A great shame to read today that former Aston Martin Racing young gun, Richie Stanaway has elected to hang up his race suit and helmet at the end of this year.

Formerly a single seater racer, Kiwi Stanaway became a firm fan favourite and hot lap qualifying expect during his days as an AMR factory driver in the World Endurance Championship as well as in guesting roles for other AMR's customer cars in events such as the European Le Mans Series and British GT.


Last featuring as a full AMR driver in the 2016 season when he shared the sometimes Valero livered #97 V8 Vantage GTE with Fernando Rees and Alex MacDowall (amongst many others during his time with the Prodrive based team) he then went on to return home to compete in the Australian V8 Supercars Series leaving his established and successful GT pathway behind.

We will remember him fondly for his actions at the WEC round at Silverstone in '16 where an engine blowup put his car out of the race only for him to catch one of the many circuit buses that transport fans between the two pit lanes and back to his garage - cool as a cucumber, helmet still on and visor down without saying a word!!

We last saw him when his raced the #96 RoFGO GTE in the ELMS on that same double header weekend at Silverstone in 2016 with Roald Goethe and Stuart Hall when they could have/should have won the race before eventually finishing P4 after a post race penalty was applied for an incident during Stanway's final stint.


His return to V8 racing back home didn't really go to plan with accident and incident blighting his race and championship performances, compounded more recently with personal injury that it is presumably that has lead to this decision.

A post on his Instagram page reads "After wearing a helmet for 23 years, I feel it's time to make this announcement. I never thought my career in motorsport would be so short".


"It's not a decision I take lightly, but it's like that. I have gone further than I ever imagined and I will never be able to thank enough everyone who has been with me. It's time for me to open a new chapter. "

Good luck to this young man in whatever he choses to do after this!

Photo credits - Social media / AMR

Anyone attending the opening round of the 2016 European Le Mans Series at Silverstone last week would have one of the series most intriguing and eventful races seen for a long time.

In terms of the Aston Martin Racing entered teams the weeks leading up to this event had already paid witness to the failing of 'best laid plans' in terms of 2015 GTC Champions TDS Racing withdrawing both their ELMS and LM24 entry prior to the series official test at Paul Ricard, then there was the swapping out of AMR factory driver Jonny Adam from both the Beechdean entered ELMS car as well as the factory WEC entry in favour of his customer team commitments before a surprise confirmation of a late, one off entry for the Gulf Racing's RoFGo Collection V8 Vantage GTE - a move that once again brought the AMR back to the envisaged two cars for Silverstone.


Full season entrant Beechdean Motorsport were there with their familiar liveried #99 blue and white GTE-X2 chassis with a now revised driver line up of team boss Andrew Howard with Alex MacDowall now racing alongside AMR factory driver Darren Turner who took the place of Jonny Adam for the Silverstone event only.

In the garage next door saw the welcome return to ACO rules racing for what we believe to be a one off entry (at the moment) for the #96 RoFGo V8 Vantage GTE of Roald Goethe along with his long term hired hand and driver coach Stuart Hall with the addition of AMR's factory driver Richie Stanaway.

With the event taking place in mid April the weather at the Northamptonshire track is not always conducive to 'unhindered' motor sport with both of Friday's Free Practice sessions being a mixture of very wet and wet track conditions. As with any AMR car having little/no running time on any of the new for 2016 Dunlop wet and intermediate tyres these conditions at least gave the teams some critical live test data from which to work but despite that dilemma the two Astons were at the head of the timing screens in FP1 and both mid table for FP2!


Come Saturday morning the continuing wet weather had turned exceptionally cold to a point were snow was actually falling (but not settling) with the final WEC practice session due before the ELMS GTE Qualifying session being abandoned due to the track conditions!

Indeed by the time the ten minute ELMS GTE qualifying session started driving conditions were awful with heavy spray as well as little/no type temperature being maintained but despite this it was Richie Stanaway who mastered the conditions best to secure the #96 Gulf Racing car the GTE class pole. The #99 Beechdean would start their race further back in seventh in class.

Once the 45 car field choreographed themselves onto the starting grid outside the National Pits the skies had cleared, air and track temperatures had risen (slightly) to allow for a start on at worst a damp track. The anomalies of the Silverstone configuration meant that the grid would form on the National straight but the race would begin (and finish) on the International Pit Straight outside the Wing building. Two formation laps were the order as these were the first 'dry' laps any of these cars had completed over the weekend.


Chaos ensued with the grid immediately at the start line when an LMP2 car hit the pit wall just as two or three LMP3 cars got a bit too excited on cold tyres spinning off immediately in front of the causing GTE pack causing pole setting Gulf Racing car of Stuart Hall needing to take avoiding action. Fortunately for all there was no significant damage for those involved and there followed some of the best racing and car craft seen from Hall and the chasing Alex MacDowall in the Beechdean for many races with MacDowall securing the then fastest GTE lap time during the first hour of his double stint.

Being next door to one another the timings of the pit stops would be critical for both Aston teams, particularly Beechdean as their pit bay was beyond that of the Gulf car.

Pitting for tyres and fuel slightly earlier than their chasing adversaries the #96 and #99 cars would find themselves P3 and P4 respectively to one another at the top of the first hour just as the first FCY was issued for a spinning car - positions that would allow for some very close racing for the next hour before their ensuing driver change pit stops.


Turner was next up in the #99 and he would be up against Roald Goethe in the #96 - an unfair balance we know but that allowed for the #99 to move ahead and clear of the not just the #96 but also the chasing JMW and AT Racing Ferrari's to lead the GTE class for the first time.


Coming into the final hour of the four hour ELMS opener the lead opened up by Turner in the #99 Beechdean was lost at their final pit stop and driver change that allowed team Boss Andrew Howard to finally get in the car but a 10-15 second problem with Howard's belts or driver radio connection delayed the car enough to allow the JMW Ferrari to take the class lead. Over in the #96 garage pole setter Richie Stanaway climbed aboard the RoFGo car for his stint to chase down the AT Racing Ferrari that was now ahead of them.

At the chequered flag however it would be the JMW Ferrari who would cross the line first one lap ahead of the Beechdean. An apparent last corner banzai move by Stanaway saw the #96 grab third from the AT Racing car that would end up at one point in the gravel at Club before being able to take the chequered flag.

That was the result as it first appeared but the incident between the #96 and #55 at Club would be immediately investigated and the #96 would be adjudged to have been the cause of an avoidable collision and would be awarded a four minute time penalty - a penalty that effectively swapped the finishing positions of those two cars.

Further to that and following post race scrutineering the #66 JMW Ferrari would be excluded from the results for running a non homologated part on their car. The error on JMW's part would move the Beechdean up from second to first and the #96 Gulf Racing car back into third!

All in all not a bad day at the ELMS for the Aston Martin guys!!


The teams will now have a months break before round two of the 2016 European Le Mans series starts at Imola, Italy over the 15/16th May.

In the topsy turvy world of motor racing the occupiers of each step of the podium at the end of each race are not always those who will retain that accolade.

Overnight and following the completion of the post race scrutineering, the opening round of the European Le Mans Series race winners JMW Motorsport were adjudged to have infringed the rules in regards to their front splitter and have been excluded from the results.


That means second placed Beechdean Motorsport's V8 Vantage GTE of Andrew Howard, Darren Turner and Alex MacDowall have been elevated to race winners for round one. That in turn raises Gulf Racings V8 Vantage GTE of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Riche Stanaway back up to third - the position they had earlier been demoted from for their last lap avoidable collision incident.


Its a funny old game and a real shame for the JMW team.

Race report to follow.

The trials and tribulations of series organisers managing to slot the opening rounds of the national, european and world sports car championships onto the same weekend have been well document and moaned about.

As a first, and strictly upon the presentation of cupious amounts of Haribo (or other suitable sweet confectionary) we at The-Advantage have secured the services of a very kind sole who has agreed to bring us details of all the happenings at the opener of the British GT Championship down at Brands Hatch whilst we will be over at Silverstone for the openers of the ELMS and WEC.

Lets just hope the internet stands up to all the motorsport traffic that will be flowing around the world this weekend.

Freshly lifted from the European Le Mans Series Spotters Guide for this weekend's event are the expected liveries for both the #96 and #99 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE's.

The #99 Beechdean car differs in allocated drivers to what is listed above mind following the disappointing withdrawal of Beechdean stalwart Jonny Adam from the car earlier this week in favour of his customer team commitments at Brands Hatch. He however will be replaced by fellow AMR driver and birthday boy Darren Turner for the Silverstone round. There may also be a tub of ice cream missing from the ELMS design!

Then in addition to the full season series entry sees the return of Roald Goethe and his 2015 AMR Vantage GTE that he and Stuart Hall would have raced in the WEC last year with Francesco Castellacci. They will be joined for this race by another AMR factory driver in Richie Stanaway in the more iconically liveried blue and orange colours of Gulf Racing that AMR will again prepare for this expected on off event.

Photo credit - ELMS 

Apparently sneaking in under the radar during the April Fool frivolities earlier this week a second Aston Martin Racing GTE has maybe found its way onto the Silverstone entry list for the opening round of the European Le Mans Series that kicks off there in just two weeks time.

The #96 car will be prepared by the AMR factory but will be entered under the Gulf Racing banner for drivers Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Richie Stanaway. Having endured a very (literally) painful WEC season in 2015 Goethe decided to step away from ACO rules racing in favour of the Creventics International Endurance Series events that he and Hall have enjoyed with the Ram Racing team and their AMG GT3.

This car is a very welcome return to the european series following the full withdrawal of the much anticipated TDS Racing Vantage GTE immediately prior to the ELMS Prologue at the Paul Ricard circuit last week.

The #96 Gulf Racing GTE will now compete against new full season entrants Beechdean Motorsport with Andrew Howard, Jonny Adam and Alex MacDowall and will be competition that I'm sure they will welcome.


The Gulf Racing car is also obliged to run on the class spec Dunlop tyres so it will be curious to find out the level of experience both Goethe and Hall have on the new 2016 control rubber as they finished the 2015 WEC season on Michelins and then moved to Hankooks in the Creventic Series. There is also the question of livery colours!!

Unfortunate ongoing technical issues with the ELMS web site prevents any further or clearer entry lists being downloaded.

Photo credits - AMR / Richard Leach

Aston Martin Racing will have a front-row lock-out in the GTE AM class of tomorrow’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Six Hours of Shanghai after a close qualifying session that saw an incredible inter-team fight.

In just his second WEC event, British driver Liam Griffin (GB) took the #96 Vantage GTE from team-mate Stuart Hall (GB) and, on his second flying lap, went quick enough take pole position. However, Paul Dalla Lana (CA) in the #98 Vantage GTE put his three years of WEC experience into play and, on his final lap, snatched the number one spot away to claim his team’s fourth pole of the year.

Dawn will soon be breaking for those sleeping in the shady of Mount Fuji, Japan and who are preparing to kick off round 6 of the 2015 World Endurance Series with the first of two Free Practice sessions this Friday morning.

Aston Martin Racing has once again dispatched its five V8 chargers to the land of the rising sun but with a slightly revised driver line to that of the last round with the hope that the post CoTA Balance of Performance re-adjustment will at least let the cars race competitively against their opposition instead of being left behind 'eating everyone else's dust' as was sadly the case in Austin.

With the Prodrive prepared cars now being allowed to re-increase its air restrictor size back to 40% of what it was pre Le Mans together with the slight weight increase imposed on the now domineering Porsche 911 RSR's, the FIA's hope is to re-merge the GTE field back into a pack for which its racing is renowned for.

We will wait and see whether or not these readjustments will have such an effect - opinion seems divided.



As for drivers Beechdean's British GT Champion Jonny Adam rejoins Darren Turner again in the #97 GTE Pro car as a pair whilst Stefan Mucke is relisted into the #99 car of Fernando Rees and Alex MacDowall to make up for Richie Stanaway who has been released by the team to continue in his GP2 duties in Russia this weekend.


Nikki Thiim is also missing again from the #95 Dane Train car (probably not to be seen again in it) leaving the much more accomplished driving duo of Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sorensen to pick up the Danish mantel again.

In GTE Am the #98 car line up remains the same whilst Roald Goethe is absent again from his #96 car as was the case in Austin. The third driver allocated to the #96 (for possibly more than just this event) is a certain Liam Griffin who competed with great effect with an Oman Racing V12 Vantage in this years British GT. This will be only the second time he has competitively driven a V8 GTE car following his 'baptism' in the Beechdean GTE at the Aston Martin Festival event at Le Mans this year.


Qualifying is due to start at 05.40hrs BST on Saturday 10th with the start of the race itself beginning at 03.00 BST on Sunday.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing / British GT

Aston Martin Racing returns to the USA this weekend for the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the Six Hours of the Circuit of the Americas, and brings in Benny Simonsen (DN) and welcomes back Jonny Adam (GB).

Simonsen, brother of former Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen, will race the #96 Gulf-liveried Vantage GTE in replacement of Roald Goethe (DE), while he attends important business commitments. The 31-year old, who tested with the team in 2014, will make his Aston Martin Racing works team debut this weekend.

“Giving up-coming talent an opportunity to step up to the top level of racing in the world is something that is important to our team,” commented Team Principal John Gaw. “Both have impressed this year with Jonny becoming the British GT Champion and Benny taking a class podium in Spa 24 Hours, so we’re looking forward to them joining the Aston Martin Racing works WEC team.”

Aston Martin Racing runs five Aston Martin Vantage GTEs in the WEC and, this weekend, cars #95, #96 and #98 will continue to carry the iconic Gulf livery while the #99 returns to the same Valero livery that it ran at Silverstone at the start of the year. The red and yellow Hanergy livery will be transferred onto the #97 Vantage GTE and all cars welcome new sponsor Spirent Communications to the team.

“We know we have a huge challenge ahead of us this weekend for all five of our cars,” continued Gaw. “We struggled at Nürburgring, as a result of the BoP changes, but our team always faces challenges with positivity and determination so we can get the best result possible.”


The ‘Six Hours of the Circuit of the Americas’ takes place on Saturday 19 September at 1700hrs local time.
Join in with the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #teamAMR.

Driver line-ups:

GTE PRO
95: Marco Sørensen, Christoffer Nygaard, Nicki Thiim
97: Darren Turner, Jonny Adam
99: Alex MacDowall, Fernando Rees, Richie Stanaway

GTE AM
96: Stuart Hall, Benny Simonsen, Francesco Castellacci,
98: Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda

Source material - Aston Martin Racing
Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing / British GT

Aston Martin Racing is upgrading its range of Vantage racing cars for 2016. Its three cars: the Vantage GTE, Vantage GT3 and Vantage GT4 feature a range of enhancements to improve their performance and durability.

The new Vantage GTE, which is used by the Aston Martin Racing works team in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), has been redesigned for the new 2016 GTE regulations. The car is currently undergoing its 2016 Balance of Performance (BOP) test with the FIA in France.

The new 2016 GTE regulations allow for significant changes to the car’s aerodynamics to increase downforce and reduce lap times. The most striking of these is the ability to fit an extended rear diffuser, which can now protrude 100mm beyond the rear of the car. The rear wing can also be extended to the same distance. At the front, the splitter has been redesigned to improve airflow under the car, to optimise the new diffuser.

“The FIA wants to increase the performance gap between GTE and GT3 and by focussing primarily on the underfloor aero, it means the cars still retain the identity of the road car,” said Dan Sayers, Aston Martin Racing technical director. “Also the focus on aero, rather than engine or mechanical changes, also means we avoid the need for extensive and costly endurance testing.”

Most of the body panels have been changed to improve the aerodynamics and there are distinctive new wing mirrors, which both improve driver visibility and the airflow over the new rear wing. All the aero and bodywork has been developed in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) by Aston Martin Racing in conjunction with Total SIM.

In preparation for the fourth round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship some twenty cars from across the LMP and GTE fields have converged on the Nurburgring circuit for a two day test.

Aston Martin Racing has sent a two car - eight driver line up for the test with the #95 Young Driver GTE Pro car running alongside the #98 GTE Am car. Nikki Thiim, Christoffer Nygaard, Marco Sorensen, Fernando Rees and Richie Stanaway will run the the Pro car whilst Paul Dalla-Lana, Mathias Lauda and Jonny Adam will run in the Am car.

As today featured a closed to the public and media paddock little information is known other than what can be sourced from social media. Day two tomorrow should see the media being allowed into the paddock along with public access beyond that of the main pit straight stand.

Marco Sorensen posted a nice little video clip from the test on Instagram today showing the 'challenging' conditions of the track here. Another video clip available on Youtube showed the #98 car being returned to the garage (undamaged) upon a flat bed so all did not run to order.

Hopefully more information and pictures shall become available tomorrow.

Confirmation of a two car and six driver Aston Martin Racing test at the Nurburgring 27/28th July here

In preparation for the WEC’s first visit to the Nürburgring, bringing the spirit of Le Mans to Germany, an open test session will take place on 28th July to which media and the general public are invited. 20 cars are due to take part in the test, representing all four classes of competition – LMP1, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am.

Further info can be found here