Whilst the Aston Martin Racing factory crews were busy racing at the 24 hours of Le Mans Virtual with some degree of success by the end of their twenty four hours, customer racing of the real kind resumed in Portimao, Portugal as Creventic's 24H Series held what was to be the first competitive race meeting in mainland Europe since the start of the global Covid-19 lockdown.

Despite a small entry of just fifteen cars across the five available classes, one of those entries was at least an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of German based Prosport Racing returning to the series again in 2020 for customer racers Rodrique Gillion and his driver coach Nico Verdonck. There should have been two Aston running but the Team Virage entry was withdrawn before track proceedings began with insufficient attending drivers.


Joined in Portugal by fellow Belgium racer Tom Heeren and late additional Constantin Scholl, all looked to be pretty rosy for the #401 crew having Qualified P1 in class after a close contest with the Mercedes AMG GT4 Parkalgar Team.

Starting at noon the race initially progressed without incident until the pole setting Mercedes AMR GT3 crashed out in spectacular fashion not too long before the Parkalgar Team Mercedes car also hit technical strife and disappeared from the timing sheet with engine issues after just 133laps.


That obviously left the #401 car at the top of the GT4 class but without any direct competition in class but with all endurance races it isn't always your class advisories that you need to look out for.

Just as daylight was beginning to fade and with Gillion back behind the wheel again and with the race having just clocked up nine hours of racing, contact was made with another an as yet unidentified car that caused immediate damage to the rear running gear of the V8 Vantage GT4. Initially stopping out on track at turn 15 before being recovered back to pit lane, the crew immediately went about to identify and repair the apparent seized wheel hub.


As the hours in the garage passed, it became apparent that the orange and white liveried Aston wasn't going to come out and sure enough the car was officially retired during the night.

Leading their class rivals by over 90 laps by the time the car entered pit lane for the final time, the #401 continued to be listed as the winner of the GT4 class - not the result that they wanted but a great result for motor racing in general in this post Covid-19 era of face protection and social distancing - next time guys!!


The Series now moves onto its next round at Monza in July.

Photo credits - 24H Series

The FIA World Endurance GTE Championship leaders Aston Martin Racing secured a dramatic runner-up spot in the GTE class of the first ever Le Mans 24 Virtual, the spectacular official online simulation of the event of the world’s most famous endurance race.

Having qualified fifth on Friday, the four-man crew of the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE ‘Dane Train’ comprising of GTE Pro points leader Nicki Thiim (DEN), fellow Aston Martin Racing driver Richard Westbrook, Lasse Sørensen and sim-racing ace Manuel Biancolilla (I) held their nerve in a fiercely-contested battle with old real-world foes Porsche and Corvette to rise up to P2 in the final hours of the race.

Aston Martin Racing and works driver Nicki Thiim (DEN) clinched the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championship titles in The Race All-Star Series – powered by ROKiT Phones Pro Cup on Saturday. It was the British sportscar company’s debut in the world of competitive esports racing.

The Race All-Star Series, promoted by Canadian gaming company Torque Esports, was launched at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic as a means to keep motorsport fans entertained with global motorsports on hold. Part of a three-tier series, the All-Star Cup was for real-world drivers only and featured a Teams’ Cup for Manufacturers. Up against opposition of the highest calibre, including official esports squads for Formula 1TM teams Mercedes AMG and Williams F1 as well as regular GT rivals Bentley Motorsport and BMW Motorsport, Aston Martin Racing entered several of its drivers in the series with Thiim and Charlie Eastwood (GB) eligible for points.

Each of the five rounds featured a double-header, with the second race involving a reverse grid, so consistency and staying out of trouble were key factors that allowed Aston Martin to move into the lead of the championship in the penultimate round. Thiim and Eastwood meanwhile were both in contention for the drivers’ title coming into the finale, based at Silverstone.

The first race went to plan, with Thiim and Eastwood working together to secure a hard-earned third and fourth finish, thanks to brilliant defensive work by Eastwood protecting his team-mate and giving Aston Martin a 31-point cushion over Mercedes AMG F1 in the final race. But Thiim still needed to overcome a 23-point deficit to Mercedes driver Esteban Gutierrez. That gap was wiped out when the Mexican suffered a technical failure at the start, and the race became about Thiim scoring enough points to secure the championship. Needing to finish at least tenth, the Dane was involved in an early clash that meant he had to fight his way through the field from 25th. Twice in the closing laps he made it in to the top ten, only to drop back again. Finally, two rivals crashed on the last lap, which was enough for Thiim to clinch the crown and Aston Martin the Teams’ honours.

Now Aston Martin Racing’s esports attention turns to the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, where Thiim and Eastwood are joined by real world British team-mates Darren Turner, Jonny Adam, Alex Lynn, Ross Gunn, Richard Westbrook and Harry Tincknell on 13-14 June.

'It's surprising how good this feels!” said Thiim. “You really have to work hard, especially with the calibre of the drivers taking part. If you don't practice, you have no chance. We worked hard to be ready for the finale and the first race went to plan with a P3 - P4. We needed to race through the field in the second race and that has been our strength in this series, so we were feeling good. It was really unfair for Esteban that he could not start, but still with all the crashing in the first laps it was not easy to do it! The last couple of laps the engineer was keeping me updated so I knew what I had to do. It was great to finally win it. Thanks to The Race for running such a cool championship and well done to everyone in my team who worked so hard.”

Aston Martin Racing President David King said: “If you put a collection of racing drivers and race team members in a competitive environment, no matter what it is, and challenge them to win they will always take it seriously. The team deserves their success, and The Race has put on a fascinating and absorbing competition that has been hard-fought through-out. Now we can take this experience forward with us as we look ahead to the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual in the middle of June.”

Source material - AMR