Rounding off this weekends AMR customer racing news
With this week’s racing news coming in thick and fast, just a quick post to cover off the final racing results from last weekend beyond those events already covered.
Back over at Virginia International Raceway, the #12 Ian Lacey prepared Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley enjoyed one of their best GT World Challenge America events to date after an impressive P6 in class finish after Saturdays first race.
Having had the coaching services of Roman de Angelis with them at the circuit prior to last weekend’s third round of the season, the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship Sprint Cup Champion obviously guided the team and drivers in such a way as they later achieved this superb result in their Pro-Am class.
With an undamaged car by the end of the event as well, the team move on to pre-event testing at Watkins Glenn with a reinvigorated determination.
Back in Europe, neither Street Art Racing Aston Martin GT3 or GT4 did race at the GT Open and GT Open Cup’s visit to Spa Francorchamps as previously confirmed and nor did the Race Lab prepared AMR Vantage GT3 at the final round of the New Zealand’s North Island Endurance Championship.
The British Endurance Championship’s second visit to Silverstone on Saturday also saw the Venture Aston Martin Vulcan miss the three-hour fourth round of the season but there were three AMR Vantage GT4’s on the grid.
Having tested at the circuit under blazing sunshine and thirty degrees plus air temperatures, race day was dealt a low teens air temperature and persistent rain to make all that prior testing worthless in the grand scheme of things. The best results here came from the #50 T7 Motorsport crew of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall coming home P2 in class whilst the older iteration of the Vantage GT4 #68 Team Brit and #33 Affinity Racing with Team Brit came home P5 and P6 respectively.
Photo credits – GTWCA / S Jackman
Monday, June 20, 2022 |
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GT World Challenge America and GT4 America visit Nola Motorsport Park for the first time this weekend
Having been planned to compete at the still yet to be completed Ozarks International Raceway, the GT World Challenge America and GT4 America Series will this time compete at the Nola Motorsport Park in Louisiana for the first time as the GT America takes a time out having competed by themselves earlier in the year at St Petersburg.
With both series having started their 2022 season out at Sonoma on the west coast a month ago, we can again expect to see the #12 Ian Lacey prepared Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Drew Staveley and Frank Gannett Pro-Am entry amongst the twenty listed cars within the GT World Challenge America Series.
Sonoma again came along a bit too quick for the squad after delays from a late winter rebuild following an accident at the end of last season left them with little to no time to prepare but the team have been out testing at various locations since.
In GT4 America and its thirty-one entries are just the five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from the full season entrants of Bsport Racing, Heart of Racing, GMG Racing, Flying Lizards and the Chouest Povoledo Racing teams.
Last time out at Sonoma proved itself to be successful for the #15 Bsport AMR of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch after they secured a double Pro-Am class win by the end of that weekends two one-hour races, a debut class P3 class podium during Saturday’s race for the #50 Flying Lizard car of Elias Sabo and Andy Lee and a P2 Pro-Am podium for Aaron Povoledo and Ross Chouest in their #50 car at the end of race 2.
The #25 Heart of Racing crew of Gary Newell and Ian James will be hoping for better fortunes as with only one chassis available at Sonoma by virtue of their second car still in transit back from the Dubai 24hr earlier this year, accident damage for Newell in GT America’s second race in California forced them to miss the second GT4 America race.
Whilst Jason Bell has enjoyed success in the opening rounds of the GT America Series, his exploits so far in the parallel GT4 America Series with Andrew Davis have so for been hard graft as, despite the success of their AMR stablemates around them, they only managed to score two P6 finishes at Sonoma.
The #888 Zelus Motorsport AMR GT4 that competed at Sonoma is not listed for this event.
Photo credits – Teams / GT4 America / GTWCA
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 |
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Twelve Aston Martin Racing Vantages so far confirmed for SRO Americas visit to Sonoma next weekend
Having had to re-shell and rebuild their AMR Vantage GT3 over the winter after an incident at the penultimate round which prevented them from completing that and the final round at Indianapolis last year, it has been since confirmed that both Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley shall return for a second season of the GT World Challenge America Series this year with their Ian Lacey prepared AMR Vantage.
Competing amongst an expected grid of twenty cars at the opening round, the #12 car of Staveley and Gannett again competes within the Pro-Am class, the most popular this season with fourteen other entries with the rest spread between the Pro and Am classes.
The GT America Series will actually run their second round of their season from Sonoma after having debuted this year from St Petersburg back in late February, an event that came with a race win for the reigning GT4 Champion Jason Bell.
The GT America Series will actually run their second round of their season from Sonoma after having debuted this year from St Petersburg back in late February, an event that came with a race win for the reigning GT4 Champion Jason Bell.
This series entry list for Sonoma presently boasts an entry list of twenty-eight GT3 and GT4 cars with six Aston Martin Vantage GT4’s listed amongst them. From what we understand however, we expect that number of six to grow by at least one by the time formal track proceedings to get underway. Those listed are: -
- #2 GMG Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Jason Bell
- #8 Flying Lizard AMR Vantage GT4 with Elias Sabo
- #15 Bsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Bryan Putt
- #25 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Gary Newell
- #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Ross Chouest
- #888 Zelus Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 with Sean Whalen
Then we get into the forty-one-car entry list for the GT4 America Series which this time sees a five car Aston Martin Racing entry amongst this multi-class series and again, all returning customer teams except for the new entry from the Flying Lizard team. Their expected entry list is: -
- #2 GMG Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Jason Bell and Andrew Davis
- #8 Flying Lizard AMR Vantage GT4 with Elias Sabo and Andy Lee
- #15 Bsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch
- #25 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Gary Newell and Ian James
- #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing AMR Vantage GT4 with Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo
Track action gets underway this Thursday with private testing ahead of Official Practice on Friday with Qualifying and Race 1 per series on Saturday and concluding on Sunday with Race 2.
Photo credits – Teams / GT America / GT4 America / GTWCA / CSJ Motorsport
Sunday, April 10, 2022 |
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Three Aston Martin's in joint GTWCA and IGTC race finale from Indianapolis this weekend
For the GTWCA Series, the Ian Lacey Racing prepared Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 for drivers Frank Gannett and Drew Stavely continues with its season long sole AMR representation within the series, a series that the Pro-Am driver line up has had to learn the hard way since stepping up to the GT3 from their usual Ford Mustang GT4 at the end of last year.
Twelve one hour forty-minute races later, and the #12 car presently sits mid table amongst a list of drivers with more GT3 experience than them so even if the season stopped here – they could already be proud (although sometimes self-critical of parts maybe) of their performances so far as the season ends with a three-hour event raced in amongst that of the eight-hour IGTC race on Sunday.
Confusion with the entry list arises when the GTWCA entry list states just two drivers (Gannett and Stavely) for that three-hour race but they also appear on the entry list for the 8hr IGTC event and with a third driver – Ian Lacey.
Having checked with those Stateside, we are not aware of team boss Lacey ever driving the AMR GT3 on track yet alone in a race like the eight hour and the sudden appearance of one Valentin Hasse-Clot on the entry list for the final two one-hour races of the Sprint X Series seems just a little to co-incidental!!
We maybe wrong – probably are wrong but ……………..!!
Whatever happens with these guys, in the 8hr IGTC race we will also be seeing two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s – one from the #2 GMG Racing team for drivers Jason Bell, Andrew Davis and Trent Hindman and the #09 Automatic Racing AMR for drivers Paul Kiebler, Mikel Miller and Jon Branon. Whilst the #2 crew will complete their GT America and GT4 America racing duties leading up to Sunday’s race, the Automatic crew have elected not to and to concentrate on their biggest race so far this season in their AMR.
Forty-one cars are listed as competing within the IGTC race, with 16 of those being from the GTWCA Series – all cars permitted to continue within the 8hr race is they want to as their chequered flag to their season will fall not quite at the halfway mark to the IGTC race.
Let’s see what happens here!!
Photo credits – GTWCA / CSJ Motorsport / F Lagunas / GT America
Tuesday, October 12, 2021 |
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Five more Aston Martin's support the SRO Series at Sebring this weekend
Seventeen cars – one Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 complete the provisional entry list ahead of this weekend’s penultimate race weekend of the GT World Challenge America at Sebring, Florida.
Racing there in lieu of the series attempts to race again at the Canadian Tires Motorsport Park (beaten again by CV-19 related border issues), this meeting will be their final double header of the series before their 2021 season concludes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in mid-October.
This event will also be the first time that the Ian Lacey Racing team have competed at the circuit with their AMR Vantage GT3 with drivers Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley behind the wheel.
For these guys, the last round at Watkins Glen was one to forget really after pace from the previous round to that at Road America somewhat evaded them two weeks ago at Watkins Glen during the first race where they finished P5 in class only for them to then retire with a mal-functioning engine sensor during race 2.
For the first year of any Bronze-Silver pairing running in a Pro-Am class in a brand new (to them) GT3 car, podium success was never going to be expected but the team and crew have persevered with their project to lie P13 in their Championship table with a similar number of points gained so far this year compared to their opposition even after their first DNF of the season last time out at Watkins Glen.
Completing the trilogy of SRO America Series at the Sebring meeting will be the GT America Series for bronze ranked GT3 and GT4 drivers only who visit the circuit in an invitational only basis making for a non-championship point scoring round for them.
That has come about after this series supported the IndyCar Series at their Nashville Music City Grand Prix event in early August and as many of the GT America teams also feature in either the GT World Challenge America or GT4 America Series already due to race at Sebring.
The GT America rounds from Watkins Glen also paved the way for two more Aston Martin Racing teams as both the 3R Povoledo Racing and Zelus Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4’s raced for the first time. These two races proved to be very productive as Jason Bell took a double class win in his #2 GMG Racing Aston, Gray Newell picked up his first solo driving podium with a P3 in race 1 in his Heart of Racing Aston and also featured a debut AMR/team podium for Ross Chouest in his #50 Povoledo Racing car.
The #888 Zelus Motorsport Aston that competed at Watkins Glen is not on the entry list this time for Sebring although the #09 Automatic Racing prepared car for Paul Kiebler is as he also races in the SprintX series.
As with all SRO America series, all races will be streamed live via their respective social media channels.
Photo credits – GT America / Teams / CSJ Motorsport / F Lagunas
Tuesday, September 28, 2021 |
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Whilst one AMR GT3 succeeds others are blighted in their quests
Beyond the D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 that raced at Suzuka and won both the race and the GT3 championship at the weekend, there were also two further AMR Vantage GT3’s competing – one at Watkins Glen and another at Hockenheim.
Amongst the frivolities that were being enjoyed by the AMR runners in both the GT4 America and GT America Series was the Ian Lacey prepared AMR Vantage GT3 that competes within the GT World Challenge America Series for drivers Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley.
Last time out in their car at Road America at the end of August and still in only their fourth meeting with their new car, the Pro-Am pairing secured their best finishes to date with a P12 overall/P8 in class in race one and then a P8 overall/P4 in class in the second and were hoping for some more of the same at the upstate New York circuit.
Race 1 on Saturday would turn out to be their one and only result of the weekend with a P9 overall/P5 class finish as a technical issue on the car leading up to the pit stop of Sunday’s second race forced Staveley to pit. Despite the best of efforts from the team, an easy fix to what transpired to be a sensor fault within the engine compartment was not possible within the time constraints of the race and forced the #12 car to retire after a good run up until the problem was first encountered.
The next round for these guys will at Sebring at the start of October
The other AMR Vantage GT3 was a debut race for the Doer Motorsport team with the car within the final round of the German DMV-GTC Series from Hockenheim.
Feature a driver pairing of Dino Steiner, an ‘old hand’ at GT racing alongside Phil Dorr who presently races an AMR Vantage GT4 within the ADAC GT4 Germany Series but who have raced together in a McLaren 720S within the series, this race would be the drivers and teams first racing experience of the new Vantage GT3.
Recently sourced from the PROsport Racing team after that teams initial introduction with it in the ADAC GT Masters Series two years ago, last weekend’s race format would be a 60-minute pit stop punctuated race as well as two solo drivers 30-minute sprints.
Despite Qualifying P6 for the Goodyear 60 on Saturday, technical issues took the car out of the race around the halfway mark whilst the two shorter, sprint races on Sunday gave the team scant reward of P10 and P11 finishes for Steiner and Dorr respectively.
Next year will see just where the team will be going with this recent acquisition of theirs.
Photo credits – GTWCA / Team / CSJ Motorsport / F Lagunas / DMV-GTC
Tuesday, September 21, 2021 |
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After a long summer break, the welcomed return of the SRO Series of racing at Road America
At this round and for the remaining rounds of the GT4 America Series, we welcome the Automatic Racing team into the SRO series with an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crew of Mikel Miller and Paul Kiebler and their patriotically livered car. We believe that this car is the last years IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season winning car used by Nate Stacey and Kyle Marcelli.
We did post something on this entry a while ago but then their plans back then had not been fully endorsed and now they have, the pair will be using the remaining four rounds of the season to showcase what they have with a view of a possible full season entry next year.
Casting our mind back to early June, VIR was something of another AMR success story with another podium finish for Jason Bell in his GMG Racing AMR in GT America – adding to his points haul that both he and fellow GTA racer, Gray Newell did at the GTA support race at Nashville’s IndyCar Street circuit round earlier this month.
This series will continue to run through to its completion without the Notlad Racing AMR GT4 of Matt Dalton as they have now committed to see out the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series instead as Dalton continues to recover from injuries sustained and confidence after an accident at the VIR round.
We also have the return of the Ian Lacey Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley – sadly still one of just two AMR GT3’s racing in the USA at the moment with that of the Heart of Racing GTD car in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.
Late collecting their car, the opening round of the series at Sonoma in early March proved to be something of a test session before the Bronze/Silver duo have become more accustomed with their car to have made noticeable improvements over the last two rounds and will arrive at Road America with their best performance to date just behind them.
Then back with the GT4 America Series, we also see the return of the Pro-Am entries of the #2 GMG Racing AMR GT4 for Bell/Andrew Davis, the #24 Heart of Racing AMR GT4 for Newell and Ian James, the #59 WR Racing car of Paul Terry/Brandon Davis and the #15 Bsport Racing car of Bryan Putt/Kenton Kock amongst the record forty car grid. They will also be joined by the #062 Silver Cup entry of Dexter Racing and brothers Warren and Ryan Dexter.
Last time out at VIR, both the #59 WR Racing and #15 Bsport Racing crews tasted the sweet taste of success with a P3 for the #59 in race 1 and an outright race win for the #15 crew in the second. The successful audition from the Dexter car unfortunately came to a bitter end at VIR as continuing electrical cut race 1 short before not appearing for the second.
Bsport and WER Racing lay P2 and P3 in the Pro-Am Team’s Championship respectively with only ten points between them but with a hefty sixty eight margin to the leading Nolasport Porsche team out front. The double blank for the Dexter Team at VIR has seen them drop to P6 in the Silver but only twenty-nine points behind the Murillo Racing Mercedes team.
In GTWCA, the #12 Ian Lacey AMR Vantage GT3 crew presently reside in P10 in the Pro-Am Drivers Championship whilst in GT America, Jason Bell lifts up to P3 after his points haul at Nashville with Newell up to P8 in his debut racing season.
Photo credits – GT4 America / GT America / GTWCA / CSJ Motorsport / Teams
Friday, August 20, 2021 |
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#TeamAMR move on to VIR for round three of SRO America
It’s the third round of the SRO America family of races this weekend from the beautiful Virginia International Raceway as sixteen GT3 cars from the GT World Challenge America Series join up in the paddock with twenty-nine GT4 cars from the GT4 America Series and further twenty-four GT3 and GT4 cars that make up the GT America Series.
Now five weeks since they last all battled out their respective races from the Circuit of the Americas, few of the seven Aston Martin Racing Customer and Partner teams that help to make up this colossal grid have been resting on their laurels, testing hard as many still have work to do to get themselves up to where they want to be.
The Notlad Racing with RS1 team unfortunately claimed the most ‘column inches’ in race reports from CoTA last time out after a high-speed barrel roll destroyed one of Matt Dalton’s AMR Vantage GT4’s in the first GT4 America race before seriously damaging the other in the second of the GT America races. From our own social media ‘chats’ with Dalton after the event, he confirmed that he was otherwise OK other than a bit bruised in both body and in wallet as one car was obviously a write off but at least the other was repairable.
We are not aware if his recently acquired chassis replacement from Prodrive will be with the team in time for them to make use of it at VIR or not!
In the amateur only GT America Series, CoTA was a good event for both the GMG Racing car of Jason Bell who secured his first double with a P2 and P3 finish as well as the #25 Heart of Racing car of Gray Newell who progressed from a P7 finish in R1 through to a P4 position in R2 – a great continuation of improvement from the otherwise novice racing driver.
In the larger grid of the GT4 America Series and despite there being six AMR’s listed within it, only the #062 Dexter Racing of brothers Ryan and Warren Dexter came away from Texas with any silverware after another P3 Silver Cup finish for them in R2.
The Notlad Racing #00 car obviously failed to finish in R1 nor did the #2 GMG Racing car of Bell and Andrew Davis in R2. Out of the other five Pro-Am entered cars, it was the #59 WR Racing car of Paul Terry/Brandon Davis and the #15 Bsport Racing car of Kenton Koch/Bryan Putt who otherwise had the more consistent of meetings for #TeamAMR with two goo finishes apiece, unfortunately just off the podium each time.
The remaining #24 Heart of Racing car for Newell and Ian James continued along Newell’s learning curve and should improve exponentially from now on as driver coach James has since passed over on his IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship seat in the teams AMR Vantage GTD to factory driver Ross Gunn to see out that season – in theory giving the son of the team owner more time to develop in the two SRO series in which he races this year.
The remaining #24 Heart of Racing car for Newell and Ian James continued along Newell’s learning curve and should improve exponentially from now on as driver coach James has since passed over on his IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship seat in the teams AMR Vantage GTD to factory driver Ross Gunn to see out that season – in theory giving the son of the team owner more time to develop in the two SRO series in which he races this year.
Finally, and certainly by no means least sees the #12 Ian Lacey Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Drew Stavely and Frank Gannett return after two very different races from CoTA – one under torrential rain, red flagged before the end because of track conditions mirrored by a second race under clear blue sky and sunshine.
Having had Prodrive engineers and technicians in attendance again at the circuit in Texas, the team says that they again learned lots more about the car both in set up and in race trim to be able to travel to VIR on their own to a circuit (hopefully) more suited to the cars characteristics than Sonoma and CoTA. Featuring only a bronze and silver graded driver in a highly competitive Pro-Am class, the team hope that their inter race develop so far will allow them to improve upon the P8 in class positions earned last time out.
Being SRO sanctioned series, all three series will have their two races streamed live via their respective social media channels. VIR is a beautifully unique circuit in the USA but despite that, the racing there never fails to disappoint.
Photo credits – GTWCA / GT America / GT4 America
Monday, May 31, 2021 |
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More excitement and disappointment in SRO America for the AMR runners yesterday
What a difference a day made at the Circuit of the America’s in Texas yesterday with near clear blue skies and thirty-degree air temperatures replacing the monsoon like rainfall of yesterday.
Another day and therefore another round of GT World Challenge America, GT America and GT4 America was in store and after the events and drama of yesterday, we were kind of hoping for something a little more positive and successful for the ten Aston Martin Racing runners that grace these grids in 2021. Well – we can always hope!!
Starting with GTWCA grid, the car that takes our attention is of course the #12 Ian Lacey Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley who both did well in fact yesterday to stay on track at all in awful conditions before the red flag came out but again both had hoped for more – not anything that ambitious like a class podium, but something that would show that they were moving in the right direction in their sixteen-car field.
This time Staveley took the start and for the first half dozen laps showed that he was there to make up the numbers and pushed the surrounding cars hard for track position (taking damage in the process) until at least his Pirelli tyres began to fade, and he had to throttle back until his pit window.
By the time their Bronze ranked driver Gannett was behind the wheel, the car was losing approximately a second per lap to the field ahead so narrowing that gap is obviously their target as the series progresses.
Championship wise, the #12 crew feature in the tight mid Pro-Am drivers and the Pro-Am Teams tables as the series looks to move onto the picturesque scene of Virginia International Raceway in a month’s time.
The GT America series also ran its second and final race to see out their visit to CoTA last night and again, the bronze only GT2/GT3/GT4 field again didn’t disappoint.
Cleared to race on Sunday after his massive accident in yesterday’s GT4 event, Matt Dalton was at least permitted to race although come four laps later, he may have wished that he hadn’t!
Starting from the rear of the grid, Dalton quickly made-up places and was looking good – well, before a massive miscalculation on just how many cars he could perhaps overtake going into one 90-degree corner cost him another smashed up AMR Vantage GT4 and an innocent Porsche GT4 driver taken out of the race to boot. Luckily nobody was hurt again but we think that someone in the Series will be ‘having words’ with him before the next round – even if he can get both cars fixed before then?
Further up the circuit had Jason Bell in his #2 GMG Racing AMR again looking for prizes after his P2 finish in yesterday’s race and gaining experience by the day, Gray Newell was progressing nicely aboard his #25 Heart of Racing AMR too.
Losing another chunk of race time to the clean up of Dalton’s accident, gave Bell and Newell just over twenty minutes to get as far forward as they could. Again racing Chouest’s Mercedes AMG GT4 for the lead, Bell would eventually get past with just ten minutes remaining but with the chequered flag almost in sight he would spun out on the penultimate lap throwing away a sure class win in the process. He went on to claim P3 at the end so all was not lost.
Newell also finished the weekend very much on a high for the weekend by claiming P4 in class by the end of the forty-minute race. Congratulations to him.
Photo credits – GTWCA / GTA / Teams
Monday, May 03, 2021 |
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