Last weekend saw the first round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza with both MP-AMR and Oman Racing Team (Motorbase) each having a single car, full season entry into the Pro-Am and Pro Cup categories respectively.



Being the first race weekend of the year and with a new chassis team MP-AMR (Mark Poole, Richard Abra and Joe Osbourne) reported issues with pure straight line speed together with normal set up balance but still qualified the car in P26 - 1.8seconds off the pace.

With Richard Abra taking the opening stint and looking very racey there were early tussles between him and the TDS BMW Z4 but after only 12minutes into race the TV camera picks up the MP-AMR car behind a dusty shroud in the gravel at the Curva Parabolica. Not until the end of Richard's stint was it disclosed that the Vantage received some outside assistance into placing it into that predicament. Video footage a few corners beforehand may lay the blame at the door of one of the Belgium Audi Club Audi R8's seen chewing at the rear valance of the black and red Vantage.


Intervention by the circuit vehicles and inevitable debris clear out in the pit lane lost the team 3 laps to the leaders and despite some serious chasing down (and some further technical issues for Mark Poole possible as a consequence of the off) left the team right back where they started finishing in P26.





The Motorbase ran, Oman Racing Team Vantage of Ahmed Al Harthy, Michael Caine and Stephen Jelley were entering their first Blancpain GT Series in the Pro Cup class.

With Jelley taking the opening 1hour stint he was able to push his way up to 12th before handing over to Al Harthy. He again was able to find good speed and climbed the leader board still further before the second scheduled pit stop but it was at this point their hopes and plans for a good finish faded, and all within a lap of Caine taking over the car.

One of those very annoying and difficult to find electrical, possibly an earth fault had manifested itself within the car causing unusual things to happen with the windscreen wipers and pit lane limiter which unfortunately forced Caine to pit. Despite frantic attempts by the team to find the fault they couldn't and the car was retired having completed 70% of the race.


Emphasis for both the team will now shift to the British GT Series with their respective cars/teams for the season's opener at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend.

Photo/Video Credits - Blancpain GT Series

Well, what a difference a day makes!

There I was counting the number of cars on my fingers as and when reports came up on Twitter and low and behold it wasn't very long before things just didn't add up to our previous report. An incredible 16 Aston Martin Vantages were actually making their presence felt at the Portimao circuit.

As it turned out, three of the works V8 Vantage GTE's made the trip - namely the #97 and #99 Pro cars and the #95 Young Driver Am car. AMR reported that all the 2014 cars were tested for a gruelling 25 hours and over a day and night format by many of their prospective drivers ahead of the 2014 WEC season that kicks off at Silverstone in April.

A further GTE car for Strata 21 boss Paul White reunited again with Tom Onslow-Cole and Javier Morcillo also tested.



British GT was the next series of choice fielding a whopping 8 cars across the GT3 and GT4 field. Motorbase and TF Sport tested both of their new GT3's whilst further single cars from MP-AMR,  PGF-Kinfaun and finally (but no means least) the GT3 from Beechdean, not forgetting their new GT4 steed. The final GT3 car being tested was the Bilstein liveried car from the ADAC Nurburgring 24hr.

Beechdean GT4 debutants Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings both reported how different the Vantage was in comparison to their previous front wheel drive cars but both looked forward with eager anticipation to further pre season testing and to their new season together in British GT.



Photo Credits - Aston Martin Racing

Over the last couple of days Aston Martin Racing and some of their Customer Teams have had themselves their very own 'convoy' with seven transporter lorries carrying 10 cars travelling all the way down to the Portimao circuit in Portugal - a journey of nearly 2,500km for a collective winter test.

GTE cars known to have made the long journey include the #97 car of Darren Turner/Stefan Mucke and the #99 Valero sponsored Bruno Senna car.

On top the 'works' cars you can add the Beechdean GT3 of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam together with their brand new GT4 car for Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings, the two new Motorbase GT3's (no drivers currently published), one  GT3 car for the renamed MP-AMR squad of Mark Poole and Richard Abra, a single car for Paul White of Strata21, the Bilstein sponsored GT3 from N24 and a further V8 GT4.



Besides the names listed above additional drivers known to have made the trip include ex JRM LMP1 driver Karun Chandock, AMR Pro/AM stalwart Stuart Hall, members of the BTCC fraternity including Tom Onslow-Cole and reigning champion Andrew Jordan and WTCC driver Alex McDowall (amongst others). All in all that is quite a pool of motor racing knowledge and experience.

Tom Onslow-Cole is there for yet more AMR experience following on from what he had testing at Snetterton and race at Brands Hatch last year and this year it seems that it is the turn of the reigning BTCC Champion Andrew Jordan to be given a coveted AMR invite to test the Beechdean Vantage.



WTCC driver Alex McDowall also makes a return visit to the AMR paddock following a successful shakedown test with the Beechdean team at Snetterton last year prior to the teams Blancpain Endurance Series campaign.



The two day test is due to conclude on Saturday and it will be interesting to see if any further drivers make the trip as both Motorbase cars are both driverless despite being officially entered into the British GT Championship that kicks off at Oulton Park on Easter weekend. It is understood that at least one pair are due to test again in the UK early next week.



At stage it is unlikely that any data will be released by the team as the test is only being used for both shakedown and familiarisation purposes together with a degree of corporate media activity to boot.

For anyone living close to the circuit public access will not be permitted for this private test but @AMR_Official shall be updating the situation over the Friday and Saturday test.

Photo credit - AMR

Today saw Mark Poole and Richard Abra confirm their 2014 race plans with confirmed full season entries in both the 2014 British GT and Blancpain Endurance Series with their distinctive black and red liveried Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3.

Previously racing in 2013 as MP-Motorsport (under the care of Barwell Motorsport) a recent team restructure including the appointment of a new team manager in Dave Wilcox has seen closer AMR factory links and resources being made available to them. In 2014 the the team has rebranded as MP-AMR.

Whilst publicly thanking Barwell Motorsport for all their professionalism and assistance with the drivers inaugural season Richard Abra was quoted as saying that the offers from Prodrive were simply "too good to be missed". We understand that the new arrangements will follow similar patterns to that currently enjoyed by Beechdean Motorsport.

Having also sampled the Blancpain Endurance series at Silverstone last year the excited duo also confirmed the addition of Joe Osborne as their third driver in the highly competitive Pro-Am class. The team shall expect a real baptism of fire in 2014 with the first round of the BES being at Monza 12/13th April and the British GT kicking off at Oulton Park the following weekend.