Champions made after final round of Japan Cup from Okayama
Whilst the #777 crew of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii’s endeavours within the main Championship again proved fraught within incident and accident resulting with another DNF on the opening lap of the first race and a distant P11 in Pro-Am finish at the end of race 2, it was the #47 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entry of Hoshino and Hama who eventually secured all the headlines.
Like any championship in any discipline – to win it, first you must finish it and that is precisely what the duo did within the four event – eight race format after the pair swapped from the Vantage GT3 platform in favour of their more usual GT4 format after the second round from Fuji International.
Not counting any championship points from those four opening races, their very inclusion and the omission of the other three crews within the Am class for the two remaining events all but secured the GT4 Am Drivers Championship having finished each of those four races with maximum points.
We just wonder what may have happened had they stayed within the GT3 Am Class?
The final Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the Earl Bamber Motorsport team saw Setiawan Santosa follow up his recent podium run with a pair of P4 finishes within his Am Class within the main series as that now moves onto Shanghai to round off another successful year in three weeks time.
Photo credits – Team / series
Photo credits – Team / series
Sunday, August 25, 2024 |
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D'Station Racing double success within GT World Challenge Asias Japan Cup
Full season entrants D’Station Racing were of course again in attendance with their #777 Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii but it was their sister #47 car of Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama who would again grab the headlines.
Having opened the Japan Cup sub class of the series within one of the team’s Vantage GT3’s, the ‘more senior’ drivers this time elected to run the third round of the Japan Cup within a Vantage GT4 having struggled last time out at Fuji Speedway, ending with a DNF.
Whilst the #777 car did do better than last time out with a P5 GT3 Pro-Am class finish at the end of race one on Saturday and a P9 finish at the end of Sunday’s closing GTWCAsia event, it was the separately running Japan Cup entry of the #47 car who scooped a pair of GT4 Am Class wins who grabbed the headlines for the AMR Partner team.
As far as Championship standings are concerned, the #777 GT3 Pro-Am crew now sit P13 in class with the #8 EMB car in P6 whilst in the Japan Cup, the #47 crew share both a fifth within GT3 Am and eleventh within GT4 Am.
Next round is at Okayama, Japan at the end of August.
Photo credits – Team / Series / Social media
Sunday, July 07, 2024 |
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Three Astons back for the next round of GT World Challenge Asia and Japan Cup at Suzuka
Three Aston Martin Racing Vantage teams are again listed upon the entry with the Earl Bamber Motorsport team double teaming this weekend with a car in Suzuka for their solo driver Setiawan Santosa in the #8 car as well as another AMR at the 24H Series visit to Misano in Italy.
They will again be joined by the pair of D’Station Racing AMR’s – the #777 for full season entrants of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii as well as their #47 Japan Cup (this time) Vantage GT4 entry for Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama.
Whilst it was a surprise podium finish (P3 in Am) for the #8 car in the second race of the Fuji Speedway round last time out, their local track of Fuji was to be more challenging for D’Station Racing team with a P7 in class the best result the #777 could offer in race one before early contact lead to a DNF in race two whilst the #47 crew could not repeat their successes of the opening round at Sugo to finish with a P4 and P5 within the Japan Cup Am Class.
Track action for all runners begins this Thursday with private testing before official sessions on Friday and Qualifying on Saturday morning. Race one of each GTWC Asia and Japan Cup grids will be at later on Saturday afternoon before their second races across midday on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, July 02, 2024 |
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Three Vantage GT3 powered crews at GT World Challenge Asias visit to Fuji
With Le Mans 24Hours otherwise keeping them from their GTWC Asia duties, the #777 D’Station Racing Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii returns after both Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama doubled for them at the opening round of the Japan Cup Sugo two weeks ago.
Despite being first time out within one of the teams new 2024 Vantage GT3’s, the Am class pairing did secure a P3 in class finish at the end of race 1 although that was countered with a DNF in race 2.
Whilst the #777 crew run again within the main body of the GT World Challenge Asia Series, the sister #47 Vantage GT3 for Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama will run within the sub-Japan Cup class alongside sixteen other GT3 and GT4 entries. There will be thirty-three cars running within the main GTWCAsia grid making for a very busy racetrack.
Completing the AMR trilogy at the event will be the return of the #8 Earl Bamber Motorsport prepared Vantage GT3 for solo racer Setiawan Santosa.
Photo credits – Teams / series
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 |
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D'Station Racing secure class podium win at first round of Japan Cup from Sumo
Around the world at Sportsland Sugo in Japan, there was a similar story unravelling for the solo D’Station Racing team running within the opening round of the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup.
With the teams usual pairing of Tomonobu Fujii and Satoshi Hoshino otherwise indisposed at Test Day at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this weekend’s undertakings was left to part of the teams former Super Taikyu Series runners in Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama to operate the #47 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 over the course of this weekend’s two one-hour races.
Undertaking a qualifying session apiece, the #47 Am Class entry would be starting the races from P6 and P7 respectively out of an entry list of fourteen GT3 and GT4 runners.
Whilst the pairing were able to start Sunday with a Class P3 podium win (P7 overall), they were not able to replicate that in race 2 as Hama pitted the car during the allotted pit window but the car was not seen out again.
The next round of the Japan Cup will be from the teams home track of Fuji Speedway in just two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Team / GTWC Asia
Sunday, June 09, 2024 |
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D'Station Racing see out the Super Taikyu Series on something of a high
Having already lost the ST-1 class to the #2 KS Frontier KTM crew at the penultimate round a couple of weeks ago, it was all change within the Fuji Speedway based team as they raced out the final four-hour event at their home track.
Within the team’s season long ST-1 class Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R saw just Max Orido see out the final round alongside his old teammate of Nobutera Taniguchi where the duo claimed class pole position for the first time this season. Having been always the bridesmaid to the #2 KTM, Fuji proved to be fortunate for the #47 car as, despite their driver grade time penalty being served, the duo were still able to come out to claim the cars maiden win of the season.
Whilst that did not change the Class Championship result, it did at least allow all to have a smile on their faces as the team’s #777 Vantage GT3 also came home with the usual GT8R crew aboard for the first time.
Running for the first time this season with Tatsuya Hoshino, Tsubasa Kondo, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons, saw the inexperience of the Vantage GT3 be compensated with their knowledge of the Fuji Speedway circuit to come home P7 in class together with the fastest lap of the race to see out the team’s domestic season on something of a high.
With the team about to confirm their new for 2024 Super GT driver line up as well as awaiting for confirmation of its continuation within the FIA World Endurance Championship, 2024 is again looking busy for the team as their continuation within the Super Taikyu Series goes without doubt.
Photo credit - Team
Monday, November 13, 2023 |
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All new driver line ups sees out the Super Taikyu Series for D'Station Racing team
Having followed within the wheel tracks of the #2 KS Frontier KTM X-Bow team for most of the season, the ST-1 class battle was finally conceded last time out at Okayama after the #47 Vantage GT8R crew of Max Orido, Kenji Hama, Jake Parsons and Tatsuya Hoshino again finished second to the #2 KTM crew.
This weekend we also see the return of the team’s #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for the first time this season within the ST-X Class but not with the usual ‘suspects’ behind the wheel.
This final race of the season will see Tatsuya Hoshino, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons step up to the GT3 for the first time alongside regular Super Taikyu #777 Tsubasa Kondo whilst the #47 Vantage GT8R will be driven by Max Orido and Nobuteru Taniguchi.
Photo credits - Team
Thursday, November 09, 2023 |
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And the low side of motorsport bites hard with two AMR teams
Whilst there was celebration within two Aston Martin Racing powered teams after Championship winning success in both the ADAC GT4 Germany and Michelin Le Mans Cup Series, there were also the complete opposites within another two as they were left to contemplate upon what might have been.
In Japan, the D’Station Racing team again fielded it Aston Martin Vantage GT8R within the penultimate round of their domestic Super Taikyu Series at Okayama. Needing nothing less than a class win to keep their ST-1 Class hopes alive, the #47 car of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama, and Jake Parsons again came second to the #2 KS Frontier KTM X-Bow crew at the end of that three-hour race.
That meant that the class battle was lost even before the series reached their home circuit at Fuji Speedway so in a twist of plan, the team have this week confirmed that just Orido and fresh driver Nobutera Taniguchi will race the final round at Fuji in mid-November.
With this, we just wonder if that selection is just some pre-cursor selection of drivers ahead of their recently confirmed return to the top-flight Super GT Series next season?
Then in Barcelona, the Belgian based Street Art Racing team returned to the Circuit de Catalunya for the final round of the International GT Open Series with their artfully decorated Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 that Pascal Bachman and Jahid Fazal Karim share within the Am Class.
Never Championship contenders mainly through their none, full season attendance for starters and then Karim’s first year within the GT3 for second, their long trip to Spain would be a painfully short one as the #007 car failed to start either race of the season finale.
Quoting heavy vibrations during Friday Practice into Saturday Qualifying, it was later found that one of the cars front engine support mounts had been damage and a large crack was developing as they clocked in the practice laps. With the repair time so long (not sure if the team even had the parts available to them), it was decided to wrap up their somewhat disjointed season from within their Spanish garage and consider what be around the corner for them next season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 |
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D'Station Racing needing a class win to bolster their Super Taikyu efforts this weekend
The Japanese Super Taikyu Series runs its penultimate round of the season as the multi-classed series undertake another three-hour round at Okayama with the D'Station Racing team again entering their Aston Martin Vantage GT8R within the ST-1 class.
Running in just a two-car class, the #47 car featuring Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons are again in the business of trying to limit the so far dominant KTM crew from clinching the ST-1 class Championship ahead of the season finale at Fuji next month.
Photo credits - D'Station Racing
Saturday, October 21, 2023 |
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Rounding off this weekends Aston Martin Racing customer business
The Japanese Super Taikyu Series runs its penultimate round of the season as the multi-classed series undertake another three-hour round at Okayama.
See the D’Station Racing AMR Team Manager testing out the new ‘evo’ AMR Vantage GT3 earlier this week around Silverstone, his hasty retreat back home first made us hope that the teams Vantage GT3 crew will this time compete, but the provisional entry list saw not with just the Vantage GT8R down to run again.
Running in a two-car class, the #47 car featuring Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons are again in the business of trying to limit the so far dominant KTM crew from clinching the ST-1 class Championship.
With just two rounds remaining, the #47 crew really do need to beat the #2 KS Frontier KTM crew to have any championship potential at the season finale around the teams home track of Fuji at the end of November.
The weekend also sees the next round of the South African G&H Extreme Supercar Series run at the Zwartkops Raceway with Into Africa Racing again fielding their mighty AMR Vantage GT3 in the hands of Stuart White.
Last time out at Killarney, White managed to secure not just a race win but also the lap record around the circuit thanks to adjustments made to the car by the team and attending race engineers.
Finally, we have the final round of the British Endurance Championship at Donington Park this weekend which will now see two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 teams do their thing.
The MKH Racing AMR crew of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall will be looking to round off their 2023 season in style whilst the Newbridge Motorsport team will debut within the Championship with AMR factory driver Tom Canning and Indian racer Humaira Mushtaq.
The #50 MKH Racing crew need to overcome a seventeen-point deficit to the #21 Venture Innovations Mercedes AMG GT4 crew at the end if they are to lift the GT4 crown.
Photo credits – Steve Jackman / social media
Friday, October 13, 2023 |
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When a P2 podium is no longer considered enough for D'Station Racing
Have competed at three rounds so far, the #47 Vantage crew of Tatsuya Hoshino, Kenji Hama, Max Orido and Jake Parsons have only beaten the #2 KS Frontier KTM X-Box once this season so far at the opening round to then follow the #2 car home per round thereafter to trail them by just 9.5 points going into today’s five-hour round of the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit to the north of Tokyo.
Ran under sweltering conditions, the #47 car qualified eighth overall within the mixed class grid – albeit P2 to the KTM again to then suffer slight contact during the race with an ST-X classed car to lose one of its door mirrors.
Having to pit for repairs, that delay allowed the already faster KTM to develop a one lap lead over the #47 car from which there was no hope of recovering even with some subsequent periods of caution.
That leaves the team just two further rounds at both Okayama and Fuji to overcome that now double-digit deficit – all starting in about six weeks’ time as team attention now turns to the World Endurance Championship form their home track of Fuji this weekend.
Photo credits - Team
Sunday, September 03, 2023 |
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D'Station Racings Vantage GT8R crew back in action this weekend in Super Taikyu Series from Motegi
Fashionably absent again sees the D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo again not take part as they have their own World Endurance Championship plans to consider ahead of the Fuji round just next weekend, but we do see the return of the team’s AMR Vantage GT8R.
Having seen the team and some of the crew race with podium winning success at the last round of the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup Series from Okayama a couple of weeks ago, the ST1 class was forced to miss the last round of the series due to paddock size but the #47 Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Jake Parsons driven car will be back this time around with one simple game plan.
Having been the bridesmaid in class to the all-conquering #2 KS Frontier KTM so far this season, the AMR crew sit just 9.5 points behind the KTM crew within this two-horse class with just three rounds including this one to go!
Photo credits – Series / Team
Thursday, August 31, 2023 |
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All over before the green for D'Station Racing at Okayama
Running within the main series, the Japan Cup didn’t quite go down to the wire as the outside chance still retained by the #47 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii had that taken from them with reported electrical issues halfway through race one yesterday that allowed the then Championship leading #18 Porsche secure their crown.
Honourable to the end, that didn’t stop the #47 pushing until the end during today’s hour-long race where the #47 car finished just behind the #18 crew to claim a swan-song P3 in class.
That does not of course end the series for the Japanese team as D’Station Racing will continue into the final round of the Asia series at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia as the team will use that experience and car data moving forward into their winter racing commitments.
There was also further success for the teams AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama as the #48 crew stepped up a further step upon the podium having claimed an Am Class win (P3 overall) to go with their second of yesterday as well as fastest lap in Am per race.
These guys will revert back to their Vantage GT8R car of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series at its next round at Motegi early next month.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Honourable to the end, that didn’t stop the #47 pushing until the end during today’s hour-long race where the #47 car finished just behind the #18 crew to claim a swan-song P3 in class.
That does not of course end the series for the Japanese team as D’Station Racing will continue into the final round of the Asia series at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia as the team will use that experience and car data moving forward into their winter racing commitments.
There was also further success for the teams AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama as the #48 crew stepped up a further step upon the podium having claimed an Am Class win (P3 overall) to go with their second of yesterday as well as fastest lap in Am per race.
These guys will revert back to their Vantage GT8R car of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series at its next round at Motegi early next month.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, August 20, 2023 |
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Disaster in Okayama for the AMR GT3 crew of D'Station Racing at the Japan Cup finale
It proved itself to be a challenging and championship ending opening race to the final race meeting of the GT World Challenge Asia Series earlier this morning at Okayama for the D’Station Racing team after issues on and off track didn’t exactly do the any favours as they chased down the Japan Cup title.
Going into this round seventeen points behind the leading #18 Porsche and with just two races remaining, the #47 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii needed another of their recent podium finishes to bolster their chances before going into Sundays finale.
Qualifying tenth on the grid and eighth within the overall GT3 Pro-Am class, Hoshino would ultimately take the start the start of his opening half hour stint from the rear of the grid (not known why) but that was soon cut short anyway as multiple incidences upon the opening lap brought out the red flag for barrier damage and circuit clean up.
After a lengthy delay, the race eventually got back underway behind the Safety Car but with the #47 having gained nearly half the grid by the time the race originally went under caution before the red flag and with just over 45 minutes of the race then remaining by the time as it went back to green.
A further incident for a Porsche lead to another caution period and that saw Hoshino leap up to P11 before apparently faltering on track at the restart and plummeting down to P22 as a whole host of cars passed him for position just ahead of the pits stop window.
Absolute disaster!!
Even with Fujii then jumping aboard, the gap to the GT3 Japan Cup Championship leader in the #18 Porsche ahead was too great and with that car eventually finishing P8 overall and more importantly P3 within the Japan Cup stakes, these issues during race 1 would prove too much for the D’Station Racing GT3 team with the #18 crew going onto to secure the Japan Cup Championship win with one race remaining.
The series also saw their first ever solo GT4 class race at Okayama with seven such cars taking the start to today’s race with the #48 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama aboard within their Am classed car.
Debuting within the series only today, this was more of inclusiveness and experience for the crew as Hoshino placed the car upon the front row to today’s race in second.
Going someway to make up for the disappointment within their GT3 garage, but unfortunately at the cost of the greater D’Station Racing Super Taikyu Series driver Max Orido, Hama eventually brought the #48 car home to claim P5 overall and P2 in Am.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Saturday, August 19, 2023 |
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