Glancing through the entry list for next months 24H Series visit to the Cirucit of The Americas next month we notice that the #20 De La Torre Aston Martin Racing entry has a couple more names joining them for that series inaugeral event in the USA.

Joining the already confirmed Jorge De La Torre and Ate De Jong in the A6 class car will also be American Mark Kvamme and a certain Ross Gunn. Whilst Kvamme has a vast experience of racing on the American scene over the years in GT's and both PC and Daytona Prototype classes within the Weathertech Sportscar Championship, this will be Gunn's first experience of racing in America although the car will be more than familiar.

Sadly, it appears that Speedworks Motorsport are looking to off load their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 that they used to great effect in the Creventic International Endurance Series.

Having secured the SP3 Championship with the car back in 2015 with John Gilbert and Devon Modell the car has not seen on a competitive race since the Dubai 24 in January 2016 when a promising run was eventually thwarted by terminal technical issues.

Despite the team testing with the car in October the car is now being offered for sale in its bespoke endurance running format on the Racecars Direct website - details HERE


Hopefully someone will snap this up and get it entered into the 24H Series sometime soon.

The 2016 24H of Dubai saw just two Aston Martin entries, one from defending SP3 champions Global Racing by Speedworks Motorsport and another from JW Bird Motorsport with their GT4.

The Speedworks #227 car would see the return of Devon Model, John Gilbert, Ollie Hancock alongside newcomer Will Schryver whilst the JWB #221 would field a highly competitive driver line up of team regulars Kieran Griffin and Jake Giddings along with 2015 Oman Racing Vantage GT3 pairing of Liam Griffin and Rory Butcher.

With six Ginetta G55 GT4's locking out the first three rows in class on the starting grid  the #221 JWB would start in tenth whilst the Speedworks car would ultimately struggle in qualifying and would start down in twelfth in the highly competitive class of fifteen cars.

Come the start of the race the #221 would quickly dispatched a number of the Ginetta's that started ahead of them to run a very competitive second in class during the opening stints - the #227 Speedworks car would also climb the timing charts and would be up to sixth by the time of the first (of many) Code 60's.


With the long, dark Middle Eastern night soon upon them the #227 Speedworks car experienced a catastrophic failure in the front right quarter that driver Ollie Hancock was reportedly very fortunate to save and be able to recover the car to the pits just before the half way mark. The elongated repairs in the garage would see Shryver exit pit lane down in twelfth.


At the half way point the #221 JWB would be in seventh but 4 laps down to the class leader whilst the #227 Speedworks would be twelfth but 25 laps down relative to the class leader.

With the #221 JWB car, a car that had incidentally 'found its feet' after a dogged year in British GT with Jake Giddings and Kieran Griffin would still be running their own race, moving up and down the timing charts as the stints/caution periods ebbed and flowed. Just after the 16hour mark however minor contact out on track would see the #227 Speedworks car back in the garage, this time with terminal gearbox/transmission failure. A crushing consequence for a team that had been made to work so hard.


Entering into the final hour of the race the #221 JWB still had a battle on its hand for the final step on the class podium with fellow British GT team Optimum Motorsport just 20 seconds behind.

Come the chequered flag however, Optimums own technical challenges would have seen them dropped back to allow the JWB car to finish a highly commendable third in SP3 and on a podium that would also be locked out with British GT GT4 cars and drivers.


Many congratulations to the #221 JWB Motorsport team.

Whilst it is expected that Speedworks are again a full 24H Series entry there are presently no confirmed AMR entries for the next round of the series at Mugello in March.

Photo credits - Creventic / Speedworks / JWB

Speedworks Motorsport has its eyes on the prize as it begins the defence of its hard-fought crown in the FIA International 24H Series this weekend (14-16 January), targeting a strong start to the campaign with its Global Racing-branded Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the 2016 edition of the 24H Dubai.

This time last year, Speedworks’ iconic British sportscar made its competitive debut in Dubai, with a third-place finish in the fiercely-disputed endurance racing championship opener sparking an extraordinary run of five consecutive rostrum results that culminated in the Northwich, Cheshire-based outfit lifting the SP3 division laurels come season’s end.

Twelve months on, both team and car are back, with further glory – and a breakthrough class victory – firmly in its sights. Behind the wheel will be Global Insurance Management MD and track day enthusiast John Gilbert, promising young gun Devon Modell, ex-Formula Renault BARC Champion Ollie Hancock and new recruit Will Schryver, whose previous experience includes single-seaters and lower-level GT racing.

The penultimate round of Creventic's 24Hr Series comes to the track of Barcelona next week and two of the 74 car entry will be V8 Vantages running in the class.

Leading the SP3 class with an incredible run of podium finishes is the #170 Speedworks repaired Global Racing Vantage of John Gilbert and Aston Martin Evolution Academy driver Devon Model. Despite a plethora of talented drivers joining the duo over the previous rounds, Barcelona will see them joined by historic racer and businessman Ross Warburton and Britcar driver Dan Jones.

Coming back to the series will see the return of the #165 Vantage Racing V8 Vantage of Chris Kemp, Tom Black and Angelos Metaxa. Joining them in Spain however will not be the expected team's driver coach in Stuart Hall but another very talented British GT driver in Dan Brown.


Will Moore, racing in one of Academy Motorsport's V8 Vantage GT4's in British GT will also take part in his first 24Hr going back to his racing routes and competing with Optimum in their Ginetta GT4.

Qualifying starts in the evening of Friday 4th September with the race itself starting at noon (local) on Saturday 5th.

The final race of the 2015 season at Brno follows a month after Barcelona.

Photo Credits - Creventic / Richard Leach

Opening the weekend’s proceedings in free practice on Friday afternoon, Modell and teammates, John Gilbert, Steven Liquorish and Tony Hughes, were quick to fettle the setup on the Aston Martin and get themselves dialled in to the Le Castellet circuit, before taking to it again an hour later for qualifying, where they set the fourth fastest time (2m23.667s) in the SP3 category.

Modell was once again tasked with starting the race and carefully manage engine and tyre temperatures, with sweltering 40 degrees Celsius heat reigning over Southern France.

It wasn’t long into Modell’s opening stint that he had scythed his way through the field at a circuit he has gotten to know quite well in previous months to snatch the SP3 class lead, as others struggled in the searing heat and fell by the wayside.

With everyone’s race pace four seconds off the expected times, Modell seemed to strike a balance between managing engine temperatures and driving as quickly as possible, before bringing the Speedworks Motorsport-run car into the pits for more fuel and handing the reins over to teammate, Liquorish.

Three laps into Liquorish’s stint an engine belt snapped, causing him to limp back to the pits, but. with the belt replaced, the Speedworks team was hit by more problems after what has been a near flawless season so far.

This time, with a suspected bubble in the cooling system, the team opted to stop racing for several hours to bleed the system and cool the engine down.

Devon Modell will contest his third twice-around-the-clock endurance race of the season this weekend (10-12 July), as the Kent racer is entered in the 24 Hours of Circuit Paul Ricard under the Speedworks Motorsport banner.

Modell, a resident of Maidstone in Kent, traverses the English Channel and makes his way to Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France for the second time in just over a fortnight, following a recent outing in the Blancpain Endurance Series at the end of last month.

The Aston Martin Evolution Academy recruit will be reunited with the Speedworks Motorsport team and its Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 in the fourth instalment of the Hankook 24H Series, having so far reached the SP3 class podium in the arid heat of Dubai, among the rolling hills of Mugello and in heavy rain Zandvoort.

He and teammates Ollie Hancock and John Gilbert now sit atop the SP3 standings and the Speedworks trio will be hoping to maintain their 100 per cent podium record and extend their lead at the highly technical Paul Ricard track in Le Castellet.

With its large run-off areas, Paul Ricard is a very forgiving circuit and, with no hills or reference points, it will be difficult for many of the drivers to maintain a competitive pace during the night – something Modell feels that will play to his strengths.

Nicknamed ‘The Dark Knight’, not because he’s a masked vigilante crime-fighter, but because he has shown a great deal of skill while driving through the hours of darkness, Modell is confident he can add more silverware to his ever-expanding trophy cabinet at Paul Ricard.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend,” said Modell. “The weather is meant to be well about 30 degrees Celsius and, being on the French Coast, what more could you ask for. Thankfully, the Aston Martin is fitted with air conditioning to keep us drivers cool, but I have the duty of driving during the midday sun, where I’ll have a tough task of trying to manage tyre degradation – they will ‘drop off’ quite quickly in that sort of heat – while also trying to manage engine temperatures.

“I’ve been to Circuit Paul Ricard twice already this year – once for a test and then for the latest round of the Blancpain Endurance Series – and I feel confident at the circuit now. The chicane along the back straight is in use this weekend, which will hamper the Aston Martin slightly, as its main strengths are its straight line speed, but it shouldn’t prevent us from achieving another podium. We are now leading the Drivers’ standings and we are fully focused on keeping a firm grip at the top and the only way to do that is score some strong points.”

Qualifying for the Hankook 24H Series’ 24 Hours of Circuit Paul Ricard is scheduled to get underway at 17.15 on Friday (10 July), with the start of the race itself at 14.30 the following day (11 July).

With the car having returned safely from the Aston Martin Festival at the Le Mans 24hr event last month, the Speedwork's prepared Global Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 returns to France this weekend for the Hankook 24hr race at Paul Ricard.

For reasons now made clear Global Racing have opted for a revised driver line up from that raced with at the series previous round in Zandvort. The #170 blue and white SP3 class car will compete in this fourth round of the Creventic series again with team boss John Gilbert and Aston Martin Evolution Academy driver Devon Modell but with the assistance of Speedwork's Tony Hughes and ex Porsche Carrera Cup driver Steven Liquorish. Ollie Hancock shall miss the event due to FF Corse commitments in the British GT event at Spa this weekend.

Photo credits - Creventic / IWM

Speedworks Motorsport came away from the 12 Hours of Zandvoort with another podium finish in its pocket for the Global Racing-branded Aston Martin Vantage – but heartbreak for its Hughes Safety Showers-backed Ginetta G50.

Contesting the third round of the 2015 FIA International 24H Series, both cars evinced excellent pace right from the outset, featuring consistently towards the top of the timesheets despite wind and rain throwing competitors a curve ball by battering the popular Dutch North Sea circuit.

In the hands of team sponsor and BTCC points-scorer Tony Hughes, Warburtons Bakery Executive Director and historics racer Ross Warburton and tin-top battler Ollie Jackson, the Ginetta was untouchable in qualifying, securing SP3 class pole position by more than a second-and-a-half.

Crewed by Global Insurance Management MD and track day enthusiast John Gilbert, ex-Formula Renault BARC Champion Ollie Hancock and promising young gun Devon Modell, the Aston Martin was every bit as impressive, lining up third amongst the GT4-spec protagonists and 23rd outright on the 48-strong grid, just four spots behind the Ginetta.

The inclement conditions showed no sign of abating as the race got underway, but with the circuit only partially wet, the entire field set off on slick tyres and a fearless Jackson pulled out an early 12-second class lead, at times lapping a full four seconds quicker than any of his pursuers to sprint commandingly clear of the chasing pack.

As the rain intensified and cars peeled into the pits to switch over to wet-weather rubber, the Ginetta sat a superb sixth in the overall classification, but sadly, its stellar run was not to last as differential woes and subsequently driveshaft problems spelt an early bath for the #169 entry – albeit not before Hughes had put in a scintillating ‘pedal-to-the-metal’ stint in a gritty effort to regain lost ground.

The #170 Aston Martin, meanwhile, ran faultlessly throughout, fighting for GT4 supremacy following the Ginetta’s retirement and even threatening the top ten outright. As the dark clouds finally made way for bright sunshine, the classic British sportscar briefly snatched the SP3 lead, and the runner-up spot at the chequered flag preserved its unblemished rostrum record off the back of a hat-trick of consecutive third places.

The result has vaulted Gilbert and Modell to the top of the championship standings, with Speedworks similarly seizing the initiative in the teams’ tussle at the midway stage of the campaign. Next up is the 24 Hours of Paul Ricard in France in just over a month’s time – and the Northwich, Cheshire-based outfit palpably has its sights set on returning from its cross-channel adventure with a double helping of podium silverware.

“The 12 Hours of Zandvoort is always an enjoyable event, and this year’s edition was no exception,” acknowledged team principal Christian Dick, whose squad is also an established top ten regular in the fiercely-disputed and ITV4 live-televised Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). “The weather changed significantly over the course of the weekend, but both cars were encouragingly quick in all conditions.

“We braved it out on slicks as long as possible at the start of the race and the Ginetta notably handled really well considering the minimal grip that was available, lapping faster than several cars in the class above! When she was on-song, she was flying and a win was definitely on the cards, but unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn’t on our side.

“By contrast, the Aston ran like clockwork yet again and maintained its immaculate rostrum record – having now finished both third and second, there’s only one box left to tick! John in particular deserves a special mention; he did a lot of preparation for this race and that really shone through in his commendable performance behind the wheel.

A quick congratulatory piece for Ollie Hancock, Devon Modell and John Gilbert for their third consecutive podium finish in the 24H Series with their P2 class finish earlier today.

Despite the Speedworks's team best efforts the #170 SP3 (GT4) class car ended the 3 + 9Hr race at the dutch seaside circuit four laps down to the class winning Lotus Evora.

The series now moves onto the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France for the second 24hour race of the year over the 11th and 12th of July.


Photo credits - Creventic

Global Racing's Speedwork's prepared Aston Martin V8 Vantage SP3 class car will be the marques only representative again for this weekend's third round round of the Creventic 24H Series and the 12Hours of Zandvoort.

Featuring the same driver line up that finished on the podium at the 12Hours of Mugello and at the Dunlop 24Hr at Silverstone earlier this month, drivers John Gilbert, Devon Modell and Ollie Hancock will all be looking to also maintain the cars 100% series podium record.


With the race distance being split over two days again care needs to be taken as not to miss any of the action. The timetable is as follows.

With just under 6 hours of the 2015 Dunlop 24Hrs of Silverstone remaining the many hardships of competing in a 24Hr have begun to take their toll on the entry list with only 18 of the original 28 car entry being within 100 laps of the leader.

Fortunately, that does statistic does not apply to any of the Aston Martin entries with the most notable event being that the #35 Beechdean Motorsport car has elevated itself up the order from class leader to overall leader of the race controlling a seven lap advantage of the rest.


Over at Speedworks, the #41 car hasn't faired quite so well with collision damage forcing a prolonged stop in the garage overnight loosing itself sixteen laps to the Beechdean considering they were behind each other on track some 8 hours ago. They remain 5th overall and third in class.

The #36 Aston Martin Lagonda entry is also still there in the fray with all their 'first timers' doing a marvellous job in their GT4 Vantage P6 overall and 4th in class.

With just under an hour remaining until the Dunlop 24Hr at Silverstone reaches its 1/3rd race distance all three Aston Martin V8 Vantages are still in the race with the #35 Beechdean leading its class still just ahead of the #41 Speedwork's car, both cars as just 4 laps down to the overall leader.

The Aston Martin Lagonda entered car is a bit further back in 13th position overall and 11 laps down to the overall leader.

Beechdean's AMR factory driver Jonny Adam has now made it back to Silverstone after his factory duties at the Nordschleife earlier today. Just like the weather conditions that were experienced in Germany Adam got back in time to drive in the torrential rain that fell on the Northamptonshire circuit earlier leading to a prolonged Safety Car period. Team Owner Andrew Howard is also back with the team after his other business commitments called him away from the start of the race.

Many drivers in all three teams will now be having their first experience of racing at night and in the rain in that kind of car.








Still slightly over 17 hours of the race remaining. The track stays very wet in places and the track temperature will stay very low during the many hours of darkness with sunrise not expected at Silverstone until about 05.44Hrs.

Photo Credits - Team Social Media 

Assuming that you're not actually at Silverstone itself Dunlop's 24Hr of Silverstone is about to begin.

Live timing from TSL can be found here

Race will feature #35 Beechdean Motorsport GT4 driven by Andrew Howard, Jonny Adam (when he gets back from VLN 2), Harry Whale, Ross Gunn and Jamie Chadwick.


Also a V8 Vantage GT4 entry from Aston Martin Lagonda featuring AML's boss Andy Palmer, Marel Reihman, Alice Powell and Andrew Frankel and the Speedwork's Global Racing V8 Vantage GT4 of John Gilbert, Ollie Hancock, Devon Modell and Tony Hughes.


Good luck to them all.

Photo credits - Social media