Whilst the current Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 was running riot within the DTM Series with Nicki Thiim behind the wheel, some older examples were having similar fun and games at the Le Mans Classic as the SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival Series ran its next two races of the season around the full Circuit de La Sarthe.

Also commemorating the twenty-year anniversary of the platform, the race did also welcome in some forerunners to that class with some well-known names behind the wheel too as Barwell Motorsport also fielding their Aston Martin DBRS9 for the likes of Stephane Ratel of the SRO itself.

 

Featuring two fifty-minute races around the circuit, the #6 Barwell DBRS9 secured a pair of class podium finishes as Ratel and co-driver Robert Hissom finished second within the AM1 class in both races to the Ford GT Matech.

Within the other AM2 class, the V12 AMR Vantage GT3 of Jonathon Mitchell came away with the best Aston Martin powered performance scooping P3 at the end of race one and a class win in race two.

 

 

Dr Afshin Fatemi and his Spiderman liveried #16 car also enjoyed a good run out as he returned with an improving P8 and P5 results respectively whilst both Janos Santa and Franz Wunderlich/Pascal Huteau each suffered misfortune as Santa had a DNF in race one and a P10 in race two whilst the #62 former R-Motorsport driven pairing only managed a couple of laps per race.

Photo credits – Series / teams

 

 

If you fancy something a little more ‘old school’ then this weekend’s Le Mans Classic will certainly be up your street with a whole host of venerable Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered machine featuring within the extensive entry lists.

Obviously competing around the same circuit layout as the more widely acclaimed 24 Hours of Le Mans doe, track action will begin on Friday before two days of races within races for the entry list that covers a significant period of sportscar racing.

 

There will be competing the #007, #008 and #009 Aston Martin Lola DBR1-2 prototypes that date back to the 2008-9 era with the factory team as well as Aston Martin Racing DBR9, Vantage GTE’s and GT3’s as the SRO GT3 Revival Series also get track time for their new series this time round.

What is there not to like about that!?

 

 

 

 

There were only four Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3’s entered into this weekend’s second round of the SRO GT3 Revival Series from the Spa Classic in the end but three of the four put on show to claim further race silverware for their efforts.

Jonathon Mitchell and his Scott Sport prepared #007 former TRG-AMR runner was again the man to beat as he came away with the race win on track after a red flagged shortened race into the night on Saturday only for a post race BoP based time penalty dropped him down the order before taking a class win at the end of Sunday’s fifty-minute finale.

 

Race one was shaping up into an exciting clash between the #007 car and the #4 GDM Motorsport prepared car of Guido Dumarey into the evening right up until another car suffered a high speed off at Blanchemont which was first covered by a Safety Car before the race was eventually pulled at the halfway mark. Fortunately, the driver involved was later reported as being otherwise OK

The #62 former R-Motorsport AMR of Franz Wunderlich and Pascal Huteau would claim P18 overall/P5 in class whilst the solo driven #16 Britec Motorsport car of Afshin Fatemi would finish his first race within the series P20 overall/P11 in class.

 

Sundays finale was this time run earlier in the day under full sunshine around the Spa Francorchamps circuit. This time the #007 and #4 Aston Martins had been knocked off the front row in earlier qualifying so there was much to do for the four V12 powered Prodrive machines.

Numerous Safety Car interventions sadly marred the race, taking significant time off the available race clock but that was still enough time in the final minutes for Mitchell to bag another class win (albeit in third overall) with the #62 Fanta Racing AMR also claiming P6 overall/P2 in class finish.

 

Next stop for the series will be from the Le Mans Classic in early July.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

Thanks to the tireless work of our Facebook friends at Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Chassis Number Tracking, we have today rekindled friendships with old cars that seemed to have disappeared from our midst over the early months of 2018.

Conspicuous by its absence from last months Aston Martin Racing Festival At Le Mans was the iconically Bilstein liveried V12 Vantage GT3, affectionately known as 'Billie' and used by the AMR factory team at events such as the ADAC Zurich N24 with drivers such as Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Pedro Lamy at the wheel.


Originally owned by Paul White, the car was purchased a couple of years ago and indeed raced by Austrian fanatic Alexander Lienau as late as the Masters Endurance Legends event at Imola only last month before being sold very recently to its new owner Mike Gensemeyer who is due to run the car at this weekend's Le Mans Classic.


The other car coming back into the limelight is the next to new, former Solaris Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 that was run by the team in the International GT Open Series with drivers Francesco Sini and Mauro Calamia.

Having destroyed their original chassis in a winter season test at Paul Ricard, the Italian team laboured for many weeks to build themselves a new car from scratch, missing various rounds of the season before calling it a day after the Silverstone round last year.


The car is now being used in the Italian Campionato Italiano Velocita Montagna hill climb series.

Photo credits - ACI Sport / Social media

This weekend, like many other weekends of this year, is another busy racing weekend around the world for many from within the #TeamAMR family and we take a brief look at what's on offer.

Starting in France, this weekend is the biennial Le Mans Classic weekend from the Circuit de La Sarthe - the home of the legendary 24 hour endurance event. With many a historic Aston Martin  race car competing within the plethora of events over the course of the weekend our attention is instantly drawn to the latter day race cars entered into the two half-hour Global Endurance Legends demonstration runs that will take place over the weekend.


These include two examples of the DBR9 GT1 race car of when the factory went back to its 'race what you sell mentality' after a mixed foray into prototype car racing as well of examples of the subsequent GT2 and GT3 Vantages who will all take to the circuit with 75 other cars of these racing  generations.


Over in Germany, we have another round of the VLN Series at the Nordschleife with Avia Racing looking to recreate their podium success of VLN3 just two weeks ago with their SP10 class Vantage GT4.

Having now recovered fro, their exploits in the Aston Martin Racing Festival at Le Mans three weeks ago, we see the return of the AMR Performance centre's Aston Martin GT8 with Heinz Jurgen Kroner again leading the marques customer ambitions around the Green Hell on Saturday.


On the opposite side of the world, the China GT Championship reconvenes for its third round of the season from the Audi Goldensport Motor Park in Beijing. Britains Jack Mitchell and his local co-driver Ryan Liu endured two difficult races last time out with power steering issues (namely the lack of it) in their China Equity AMR Vantage GT4 but despite that the duo still hold second place in the overall GT4 Championship table just five points behind the class leading McLaren.


With information not always flowing out of China in a timely manner it is not yet known just how many China Equity AMR cars have been entered into this event considering the tracks proximity to its parent company base location.

Photo credits - Sam Moores / China GT / Avia Racing