This weekends return to racing for the FIA World Endurance Championship from Spa Francorchamps should have had at least half a dozen more Aston Martin race cars on track over the total race programme of events than the four full season entries for the WEC.

Yet again, restrictions on travel imposed at national level because of levels of positive COVID-19 cases effectively put on the emergency brakes as those returning from Belgium now had to self isolate for two weeks upon their return to the UK. With so many of the Aston Martin Masters Endurance legends and Britcar entries on the WEC support race package coming from the UK, that late news from the UK Government all but wiped out the support race programme to just within the Sports Prototype Cup race.


Whilst ten out of the thirteen entries are from the one make Revolution A-One class, the owner/drivers of one Aston Martin and one Aston Martin Racing race cars  have made the trip over to Belgium so that they can either make their motor racing audition at the historic circuit or return to a former venue of victory with their respective cars.

Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins take their Aston Martin Lagonda Vulcan to the circuit for the first time. Original converted to road specification by the RML Group to be the then sole road legal Vulcan, the car has since been revised up to AMR Pro specification and has been raced by the duo and others in events such as AMOC, Gumball 3000 and the AMR Festival at Le Mans.


Joining them from the Aston Martin Racing side of the family is 2019 British GT GT3 Champion Graham Davidson who takes his older, morally aspirated V12 Vantage GT3 back over to Spa, the scene of his maiden British GT Championship victory alongside AMR works driver Maxime Martin just over two years ago.

Not quite the same livery as back then and being joined this weekend by Porsche Carrera Cup racer Graeme Mundy behind the wheel, the Scotsman's necessity to withdraw from this year title defence will make that taste of withdrawal just that little bit less bitter in the end if he does well at the weekend (hopefully)!

Photo credits - Spa Francorchamps / social media

Little over three weeks since finally testing the new Aston Martin Racing V8 turbo changed Vantage GT3 at what turned out to be a rather wet Snetterton race track back in October, Graham Davidson has today confirmed his progression from first year graduate to potential championship contender with a deal to race one of TF Sport's new GT3 cars alongside AMR factory Jonny Adam in the 2019 British GT Championship.

Having stepped up from GT Cup at the end of 2017 as overall champion, Davidson teamed up with Jetstream Motorsport to run the former Motorbase V12 Vantage GT3 alongside AMR factory driver Maxime Martin. Originally planned to run with a very talented pay driver, the team finally elected for that crucial factory assistance and guidance that only a professional driver could bring that allowed the 'rookie' team finish seventh overall in the British GT Championship with a race win at Spa Francorchamps to boot.

It was great to get down to the Donington Park paddock today in time for the British GT Championship to run out its final Qualification session of the season with both the GT3 and GT4 titles still very much up for grabs.

Both TF Sport and the Optimum V12 Vantage GT3's formed the top of the timing screen at the end of Free Practice 1 with then Beechdean and the #11 TF Sport car taking the honours by the end of Free Practice 2 in the dry conditions showing that the V12 was still very much a competitive platform amongst a field of many newer cars despite her imminent retirement as a factory supported platform.


Then the rain came just after lunch forcing the teams to make late set up changes to their cars and without the benefit of running it out on track before a timed lap and that must have had an impact on to the following sessions.


The GT3 Amateur drivers were out first for their ten minute qualifying session with the nearest championship rival to the Optimum crew (the #33 Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen) taking early top honours with a cool 1.2 second gap to Graham Davidson in his Jetstream Vantage.

Both Farmer and Johnston in the TF Sport cars struggled with the conditions with Johnston even having a slight off track excursion that simply lost him any remaining tyre temperature that he had. Worse was to follow as both TF Sport cars even missed the chequered flag to their session and completed an additional lap earning themselves a visit to the race stewards to boot. Hopefully - that will not lead to any grid penalty for tomorrows race?


Next up were of course the Pro drivers, with this time both Barwell Lamborghini's locking out the front row with the best AMR car being the Marco Sorensen (again) in forth with three more Vantages directly behind him but with Darren Turner suffering from the effects of a broken exhaust and needing to pit with two laps of time still left on the clock.

The overall consequence of the Am and Pro combined times is the the Barwell front row lock out will be followed by the #47 Jetstream car of Davidson and Maxime Martin starting in P3 , the #75 Optimium car in P4, P5 and P6 for the Farmer/Thiim and Johnston/Sorensen TF Sport cars respectively and and Andrew Howard/Turner car down in P8.


Over in GT4, the two Academy Motorsport cars of Matt Nichol-Jones with Will Moore and Tom Wood with Jan Jonck showed their clean pair of heels as first Wood and Moore finished P4 and P6 out of the nineteen strong field with Nichol-Jones and Jonck completing their session P5 and P8 respectively. All of that equated to both Academy cars starting their final race aboard their venerable V8 Vantage GT4's on the third row for tomorrows grid.


The biggest question for tomorrow remains the threat of rain - if or when it will hit the Leicestershire circuit and the severity and duration of it if or when it arrives. Present Met Office forecasts show a distinct downgrade with the forecast - which is good - so fingers crossed!

Title and TF Sport photo credit - Jacob Ebrey

Never one to let a photo opportunity pass them by, Aston Martin Racing and their customer teams entered into this weekends finale of the 2018 British GT Championship have tonight come up with some extraordinary liveries that will help them and us celebrate their racing achievements over the years aboard one of their V12 Vantage GT3's as the car enters its final race weekend in the UK as a factory supported platform.

At the fore are of course Beechdean AMR and TF Sport with multiple BGT GT3 Championship wins between them and who's roofs have been bedecked with these fabulous graphical reminders of previous good times.



Behind them on the grid is the Optimum Motorsport car who's championship winning and history making achievements may just get confirmed on Sunday after an incredible first year with AMR. Then there is the Jetstream car with a pair who have also enjoyed their first win with AMR at perhaps one of the toughest tracks in the BGT calendar at Spa Francorchamps.


Meanwhile, Academy Motorsports two V8 Vantage GT4's also take a bow in their extremely competitive class as both cars look to race their final race in the championship aboard their also soon to be replaced cars at the final round.

Photo credits - AMR

Six months ago the British GT Championship kicked off with their first race of the 2018 season from Oulton Park under what could only be described as deteriorating track conditions, conditions that finally lead to the abandonment of their second race of the day.

Eight highly entertaining and eventful races later, the final two hours of the 2018 Championship is due to start at Donington Park this Sunday with most of the GT3 and GT4 Championships still to be resolved with the event deservedly still claiming its Donington Decider hashtag.


Sadly for this event and for those drivers who still have a possibility of championship success, they appear to need to quickly rekindle their wet weather racing abilities as it looks like the finale will suffer similar weather conditions as befell the opening round with weather warnings for significant rainfall and blustery winds in place for much of the weekend.

Whilst it appears that Saturday's Free Practice and Qualifying sessions should see mainly dry running conditions with rain not forecasted until towards the end of the days schedule and overnight it does appear that the race is due to be 'hit' to some degree with an increasing intensity of rainfall and increasing windspeed likely.


Should this happen, this will obviously lead to treacherous track conditions for the drivers and for some potentially soggy watching for the spectators - so if you do come and please do come  - just come prepared!

Hopefully, track conditions and events on track will allow the venerable Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 see out her British GT career as a factory supported chassis in style with a win and a Championship (maybe)!

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

Being some 6000 miles, several time zones away from home and without your trusty MacBook makes for some challenging conditions in reporting the events of this weekends penultimate round of the British GT Championship.

The pole and then the win for Optimum Motorsport’s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam has placed them firmly into the ‘driving seat’ at the seasons finale at Donington Park next month having turned a points deficit to the #63 Lamborghini into a 17.5 point lead.

Whilst that is good news for the Aston Martin Racing side of us, we surely have to feel some kind of pity and support onto Barwells Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen as the small piece of track debris that ended their race could have such a monumental effect on the championship.

Motor racing is tough, expensive and extremely competitive and we have seen before just how the Donington Decider can effect those not quite fully on it!!

Game on!

Photo credit - Jacob Ebrey

Jetstream Motorsport confirms that Aston Martin Racing driver Maxime Martin has been discharged from Kings College hospital in London, where he underwent precautionary checks after a foreign object penetrated his windscreen during Round 8 of the 2018 British GT Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday (5 August) afternoon.

Martin was released from the Brands Hatch medical centre a short time after the incident but went on to hospital to be assessed by an ophthalmic specialist, after glass entered the cockpit. He was cleared and left hospital at 20.00 on Sunday evening.

Jetstream Motorsport’s weekend ‘down the Hatch’ started well, the team spending free practice fine-tuning an already strong base setup to rectify a slightly uncompliant rear-end and stop the car bottoming out in the undulating Kent circuit’s deep compressions.

For Martin, free practice was a voyage into the unknown. The Belgian Pro had no previous experience at Brands Hatch but found his feet quickly during FP1 on Saturday morning, recording a 1m27.480s to go seventh fastest, before finding chunks of time in the day’s second session.

Red flags flew during the latter stages of FP1 and, as the white and orange V12 Vantage sat idle in the pit lane, Jetstream Motorsport’s skilled and vigilant engineers identified a gearbox actuator issue that required immediate attention.

The team wheeled the ailing Aston Martin into the garage and immediately set about curing the problem, a rapid turnaround ensuring the car was in fine fettle just prior to the start of FP2.

After completing an installation lap to assess the repairs, Graham Davidson went on to set a 1m27.377s. The Aberdonian was the fastest Am in sixth, with only Aston Martin works drivers Darren Turner, Marco Sorensen, Jonny Adam and Nicki Thiim, and ERC Sport’s Yelmer Buurman setting faster lap times during the first half of the hour-long session.

However, the pace continued ramping up and Martin responded by registering a lap of 1m26.761s shortly after skipping across the gravel at Westfield Bend on the Grand Prix loop to go seventh quickest once again.

In qualifying on Saturday (4 August) afternoon, a red-flag stoppage spoiled what would have been Davidson’s fastest lap, but the Scot steadily upped the pace at the restart and, on Pirelli tyres that were past their best, followed a 1m27.607s with a 1m27.213s, to end the GT3-Am segment of qualifying in third.

In GT3-Pro, Martin needed a six-tenth improvement on his first time to take Jetstream Motorsport to pole position and the Belgian ace ultimately recorded a time of 1m25.992s, enough for a second-row starting position for Sunday’s two-hour race.

From fourth on the grid, Davidson swept up into the podium places with a clean and considered move around the outside of Jon Minshaw’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan on the initial descent through Paddock Hill Bend.

The Scot rode Andrew Howard’s coattails and gapped the pursuing Lamborghinis and Bentley during the opening laps, looming large in the Beechdean Aston Martin’s mirrors until he pulled off an opportunistic pass for second position in the short interval between Safety Car interventions.

The neutralisations thwarted Jetstream Motorsport’s attempts to build an advantage and negate the 20-second success penalty – a consequence of winning last time out at Spa – it would serve in the compulsory driver-change, and Martin found himself in ninth with a diminishing deficit to Callum Macleod’s Bentley in P8 at the close of the pit window.

However, the Belgian’s charge came to an abrupt halt when a foreign object penetrated his Aston Martin’s windscreen, sending glass into the cockpit and forcing him back to the pits to retire from the race.

Following an initial assessment by on-site medics at the Brands Hatch medical centre, Martin went to Kings College, London for further precautionary checks with an ophthalmologist, before leaving hospital at 20.00 on Sunday evening.

Jetstream Motorsport would like to thank Brands Hatch’s medical staff for their prompt action, and for ensuring Maxime, his family and the team were treated in the most efficient and sensitive manner.

Source material - Jetstream Motorsport

With the GT3 title now a mathematical possibility of securing for the class leading Barwell Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen at the penultimate round of the British GT Championship from Brands Hatch this weekend,  Sunday's two hour will become a boom or bust round for the chasing Aston Martin Racing pack to take the Championship to another, final round decider in September.

Minshaw and Keen presently lead the Optimum Vantage GT3 of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam by fourteen points with the TF Sport duo of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim just 3.5 points further back and is a repeat of previous seasons when those trailing the leading Lambo have gone on to lift the Championship.


Metaphorically, the #11 Farmer/Thiim car is on the back foot with a very early DNF at the last round at Spa Francorchamps when Farmer was 'rudely' pushed off the circuit going into the very fast Eau Rouge by a guesting Mercedes AMG GT3 leading to a spectacular fiery finish to their race. Although not technically an engine failure in its own right, damage sustained in that incident would have necessitated a new engine. Hopefully, that incident will not prove too costly for the #11 car.


Having gained pole at Spa, Haigh and Adam eventually finished a very close fourth on track but that was to be elevated to third after the #17 TF Sport car of Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen was served with yet another post race time penalty that saw them drop down to seventh overall. That query of fate against their stablemate at least keeps there own title aspirations very much alive although they will have a 10 second success penalty applied to them this weekend whereas the Barwell car is penalty free.


Still riding high on the crest that was your first British GT overall win is the Jetstream Motorsport crew of Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin who grabbed the opportunities presented to them on track with both hands to secure a race winning margin of over seven seconds. Having come so close to a race winning performance before at Silverstone and Rockingham it was great to see self discipline instilled to avoid any repeat penalties/incidences that have blighted them before.

Conversing with Davidson over social media this afternoon he was slightly disappointed that their inaugural win in the Championship having moved over from GT Cup had been 'lost' in the build up to the Blancpain Spa 24hr race.


With the Scottish/Belgium racing line up presently residing down in P6 overall and technically not out of a shout of the Championship , Davidson was simply looking forward to another race at one of his favourite circuits but equally determined to race the others for another race win irrespective of who is ahead of them in the table so it appears that nobody can expect any concession on track from these guys!!

When asked about his driving relationship with AMR Factory driver Martin, he confirmed that the Championship's Media Day was the first time they had shared a car together and that their racing relationship had taken a number of rounds to be where it should have been given any pre-season opportunity. Today, he said that given the chance and the situation again he would come back to the championship next year with the same overall package of car, team and co-driver (not that anything is confirmed for 2019 yet that is).


Beechdean AMR will be looking to finish off their return t the Championship in the manner that they started it after what has been a bit of hit or miss affair (in terms of results) in the championship after another DNF for themselves at Spa after team boss Andrew Howard incurred damage to the front of his car in the opening lap. Despite the best efforts of the team to repair the damage (which they did) they also elected to box the car and save it for Brands.


For the Pro driver within the team, Darren Turner, this weekend will be his first visit to the Kent circuit since his Touring Car days and will again be another circuit that this duo (as with several others) have not tested at this year so progress across the field should be progressive.

Completing the GT3 line up is the Ultimate Speed Vantage GT3 of Mike Brown and Matt Manderson for their second visit to the championship.


Over in GT4, the Academy Motorsport entry from Matt Nichol-Jones and Will Moore also retain a mathematical chance of lifting the Championship being twenty points behind the leading Century Motorsport BMW of Jack Mitchell. Brands Hatch has never been too kind to this duo in previous years with either technical issue or incident curtailing their race early so a podium finish would see that class going down to the wire at Donington as well.


Team mates Jan Jonck and Tom Wood sadly endured another tough race to end their Spa race down in P9 having been blighted any an early puncture and then coming out on the wrong side of a Safety Car in what really has been a jinxed season for the youngsters!

Sunday's race begins at 13:40Hrs.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

Appears that all of Optimum Motorsports preparatory at Spa Francorchamps two weeks ago has paid them dividends as drivers Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam secure overall pole position for tomorrows race.

Alongside the #11 TF Sport car of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim, the #75 Optimum crew were consistently fast during both Free Practice session with only the #11 car and the #116 ERC Mercedes denying them top honours respectively.


Being another single race event, both drivers had to set their own qualifying time with the aggregate of both determining the starting order. Haigh was first out with the other GT3 Am drivers where she set the second fastest time just 0.18 seconds behind Rick Parfett's Bentley with Graham Davidson just as close again in P3. With the Pro's then taking over, Adam claimed that groups third fastest time to snatch overall pole from the #47 Jetstream AMR of Davidson and Maxime Martin by less than 0.2 of a second.


Rounding off the remainder of the AMR GT3 field will see the #11 TF Sport in P4, the #99 Beechdean AMR car in P9 and the #17 TF Sport car in P12.

No such repetition of another front row qualifying either for the two Academy Motorsport V8 Vantage GT4's with their two cars coming back line astern in the timing screen to start from the fifth row of the GT4 grid.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

After what feels like an absolute eternity, British GT thankfully returns to the track this weekend with the Championship's annual pilgrimage to Spa Francorchamps for the fifth round of an eight round season.

Having to cast our minds way back to early June for the last round of the Championship from Silverstone, the six week break has of course not been all rest and relaxation for some with many of the Championship's Pro and amatuer drivers featuring in other European and World Championship events including the 'big one' at Le Mans.