The Aston Martin Vantage GTE, and Aston Martin Racing partner teams NorthWest AMR and TF Sport, resume their fight for supremacy at the top of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] GTE Am class standings when the series finally returns to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji next weekend.
The 2.835-mile circuit, situated less than an hour due East of Mount Fuji, has been a WEC mainstay since the series was established in 2012, but the event has not featured on the schedule since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic began and the world went into lockdown.
With just two rounds remaining of the 2022 campaign, three cars remain locked in a fierce fight for the crown. Two of those are Aston Martins.
TF Sport claim WEC GTE Am Championship with Aston Martin Racing
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Ben Keating (USA) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) were crowned Drivers’ champions with Aston Martin Racing Partner Team TF Sport the Teams’ title winner, having finished fourth in a tense finale. After a season-long rivalry with fellow Partner Team NorthWest AMR, Keating and Sørensen, who were partnered by Henrique Chaves (POR) in Bahrain, eventually triumphed by 23 points.
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This latest brace of world titles caps a spectacular year for the British ultra-luxury brand in sportscar racing as Vantage, powered by a race-developed version of the four-litre, twin turbo-charged V8 engine found in the road car from which it is derived, also clinched its first overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in North America.
The Heart of Racing won the GTD class of the premium US endurance series last month, with Roman De Angelis in the Vantage GT3 – which also starred at the Nürburgring 24 Hours – while the Vantage GT4 won multiple titles around Europe and the USA.
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Keating and Aston Martin works driver Sørensen began the 8 Hours of Bahrain with a 20-point advantage over NorthWest AMR and its #98 trio of Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), two-time WEC champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and David Pittard (GBR), with 39 points available.
Keating qualified second in class and ran a punishing triple-stint at the start of the race, meaning he achieved his minimum drive time at the earliest opportunity and provided the team with the most flexible strategy for the remainder of the race, which finished in darkness.
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This proved the correct decision as the #33 trio – who lost ground thanks to a pair of unfortunately-timed Full-Course Yellow periods immediately after their first two green-flag pitstops – bounced back to finish fourth; enough to clinch the title by 23 points over the NorthWest AMR crew, who came home fifth.
It is a first FIA world title for Keating and a third for Sørensen, who has claimed all his WEC crowns with Vantage. Chaves finished third in the points - behind the #98 crew of Dalla Lana, Pittard and Thiim – as he was not part of the TF line-up at the Sebring season-opener.
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After a gruelling and hard-fought season, Vantage has been the class of the field in GTE Am with three victories and eight podiums in the six rounds contested, including the Sebring 1000 miles, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Fuji.
It is the second time that Vantage crews have finished first and second in the GTE Am Drivers’ and Teams’ points and rewards TF Sport’s long pursuit of the title; the British team having finished second overall in GTE Am in each of the previous two seasons.
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The result concludes a season of domination by the Vantage GTE, which is based on the four-litre, twin-turbo, front-engined road vehicle, produced at Gaydon, UK.
Fellow Aston Martin’s Partner Team, D’station Racing, finished 10th in Bahrain thanks to a consistent performance by Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, and British WEC rookie Charlie Fagg. The trio, who were another crew to be badly affected by the timing of the first two Full-Course Yellows, gave D’station 10th place in the end-of-season Teams’ standings.
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Marco Sørensen said: “This is a fantastic achievement for all of us. There have been a lot of crucial moments across the year; Le Mans – which I’d never won before – being the biggest; one that’s very special to be able to put on your CV. When it comes to winning a world championship, you must have a group of drivers who can show pace over a whole season and a car that can help them deliver it. We’ve been consistent at most of the races and not made any bad mistakes. That’s how you win in the WEC and we’ve had an outstanding team performance all year to achieve this.”
Huw Tasker, Head of AMR Partner Racing, said: “Today is an incredible day for Aston Martin and Vantage that wraps up an extraordinary season on the racetrack. Huge congratulations to TF Sport, to Ben Keating and to Marco Sørensen on their World Endurance Championship titles and to NorthWest AMR for their success in the magnificent one-two finish in the GTE Am standings.
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These latest successes – which take the Vantage GTE to 11 FIA World Endurance titles since the formation of the championship in 2012 – are a testament to not only the production model from which it is derived, but also to the hard work and dedication of our Partner Teams that have worked so hard to achieve the greatest prize in endurance racing. In a year in which the Vantage GT3 has clinched the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Vantage GT4 has recorded multiple titles around the world, success in WEC GTE Am is the crowning glory and a worthy testament to the performance and durability of a truly great endurance racing car.”
Source material - AMR
Saturday, November 12, 2022 |
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Keating, Sorenson and TF Sport finally WEC GTE Am Champions 2022
Racing again alongside Marco Sorenson and Henrique Chaves again within the distinctively liveried #33 TF Sport prepared Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE, the #33 crew did what they needed to do and stayed in close contention with their class rival #98 Northwest AMR Vantage GTE of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard to eventually beat the #98 car again on track to secure the title.
Not the best of races for the AMR platform thanks to both an increase in success ballast and BoP adjustment in both fuel capacity and turbo boost, this final race was eventually won with a one-two finish for the Team Project One Porsche team with the #33 coming home in fourth, the #98 in fifth and the #777 D’Station Racing AMR in tenth.
Whilst both Keating and Sorenson share the spoils, Chaves sadly does not having only joined the #33 crew after the opening round of the season at Sebring when Florian Latorre raced with the team to the season opening pole position and first podium finish in second place to the #98 Northwest car.
Whilst it is congratulations to them, it is again commiserations to the #98 crew with Canadian businessman Dalla Lana failing just short of his second Championship win within the class since starting with Aston Martin Racing in 2015.
With the GTE Pro class now defunct at the end of this season, the GTE class will continue into next season for one final year before that platform is replaced with a GT3 based class.
Well done to all.
Photo credits – D Gibson / N Dungan / A Lofthouse.
Saturday, November 12, 2022 |
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TF Sport take a front row start ahead of WEC decider in the desert of Bahrain
Having started the proceedings yesterday in the two earlier Free Practice sessions in the familiar methodical way that has become synonymous with the teams involved, today saw the GTE Am Class Championship leading #33 TF Sport Vantage GTE of Ben Keating, Marco Sorenson and Henrique Chaves finally get to stretch their legs around the dusty Bahraini circuit after the somewhat restricted running of yesterday.
Despite their increased success ballast increase plus Balance of Performance adjustment, the #33 car elevated itself from its 2:02:934 lap time of FP1 (slowest in class on the day) through to 2:00:577 by the end of FP3 to end that part of the event fifth fastest but just 0.5 of a second off the lead pace.
The #33 car’s only title contenders from the #98 Northwest AMR team saw their drivers Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim strangely go in the reverse direction in terms of lap time across the Free Practice sessions starting with a best lap time of 2:01:906 but to end this morning with a bets time of 2:02:386.
The #777 D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg had the most constant build up process running with very closely matched times during FP2 and FP3 but better than their FP1 to end with a best time of 2:01:535.
That all took us into this evening’s ten-minute Qualifying session for each of the Bronze ranked drivers of Keating, Dalla Lana and Hoshino.
That all took us into this evening’s ten-minute Qualifying session for each of the Bronze ranked drivers of Keating, Dalla Lana and Hoshino.
Like most of the season so far, American gentleman racer Keating was the fastest of the three Aston’s but again had to settle for second best after the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari of Sarah Bovey secured the final class pole position with a time half a second better than that of the #33 car. The #98 car of Dalla Lana finished just under two seconds back from the #85 car in nineth with the #777 car having to settle for P13 a further half second back.
Obviously, all of this will count for virtually nothing with an eight-hour race still in store which will take the competitors from the heat of the day through to the cool (er) of the night under the floodlit circuit with the #98 crew still needing to beat the #33 crew by more than twenty points for the Canadian businessman and his crew to snatch the GTE Am title from that of Keating and TF Sport.
The race starts at 11:00Am GMT
Photo credits – A Lofthouse / D Gibson / N Dungan / Teams
Friday, November 11, 2022 |
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AMR WEC title chargers take to the track for the first time in Bahrain GTE Am title decider
Ten years in the making sees Aston Martin Racing and two of its Partner Teams again in Championship contention this weekend as both TF Sport and Northwest AMR Vantage GTE crews battle it out between themselves to claim the ultimate top step of the GTE Am class.
Five events and fifty hours of track racing later sees the #33 TF Sport prepared AMR Vantage of Ben Keating, Marco Sorenson and Henrique Chaves lead the GTE Am Class by just twenty points from their #98 Northwest AMR stablemates of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard going into this final eight-hour event with nobody else in close having a competitive chance at the overall crown.
With a disappointing finish for the #98 crew at the round at Monza together with of course the #33 car’s spectacular but very frightening race exit at the same event has blotted an otherwise impressive copybook throughout the season for both to have gapped their nearest competitor by at least twenty-six points to the car in third to create this AMR winner takes all scenario in the desert.
Going into today’s opening Free Practice session, the Vantage GTE has had another Balance of Performance adjustment made to it with a two litre loss in fuel capacity as well as a reduction in turbo boost pressure across the engine rev range – all on top of further success ballast after a double podium for TF Sport at the last round in Fuji with the #33 car winning and the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg coming home a magnificent third in class for the first time this season.
Those results see’s the #33 car run at its heaviest this weekend at 1275kg, an additional 30kg above its declared base weight, the #98 at 1255kg and the #777 at 1250kg.
Free Practice 1 this morning saw none of the Aston’s run above halfway up in their class as undoubtedly general ‘housekeeping’ routines were conducted by the crews in advance of Saturday’s marathon eight-hour race, some 2.3 seconds off the pace to the class leading Porsche. The days later Free Practice 2 session saw much of the same although the #33 did again only run a small number of laps compared to all within their class but then at just 1/1000th of a second behind the #98 car that ran 24 laps.
Tomorrow morning sees the third and final Free Practice session ahead of the afternoon’s Qualifying session.
What we do need to remember is that, whilst these Free Practice lap times appear off the pace, the #33 car does not need to win to be crowned Champions, but the #98 car does need to beat the #22 by at least 20 points and with the extended point format for the longer race – the variables are too extensive to list!
Good luck to everyone
Photo credit – A Lofthouse / D Gibson / N Dungan / Teams
Thursday, November 10, 2022 |
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The next line of AMR powered WEC Champions to be crowned in Bahrain
After a grueling and hard-fought GTE Am season, Vantage has been the class of the field, recording three victories in the five rounds contested, including the Sebring 1000 miles, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Fuji. Only two teams – TF Sport and NorthWest AMR – can now contend for the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE Am Drivers and Teams.
Championship leader and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner TF Sport tops the Drivers’ and Teams’ standings with Ben Keating (USA) and double GT world champion Marco Sørensen (DEN) on 123 points. The three-time class pole-sitting #33 Vantage GTE goes into the finale having won twice and been on the podium everywhere except Monza (ITA), where it did not finish, as Keating seeks his first world title.
Twenty points behind Keating and Sørensen in the standings is NorthWest AMR, owned by 2017 GTE Am world champion Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), who is partnered in the #98 by double world champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and David Pittard (GBR). The trio won the first round at Sebring (USA) and followed that up with podium appearances at Spa (BEL) and Le Mans (FRA). The team has finished in the points at every race this season.
Because the 3.363-mile circuit – the only Middle Eastern round on the calendar – hosts an eight-hour race, the result awards 1.5-times the points of a regular six-hour round. Thus, there are a total of 39 points up for grabs and all to play for. In order to beat TF Sport, the NorthWest #98 Vantage GTE must finish third or higher with their rivals not scoring, or win from pole position with the #33 placing fourth or lower. Adding to the tension, Thiim and Sørensen will go head-to-head for the first time in their illustrious careers. The pair took the famous #95 ‘Dane Train’ to the GTE Pro world titles in 2016 and again with the current Vantage in the 2019-’20 season (when Aston Martin Racing dominated GTE Pro, clinching the Drivers’, Teams’ and Manufacturers’ titles).
Aston Martin’s other partner team, D’station Racing, which along with Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, and British WEC rookie Charlie Fagg, recorded its first class podium of the season last time out in the 6 Hours of Fuji. The team, which is also contesting the Asian GT World Challenge series with its Vantage GT3, is looking to conclude the WEC phase of its season on a high note with another strong result in the desert.
Aston Martin’s other partner team, D’station Racing, which along with Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, and British WEC rookie Charlie Fagg, recorded its first class podium of the season last time out in the 6 Hours of Fuji. The team, which is also contesting the Asian GT World Challenge series with its Vantage GT3, is looking to conclude the WEC phase of its season on a high note with another strong result in the desert.
Whoever wins, both cars are expected to be in action the following day for the traditional ‘Rookie Test’ when Aston Martin’s first Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award winner, Johnathan Hoggard (GBR) returns to the brand for a run in the NorthWest AMR Vantage GTE. The 2019 AMABA winner will be joined by Vantage GT4 veterans Patrick Gallagher (USA) and Indy Dontje (NED), as well as Lorcan Hanafin (GBR). TF Sport will run 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD Class winner Ryan Hardwick (USA).
Concluding its fourth world championship campaign, Vantage remains as formidable a GT contender as ever, winning races and championships in all variants from GTE through GT3 and GT4. Powered by a race-developed version of the four-litre, twin turbo-charged V8 engine found in the road car from which it derives, the prototype GTE version was all-conquering in the WEC GTE Pro category during the 2019/2020 season. Vantage recorded five wins from eight races, including both Pro and Am classes at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car also took Aston Martin to the FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Championship title and carried Thiim and Sørensen to the drivers’ crown. In total it has claimed 14 class victories so far in WEC, over four seasons.
Official practice for the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain begins on Thursday, 10th November 1215 (GMT +3 Hours) local time, with the race beginning at 1400 on Saturday. Follow details of the race via the WEC website.
Photo credits - D Gibson / A Lofthouse
Tuesday, November 08, 2022 |
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TF Sport scores dominant victory in Japan with hard fought podium for D'Station Racing
A lights-to-flag victory for the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE crew of Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sørensen was the perfect comeback from the heartbreak of Monza and has extended their championship lead to 20 points in the clear. The #777 D’station Racing trio of Satoshi Hoshino, Charlie Fagg and Tomonobu Fujii shone through, going from last on the grid, to stepping onto the GTE podium at their home race.
It was a perfect start to the weekend for TF Sport, as #33’s Bronze driver Ben Keating, notched up the team’s third pole position of the season. Satoshi Hoshino also proved his pace in qualifying, by initially placing P4, however a post-session penalty put the #777 Vantage to the back of the grid and left the crew with a challenge ahead.
A classic start by Keating saw the Texan stick to the sharp end of the order throughout his double-stint, this included a great move down the inside of championship rival, Paul Dalla Lana, in the #98 NorthWest AMR entry to regain P2.
Fujii-san of D’station Racing stormed from the last place of the WEC grid, to the lead of GTE Am in his opening stint and the TF Sport-run Vantage duo headed into the second hour of the race, as 1-2 in class.
Hoshino-san drove an incredibly impressive stint and the local Bronze driver really held his own around his Pro-graded competitors.
Thanks to a slick stop from the TF Sport crew, Chaves took the reins of the #33 Vantage and rejoined the track as the class leader. From here, the Portuguese driver got his head down and pulled an impressive 33-second lead from the rest of the pack.
It was Aston versus Ferrari from P1 to P4 in the closing stages, and whilst Marco Sørensen held a comfortable lead, it was Charlie Fagg who drove a tough, long stint to keep the #54 AF Corse Ferrari at bay and succeeded in bringing the #777 GTE across the line to score his first WEC podium result.
#33’s second victory of the season, marked the 33rd win for Aston Martin in the World Endurance Championship.
It was a tough challenge for young Charlie, but he did fantastically and I’m really happy for D’station Racing on their home turf. Ben was awesome, as always, and all three drivers raced cleanly, with no penalties. Once they got the lead back, they did what they needed to maintain it and extend our Championship lead!” said team boss Tom Ferrier.
The 2022 WEC season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, takes place at Bahrain International Circuit on November 12, where TF Sport’s only goal will be to wrap up the Championship title and D’station Racing will be looking to step onto the podium once again.
The 2022 WEC season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, takes place at Bahrain International Circuit on November 12, where TF Sport’s only goal will be to wrap up the Championship title and D’station Racing will be looking to step onto the podium once again.
Source material - TF Sport
Photo credit - Andrew Lofthouse
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 |
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Double TF Sport joy in Japan as both their Aston Martins hit the podium at penultimate round of WEC at Fuji
The #33 TF Sport FIA WEC entered car of Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorenson responded to their untimely demise within the last round of the Champiosnhip at Monza in the best and most emphatic way possible earlier this morning with a near perfect lights to flag GTE Am Class win at the six hours of Fuji.
With the team striving to see out the effects of that crash in Monza with the conversion of one of the European Le Mans Series entered Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE’s just ahead of the start of formal track proceedings, it didn’t take Keating long to get back up to speed as he secured class pole position from the Iron Dames Ferrari.
With the weather having taken a turn for the better after the latest weather front had passed the Fuji International Speedway Circuit by, the race began under warm and dry conditions as the thirty-six strong Hypercar, LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am Class grid took the start.
Whilst the #33 car appeared to be very much in control of things at the time, both the #777 D’Station Racing of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii, Charlie Fagg and the #98 Northwest AMR of Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nick Thiim were in trouble with those in Race Control as both Gentleman drivers would have all their Qualifying times deleted for various track and pit lane transgressions for both to start at the rear of the grid.
Despite the differences in starting positions, it wouldn’t be long before all three Aston Martins were racing each other line astern before the #98 of Pittard overtook the #33 car of Keating with Fujii on yet another one of his charges directly behind in third in only the opening minutes.
With the differences in driver ranking between the three Aston’s also coming into play, the gap between the leading #98 and following #777 to the chasing #33 was inevitably going to grow before the #777 would eventually lead their ‘home’ race for the first time.
This time around, it would be the Porsche’s that would struggle for performance as the Aston Martin’s and the Ferrari’s were allowed to race as the Aston’s further split strategy with both Fujii and Keating double stinting.
By the end of the first third of the race, the #777 D’Station Racing AMR was still leading the class with the #33 car in hot pursuit as the #98 Northwest cart had dropped to P6 on their pits top cycle but that had changed again at the halfway mark as the #33 car of Chaves had assumed the class lead again over the #98 car of Thiim in third and the #777 car now in fourth.
As the race progressed, the three Aston’s still only had three Ferrari’s in their midst to be aware of as the Porsche’s continued to struggle and once too often became the victim of on-track assault.
Two hours remaining and the #33 TF Sport car was still in control of the class as the Northwest and D’Station Racing cars were having to battle it out for their positions of seniority as Sorenson, Fagg and Thiim would eventually take the three cars to the end.
By the end of the penultimate round of the 2022 WEC season, the #33 TF Sport car would take a commanding one lap win over the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari whilst the #777 D’Station Racing would earn a much-deserved P3 finish in class at their home event. The #98 Northwest AMR car would eventually come home in fifth to secure a winner takes all encounter with the #33 car at the final round of the Championship in Bahrain in the middle of November.
Photo credits – D Gibson / A Lofthouse / WEC
Sunday, September 11, 2022 |
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Either end of the GTE Am Class grid for the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE's at Fuji
Only the second fly away round of the Championship in recent years, this weekend sees the WEC run its fifth round of the year after races at Sebring, Spa Francorchamps, Le Mans and most recently Monza with two of the three AMR crews still very much in contention within their GTE Am class.
Last time out in Italy, we saw the #33 TF Sport prepared car of Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorenson literally fly out of the race whilst in a strong race position after an issue with the cars brakes saw Chaves (behind the wheel at the wheel at the time) spin and hit a sausage kerb to lift and barrel row down the track. Thankfully the Portuguese driver was otherwise OK – unlike the car with the team having to bring over one of their European Le Mans GTE Chassis as a substitute.
For the sister #777 D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg, this is their home race around the Fuji International Speedway with the teams Japanese operations based at the circuit. For them, whilst their second year within the Vantage platform has been better, their Championship position has been hindered by untimely errors and damage at Le Mans that took them out of the race during the night.
The trio is rounded off by the #98 Northwest car of Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim. A podium finish for them at Le Mans but then a lowly points finish in Italy put them just behind the #33 crew in the championship going into the Fuji round.
Free Practice one yesterday saw the #777 crew head the AMR cars (but still only seventh quickest) before FP2 saw the #33 car leapfrog the other two to be third quickest but with the #98 still behind. FP3 earlier today was another odd ball again as all three Aston’s languished amid the thirteen strong pack. The cars slight loss of boost through its revised BoP will have been part of the reason why for this.
Anyway, the best news of the day came later as the #33 car of Ben Keating claimed its third pole position of the season as the American returned a time just 0.062 of a second ahead of the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari and despite having an earlier lap discounted for track limits.
In stark contrast to that however, sees both the #98 and #777 Aston Martin’s starting at the rear of the grid with no Qualifying lap time being entered – the #98 for constant abuse of track limits with excessive speeding within the pit lane and the #777 for having ignored yellow flags and setting his fastest time on that lap.
As usual, tomorrows six hours of Fuji should be more than interesting!!
Photo credits – WEC / A Lofthouse
Saturday, September 10, 2022 |
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Aston Martin Racing powered crews WEC title fight resumes at Fuji this weekend
Championship leaders and 24 Hours of Le Mans winners TF Sport lead the championship with drivers Ben Keating (USA) and double GT world champion Marco Sørensen (DEN). While an excellent podium streak was brought to an end in the previous round at Monza, when their team-mate Henrique Chaves (POR) suffered an unfortunate crash not of his making, the two-time class pole-sitting #33 goes into Fuji as one of the favourites.
Just four points behind Keating and Sørensen in the standings are NorthWest AMR, owned by 2017 GTE Am world champion Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), partnered in the #98 by double world champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and David Pittard (GBR). The trio won the first round at Sebring and followed that up with podium appearances at Spa and Le Mans, and have finished in the points at every race this season. Dalla Lana would dearly love to regain the points lead with a second victory at Fuji, to add to the one he recorded in 2016 alongside Mathias Lauda (AUT) and Pedro Lamy (POR).
Just four points behind Keating and Sørensen in the standings are NorthWest AMR, owned by 2017 GTE Am world champion Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), partnered in the #98 by double world champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and David Pittard (GBR). The trio won the first round at Sebring and followed that up with podium appearances at Spa and Le Mans, and have finished in the points at every race this season. Dalla Lana would dearly love to regain the points lead with a second victory at Fuji, to add to the one he recorded in 2016 alongside Mathias Lauda (AUT) and Pedro Lamy (POR).
Fuji’s return to the calendar coincides with the home debut for another Aston Martin partner team, D’station Racing, which along with Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii, and British WEC rookie Charlie Fagg, is chasing its first class podium of the season, but comes off the back of a successful run with the Vantage GT3 in the GT World Challenge Asia Series.
The Vantage GTE, introduced in 2018, has a proud record at Fuji. The car put down a landmark on its debut year by recording its first pole position with Thiim in the GTE Pro class, and in 2019 when the series last visited the circuit, TF Sport won the GTE Am class with Salih Yoluc (TUR), Charlie Eastwood (IRL) and Jonny Adam (GBR) from pole.
In the midst of its fourth world championship campaign, Vantage remains as formidable a GT contender as ever. Powered by a race-developed version of the four-litre, twin turbo-charged V8 engine found in the road car form which it derives, this prototype version of the GT car was all-conquering in the WEC GTE Pro category during the 2019/2020 season. Vantage recorded five wins from eight races, including both Pro and Am classes at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car also took Aston Martin to the FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Championship title and carried Thiim and Sørensen to the drivers’ crown. In total it has claimed 13 class victories so far in WEC.
Huw Tasker, Head of AMR Partner Racing, said: “We’re coming to the sharp end of a very hard-fought WEC season and Vantage has proved to be fast, robust and – with two cars in close contention for the championship – very much at the top of its game. It’s tight at the top, and we have seen some very tough competition from Ferrari and particularly the Dempsey Proton Porsche so far. All our partner teams have been outstanding this year, and we will watch with interest to see which of them comes out on top in Japan as they vie for position in the standings ahead of the Bahrain finale. I must say, it would also be fantastic to see D’station Racing gain some reward for the all the effort they have put in this year.”
Official practice for the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji begins on Friday, 9th September 1100, with the race beginning at 1100 on Sunday.
Photo Credits - Drew Gibson / Andrew Lofthouse
Tuesday, September 06, 2022 |
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A painful one for the Aston Martin WEC runners to forget at Monza
Concerns regarding their overall performances were however almost dismissed after Qualifying when the #33’s Ben Keating so nearly claimed another GTE Am Class pole position, only to be beaten by a WEC record breaking Sarah Bovy in claiming the Championship’s first female pole position in her #85 Iron Dames Ferrari.
Qualifying pace over four to five laps was one thing, but six hours of racing was always going to be another – especially with that amount of success ballast already loaded aboard the cars for what was forecasted as being an extremely hot race so tyre/driver management and pit stop strategies would again be key for all concerned.
Getting underway at midday local time, the air temperature was already 29 degrees with a track temperature of forty seven degrees and climbing as Keating held track position relative to the #85 Iron Dames during the opening laps with the D’Station Racing’s Tomonobu Fujii having already started one of his now infamous WEC early charges through the pack from his P9 starting position in his #777 car to be ahead of the #98 Northwest car of Paul Dalla Lana before the first ten minutes had even elapsed.
Early issues soon came for the #98 came for Dalla Lana however as having dropped places so casually at the start, his need to recover led him to make contact with the #54 Ferrari after a distant lunge up the inside going into the Parabolica. That contact would spin the Ferrari but also earned the #98 their first unscheduled visit through the pit lane.
After a FCY yellow for that and a subsequent one for a ailing Hypercar, Keating assumed the lead of the Am class after the #85 car pitted early for fuel, whilst the #777 did another of their early driver changes to Satoshi Hoshino. However, whilst the undertook that manoeuvre, their speeding in the pit lane earned them a driver through penalty at just about the same time as the #98 car served theirs!!
Having completed a thirty-two-lap opening stint without any significant detriment in tyre performance, Keating went again for his usual double stint opener, managing his lead over the #85 car to a comfortable margin despite the increase in track temperature to 52 degrees.
After ninety minutes of running the #777 hit further trouble as contact from behind damaged their defuser whilst Hoshino also had (what turned out to be) a throttle pedal issue. Eventually managing to get back to pit lane, repairs would cost the crew a six-lap deficit by the time Hoshino re-emerged onto track.
Another FCY for another stranded Ferrari in the gravel came just after the two-hour mark as Keating finally passed control of the #33 car to Henrique Chaves for their middle stint of the race – emerging still in the lead as the #85 Ferrari did likewise.
The #777 D’Station Racing unfortunate trait of circuit discipline did sadly come back to haunt them again as they would also get another Drive through penalty for each offence of not respecting the FCY procedure and later, overtaking off the limits of the track and gaining an advantage, and another for track limits. These and their earlier technical issues meant that their Monza was already run.
Problems also came to the #33 soon after as Keating’s entry into pit lane was measured to be 20kph over the maximum speed of 60kph!! Whilst that transgression would have only gained them a drive through penalty, the magnitude of the breach earned Chaves a fifty second stop and hold.
Taking their punishment like a professional team that they are, Chaves was soon back out on track but had already lost the class lead to the #85 car. The next we saw of the #33 car was it pitching over the sausage kerbs at the entry to the Variante Della Roggia - flying through the air, onto its roof and then barrel roll into the barrier into a crumped heap with obvious concern to the welfare of Chaves.
An immediate Safety Car was called as Chaves was next seen standing next to his car with the body language which implied a “WTF” type of question but at least he was otherwise OK (something that was later substantiated by both the team and FIA WEC). That was also their race done though!
With another half an hour of racing being lost to that incident it was back to green running with still three hours remaining.
An immediate Safety Car was called as Chaves was next seen standing next to his car with the body language which implied a “WTF” type of question but at least he was otherwise OK (something that was later substantiated by both the team and FIA WEC). That was also their race done though!
With another half an hour of racing being lost to that incident it was back to green running with still three hours remaining.
Dalla Lana was back aboard the #98 car to complete his minimum drive time and Charlie Fagg was out for the first time in the race in the #777 but again, the Canadian didn’t look comfortable in his car as as he again dropped positions until his ‘pain’ was removed as David Pittard stepped aboard.
Two hours remaining and Pittard had brought the #98 back up to P6 as he prepared to hand over to Nicki Thiim for the run to the flag as two touching Hypercars along the main straight brought out a fourth FCY.
Sadly, with the #777 tripping themselves up again despite early promise, the #98 Northwest car was also never in any position to push for any predominant finishing position as the Dane did what he could to come home a distant seventh by the end of the six hours. The #777 would ultimately finish in tenth for their troubles.
With the next round of the Championship in Japan in early September, the cars need to be packed and freighted off after this weekend. With the condition of the #33 now questionable, we understand that TF Sport has brought into play a Plan B for that car (which will probably be another chassis shipped to Japan directly from the UK).
With other shenanigans in the race at times reaching boiling point between some, we think that some of the class results from today’s race will remain provisional for the time being with the #77 Porsche certainly having narrowed the gap to the #33 crew after their class win today.
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse / Drew Gibson / Focuspackmedia / Nick Dungan
Sunday, July 10, 2022 |
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