The #97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE has finished third in the GTE Pro category in its home FIA World Endurance Championship race, the Six Hours of Silverstone, recording the fastest lap in the GTE class and leap-frogging to second place in the championship standings.

The Gulf-liveried car started from fourth on the grid, following a drying qualifying session that was dominated by tyre choices. First in the driving seat, Darren Turner (GB) was quick to challenge the leaders, soon charging the car into second place in the GTE Pro class. Hot on the heels of the leader for several laps, Turner pitted for tyres and fuel and team-mate Stefan Mücke (D) continued the race for first place. The German driver proved successful in his bid and, by lap 71, the V8-powered Vantage was leading the GTE Pro race.

One position lost during a pit stop and driver change put Turner back into second, a position that he held until the end of his double-stint. However, with a change to Adrian Fernandez (MX) scheduled, Turner reported splitter damage, which was causing the front end of the car to vibrate. During the pitstop, the splitter was repaired, losing the team just short of one minute and 30 seconds.  Mücke returned to the car and re-entered the race in fourth place.

This wasn’t enough to deter Mücke who continued closing down the third place car at up to four seconds per lap, recording the fastest GTE lap of the race - 2:01.758. This paid off and the #97 closed in on the third place car resulting in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel- battle, which ended with the Vantage GTE taking the podium position. 

Fielding three Vantage GTEs in the race, the team also raced two cars in the GTE Am class; the number #98 car – piloted by Roald Goethe (D) and Stuart Hall (GB) – which finished fourth in the class, and the #99 – piloted by Jonny Adam (GB), Andrew Howard (GB) and Paul White (GB) – which lost power in the final ten minutes, bringing its race to a premature end, having previously run reliably and competitively.

Aston Martin Racing works driver Darren Turner commented: “That was a great finish to a race that threw up a few challenges. We had splitter damage before the final pit, with 45 minutes to go, and it lost us a minute and a half. Stefan made up a lot of time, setting the fastest lap of the race and did a great job to get us on the podium. The car ran like clockwork for the whole six hours and certainly proved it had race-winning pace. It was the fuelling advantage of the lead car over the rest of the pack that meant we couldn’t mount a successful challenge for first position.”

Team-mate Stefan Mücke commented: “What a fantastic finish to a tough race. The car was great – better than in practice and qualifying – we got the set up just perfect and the team was spot-on all day. The car has made great progress this year and I’m looking forward to the remaining rounds of the WEC.”

Roald Goethe, driver of the #98 car, commented: “It was the longest race I’ve done since Paul Ricard earlier in the year and this was intense – there were some mad dogs barking out there!  I really enjoyed the whole race and it’s great to get a finish.  In my first stint I managed to hit the target times I’d set myself but, in the second, it was a bit harder as I was tiring and the traffic was more intense.  I said to myself, okay just keep it on the track, don’t spin and bring it back for Stuart to finish the race.”

Andrew Howard, of the #99 car, commented: “What a mega experience! It was great to race with so many famous drivers at the top of GT and LMP racing. It was a shame to retire so very close to the end of the race, but I can definitely say it has whetted my appetite to come back and have another go and I feel we are equipping ourselves well to do so.”

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal John Gaw summarises: “That was a great result for the #97 car. We would like to have been challenging for second place, but the splitter damage cost us. However, we’re now in second place in the World Endurance Championships with four races to go, which is a fantastic place to be in the car’s inaugural year. The GTE Am cars and drivers were fantastic all weekend – Stuart’s qualifying pole position being a real highlight. It’s a shame the #99 car stopped so close to the end, because it had been faultless all weekend but overall the success of the three cars has been great – the team have all done a job to be proud of.”

Aston Martin Racing is competing in the new-for-2012 FIA World Endurance Championship as part of its return to production-derived motorsport. This podium result marks another great achievement for the car that shares its bonded aluminium chassis and fundamental engine design with Aston Martin’s road-going V8 Vantage. The WEC will continue in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 15th September for the fifth round of the championship.

Aston Martin Racing

At the halfway point of the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Six Hours of Silverstone, the #97 Vantage GTE is leading the GTE Pro class, with a four second lead over its nearest challenger. In the GTE Am class, the #98 car is in third following a close battle at the front of the pack and the #99 car follows hot on its heels.

Following qualifying yesterday, the #97 Vantage GTE started from fourth on the grid and thanks to a fantastic first stint from Darren Turner (GB), climbed up to second place less than an hour into the six-hour race. The gap to the leader was closing quickly, but the car was pitted for fuel and tyres, postponing the challenge. After 26 laps of the 1.85-mile circuit, team-mate Stefan Mucke took over the wheel of the V8-powered Aston Martin and carried on the battle for first place.  By the 71st lap the #97 car was leading the GTE Pro class.

In the GTE Am class, Stuart Hall (GB) was first out on the track in the #98 car and managed to maintain his pole position for twenty laps until contact with another car lost him two positions. After 52 laps he changed for team-mate Roald Goethe (D), who is currently in fourth place.

In the #99 car Jonny Adam started and climbed up from fourth to second within his first stint. At 52 laps he pitted for tyres, fuel and a driver change to Paul White (GB), who is in currently in third position. Andrew Howard (GB) will complete the driver line up when he takes over the wheel later in the race.

Aston Martin Racing factory driver, Darren Turner comments: “We started really well and we have shown how great the car is. There’s a big difference between the race and practice sessions/qualifying, which can be a bit of a lottery. I felt that we made good progress getting up onto the tail of the leader within one stint and now Stefan has taken the lead we are in a great place. There are still three hours to go and our nearest competitor doesn’t need to refuel as often as us. We may have the advantage on laps, but they have the fuel advantage – that’s why we need to push so hard.”

Aston Martin Team Principal John Gaw adds: “Everything is going to plan in all three of the Vantage GTEs. The #97 car is exactly where we wanted it to be at this point in the race – leading with a four second gap behind us. The pit stops have been fantastic and our reliability is flawless – we just need to keep this up for the remainder of the race and push as hard as we can.”

Aston Martin Racing

Image: Richard Leach

Aston Martin Racing’s Vantage GTEs will start from pole position and fourth in the GTE Am category and from fourth in the GTE Pro category for the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Six Hours of Silverstone, following qualifying earlier today.

In the twenty-minute session, correct tyre choice proved to be essential as the wet track quickly dried out. Stuart Hall (GB) in the #98 car, which he will share with Roald Goethe (D), proved that an early change to slicks was the best option, as he claimed pole position in the GTE Am category with a time of 2:12.525.

In the GTE Pro category, Aston Martin Racing works driver Stefan Mücke (D) steered the #97 car onto the wet track and soon set the quickest time, two seconds faster than his closest rival. However, as the sun broke through the clouds and the track dried up in places, teams were left deciding when to change onto slicks. The decision came too late for Mücke, who needed one more lap to get heat into his tyres. His qualifying lap time was 2:14.150, placing him fourth on the grid.

The third Vantage in the line-up, the #99 car, was driven by Jonny Adam (GB) in the GTE Am class. For him, the decision to change tyres came even later and the checkered flag was flying before the slicks were on the car. Despite this, he put in a lap of 2:16.717 placing him  and team-mates Andrew Howard (GB) and Paul White (GB) fourth on the grid in the GTE Am category.

Stuart Hall, who has driven the V8-powered Vantage GTE just once before, commented: “The track was drying up quickly and we knew the times were getting faster and faster as the teams changed onto slicks and got more heat into the tyres. We put ours on with about six minutes to go, which proved to be about the right time. I came out of the pits and on the first lap had a small off, leaving all the pressure on my last lap. I pushed hard and managed to get a clear run.  I’m delighted to be on pole but, tomorrow is another day and a lot can happen. However, the car handles well in the wet and the dry and has the pace and reliability to be successful here at Silverstone.”

Stefan Mücke, who will be joined by team-mates Darren Turner (GB) and Adrian Fernandez (MX) in the six-hour endurance race comments: “We were not so lucky with timings. The car was great at the beginning on wet tyres but the track dried up much quicker than I thought it would. We got the slicks on two minutes too late. But, it’s a six-hour race; a few positions on the start line don’t make much difference. What we do know is that the car is feeling good and is proving to be reliable.”

Jonny Adam comments: “This is the first time Andrew, Paul and I have driven the Vantage GTE, apart from testing earlier this month, but we’ve all settled into it really quickly. The practice sessions have allowed us to get the car ready and we’re feeling good ahead of the race. Our qualifying result doesn’t really reflect the performance of the car; we made the wrong call and stayed on wet tyres too long. By the time we’d come in to change for slicks, time had run out. Tomorrow looks to be dry so we should get to see the car’s true potential.“

Aston Martin Racing’s Team Principal, John Gaw summarises: “The changeable conditions made qualifying all about strategy and this can be seen in the laps times in each class – in the GTE Pro class, more than five seconds separates the cars and in the Am it’s more than eight seconds dividing the group. With the number #98 car we got the timing spot on and that is shown in the fantastic pole position set by Stuart. We were slightly later with the #97 car, which cost Stefan his pole position but left us with a decent fourth position in the GTE Pro class. And, with the #99 car we were even later. However, all eight drivers are very happy with the set up of their cars, they are perfectly reliable and the drivers that are new to the car have learned to be competitive already.

The three Vantage GTEs will be back on the circuit on Sunday at 0855hrs BST for a 20-minute warm-up session. The Six Hours of Silverstone gets underway at 1200hrs that afternoon.

Aston Martin Racing is competing in the new-for-2012 FIA World Endurance Championship as part of its return to production-derived motorsport. In the most recent round, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the works team took third place in the GTE class, a great achievement for the car which shares its bonded aluminium chassis and fundamental engine design with Aston Martin’s road-going V8 Vantage.

Aston Martin Racing

At Le Mans this year, Aston Martin Racing Customers will have the unique opportunity to race at the Le Mans circuit as part of the world’s most famous Sportscar racing event, the 24 hours of
Le Mans.

Three DBR9s will be present in GT1, with Roald Goethe driving his 2008 Gulf liveried machine, he’ll be joined by Young Driver AMR and Deboeuf Racing who will enter an ex Jet Alliance DBR9.

GT2 has a more modern feel to it with Jota and Gulf Racing entering their 2011 Le Mans 24 hours cars, with Villois Racing adding their Vantage, which finished on the GT Open podium at Portimao earlier this year.

GT3 features two new Aston Martin V12 Vantages from Villois Racing and Beechdean; Aston Martin MD, John Gaw will partner Andrew Howard in the Beechdean entered car. They’ll be joined by four DBRS9 from Craft Eurasia Racing, Barwell Motorsport, Vantage Racing and 22GT Racing.

GT4 makes up the majority of the field with a number of Aston Martin GT4 Challenge regulars taking the opportunity to race at the iconic circuit - Stratton Motorsport will enter no fewer than five GT4 Vantages. Generation AMR make a welcome return with James Appleby joined by 2011 Britcar 24hours class winner, Rob Nimkoff.

Also worthy of note is Blue Barn Racing’s Gareth Williams, who will be racing in order to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, visit his Just Giving page for more information. Link

Finally as an invitational entry, the V12 Zagato, ‘Bluebell’ for m this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours will be crewed by Dr Ulrich Bez and Chris Porritt

Practice and qualifying will take place on Wednesday and Thursday with the race taking place on Saturday before the start of the Le Mans 24hours.

Provisional Entry

GT1
DBR9 Gulf Racing / Rofgo Collection - Roald Goethe
DBR9 Young Driver AMR - Jan Struve, Jac Nellemann
DBR9 Deboeuf Racing - Thomas Gruber, Marco Seefried

GT2
Vantage  Jota - Paul White
Vantage  Gulf Racing / Rofgo Collection - Archie Hamilton
Vantage  Villois Racing - Luca Filippi, Brian Lavio

GT3
V12 Vantage Beechdean - Andrew Howard, John Gaw
V12 Vantage Craft Eurasia Racing - Frank Yu, Tomonobu Fujii
DBRS9 Villois - Marco Petrini, Alessandro Cicognani
DBRS9 Barwell Motorsport - Paul Whight, Mark Lemmer
DBRS9 Vantage Racing - Tom Black
DBRS9 22GT Racing - Tom Alexander, Adrian Willmott

GT4
V8 Vantage Aston Martin Racing - David Richards
V8 Vantage Mardi Gras Motorsport - Julian Reddyhough, Desmond Smail
V8 Vantage MB Racing - Mike Brown, Paul Cripps
V8 Vantage MCD Developments/Fieldfare Trailer - Steven Byrne, Jerry Bailey
V8 Vantage Blue Barn Racing - Gareth Williams, Martin McGlone
V8 Vantage Generation AMR - James Appleby, Rob Nimkoff
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / Immun’age Osato - Pierre Mantello, Olivier Bouche
V8 Vantage Aston Martin Belgium - Arnold Herreman, Jean-Paul Herreman
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport - Paul Bartley, Stuart Patterson
V8 Vantage Schrader Racing / Barwell Motorsport - Fred Schrader, Kevin Buckler
V8 Vantage Ultimate Speed Ltd - Richard Taffinder, Tim Eakin
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / Greenberg/Kramer - Kenneth Greenberg
V8 Vantage Jota - David Clark
V8 Vantage Jota - Rowan Atkinson
V8 Vantage GPR Racing - TBC
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport / 88 Racing - Sid Sadique, Mark Walker
V8 Vantage Stratton Motorsport - Chris Kemp, Stuart Hall

Inv
V12 Zagato Aston Martin Lagonda - Dr Ulrich Bez, Chris Porritt

Gulf Racing has been testing at Snetterton in preparation for the Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Festival which will see over 30 Aston Martins competing around the famous Le Mans 24hr circuit.

The 45 minuet Aston Martin exclusive race will take place before the start of the main endurance event with practice and qualifying sessions in the preceding days.

The team will enter two Gulf liveried Aston Martins in the event, Archie Hamilton will drive the team’s regular V8 Vantage GTE, whilst team owner Roald Goethe will pilot the DBR9 GT1 entry which last race at Le Man in 2008 finishing 4th in class at the hands of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini and Karl Wendlinger.


Images © Richard Leach

Over the course of last weekend, Aston Martin Racing’s partner teams represented the marque across five separate motor racing series, racking up no fewer than four podium results. Three variations of the Vantage racing car scored two class victories over one weekend of fiercely competitive motorsport action.

The first of the class victories came at the opening round of the Nürburgring-based VLN series as Team Mathol Racing’s Vantage GT4 prevailed in the SP10 category, continuing where it left off last season having dominated the GT4 class in the ten-race VLN endurance series. The V12-engined Vantage GT3, meanwhile, made its competitive debut in the thriving ADAC GT Masters series at Oschersleben, Germany, in the hands of Young Driver AMR with the pairing of Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen scoring victory in the amateur class in the first of two races. Further podium results followed in VLN, with Aston Martin’s own test centre team scoring second and third in the SP8 category with a Vantage GT3 and GT4 respectively. Multimatic Motorsports rounded out a successful weekend for Aston Martin Racing’s partner teams with second overall in the North American Grand-Am series.

In partnership with the Toronto-based outfit, Aston Martin contested the second round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, with a pair of Grand Sport class Vantage GT4s. The #55 car of series regulars Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell missed out on its maiden Grand-Am victory by a scant 0.5 seconds after two and a half hours of competition. The result bodes well for the remainder of the 11-round championship, which sees Aston Martin do battle with six- and eight-cylinder GT racers on its return to domestic competition in North America.

The second Multimatic-run Vantage GT4 of Hollywood movie star Patrick Dempsey and open-wheeler veteran Tonis Kasemets was unfortunately sidelined after being involved in an incident on lap three. The third round of the championship will be run at the Homestead Miami Speedway on April 28, with the team targeting the top step of the podium.

Aston Martin’s partnership with Young Driver AMR yielded six race wins in the FIA GT1 World Championship during 2010 and 2011, so its was fitting that the German squad should have the privilege of giving the new Vantage GT3 its competitive debut as the relationship progresses to encompass a full ADAC GT Masters programme. The driver pairing of Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck – sons of celebrated German racer Hans-Joachim Stuck – missed out on a top-ten result after being handed a five second penalty after race two, instead netting 16th in the highly competitive series.

Nygaard and Poulsen, meanwhile, proved the Vantage GT3’s potential with eighth in race one – during which the crew also prevailed in the amateur category – and 11th in race two. Young Driver AMR now looks ahead to round two of the series on May 5/6 at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

The Nürburgring has become a second home for Aston Martin’s Vantage, the most sporting car in the marque’s model line up. The V8-powered coupe has competed at the punishing German circuit since 2006; its championship glory in the VLN series in the hands of Team Mathol Racing last year proved the car’s enduring competitive qualities. Victory in round one of the 2012 championship for Team Mathol Racing suggests that the outfit will mount a stern title defence this season. Of the top nine SP10 class finishers at the opening VLN race, five were Aston Martin Vantage GT4s.

John Gaw, Managing Director of Aston Martin Racing, said: “I’m delighted at the results this weekend from all our partner teams, including those in Grand-Am, but of particular significance were those of Young Driver AMR on the race debut of the new Vantage GT3. Winning the amateur class first time out was really important to us as one of the design principles of the car was to make it easy to drive for all standards of driver.

“The second main design principle of the new Vantage GT3 was to build a car that does not need expensive upgrades annually to increase performance. We ran this weekend with the most recent version of the FIA Balance Of Performance criteria, which added weight to the car and restricted the engine’s performance. Therefore, the Vantage GT3 clearly has lots more potential and we’ll continue to work with the FIA to achieve the correct Balance Of Performance.”

David King, Aston Martin’s Head of Motorsport, added: “To have three different racing versions of Vantage, including the brand new V12 Vantage GT3, performing so strongly at the start of the season is a stunning endorsement of the capabilities of the base road car. Aston Martin's super-stiff and lightweight bonded aluminium platform and ideal weight distribution makes the perfect base for a competitive race car – most clearly demonstrated by the continuing success of the almost standard Vantage GT4."

Aston Martin was also represented in the Japanese Super GT series at Okayama and the European Le Mans Series at the Six Hours of Le Castellet, France. Triple A and Gulf Racing AMR each campaigned a Vantage GT2 – the predecessor to the Vantage GTE that forms the basis of Aston Martin Racing’s factory FIA World Endurance Championship campaign – with the former scoring 11th in class and the latter a fine fourth in the GTE Am category, despite a 25 minute delay following a collision with a prototype racer.

The Vantage GT3 will make its UK debut this Easter weekend in the hands of Beechdean Motorsport at Oulton Park as it tackles round one of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship. The factory Aston Martin Racing team, meanwhile, will compete in the second of its three scheduled American Le Mans Series races at Long Beach, California, on April 14 with the works Vantage GTE.

Aston Martin

Gulf AMR Middle East’s GT2 Vantage will return to Le Mans for the Aston Martin Racing Festival.
Young British driver, Archie Hamilton will drive the Vantage whilst team owner Roald Goethe will pilot the teams DBR9 GT1 entry.

The 45 minuet  Aston Martin exclusive race will take place before the start of the main endurance event with practice and qualifying sessions in the preceding days.

“I’m very grateful to Roald for the opportunity to take part in such a great event in a fantastic car,” said Haimton. “I raced at Le Mans in the Porsche support race in 2010 so I’m very excited to be back. My goal is to race in the main event in 2013 which will be the 60thanniversary of my grandfather’s win, and this race is the best preparation possible.”

The two Gulf liveried cars are expected to be joined by over 30 other Aston Martins including another GT1 DBR9 and the new V12 Vantage GT3.

Commenting on plans for the team’s Aston Martin Vantage, Team owner Roald Goethe said, “We still have the Aston Martin and it’s likely that we will run in a few individual races in, for example, the European Le Mans Series or maybe even the WEC, but it depends very much on budgets and personal time commitments. We hope to have this finalised soon.”

Entered as an official partner team for Gulf Oil International and Aston Martin Racing in 2011, the Gulf AMR Middle East entry was driven by team owners Mike Wainwright, Roald Goethe and experienced French driver, Fabien Giroix. The team entered the full ILMC season including an impressive 4th in class at Petit Le Mans.

Image: Richard Leach

After nine hours and 35 minutes of intense competition and 332 laps of the 2.54 mile Road Atlanta track, the No. 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage finished fourth in the GTE-Am category of Petit Le Mans, the penultimate round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

The result is the best ever finish for the team and is all the more remarkable as its drivers Fabien Giroix and Mike Wainwright completed the race between them – the only team to use just two drivers instead of three in the notoriously challenging 1000 Mile Petit Le Mans event.

With a 52-strong field of the cream of international sports car racing, spread across six categories, there were multiple incidents and accidents and ten full course caution periods.  The Gulf Oil International liveried car avoided trouble and controversy, unlike so many of its fellow competitors, and took the chequered flag virtually unmarked.  The only delays experienced were attention to a brake problem early in the race and a stop for new brake pads in the final hour of the race.

The team’s quick attention to the brake issue in the first hour was, ironically, hampered by eventual race winners Peugeot Sport.  The Gulf Racing team was situated behind Peugeot Sport in the busy paddock and when the team returned to their garage area, they discovered their awning flooded with Peugeot diesel which required the attentions of the fire brigade to clean it up.  The lingering fumes were still adversely affecting some team members at the end of the race.

Team owner Mike Wainwright was delighted with the result:  “It was certainly an interesting experience!  Physically it wasn’t as hard to do the race between us as I might have expected, and we were lucky it was cooler than earlier in the week, but it did require a massive amount of concentration.  You have to spend so much time looking in your mirrors to avoid the fast prototypes, or even the faster GT cars, and we had one or two small brushes but the car looks pretty intact.  It’s a shame about the brake problems we had otherwise we might have finished on the podium, but I’m very pleased with the result.” 

Fabien Giroix echoed his team mate’s comments:  “It wasn’t so hard although the traffic was bad all the way through the race.  At the rear of the car we didn’t see so well, but physically it wasn’t a big problem.  We are pleased with the result but we weren’t as fast as we should have been and had a problem at the beginning of the race which lost us the chance for a podium, but we did the best we can do.  The car looks fresh and not so bad.”

The team’s next race will be the final round of the ILMC in Zhuhai, China on Saturday, 12^th November.

The Gulf Racing GTE-Am entry today recorded its first classified finish in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, despite battling with a slight clutch problem throughout the six-hour race, to the delight of driver/owners Roald Goethe and Mike Wainwright and their professional team mate Fabien Giroix.  The team has battled against technical woes in the previous endurance rounds of the ILMC.


The Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage finished 8th in the GTE-Am category of the 6 Hours of Silverstone, and the class was won by the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche of Raymond Narac and Nicolas Armindo.

Frenchman Fabien Giroix took the start of the race, and brought the No. 60 Gulf Oil International liveried car into the top six in class, dodging rain showers along the way, until handing over to Roald Goethe at just under the hour mark and during the only official safety car period.  Goethe survived a brief off-track excursion and duly passed the wheel of the Aston Martin to Mike Wainwright, the Swiss-based British driver enjoying the company of family and friends at the iconic British track.

Wainwright did a solid job to complete his double stint – the only double of the race for the Gulf Racing team – and got into a good rhythm amongst the multi-class field.  Before the end of the race both Goethe and Giroix, both Dubai, UAE residents, cycled through the car one more time before the chequered flag.
Roald Goethe said afterwards:  “To be classified at the same time as all our competitors, which we weren’t in Spa despite crossing the finish line, feels really good.  It can only get better from here.  In my first stint, it started well and I was happy with my times but I had a bit of a spin in one of the hairpins which lost us a few laps.  In my second stint I was much more comfortable and I think my times reflected that.”

Mike Wainwright:  “I’ve got to say it was good to start and good to finish!  We’ve got things to learn and lots of work to do on the car but it was okay.”  When asked about the busy 39-car field, and how much that might have affected his own race, he commented:  “To be honest I didn’t find the traffic that bad.  I used the mirrors and looked left and right and generally thought the traffic was sensible.  If I saw a car behind me that I thought could pass, I let them go and wasn’t stupid; it was quite manageable.  Silverstone is a long circuit and you see them coming and you can plan accordingly.  It was enjoyable and nice to drive at my ‘home’ circuit…again, to start and finish was great.”

Fabien Giroix:  “The team did a great job in the pit stops but we had a lot of problems with the car during the weekend and we have to work really hard before the next race.    We haven’t got much time because the car has to leave quickly for the United States.  I hope we can improve the car because there’s a lot to do on the chassis handling.”
The team’s next race will be the penultimate round of the ILMC, Petit Le Mans, at the Road Atlanta track in Georgia USA on Saturday, 1st October.

Image  - R Leach

Aston Martin Racing will start the Autosport 6 Hours, round five of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, from 12th on the grid after difficult and changeable weather conditions in today’s qualifying session. The team’s Gulf-liveried DBR1-2 LMP1 clocked a best time of 1m52.151s in the hands of Mexican Adrian Fernandez, who will share the #007 car with Austrian Christian Klien and Swiss Harold Primat in tomorrow’s event.

With the 25-minute session beginning in damp conditions, Fernandez started on slick tyres to give the team the best chance with changeable weather looming but opted to pit with seven minutes remaining. The team decided against sending the car out due to worsening conditions.

Fernandez said: “We went out early because we thought that was our best chance. It started raining so to get a lap in it was better to do it early. My tyres were very cold and I really struggled in the first few laps to get them up to temperature. It was really a short margin because it started to rain harder towards the end. The main thing for us is to drive tomorrow – it’s practice for everybody and hopefully we can have a solid race, be at the end and have a good result.”

In the closely-fought GT classes, the Jota Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 of Brits Chris Buncombe, Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock qualified 11th in GT-Pro, with a best time of 2m03.433s, while the Gulf AMR Middle East Vantage GT2 of Fabien Giroix (F), Roald Goethe (D) and Michael Wainwright (GB) took seventh in GT-Am with a 2m06.976s.

Meanwhile, in the GT1 World Championship, Young Driver AMR experienced the biggest success in the team’s history at the inaugural race in Beijing. The German Aston Martin team took a double victory in the qualifying race and again in the championship race in very difficult wet conditions. Stefan Mücke (D) and Darren Turner (GB) claimed their first win of the season in a championship race in their Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 and came second in the qualifying race, while Alex Müller (D) and Tomas Enge (CZ) won the qualifying race and finished second in the championship race in the Gulf-liveried Aston Martin DBR9. With the dominant performance in China, Young Driver AMR leads the teams’ championship with the final round to come in Argentina.

The Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone starts at 1135 BST tomorrow (Sunday). Radio Le Mans will be broadcasting live race coverage at www.radiolemans.com and Aston Martin updates can be found at www.astonmartinracing.com with additional behind the scenes updates on Facebook; www.facebook.com/astonmartin and through Twitter at www.twitter.com/astonmartin.

Image R Leach

After opting to miss the Imola round of the ILMC due to needing to completely rebuild the car after their race ending accident at Le Mans, Gulf AMR Middle East have begun testing in preparation for the Silverstone round of the championship. Aston Martin Racing factory driver Andy Meyrick was on hand to help the team shake down the car at Donington Park.









Video: Gulf AMR Middle East

There were more than twelve hours of great racing, a GTE-Am class lead and no mechanical issues with the Aston Martin Vantage, but the dream of a successful finish in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Gulf Aston Martin team ended early and in a dramatic fashion.

An accident at the Porsche Curves at just after 0330 hrs, while British driver Mike Wainwright was at the wheel for the second hour of his night time double stint, resulted in the retirement of the No. 60 entry. Wainwright was taken to the local Le Mans hospital for full medical checks and has been diagnosed with a broken rib. He will be returning home later today.

With engine-related issues having prevented the Gulf Aston Martin Middle East team from taking the start of both the previous rounds of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the team was delighted with opening hours of the French classic. Not only did Fabien Giroix race the Gulf Oil International-liveried GT car very competitively for over 2.5 hours against the other nine entries in the GTE-Am class, he also led the class and – backed up very competently by Mike Wainwright in his first two-hour stint – was rarely out of contention in the first quarter of the race.

New and aggressive rumble strips, designed to keep cars off the kerbs at Tertre Rouge, the Dunlop curves and Ford Chicanes, claimed the No. 60 as a victim (one of many) while taking avoiding action of another car, but unfortunately this meant that the front splitter was damaged. Roald Goethe was forced to bring the Aston Martin in for a long stop as the carbon fibre part had to be replaced. The team lost its position of dominance but was running consistently as hour thirteen ticked over and cooler, more uncertain track conditions greeted the drivers.

The Aston Martin Vantage was officially retired at 0400 hrs, but the dream of co-owners of the Dubai-based team - Frederic Fatien, Roald Goethe, Jean-Pierre Valentini and Mike Wainwright - is surely one to be fulfilled at a later stage.

Gulf AMR Middle East

Aston Martin Racing’s remaining customer teams continued successfully through the night at La Sarthe.

After a safety-car period of two hours and 20 minutes due to an incident with a front runner, the Gulf AMR Middle East was running well in the GTE-Am class.

Driven by Fabien Giroix, Mike Wainwright and Roald Goethe, the car unfortunately retired from the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at 0400 hours following an accident at the Porsche Curves.

The V8-powered car had been running faultlessly but sustained too much damage to continue.

After 19 hours of problem-fee running, the Kronos Racing/MarcVDS Aston Martin V12-powered DBR1-2 is running in 8th place.

Kronos Racing/MarcVDS Team Principal Marc van Dalen said: "We are very happy with our progress - we have had no problems at all. Everything has been perfect. I am trying to slow our drivers down because we cannot catch the car in front. We had a pre-race plan to get to the finish and we need to stick to that plan."

Aston Martin Racing

The Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage of Fabien Giroix, Mike Wainwright and Roald Goethe remains in touch with the lead of the GTE-Am class and has headed the time sheets on several occasions in the first quarter of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fabien Giroix led the charge from the start and moved from 6th to 4th place on the first lap. He completed a superb triple stint – which included a long period under the Safety Car while repairs were being made to barriers after a huge accident which befell Allan McNish. The whole team was relieved to see the Scot walk away from the destroyed Audi and wishes Allan well.

By the time the Frenchman pitted the Aston Martin at 1838 hrs to hand over to Mike Wainwright, he had built up a lead of one minute over his nearest rival. The English driver, who is making his debut at Le Mans, drove a double stint and posted some very competitive times but, despite being congratulated by his team mates, was shaking his head as he exited the car.

“I think I made too many mistakes,” he said ruefully. “I really enjoyed it and my times were not bad until the tyres were starting to go off but I’m still struggling with a few areas of the track, especially Tertre Rouge where I had a spin. I lost us too much time because of those mistakes.”

Roald Goethe has now made his entry to the race, and the team is currently 6th in class.

Gulf AMR Middle East

The Gulf Aston Martin Middle East GTE-Am entry, the No. 60 Aston Martin Vantage featuring the iconic racing colours of Gulf Oil International, has completed two days of practice and qualifying in both daylight and darkness for this weekend’s forthcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans race – the team’s first entry to the twice-round-the-clock endurance classic in the La Sarthe region of France.

Drivers Fabien Giroix, Roald Goethe and Mike Wainwright experienced the highs and lows of top level sports car racing over the two days, all thoroughly relishing time on the famous 14km track. Despite ten hours of track time being scheduled, there were nevertheless frustrating hold ups and interruptions due to incidents and accidents up and down the paddock. The team themselves lost some valuable track time on Wednesday night after a racing incident involving an Audi prototype temporarily side-lined the Aston Martin. Despite this, the car has run steadily and all three drivers completed their mandatory qualifying laps in preparation for the race.

Asked about how the car was performing for the weekend ahead, professional driver and long time co-driver to the team’s co-owners Fabien Giroix said: “I did just two of three laps towards the end of the session and the set up of the car is good. If we had the chance for more laps on Wednesday and Thursday for sure it would have been better but what we have done is enough. I think we have a car now that’s easy to drive and very consistent, which is the most important thing for Roald and Mike. It’s their first time at Le Mans and they need to be completely confident with the car. We made some small set up adjustments Thursday night to give us the best possible chance of this.”

After completing his mandatory night laps yesterday, and with just two days to go until the start of the race, Roald Goethe of Germany reflected on the week’s activities and build up: “I am still very much taking in the atmosphere of this big event but it’s fabulous. It’s very hard sometimes to find a quiet 5 or 10 minutes in the middle of this ‘circus’ but I’ve tried to keep my composure and treat the experience as both serious and fun at the same time, tried to be relaxed and enjoyed it behind the steering wheel. Once you’re out there on the track it all starts to sink in that it’s the real deal. What is it about Le Mans that creates this? I think it’s the size of the event, the long and gradual build up, the huge number of people and the constant attention; I am starting to really look forward to it now.”

Mike Wainwright has found that, so far, his experiences of Le Mans have both met and exceeded his expectations: “Practice was more incident-packed than I expected, on our part and in general; I can’t remember watching a practice in the past where there were so many crashes. From our perspective the three of us have qualified, the car seems to be set up nicely, we’re confident for the race and it’s now a question of taking it easy, being consistent, and staying on the black stuff. You never know what will happen in the race then.”

Asked about his view on the build up to the race, the British driver said, “As a spectator in the past, the number of people here on a Thursday maybe isn’t such a surprise, but the difference between yesterday and today when you look in the grandstands is noticeable, the atmosphere is building and you can sense the excitement in the crowds. If you look at the classes they are all so competitive, and you can feel that people are expecting a very close race.”

There is no track action today, Friday, and the team is now preparing the car for tomorrow’s 3pm start.

Gulf AMR ME

After a challenging start to its Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) season, Gulf AMR Middle East now heads to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans looking for a fresh start, a smooth run up to the race and, most importantly, a finish in the world’s most famous sports car race.

‘Gulf AMR Middle East’ is the official entry of the UAE-based Gulf Racing team, and the Aston Martin Vantage GT2 represents the iconic racing colours of Gulf Oil International in the GTE-Am category of the 2011 ILMC. The team is owned by Frédéric Fatien, Roald Goethe, Jean-Pierre Valentini and Mike Wainwright and is an evolution of the Gulf Team First organisation which ran in the 2010 FIA GT2 European Cup and, earlier this year, entered the Dunlop 24H Dubai race.



Entered as an official partner team for Gulf Oil International and Aston Martin Racing, the Gulf AMR Middle East entry will be driven by Frenchman Fabien Giroix, Mike Wainwright of Britain and German Roald Goethe. The two gentlemen drivers gained valuable experience in international competition during 2010, most notably in the FIA GT2 European Cup, GT3, the Spa 24 Hours, selected rounds of the French GT Championship and the final two rounds of the inaugural ILMC series.



Mike Wainwright speaks on behalf of all Gulf Racing’s owners when he says of the team’s entry to the ILMC: “With the introduction in 2011 of the GT Pro-Am format, we all felt that the ILMC offered us a unique opportunity to indulge our passion for GT racing and to be competitive at the highest level. Furthermore, the potential exposure we can gain from competing in the ILMC and, of course, at Le Mans will benefit the team commercially for the future.

“Obviously Le Mans is always the target and the race every GT entrant wants to be in but, on the other hand, we are amateur drivers who wish to improve and the best way to do that is to drive and the longer the race the better! Time permitting, our aim is to maintain our entry and take part in this race annually.”

The team will be under the guiding hands of legendary motorsport team owner and manager, David Price. With his small, tight-knit team of technicians, Price has – in the two opening rounds of the ILMC – had to battle against technical issues not of the team’s making which prevented them from doing more than a handful of laps at Sebring and not quite 70% of the Spa 1000 Km.

He comments: “It hasn’t been the easiest of preparations for Le Mans but we had a good test day there at the end of April and all the drivers had plenty of time to get used to the track. Having said that, you can never underestimate the task ahead at Le Mans. We go into the race as well prepared as we can be you also very aware that anything can happen at any time. As long as we can avoid any major incidents and remain patient, I’m confident we could achieve a good solid result for the team.”

The 79th running of the twice-round-the-clock endurance classic takes place on 11/12th June starting and finishing at 1500 hours. Ten hours of practice take place over two days before the race, beginning on Wednesday afternoon at 1600 hours.

Images via l'endurance

Exclusive incar and pit action from the 1000km of SPA race in Belgium, see the engine change at high speed, Fabien letting a Ferrari driver know his feelings and much more...



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Gulf AMR Middle East’s Fabien Giroix, Roald Goethe and Mike Wainwright suffered from the slings and arrows of technical misfortune today at the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, but battled back brilliantly to finish the 6-hour race and get some valuable racing laps under their belts before the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

An engine problem on the Aston Martin Vantage was detected just before morning warm up which resulted in an engine change – the first time the David Price-managed crew had had to perform the task within such time confines. With just four hours available, the team did a magnificent job to complete the work and get Fabien Giroix out on the track, albeit six laps down. Unfortunately an alternator issue delayed the team further but, when the No. 60 car – bearing the iconic blue and orange racing colours of Gulf Oil International – finally entered the race it continued trouble free to the chequered flag. The team were not classified, however, as the lost time in the pits meant they were not able to complete the regulation 75% of the overall winner’s race distance.

All three drivers had competed at the famous 7km Spa track previously, and used that experience profitably to produce consistently competitive lap times throughout the race. Above all, everyone within the Gulf AMR Middle East team was happy to have made their race debut in the ILMC, as Mike Wainwright explained.

“It was nice to get some miles under the belt,” said the Swiss-based businessman who drove the final two hours of the race. “It was great to be racing here at Spa and, in terms of grip levels, the car was good. This was the first time for us amongst such a big field with substantial speed differences between the classes, but the marshals were great and you could see the blue flags easily. It was mostly the Peugeots and Audis you had to get out of the way of, but other than that it wasn’t too bad.”

German driver, Roald Goethe, completed the middle section of the race (which included the only safety car period) and was equally happy to have raced at Spa. “I think you could say it was a practice session in competition, as we had nothing to compete for other than laps having unfortunately missed the first 90 minutes of the race. The moment you are out there, you forgot about the frustration of the start and it only took me 2/3 laps to get into a rhythm and ‘taste’ the ILMC race. It was great to get these laps and we now feel much more confident for Le Mans.”

Final word goes to Team Manager, David Price, who was fulsome in his praise for the Gulf AMR Middle East crew. “Everyone tells me you can’t change an engine in one of these cars in less than 7 hours and I told them they had four. It was the first time we had this group of mechanics together, including three new crew members, and it was the first time we’d done an engine change in the field. They did a sterling job and, as Roald says, performed some magic.”

Elsewhere the Barwell-engineered Beechdean Aston scores a podium in round 1 of British GT (27 April 2011)

The Barwell Motorsport Belgian GT squad was back in action last weekend, for round two of the Belcar Endurance Championship – a race of 125 minutes around Zolder. We kicked off the season in fine style first time out at Zolder with a third place podium result for the Petronas-Barwell Racing entry, but the Aston Martin DBRS9 is not well suited to Zolder’s tight chicanes and we knew it was going to be tough to repeat that result. With the front-running pace in Belcar getting hotter and hotter and none of our rivals suffering any mechanical problems, we were thus happy to come away with fifth place and keep drivers Tim Verbergt and Jeffrey Van Hooydonk up in third spot in the championship standings. This puts them well placed as we head off to Spa for the next round in June, a track which is a happy hunting ground for the Aston Martin DBRS9.

We also had an interest in two other cars running in two other different locations over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, with the Barwell-engineered Beechdean Aston DBRS9 GT3 contesting the British GT opener at Oulton Park, and the Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage GT2 (which is co-prepared by Barwell technicians) attending the official Le Mans 24 Hour test day. Barwell MD, Mark Lemmer, had provided the engineering and set-up plan to Beechdean in advance of Oulton, but then had to miss the qualifying day there as he was on Belcar duty at Zolder. However, with Zolder’s race finished by Sunday evening he was then able to hot-foot it back to Blighty, and get up to Cheshire for first thing on Monday to join the Beechdean squad for the Bank Holiday race day at Oulton! Mark then enjoyed running the car to a great third place for Beechdean’s Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam in the British GT season-opener. Barwell’s Engineering Director, Chris Weeden, meanwhile was at Le Mans looking after the Vantage GT2 for Sunday’s official test day. The Gulf AMR Middle East team’s Aston ran well during the test and recorded the fourth fastest time in the GTE Amateur class, ahead of the Team Jota Aston.

During last Friday’s free practice sessions at Zolder the Barwell engineers and drivers worked on further fine-tuning of the set up and performance of the Petronas/Aston Martin Brussels-backed DBRS9. This hard work paid off during Saturday’s official qualifying sessions, when Jeffrey Van Hooydonk hooked up a great lap to post a 1m31.1s time – a full 0.4s quicker than last time out on new Michelin tyres. This looked good enough to give us third position on the grid until a last-ditch effort by Anthony Kumpen in the Mercedes shaded our time by a mere 4/100ths of a second! Fourth was still a mighty effort at Zolder, however, and put us ahead of both of the WRT Racing Audis. As a measure of the high level of competitiveness of Belcar this year, two weeks ago our time would have put us on the front row of the grid, but the fastest two cars were now recording 1m30.3s laps – only a second slower than the FIA World GT1 Championship pack!

The outside of the grid is not an easy place to start at Zolder, and Jeffrey had to fight hard with the Verbist/Ide Audi as they ran side-by-side through the first two corners of the 125-minute race. The Audi just had the momentum to squeeze past, however, and demoted our Aston to fifth spot. Van Hooydonk was then the meat in an Audi sandwich as he also had the Longin/Maassen car breathing down his neck, but he comfortably had the pace to hold his ground whilst also keeping the pressure on Verbist in front. After 10 laps the Verbist/Ide Audi blinked first and made a mistake which allowed Jeffrey back up to fourth, and he was then able to start to eke out a small margin over the WRT team-mates. This set the pattern for our race, as we would continue to battle with the two Audis both on the track and in the pit lane over the course of the next two hours.

Jeffrey drove an absolutely stunning stint in the blistering heat, with his only issue being that he had to turn the car’s traction control system off as it was causing a slight misfire when switched on. Despite this he strung together lap after lap in the mid 1m33s bracket to stay ahead of the Audis before our first scheduled pit stop after 55 minutes. During the first round of pit visits (every car has to make a mandatory two stops) the leading Ford GT3 dropped back after it was taken over by a slower ‘gentleman’ driver – the only one in the top seven cars – but we got jumped by both Audis which had taken on less fuel. The net result of this was that we were now lying in fifth place with Tim Verbergt at the wheel, at the half way stage of the race.

The Barwell pit stop had included a full four-wheel change, which was completed with our usual speed and efficiency, although this time with a subtle ‘difference’ – Unfortunately on race day morning the No.1 mechanic and regular wheel changer on the car, Mike Brown, had been taken ill with a stomach bug and was unable to join the crew. To prove the strength in depth of our squad, he was replaced as a wheel changer by none other than team principal, Mark Lemmer, who had to leave his post on the pit wall (where he calls the race strategy), run across the pit lane and grab a wheel gun to change the right side wheels! However Mark was well drilled in this procedure, as he often takes part in the crew’s wheel change practice competitions back at the Barwell base.

Although the faster Audi pairing of Longin/Maassen in third place was able to move out of our reach during the middle phase of the race, Tim was able to keep the Verbist/Ide machine in his sights. Without any retirements amongst the leaders, the focus of our race was now this fight over fourth place, as we also had no threat from behind with the GPR Racing Aston DBRS9 dropping back over a minute away from us. When Tim came in to the pits to hand back the reins to Jeffrey there was a little over half an hour remaining, and we had a 15-second deficit to the fourth-placed Audi. To try and help Jeffrey take the fight to the Verbist/Ide car we fitted a new pair of front tyres on (as planned), as we were concerned that the existing fronts could lose significant performance in the heat over a long stint. The penalty for this was an extra eight seconds in the pits, which we would comfortably get back in track time. The Audi, however, is easier on its tyres and they didn’t change any at their final stop, but Verbist could still match Jeffrey’s pace during the closing stages of the race and thus keep hold of the Audi’s fourth place.

NEXT RACES:

BELCAR
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS JUNE 17/18

BRITISH GT
SNETTERTON MAY 14/15

LE MANS SERIES
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS MAY 7/8