in the GT4 European Series
A long-standing customer now of both PROsport Racing and the driver coaching services of Nico Verdonck has Rodrique Gillion pair up again with his fellow Belgium for a full season of Pro-Am class racing within the European series as well as an expected continuation of entries within the 24H Series together.
Last week we learned of both Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse continuing their driving partnership with the team as they enter the GT4 European Series within the Silver Cup Class.
Having taken up GT based racing in 2018, the construction and property gentleman driver has come on leaps and bounds under recent guidance and coaching from Verdonck who both have claimed plenty of pole positions and podium finishes within the various series that they have race together in with Christoph Esser’s team.
The opening round of the 2022 GT4 European Series kicks off at Imola at the start of April.
Photo credits - Team
The Dubai 24 kicks off in the desert with four AMR's among the healthy grid
The first officially scheduled sessions of the 2022 24H Series finally got underway today for all the teams at the Dubai Autodrome after some managed to get in some private testing beforehand at the circuit earlier in the week.
Over eighty cars are scheduled to compete within this year’s event with four Aston Martin Racing powered teams racing amongst them within the GT3 and GT4 classes.
German based PROsport Racing were amongst the first at the circuit and were able to carry out some post freight shakedown testing as Nico Verdonck clocked in some laps in both their Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars on Monday whilst the remaining Dual Racing with TF Sport and Heart of Racing teams had to wait until today before their respective driver line ups were available at the circuit.
With that, TF Sport had to sadly report today changes in both line up and class today as Sam De Haan has been forced to remain at home due to COVID restrictions so his place within their #95 AMR Vantage GT3 will now be taken by Ahmad Al Harty. Also dropping down from the Pro-Am GT3 class to the GT3 Am Class means that Charlie Eastwood can no longer participate with the team alongside Ramzi, Nabil and Sami Moutran.
Whilst very unfortunate for both De Haan and Eastwood, the lure of the Asian Le Mans Series with the team just a month after the Dubai 24hr remains at their forefront of their minds and at least provides Al Harthy with some unscheduled seat time before that four round series.
Having ventured to the Middle East for what will be their first international racing venture has the US based Heart of Racing team travel out for their second excursion within the 24H Series after their disappointment at the Sebring round late last season when gearbox issues robbed Gray Newell, Ian James, Alex Riberas and Roman de Angelis of a near certain GT4 class podium.
This will be a busy three weeks for the team as straight after Dubai, the team will need to rush back Stateside for the Roar before the 24 next weekend and then the Rolex 24 the week after in their IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship commitmments.
Completing the four car AMR entry are the two PROsport Racing cars, one racing in GT3 Am and the other in GT4 with a sizeable driver line up of nine drivers between them. Whilst the GT4 line up of Rodrique Gillion, Nico Verdonck, Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse have lots of GT4 racing experience between them (and have to be a favoured car within the class), the GT3 line up of Maxime Dumarey, Guillaume Dumarey, Jean Glorieux and Simon Balcaen have less and especially so in a current GT3 platform.
Tomorrow will feature further Practice sessions before Qualifying ahead of the start of the 24-hour race on Friday.
Photo credits – 24H Series / Teams
Aston Martin GT4 line ups extended ahead of next months Dubai 24
There has been a few more additions to the entry list for next month’s Dubai 24hr with additional driver’s names being added to one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 along with the crew of another finally being confirmed.
Last month we reported that Rodrique Gillion, Nico Verdonck and Guido Dumarey had already been confirmed within the #401 PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 and now it appears that they will also be joined by both Higo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann as well.
All five drivers have been ‘regulars’ within the team at some point during the season with the former three names having competed in the NLS Series and Ultimate Cup Series whilst the two newer names paired up together most recently when the team switched from the DTM Trophy Series to the ADAC GT4 Germany Series, with some success it has to be added.
Then, we finally have confirmation that the #423 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT4 will again be crewed by Gray Newell, Ian James, Alex Riberas and Roman de Angelis.
First time 24H Series runners last time out in the series at Sebring last month, there will be redress required from these four after having lost a near certain class podium finish in Florida when a late gearbox issue struck them down with just two hours of the twenty-four remaining.
The two AMR Vantage GT3 runners form both TF Sport and PROsport Racing remain unchanged to those previously reported.
The 2022 24H Series Dubai 24hr event runs over the 13-15th January.
Photo credits - 24H Series / CSJ Motorsport / ADAC GT4 Germany / social media
Three out of four Aston Martin's so far confirmed for the Dubai 24
Today’s news from TF Sport regarding their Pro-Am Class Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry in January’s 24H Series Dubai 24hr now places names behind three of the so far four Aston Martin’s presently listed upon the race’s provisional entry list.
Long term Creventic series racers in the UAE based Moutran brothers sees them re-joining forces Charlie Eastwood as well as experienced GT3 racer Sam De Haan, making for a potent force within the GT3 Pro-Am class which presently stands at twelve cars.
Joining them in that class shall be the PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 crew of season long PROsport Racing clients of Maxime and Guillaume Dumarey alongside their Am drivers Jean Glorieux and Simon Balcaen.
Looking at the previous racing experience of all these drivers above, obviously with the exception of both Eastwood and De Haan, all the others appear set to travel to Dubai in the New Year to race in an AMR Vantage GT3 for the first time!
In the GT4 class, German based PROsport Racing also return to Dubai with one of their Aston Martin Vantage GT4’s that another set of their long-standing clients will again race. Last seen out sweeping the board in the Ultimate Speed Cup finale at Estoril has Rodrique Gillion again joining forces with driver coach and ‘resident’ team professional Nico Verdonck as well a another Dumarey – this time Guido aboard the #401 car.
Achieving parity in both the GT3 and GT4 classes but as yet without a confirmed drive line up, has the Heart of Racing team return to the 24H Series for another 24 hour after their heartache last weekend when a late gearbox failure saw them loose a class podium at the Sebring 24hr with just two hours remaining.
That is the expected entry for January’s event as of today, but as with any provisional entry list, we expect to see some manoeuvre on that over the next fifty days.
A full house for PROsport Racing and a Class Championship for Team Virage at Estoril finale
Part time season entrant Team Virage returned with their young Mexican and AMR Drivers Academy racer, Jose Antonio Ledesma as he joined his third different co-driver in the series (Xavier Follenfant) for the final endurance race on Sunday to decide the winner of that Championship.
Joining them in Portugal were the PROsport Racing pairing of Rodrique Gillion and his driver coach Nico Verdonck for some late season racing in both the series GT endurance and GT Sprint races, all in preparation ahead of their proposed entry into January’s 24H of Dubai.
Over the course of Saturday, both Gillion and Verdonck enjoyed a clean sweep of class wins across the four Kennol GT Touring Sprint races to then back that up with a joint class win in Sunday’s four-hour NAPA GT Touring Endurance race.
That obviously make for plenty of silverware for their flights home afterwards.
From the Team Virage side of things, Saturday didn’t go exactly to plan as an apparent heavy off for the Aston Martin during private practice made that unracable for Sunday’s finale, so in team family spirit they were able to borrow the other of PROsport Racing’s two AMR Vantage GT4’s from which Ledesma was able to follow the PROsport guys home second in class and that was enough for him to secure the Mexican the GT Endurance title.
Photo credits – Teams / Drivers social media
Two AMR Vantage GT4's see out finale of the Ultimate Cup Series at Estoril
Two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from two European based teams have made the long trip south to Estoril for the final round of the Ultimate Cup Series there this weekend.
The #16 Team Virage crew of Antonio Ledesma and Umberto D’Amato presently lie in second place of their GT class 5a class going into this final round having racked up a class win and second place finish in the two rounds that they have contested at both Paul Ricard and most recently at Le Mans.
Just seven points behind the leading CD Sport car of Thomas Accary and David Monclair after their two class wins from the opening two rounds that they attended; it will be as simple winner takes all affair this weekend.
Joining them in Portugal this weekend will also be the PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 for drivers Nico Verdonck and his Gentleman driver client Rodrigue Gillion as they will race in both the NAPA GT Touring Endurance and Kennol GT Touring Sprint grids.
We expect this to be part of one final race weekend before winter and the Dubai 24 in early 2022 for both the team and drivers.
Photo credits – Team Virage / 24H Series
