After what could only be described as a near total disappointment at the last round of the German ADAC GT Masters and GT4 Germany Series from Zandvoort last weekend, the PROsport Performance team have today confirmed their total withdrawal from this coming weekends round of both series at the Nürburgring.

With the team continuing to blame the lack of pre-season testing time with either of their new Aston Martin Racing GT3 or GT4 Vantages as part of their reason for their under performance so far this season together with the impending prospect of their GT4's having to compete this weekend with a poorer Balance of Performance, the team have felt compelled to make this decision on the grounds of cost and risk but with also the continued reputation of the team and brand being at stake.


In GT4, the issue was really apparent as it was all that drivers David Griessner and Akhil Rabindra could do to keep up with the leading KTM X-Bows and BMW's to finish P4 in race 1 only to learn that the AMR GT4 will be pegged back again for Nurburgring whilst the others platforms ahead would remain untouched.

Team Principle Christoph Esser said "This decision was very difficult for us, especially not to compete at our home track at the Nürburgring. But we have no other option but to draw this conclusion and to leave our cars in the Workshop because of the incomprehensible BoP change in the GT4 and the lack of competitiveness of the Vantage in the GT3.During the race to the ADAC GT4 Germany last weekend In Zandvoort, thanks to a positive BoP change, we were able to drive on front positions for the first time. 

Particularly during the summer holidays, any visit to a beach should be one of happiness and potential reward but sadly that was not the case as German based PROsport Performance reconvened to both the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany from the Dutch coastal circuit of Zandvoort.

Intermittent torrential rain storms hampered everyones progress during the weekends earlier Free Practice sessions leading into Qualifying but even before that the team was already on the back foot. For reasons unclear, their resident Aston Martin Racing factory driver Maxine Martin was otherwise unavailable forcing the team to recruit at short notice the driving services of former Zandvoort ADAC GT Masters race winner Ezequiel Perez Companc to partner full season racer Daniel Keilwitz in the #99 AMR Vantage GT3.

Having also earlier this year released drivers Hugo de Sadeleer and Valentin Hasse Clot the team have yet to find a suitable co driver for Florian Thoma who has stepped up from their ADAC GT4 campaign to join them in GT3 so again, the team only had a single GT3 entry.


With Companc not used to the new Vantage, all available track track was given to him to familiarise himself but in turn that lead to under performance in set up that would thus hamper them during the two one jour races of the weekend..

Despite improving lap times over the weekend, the #99 car was never in a position to challenge with a slight contact during race one then further impeding any attempted progress with the car ultimately finishing P21. Race two wasn't much better for the team after Keilwitz Qualified the car in P25, surprisingly slow for him but understandable considering his lack of seat time during Free Practice. During another Safety Car interrupted race the #99 car would again finish a lowly P29 and on top of everything else so far this season, that was not a good return to the series.


In the supporting ADAC GT4 Germany Series, the team did return with their two AMR Vantage GT4's albeit with a revised driver line up in the #18 car.

Indeed it was the #18 car of David Griessner and Akhil Rabindra that partly saved the day for the team with a warranted lights to flag P4 performance in Saturday first race. Their sister #19 car would start from the sixth row but would be retired at the pit stop with another apparent rear hub issue after possible contact earlier in the race.

That damage to the #19 car would see it not start Sundays race at all whilst the #18 should start from its Qualified P14 position, technical issues of their own would also see that car stop just before the end of the race.


The ADAC circus now makes its way back into Germany for the next round this weekend from the Nurburgring. Whilst there hasn't been any formal Entry list issued yet we do know that former China GT racer Yves Volte has now signed up with the team to see out the final rounds of the GT4 Germany Series aboard the #18 car with David Griessner.

We hope for their sakes, a return to German circuits will get their endeavours back on track!

Photo credits - ADAC 

After a long summer break, the German ADAC GT Series gets back to business this weekend as both the GT Masters and GT4 Germany Series set about getting back to business around the tight and twisty coastal circuit of Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

For the GT3 runners in the ADAC GT Masters series Zandvoort is the forth round out of a seven round season whilst the ACAD GT4 Germany Series hit their midway point of their season with the Dutch round only being their third outing this year.


In both Series competes the German based Prosport Performance team ( operating their Aston Martin Racing racing operations under the PROpeak Performance banner) with a pair of new AMR V8 Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars entered into both series.

For the team, 2019 has proved to be something to difficult transition into both GT3 racing in general as well as the volume of motorsport being entered into by the team with their GT4 cars with each GT4 scheduled to participate in over three full season series/championships across Europe proving to be something of a self imposed hinderance and distraction.

Indeed, prior to the last round of the GT Masters Series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, they elected to drop the one full GT3 entry line up of Valentin Hasse-Clot and Hugo De Sadeleer aboard their #98 car as the team strived to seek a knowledge and understanding of what was causing their under performance up until that point of the season. Since thence all four race cars have undergone completed rebuilds with the team even electing to skip a round of the GT4 European Series as a result after continued technical issues were being experience aboard their GT4 cars at the 24H Series 24hr race in Barcelona straight off the back of a difficult GT4 European Series event at Misano in Italy.


That decision in turn has provoked changes within the GT4 line up in the German Series as GT4 racer Florian Thoma steps up to fill one vacant seat about the #98 Vantage GT3 going into Zandvoort. Unfortunately for this very talented Swiss racer the second seat has yet to be confirmed by the team but the line up within their #99 car remains the same with AMR factory driver Maxime Martin again partnering former series champion Daniel Kielwitz.

In GT4 only the #19 car remains the same from the start of the season with Jorg Viebahn and Joonas Lappaleinen remaining despite their very shaky start to the season that has so far seen them not finish in half of the races completed to date.

In the sister #18 car it is however all change with Thoma having moved up to the teams GT3 programme, his former co driver Jeremy Lesoudier is also no longer with the team with these seats now being taken up by the teams GT4 European Series racers David Griessner and Akhil Rabindra.


In the build up to this weekend's two - one hour races per series, the team has been embarking on some local PR work at the Classic Days Schloss Dyck in southern Germany over the weekend before moving up to Spa Francorchamps on Tuesday for some testing.


Despite this, it will be great to see two lots of two Prosport Performance Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars hit the track again and at a circuit where its very nature and layout will generate for some very exciting motor racing. Lets just hope their jinx has now been broken and some serious championship points can be collated all round for a change.

Photo credits - Prosport Performance

All four new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4's entered by both the AMR Performance Centre and PROsport Performance customer team made significant improvements over the course of yesterdays weather interrupted track sessions, all ahead of this weekends ADAC Total 24 H race from the infamous Nordschelife circuit in southern Germany.

Having 'baptised' their new GT4 racing chariot at the most perhaps the most difficult racing circuit in the world last month in the events preceding Qualification Race, available track time yesterday afternoon was somewhat limited due to torrential rain around parts of the 26km during the earlier Free Practice session that resulted in it being red flagged and not resumed due to the number of cars having incidents around the circuit.


During Free Practice, representative lap times were at least being entered by three of the five Aston Martins competing at the event (the fifth being the AMR performance Centre entered Vantage GT8 customer car) and they were headed by the #36 Darren Turner / Chris Goodwin / Christian Gebhardt SP8T car which was ahead of the #68 PROsport Performance car of Jorg Viebahn / Joonas Lappalainen / Nicolaj Moller-Madson car by just 1/10th of a second.

With the circuit eventually drying out enough for the first of the Qualifying session yesterday evening, these times became history as again the #36 car wiped nearly twenty seconds off its best lap time to end the session the fastest AMR car in overall P40 with a lap time of 9:03:493. This time all five cars were able to enter the required number of laps per driver to 'Qualify' for the race with further qualifying sessions to be used to determine their precise starting position and were spread between P40 and P77 of the 155 car grid that completed Q1.


Early issues with the GT8 and #37 Vantage GT4 were quickly overcome to allow each crew to get their schedule back on track despite the earlier loss of track time with the GT8 ending its first day 4th fastest in its SP8 class.

As the crews now look forward to todays further two Qualifying sessions, all are presently placed as follows in the proceedings:-

So after Q1, positions are: SP8T 

P1 #36 Darren Turner / Chris Goodwin / Christian Gebhardt
P4 #37 Jamie Chadwick / Alex Brundle / Peter Cate

SP10

P2 #68 Jorg Viebahn / Joonas Lappalainen / Nicolaj Moller-Madson
P5 #76 Christoph Breuer / Alex Mies / Kay van Berlo / Mike David Ortmann

SP8

P4 #35 Marco Muller / Tony Richard / Heinz Jurgen Kroner / David Thilenius


The start of the ADAC Total 24 H race itself starts at 15:30hrs so there is still a long way to go!

Photo credits - AMR / Frozenspeed

Last weekend saw the return of joint ADAC GT Masters and the ADAC GT4 Germany series programme from the Red Bull Ring in Austria having temporally parted company after the opening round to the season at Oschersleben.

Having had issues with performances at the opening two rounds of the ADAC GT Masters at both Oschersleben and more recently at Most in the Czech Republic, the team had decided to concentrate their efforts in GT3 with just a single Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 being entered for drivers Daniel Keilwitz and Maxime Martin. In line with a programme of development for the event with AMR and other strategic partners, that sadly left both Hugo de Sadeleer and Valentin Hasse-Clot with a weekend off.

With only one points finish out of the four races so far, racing success in Austria was important for the team in order to bolster their so far faltering AMR race programme.


Early testing at the circuit proved changes made were certainly in the right direction with the #99 car being just half a second behind the pace setters in both Free Practice sessions on Friday and Qualifying followed a similar theme when Keilwitz finished his opening stint in P15 for the one hour race later on that day.

A good opening stint from the former ADAC GT Masters Champion kept the car in one piece and looked on par in terms of pace with those around them as he pitted from P10 at he halfway point. With the AMR factory driver Martin now in the car, he would have a great battle with the sole Ferrari 488 in the Series for lap after lap with each platform showing their strengths and weaknesses as corners of the lap passed them by.

Then came the damaging notification from Race Control - a drive through penalty for exceeding track limits! Having shown pace, Martin sadly pitted the car to retire from the race and a points paying P10 position with just 10 minutes to go.


Race 2 on Sunday was a different day and with Martin the time qualifying the car, the duo would this time start from P10 on the grid - again just 0.484 seconds off pole position. Fortunately less aggressive on track this time, the sixty minutes of racing cycled through without accident or incident to finish a very credible P9 with some very welcome points as a reward.

Whilst the penalty in race 1 was unfortunate, the events of Round 3 of the season has proven that the team are working their Vantage GT3's the right way in terms of performance as the series takes a short break in their proceedings before the next round at Zandvoort in early August.


In support of all of this was the ADAC GT4 Germany Series for only their second round of the season after Oschersleben with PROsport Performance returning with their two AMR Vantage GT4's.

Free Parctice and Qualifying 1 saw some good times from drivers Florian Thoma and Jorg Viebahn for them to qualify their #18 and #19 cars P5 and P14 respectively for Saturdays race which then started very badly for the team.


Leading up to T1 on the opening lap, a McLaren 570S moved across the track and forced another car into the side of Thoma's #18 car which in turn forced him into the side of another car of his outside. Whilst he was initially able to continue, unseen damage within the fabric of the car would ultimately force him to pit and retire after only two laps. For the sister #19 car of Viebahn, things were looking comfortable during his opening stint as he moved up to P10 by the time of the stop.

Swapping over to Joonas Lapalleinen, he continued the fine work of his co driver in the opening stint until what looked like suspension failure forced his retirement at the trackside with just three minutes remaining!!

Sunday would then see both GT4 cars from the team not set a Qualifying lap time which automatically forced then to start Sundays race from the rear of the grid. Whereas Jeremy Lesoudier finally got a drive the event, the #19 car would again suffer from technical issues that forced Lapalleinen to pit - and retire again.


For the #18 car, Lesoudier and Thoma would continue with an underwhelming race from their point of view to ultimately finish P9.

Clearly some investigative work and repairs to be done on those two cars ahead of their next round also at Zandvoort in August.


Photo credits - ADAC GT Masters / PROsport Performance

Despite having just secured their first points in this years ADAC GT Masters Series, German based PROsport Performance will go to the third round of the season at the Red Bull Ring in Austria with just a single Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 as they and their partners continue to identify issues that have so far blighted their on track performances this year.

With Daniel Keilwitz being the winner of the Series last eight visits of of twelve from the Austrian circuit, the team will be hoping that that fact together with work already put in place by them and their technical partners to identify and hopefully correct these issue will allow the former ADAC GT Masters Champion and his AMR factory co-driver Maxime Martin to take that step necessary to catapult their season forward.


As a result of this, the team have elected not to enter their second Vantage GT3 of Hugo de Sadeller and Valentin Hasse-Clot. Team boss Christoph Esser said ""Together with Aston Martin we analysed the races in Oschersleben and Most and are now working on a list of tasks. To speed up the process, we will focus on one Vantage GT3 at the Red Bull Ring, on the car that Daniel Keilwitz and Maxime Martin will race. We are sharing our strengths, on the one hand with racing and on the other with a comprehensive test program with the clear goal of using the summer break to return stronger and better. Of course it would be good if we could take a step forward at the Red Bull Ring."

Their two - one hour races will take place over both Saturday and Sunday and will be live streamed in English via the ADAC GT Masters website.


Having not supported the main event at the GT3's second round from Most in the Czech Republic, sees the return of the ADAC GT4 Germany Championship which also features two AMR Vantage GT4 cars from the PROsport Performance stable for their second round of the season.

After something of a total disaster at the opening round from Oschersleben, where only one car finished one of the two races despite one having qualified on pole for the opening race, time has at least allowed the team and drivers to be become more familiar with the workings and driving mannerisms of their new GT4 platforms with their most experienced racer (Florian Thoma) also busy with the team in the GT4 European Series where he and Akhil Rabindra only just missed out on another podium at Paul Ricard. Hopefully, some of that knowledge and experience has been disseminated down through to the other drivers.


Thoma rejoins co-driver Jeremy Lesoudier in the red #18 whilst Joonas Lappalianen and Joerg Viebahn race again in the predominantly white car. Again, both races will be streamed live from the circuit via the ADAC GT4 Germany website.

Photo credits - PROsport Performance