Over the last two season’s in the TSS Series, we have had the Viper Niza team represent the brand with their 16A version of the Vantage GT3 but they have competed their last two series events within either the LMP3 car or most recently within a Mercedes AMG GT3 at the Sepang 12Hr.

Team NZ announces its programme for TSS 2024 just as the series expands its calendar from four to five rounds (and ten races) for 2024, thanks to the addition of an extra round at Sepang Circuit. The Malaysian F1 circuit has been a happy hunting round for Team NZ over the years and it has enjoyed much winning success there.

TSS 2024 will kick off next month at Buriram’s FIA Grade 1 Chang International Circuit before taking in the iconic Bangsaen Grand Prix street race. That’s followed by back-to-back trips to Sepang International Circuit before the year closes with a return trip to Buriram in December.

With the help of Aston Martin Racing Asia and Earl Bamber Motorsport, Team NZ has just wrapped up a pre-season and acclimatisation programme at Sepang Circuit as it gets up to speed with the Vantage GT4 and beds in Tangniannatchai.

Source material - Team

Having just been to the UK to sample the new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, this is something of a surprise move from the team albeit one where this new iteration of race car would not qualify to be ran within the ALMS until next season.

That leaves the D’Station Racing and TF Sport teams flying the AMR flags with their entries for Satoshi Hoshino and John Hartshorne with further drivers not being confirmed until nearer the season opener in December.

Then in Macau – unfortunately we still don’t see the return of an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entry within the coveted FIA GT World Cup event around the notoriously tight street circuit, but we do have one Aston Martin listed within one of the support races.

Having first learned of a new relationship between AMR and the Earl Bamber Motorsport team at the recent Thailand Super Series support race for the F1 around the street circuit of Singapore with a Vantage GT4, the Greater Bay Area GT Cup (GT3) support race entry list does!

Entered under the Earl Bamber Motorsport team name, Indonesian gentleman driver Anderson Tanoto is listed with that (so far un-numbered) entry.

In a somewhat fragmented racing career alongside that of his business ventures, Tanoto has raced an AMR Vantage GT4’s before with the Stoner Car Care (Automatic Racing) team during the 2021 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge visit to the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca where he shared that car with AMR Asia representative Weiron Tan. Since then, he racing commitments have been limited to just three starts within the SRO America GT4 America Series with a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4.

The 70th Macau Grand Prix weekend takes place over the 11th – 19th November.

Photo credits – Team / Social media / TSS

The presence within the UK this week of two Aston Martin Racing powered team owners/managers also suggested that something was afoot this week as you wouldn’t normally expect the likes of Tomonobu Fujii and Douglas Khoo to fly over from the Far East unless it was for something worthwhile!

The confirmation of the aesthetical outlines of this new race car certainly looks menacing although much of the development work remains out of sight for now under the revised lines of the bodywork with the new flares around each corner and a beefier looking wing the most obvious changes. We have always known that the existing Vantage GT3 is a fast car if the series simply allowed it to race through the good old matter of BoP again so we have no doubt that this ‘evo’ will be just the same.

Additionally, it is not a secret that the present car struggles with the present control tyre from Pirelli, so it is interesting again that this test was conducted using the official suppliers for the SRO family of series rather than the Michelins/Goodyears of the ACO family of series.

Whilst this moment should always be rejoiced at the visual confirmation that the AMR GT3 platform continues into another homologation rule set period with the impending release of the revised road car by Aston Martin Lagonda, it’s just that today has all been just a little bit underwhelming – again! That we find disappointing.

The proof in the pudding will obviously come about as and when the first Partner or Customer team take delivery of such a beast and see just how it compares to those from its racetracks advisories next season. 

The future looks bright across the Hypercar and GT race scene – let’s just shout about it a little bit more can we?

This year, Leroux returned to the event but this time with the Earl Bamber Motorsport team to do likewise again this weekend with his new #97 AMR Vantage GT4.

Whilst we already know that both the platform and the driver have massive skill and potential – especially when combined, but the real news is of this new association with a predominantly Porsche based team with this chassis with the news from Aston Martin Racing themselves that this relation will extend beyond just this event.

Now, that is very interesting!!

Also at the event was the #63 Viper Niza Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Douglas Khoo with the event making their first-year anniversary of their tie up with Aston Martin where Singapore 2022 was he first AMR powered race.

Whilst Khoo now has many race miles under his belt within the #65 car within both the TSS and other series, difficult driving conditions during both races around the Singapore street circuit proved to be a challenge for many.

Finishing P8 in class after Saturday’s weekend opener, the weekend was tarnished slightly with a DNF in race two on Sunday.

The series now takes a break before its fifth and concluding championship round at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram in mid-December.

Photo credit – Teams / Series

Scanning through those entries we see the return of three of this season’s entries as D’Station Racing (as indicated earlier this year), Viper Niza Racing and TF Sport are all confirmed as full season, Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries.

With driver names not actually listed within today’s news, it is ‘fairly safe’ to assume that Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii, Douglas Khoo/Dominic Ang and (probably) John Hartshorne are included within those cars with other supporting drivers within at least two of those yet to be confirmed.

For teams such as D’Station Racing, entry into this series would be seen as imperative ahead of any World Endurance Champiosnhip endeavours now that that Championship also competes with LMGT3 based cars from next season in lieu of the soon to be pensioned off GTE class.

The 2023/24 season starts with an all-new double header at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia in early December before moving across to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a quick fire three round conclusion in early February 2024. Hopefully, this coming season will run smoother for them all than last!!

Photo credits – Series / D Gibson / A Lofthouse

Like last year, the 2022 Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy winner Romain Leroux will also be re-joining the Malaysian based team this weekend to again compete within their AMR Vantage GT4 car like he did with such dominance last year, taking class wins in both F1 support races.

With Khoo racing solo aboard the Vantage GT3, now more experienced with it and Leroux also racing solo aboard their GT4, let’s see where this weekend takes them on the silverware front!

Photo credits – Team / Series

Having debuted their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 in the series last season as it supported the F1 package around the street circuit of Singapore, last weekend later proved itself to be much tougher and more frustrating for the drivers of the #65 car – Douglas Khoo and Dominic Ang after each qualifying session.

Finishing race 1 on Saturday in P5 proved itself to be the big success of the weekend as Sunday’s second race would eventually finish behind the Safety Car after the inevitable contact with the barriers for another unfortunate.

Next stop for the series will be at the Sepang International Circuit at the end of August.

Photo credits – Team / Series

As usual, Saturday and Sunday will be punctuated by each of the Championship’s solo sprint races for the amateur driver as well as a longer endurance (with compulsory pit stop) race later in the day per day.

Having skipped the Championship last year, Guess has certainly come back in fighting spirit in the races so far – usually securing a class podium finish per race to maintain their championship momentum.

Rounding off #TeamAMR’s racing commitments this weekend appears to be the return to track action for the Malaysian based Viper Niza Racing team as Douglas Khoo and Domonic Ang get trackside again with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 at a very bespoke coastal street circuit in Thailand.

Perhaps ever so slightly comparative to Surfers Paradise in Australia, the Bangsaen Grand Prix event features a tight and twisty circuit layout with a paddock backing directly onto the local beach – extremely enticing we are sure considering the high ambient and high humidity levels there at the moment.

Two races per weekend, this event is the third of the Thailand Super Series so far this season after two consecutive rounds around the Chang International in Buriram earlier in April/May. Having had to rebuild their Vantage GT3 ahead of the opening round (from damage sustained within the Asian Le Mans Series), two sixth place class finishes sees the #65 Pro-Am crew sit P11 overall within the GT3 class going into this event.

Photo credits – Team / Series

At the opening round of this year’s Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie around the infamous Green Hell, we had crews from both the Prosport Racing and Dorr Motorsport teams racing there on Saturday win both Vantage GT3 and GT4 format.

With Christoph Breuer deputising within the #17 Vantage GT3 for an unavailable Jean Glorieux, he and Maxime Dumarey secured a SP9 Am Class win for their efforts (albeit the sole runner within that class) but to come first – first you must finish!!

With that change in crew left the #37 SP9 Pro class entered Vantage GT3 of Mike David Ortmann short of a driver so ‘resident’ driver coach Nico Verdonck filled that gap for them to claim a highly credible P14 finish in class at the head of the pack.

In the GT4 classes, the #176 Prosport SP10 runner of Gabriela Jilkova, Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Guido Dumarey came home in sixth whilst the SP8T classed #150 Dorr Motorsport entered Vantage GT4 of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet claimed the top honour in their first NLS event.

Over in New Zealand, the solo AMR Vantage GT8R of Stephen Harrison worked his magic to claim an opening race at Taupo with a win and a fourth (along with a P12 in the hour-long endurance race) to elevate his position up to third in the GT4 table as the series moves onto its finale at Manfield in a month’s time.

Finally in Malaysia, the Sepang 12hr got back under this year after a number of years of enforced sabbatical with the locally based Viper Niza Racing entering their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Fresh out of the container (in a sorry state) from its race ending accident in the final round of the Asian Le Mans Series at Yas Marina a few weeks ago, the Douglas Khoo lead team spent several days simply rebuilding the front end of their #65 car to even allow him, Dominic Ang and Jazeman Jaafar to compete this weekend.

Sadly for them, some early spins in the opening stint for Khoo put them back towards the end of the thirteen strong grid to eventually come home in tenth in what was actually an eight hour race!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / E Metzner / Social Media

Then before the racing had even begun, the #61 Evisu Racing (with TF Sport) Vantage GT3 of David Pun, Ross Gunn and Adrian D’Silva suffered significant front-end damage that required parts to be flown in from the UK in the hope of making the grid of at least Sunday’s second race – but then, that’s just racing!!

Unfortunately for them, that was not to be with the exaggerated repair time and parts availability also forcing them to miss Sundays race as well, but we understand that they should be ready in time for next weekend’s second brace of races in Yas Marina.

In race one, the early testing pace of the #66 Bullitt Racing car of Valentine Hasse-Clot, Martin Berry and Jacob Riegel was very quickly unravelled with glancing side to side contact with a Mercedes on only the third lap of the race, breaking their front-end suspension which, despite the best of efforts of that time) forced the car to be retired.

The remaining three cars from TF Sport, D’Station Racing and the Viper Niza team all completed the opening four-hour round with track progression relative to their Qualifying position only being made from both the #95 TF Sport car of John Hartshorne/Jonny Adam/Henrique Chaves and the two driver Viper Niza #65 car of Douglas Khoo and Dominic Ang.

Sundays race had seen a change to the GT class Balance of Performance criteria with all the marques received increases in boost whilst the BMW, Porsche and Mercedes all received an increase in base rate too.

With grid positions being taken from Saturday’s second-best lap times for their bronze ranked drivers, the #77 D’Station Racing car of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg would again be the highest starters of the four starting Aston Martin’s in eight with the #66 Bullitt car in P13, the #95 TF Sport car in P18 and the #65 Viper car in P22.

Whilst the D’Station car would fly the flag for the brand towards the top of the class for much of the race, the longevity of the AMR situation was such that it was soon muscled backwards in the order towards the latter stages of the race for them to eventually finish in sixth for some valuable championship points at least.

That would be as far as the good news would go again for this day as just before the 75% race distance, a heavy crash for Khoo resulted in the destruction of the front end of his car and a painful harness winding experience for the gentleman driver. That injury would be in addition to a foot injury apparently sustained during a routine pit stop earlier in Race 1 from which the team received a massive post race time penalty.

Messaging Khoo after the race, he confirmed to us that whilst he was otherwise OK from his ordeal (which is of course the important bit) less could be said about the state of his car which he believes to have been written off due to the damage sustained.

What that means for his and Ang’s Yas Marina event is as yet unclear but judging by Khoo’s tone of message – it will be doubtful if they will be in attendance with a new chassis in that short a time!

Just to round things off – the #95 TF Sport car would finish P14 and the #66 Bullitt car P17 to round off a totally disappointing and frustrating weekend for all concerned.

Goodbye Dubai and hello Yas Marina!!

Five now become three!! ☹️

Photo credits – Teams / A Lofthouse / AMR

That news was backed up yesterday with the news that the recently announced Viper Niza team from Malaysia will also be joining the fray with their new AMR Vantage GT3 and that that news again has been bolstered by the fact that both Bullitt Racing and a further TF Sport entry have been confirmed, bringing the GT3 class grid up to twenty-four cars with five of them being Aston Martin’s.

Although with all news obviously gratefully received, some of these announcements have still left the detail of driver crews blank with only TF Sport confirming the return of John Hartshorne, Henrique Chaves and Jonny Adam to the list to carry on from where they all left off within the Asian Le Mans Series and European Le Mans Series of this season gone.

The Spanish based Bullitt Racing team have released no names but it’s probably safe to consider that team boss Stephen Pattrick will be amongst them with Valentin Hasse-Clot posting a cheeky little post upon social media to say he may be saying something as well which may well not be too far off the mark either!

Likewise with the Viper Niza team, we expect team boss Douglas Khoo to be amongst their drivers again as that team complete their AMR transition next weekend at the final round of the Thailand Super Series from the Chang International Circuit alongside their AMR Vantage GT4 supported car. That leaves just the second TF Sport entered car with no names and whilst we could probably make some educated guesses – it is sometimes best simply to wait for the official team confirmation.

The Asian Le Mans Series will again run a four-race format – two four-hour races at the Dubai Autodrome over the weekend of the 12th and 13th February before moving just across the border to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for rounds three and four over the weekend of the 18th and 19th February.

A complete entry list is expected closer to the start of the new season.

Photo credits – Teams / Andrew Lofthouse