The weekend just gone motor racing affairs was slightly less than what was originally expected as the sole Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew within the endurance side of the Italian GT Series wasn’t involved with their seasonal finale from Monza.

We had expected the #5 L&A Infinity AMR entry of William Alatalo, Matteo Di Guisto and Jorge Lorenzo to make their final appearance together after both Alatalo and du Giusto secured podium success during the final round of the Sprint Series at the Temple of Speed just a few weeks ago.

 

There was also podium winning success for an Aston Martin Racing powered team within the final round of the Italian GT Championship Sprint Cup as the L&A Infinity enjoyed further success at Monza.

Rounding of another sprint season of four rounds at the Temple of Speed, the #5 L&A Infinity crew of William Alatalo and Matteo Di Giusto narrowly missed upon their first double of the season as the team and crew were penalised within both of the weekend’s races for a driver change non-compliance that added nearly five seconds to their final race time for each race plus a further five second penalty after race one.

 

The final round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship concludes our global coverage of this weekend’s racing events as far as we are concerned as the #5 L&A Infinity Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of William Alatalo and Mattia Di Giusto race together for one last time within this particular section of the Championship at the Temple of Speed of Monza.

After previous rounds at Misano, Imola and Mugello, the #5 16A Vantage GT3 powered crew find themselves within fifth place in their GT3 Pro-Am Drivers Championship with an available points margin that could see them raise up as far as second should all the results combinations go in their favour.

 

There was disappointment all round today for the third endurance round of the Italian GT Championship’s visit to Imola after the previous glorious sunshine disappeared completely for race day only to be replaced with torrential rain.

With thirty-five crews having entered with weekends proceedings, it was again, only the #5 L&A Infinity car of William Alatalo, Mattia Dr Guisto and Jorge Lorenzo who represented the Aston Martin Racing brand with their older 16A variant of the Vantage GT3.

 

Early news out of the L&A Infinity Aston Martin Racing team this week as they confirm a slight change within their driver ranks for this weekend’s third round and remaining endurance rounds of the Italian GT Championship.

Having already completed previous events at both Vallelunga and Mugello, this weekend’s visit to Imola will now see the team’s usually GT Sprint driver line up of William Alatalo and Mattia Di Giusto join up with their gentleman driver and former multiple Moto GP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, with Di Giusto now making up the team’s trio for the remainder of the season.

 

The Italian based L&A Infinity Aston Martin Racing team finally became of age this weekend after the second their first podium position of the season within the latest round of the national series Sprint series.

Racing again at Mugello, the older 16A version of the Vantage GT3 was again under the control of drivers William Alatalo and Mattia Di Giusto for this third round of the sprint series having raced at the circuit with the previous round of their parallel Endurance Series commitments just a few weeks earlier.

 

The Italian GT Endurance Championship returns to the track this weekend for its second round of the season as Mugello plays host to an impressive thirty-seven car grid.

Amongst them will be the L&A Infinity (formerly Lazarus Corse) Aston Martin Racing team as their prepare their older 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 for their drivers William Alatalo, Jorge Lorenzo and Mahaveer Raghunathan.

 

Former multiple Moto GP world Champion Jorge Lorenzo completed his GT race debut at the weekend at the wheel of the L&A Infinity Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Competing at the latest round of the Italiano Gran Turismo Series from Vallelunga, the Spaniard stepped up another notch to his four-wheel racing career as he partnered team regular William Alatalo and another team newcomer in Indian racer, Mahaveer Raghunathan.

 

Two older generations of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 were also busy battling things out at both Imola in Italy and at The Bend down under in Australia in the Italian GT Series and GT world Challenge Australia Series respectively.

Closer to home, the once was Lazarus Corse AMR team (now apparently renamed the L&A Infinity Racing team) were out with their slightly newer, 17A variant of the car at the second round of their domestic Series at Imola with their driver pairing of Mattia Di Giusto and William Alatalo.

 

One more Aston Martin Racing powered will be competing this weekend within one of its now many examples of the new 2024 Vantage GT3 – and that will be the Japanese D’Station Racing team as they embark upon the third round of their domestic Super GT Series from Suzuka.

Having started out at Okayama with drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Marco Sorensen, the Dane was replaced by Charlie Fagg at the last round of the Series at Fuji Speedway back at the start of May, but this weekend sees all three drivers listed against their #777 car for this weekend’s three-hour round.

 

In this race packed weekend ahead, three more Aston Martin Racing powered crews will also participate within their elective race series, and that’s on top of the six series already listed.

Recently, we have been reading about British racer Charlie Fagg rejoining the Japanese based D’Station Racing AMR team as they sort out some of their driver clashes with their factory driver Marco Sorensen.

For this weekend and for all following WEC/Super GT date clashes moving forward, the Brit will join both Sorensen and Tomonobu Fujii within the teams Super GT entry at their home round of Fuji Speedway this weekend and will replace the Dane for the further diary clashes as they prioritise their World Endurance Championship hopes with the factory driver.

Just one round into their Super GT Series return, the #777 AMR Vantage GT3 crew presently rest fifth within the GT300 Teams Championship.

 

The naming of yet another driver by the Italian Lazarus Corse Aston Martin Racing team confused matters yesterday as the confirmed that Italian racer Mattia Di Giusto would now be partnering Finnish racer William Alatalo within their AMR Vantage GT3.

The team also confirmed for the first time that this driver line up will be competing within their national Italian GT Series.

 

This week gave us the briefest of introductions to Aston Martin Racing’s latest Partner team about to hit the racetracks of Europe with their new Vantage GT3

Lazarus Corse AMR (nee Team Lazarus), an Italian based team well established within the GT3 ranks of Europe with their previous exploits in many a series with their former Lamborghini and Bentley machinery – now this time, they hope to continue with that fine form with their latest British stead.

 

Aston Martin Racing has named its latest AMR Driver Academy graduate as Romain Leroux. The 20-year-old Parisian joins a growing list of Aston Martin star graduates that includes IMSA GTD Pro front-runner Ross Gunn, reigning IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis, works driver Valentin Hasse Clot and former British GT4 champion Tom Canning.

Leroux, the 2021 FFSA GT4 champion and a runner-up in last year’s ADAC GT4 series, stood out among the 22 candidates in 2022 for his extraordinary consistency in all categories and for his attitude towards the Academy processes, as well as his willingness to mentor other younger and less experienced AMR Academy drivers. The Frenchman now steps up to the Vantage GT3 in 2023, racing alongside two of this year’s AMR Academy candidates Jacob Riegel (DEU) and Jeff Kingsley (USA) in BULLITT Racing’s new GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup programme.

Leroux said of his AMR Academy graduation: “I am honoured to be recognized by Aston Martin for my success over the past two seasons. My objective when I enrolled in the AMR Academy in 2021 was to establish a relationship with a manufacturer. Being named the winner of the 2022 AMR Academy is a significant achievement that reflects my hard work and improvement as a driver. Now I’m looking forward to building on this with the Vantage GT3 this season.”

Aston Martin Racing has also announced this year’s candidates for the annual initiative designed to fast-track talent from within its thriving partner team network and is a way for AMR to contribute back to motorsport by investing in and honing future talent.

A unique and unrivalled platform for learning and development with an established manufacturer, this essential initiative is fine-tuned every year and improved to effectively coach drivers in the early stages of their careers. Competitors aged between 17 and 26 with Vantage GT3 and GT4 race programmes in recognised championships are eligible. The prize on offer for the successful graduate includes financial support towards their 2024 race programme, as well as assistance and guidance from the factory, tailored to their season plans. Further evaluation of the most outstanding candidates may also include a test in a Vantage GT3 at the end of the 2023 season.

The candidates benefit from a three-day seminar that includes media training with FIA World Endurance Championship commentator Louise Beckett, simulator training at Base Performance, a DNAFit assessment including a bespoke training programme and nutrition plan, Aston Martin Racing in-house commercial training and a factory-based engineering workshop to further their understanding of how to competitively set-up Vantage.

The judging panel, which includes three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD class champion Darren Turner (GB), four-times British GT champion Jonny Adam, former Academy winner and works driver Valentin Hasse Clot, AMR Head of Performance Gus Beteli and Head of AMR Partner Racing Huw Tasker, will evaluate each drivers’ ability to manage the strategic, teamwork, commercial and public relations aspects of their role. Finally, the outstanding candidate will demonstrate the most potential to develop their talent for the future.

Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “We are delighted for Romain, who has produced two outstanding seasons of racing in Vantage and has shown all the qualities and characteristics that made his predecessors stand-out as AMR Driver Academy graduates – and we’re certain that he will continue to flourish as a driver within our ranks through 2023 and beyond. As a mechanism for assessing and identifying outstanding talent within our partner ranks, the AMR Driver Academy remains instructive and essential, and looking at the list of candidates lined up for 2023 we’re certain that tradition is set to continue.”

Full Aston Martin Racing Partner team - Solaris Motorsport hit the race track late last week as they prepare themselves for the 2017 assault on the european GT Open Championship.

Testing at the Vallelunga circuit, just north of Rome saw the team introduce new driver Mauro Calamia to their V12 Vantage GT3 as he and established team driver Francesco Sini look to establish a successful driving understanding before round one in Estoril, Portugal at the end of April.



Despite being a highly competent race driver, 25 year old Calamia will need a degree of transformation time to learn the traits of the V12 AMR having only raced Porsche's and Maserati's previously.

The team now move on to the GT Open winter test at Paul Ricard next weekend.

Photo credits - Solaris