Valmon Racing Team Russia will represent Aston Martin in the 2012 FIA GT World Championship which gets underway at Nagaro this weekend.

Run by 2011 FIA GT3 team, LMP Motorsport who will campaign the cars in partnership with Aston Martin Racing the team will start the season with two Aston Martin DBRS9s before switching to the new V12 Vantage GT3 later in the year. Austrian Andreas Züber will be joined by Sergey Afanasyev in the lead car with Alexey Vasilyev and his yet to be confirmed team mate in the second car.

Valmon Racing Team Russia supported by Villois Racing will also compete in the FIA GT3 round at Nagaro with 2011 Le Mans LMP2 class winner Tom Kimber-Smith and Natalia Freidina.

2012 FIA GT1 World Championship

6th - 9th April: Nogaro, France
20th - 22nd April: Zolder, Belgium
26th - 27th May: Navarra, Spain
8th - 10th June: Slovakia Ring, Slovakia
6th - 8th July: Algarve, Portugal
24th - 25th August: Beijing Goldenport, China
30th August - 2nd September: Ordos, China
14th - 16th September: Korean International Circuit, Korea (*)
29th - 30th September: Moscow, Russia (*)
30th November - 2nd December: Delhi, India

2012 FIA GT3 European Championship

6th - 9th April: Nogaro, France
20th - 22nd April: Zolder, Belgium
26th - 27th May: Navarra, Spain
6th - 8th July: Algarve, Portugal
29th - 30th September: Moscow, Russia (*)
5th – 7th October: Zandvoort, Netherlands
(*) TBC by April 15th

Valmon Racing Team Russia will represent Aston Martin in the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship, the team will be supported by 2011 FIA GT3 European team LMP Motorsport who will run the cars in partnership with Aston Martin Racing.

Valmon Team Russia has rising Russian star Mikhail Aleshin, who has progressed through the open-wheeler ranks with impressive results. In 2010, he was the Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, his partner will be announced shortly.

The second car is likely to bring together the talented Spaniard Andy Soucek, a former FIA Formula Two champion and the experienced Austrian Andreas Zuber, who drove for Corvette in the 2010 and 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship.

The team will start the season with the DBRS9 before switching to the new for 2012 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

LMP Motorsport will run duel campaigns in FFSA GT and FIA GT3 European Championships with two 2011 spec DBRS9s.

The team founded in 2010 by Guillaume Lecluse and Yves Migeon competed in the French FFSA series with technical support from Lompech Motorsport will now make their international début.

“We’ll be Aston Martin Racing’s only representative in France and in the European Championship. It will be a stirring challenge for us,“ says Migeon.
“(Last year) in our learning season with the DBRS9 we were just ordinary Aston Martin Racing clients,” added Lecluse. “Now we are considered a Partner Team.

“The car has undergone a lot of development work this winter with the arrival of ABS, a new aerodynamic kit and several other improvements. It is going to be quicker and easier to drive.”

“We’re entering two cars in the French FFSA GT Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship,”. “The national series has been completely rethought to give more spice to the meetings and attract even more spectators as well as boosting the broadcast of events on the internet.”

The Team will begin testing April at Portimao and plans further sessions at Paul Ricard and Navarra ahead of the opening round of the French series at Ledenon.

Frédéric Gabillon and Paul Lamic have already been confirmed in one car for the FFSA championship, with four more drivers currently in negotiations to team for the FIA GT3 Championship.

JT