With no Aston Martin runners registered to make the start of the opening round of the 2017 International Endurance Series, it is left to us to look for a former #TeamAMR driver for accept our support of this weekends 24hour.

Without splitting hairs over anyone who may have raced an Aston in decades gone by, it appears that the official entry list gives us a choice of five former Aston Martin GTE, GT3 or GT4 runners. They are:-

• Stuart Leonard in the #4 Belgium Audi Club Team WRT - formally of Leonard AMR (Blancpain)
• Tom Onslow-Cole in the #16 SPS Automotive Mercedes AMG GT3 - Formally of Strata 21 (British GT)
• Stuart Hall #27 GP Extreme Renault RS01 - formally of Aston Martin Racing (WEC) 
• Jack Mitchell - #229 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 - Still of MacMillan Racing (British GT)
• Paul White - #99 RKC/TGM Honda Civic - Formally of Strata 21 (British GT)

You takes your choice…………!

Danish racing driver Caspar Elgaard today confirmed that he will he hanging up his race suit, boots and helmet at the end of this month as he steps back from competitive racing in favour of concentrating on his team managerial position at Massive Motorsport.

With an international racing career that dates back to beyond 2001 he has competed at the highest level including eight visits to the 24Hour of Le Mans between 2001 and 2011, where in 2009 he alongside Kristian Poulsen and Emmanuel Collard won the LMP2 class in a Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder.


Since then he has (and up till now still was) actively competing in both his domestic Danish Thundersport Championship and the International Endurance Series in cars prepared by his own Massive Motorsport team.

"It was a big decision, but also the right for myself and Massive Motorsport" he says in his announcement posted on the teams Facebook page.

It must have been like he had never stopped racing for Christoffer Nygaard as he stepped into the Massive Motorsport Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 for the International Endurance Series event at Barcelona.

Stepping in at the last minute for his former AMR team WEC mate Kristian Poulsen he joined fellow Danes Caspar Elgaard and Roland Poulsen for this weekends event which has culminated so far with the #55 car qualifying in P3 overall for the start of the race tomorrow. The reason for young hot shot Nicolai Sylvest to be missing is unclear.


They start tomorrows race behind the pole setting Barwell Motorosports Lamborghini Huracan and Scuderia Praha's Ferrari 458 but with each of those cars having four drivers available pressure will be on the #55 to succeed.

Obviously we wish them well

A slightly sensational headline we know but that is the reality for Aston Martin Racing Partner team Massive Motorsport as they welcome former AMR factory driver Christoffer Nygaard into their midst for penultimate round of the International Endurance Series at Barcelona this weekend.

Having lost out on his seat within the Young Driver AMR World Endurance Championship GTE Pro car at the end of 2015, the racing scene for the Dane has been somewhat quiet despite his obvious driving abilities and steps into the #55 V12 Vantage GT3 in place of regular driver Nicolai Sylvest.


With Massive Motorsport having endured a 'race from hell' last time out in the series at Paul Ricard the full driver line up of Caspar Elgaard, Kristian and Roland Poulson and well as Nygaard will be obviously hoping for something better in Spain.

Qualifying for the race begins over Friday before the formation of the grid for the 24hour race at 11.00am BST.

Photo credits - Creventic / AMR

With many european and national series having taken an extensive mid season (summer) break, the next couple of weekends will see most of them return to the track.

Starting this weekend coming, the European Le Mans Series reconvenes at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France for the fourth round out of their six round 2016 season. The Andrew Howard, Darren Turner and Alex MacDowall driven Beechdean V8 Vantage GTE is again the sole AMR entry out of the eight car GTE entry and they will have their work cut out to restrict an increasingly  competitive field including the now championship leading #56 AT Racing Ferrari.


Again supporting the headline ACO sanctioned series will be the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup series where the TF Sport entered Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey hold a handsome sixteen point lead over their rivals. With some comings and goings amongst the GT3 field this race will see a slightly larger thirteen car entry.

With Yoluc having celebrated his 31st birthday earlier this week it is hoped that he (and Hankey) haven't partied too hard over the last few weeks in Ibiza and California!! It appears that the team tested at the circuit today.


Over in Australia, father and son team Miedecke Stone Racing embark on the second round of the Australian Endurance Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park. Having competed in two GT Asia races (with mixed results) the team will be hoping that experience gained in those races will help them at home and that they won't be again robbed of a hard earned finish by an untimely tyre failure.

In the opening round of the series the team ran the car in its former Craft Bamboo Racing livery but this has now changed to mimic the livery used in the team in the GT Asia series.


Next weekend sees the return of the International Endurance Series and their penultimate 24 hour race of the season at Barcelona.

Danish team Massive Motorsport will be looking to overcome their 'massive' disappointment at the last race at Paul Ricard when a reoccurring power steering fault saw them retire within the first hour of the race. The team will also be competing with a reduced driver line up of just Caspar Elgaard with Kristian and Roland Poulsen.

Looking through the entry for this race you will notice other family TeamAMR names such as Dryburgh, Wylie and Butcher entered but sadly for us they are all in a red car!!

Having invested both time and resource for the two thousand mile round trip to the fifth round of the International Endurance Series at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, Danish team Massive Motorsport had all of their hard work and effort snatched away from them in the cruellest of circumstances right at the start of the race this afternoon.

Having gained the services of fellow countryman and Aston Martin Racing WEC driver Nicki Thiim, the team followed due process that resulted in their V12 Vantage GT3 qualifying third on the grid for the start of what would be their first 24hour race. Their previous rounds in the series had only been at the 2hour races at Mugello and Zandvoort.


With Thiim starting also starting the race, the grid pulled away on the green flag lap only for the #55 car to immediately pit on the first time around with a steering problem. After frantic efforts made by the team in the garage the car was later released back into the race, which by now was laps old but unfortunately the car was returned straight back to the garage with the power steering fault continuing.


Without a spare power steering pump on the lorry and the #55 car being the only Aston Martin on the grid there was little option left to the team but to retire the car after just one racing lap. That must have been a crushing blow for both the team and the drivers.

By virtue of the team suffering from a similar power steering related problem at Monza last year in the European Le Mans Series (GTC class) we find it surprising that such a pump wouldn't be carried having had a prior experience but then again - where do you draw the line in terms of cost and available storage?

The next race of the series is the 24Hours of Barcelona in about six weeks time for which Massive Motorsport do have a provisional entry.

Hope they have better luck in Spain!

Update - Team boss Caspar Elgaard has since confirmed that whilst the team did have a spare pump with them an issue with the power steering during the Friday night practice meant that that resource had already been used and the fault that caused the teams retirement on Saturday was because of an different issue with the pump than the one they had on Friday. 

Photo credits - Creventic / Massive Motorsport

As things stand tonight the Massive Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 will start from third position on the grid for the start of tomorrows International Endurance Series 24H of Paul Ricard.

With new team member Nicki Thiim taking the wheel for qualifying he left it to his last lap of the session before clocking a 2:07:319 that was eventually enough to start the race behind both the Drivex Audi R8 LMS that will start from pole and the second placed SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG.

The race starts tomorrow at 14:30Hrs local time.


Over at the Red Bull Ring in Austria Beechdean AMR enjoyed a productive first Free Practice for the third round of the European Le Mans Series today finishing P4 in class. Second Free Practice and Qualifying will be held tomorrow before the race on Sunday.

In the supporting GT3 Le Mans Cup series TF Sports endured a slightly poorer than expected performance with their V12 Vantage GT3 during both Free Practice sessions finishing no higher than P7 - although that was by virtue of just a 0.6 second deficit to the pace setting SMP Ferrari 458 so all is not lost.


Over at Mugello in Italy, Solaris Motorsport had the double difficulty of lack of track knowledge and very changeable weather conditions leading into qualifying where their V12 Vantage GT3 will start P9 and P14 for both races respectively.

A little bit of work to do there if they have any chance of securing their ambition of the top step of the podium.


Finally, over at Fuji Speedway in Japan Miedecke Stone Motorsport together with their last minute driver replacement Ashley Walsh showed some really gutsy driving by finishing the second Free Practice session in fifth before deteriorating weather conditions put pay to any advance in times from anybody.

Qualifying for both races will take place on Saturday morning with Race 1 following later in the afternoon and Race 2 on Sunday.

Good luck to all of the teams.

Photo credits - Adrenal media / Miedecke Stone Motorsport / Solaris / Creventic

Announced on the Creventic web site for next weekend's International Endurance Series 24 Hour of Paul Ricard race are a couple of notable mentions for racers (past and present) from Aston Martin Racing.

Starting with the #30 Ram Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 sees the return of the 2013 World Endurance Championship GTE AM Championship winning crew of Roald Goethe*, Stuart Hall and Jamie Campbell-Walter. They in turn will be joined by Dan Brown in a fully re-liveried Gulf Racing / RoFGO Collection Mercedes that sadly sees the omission of last years winners Tom Onslow-Cole and Paul White.

What has exactly happened here is not being openly discussed but we believe that Goethe has effectively taken over the team in light of his discussion to walk away from ACO rules racing at the end of last year.


The second point of note is that the #55 Massive Motorsport team is now listing the name of the 2016 #95 WEC Dane Train driver Nicki Thiim who will now join former #95 Dane Train colleague Kristian Poulsen and his brother Roland Poulsen, together with Caspar Elgaard and Nicolas Sylvest in their V12 Vantage GT3 at the same event.

Qualifying takes place on the afternoon of Friday 15th July with the 24H race itself starting at 14:30hrs on Saturday 16th July.

* Wasn't crowned champion having not personally scored the same number of points as his team mates

Photo credits - Massive Motorsport / social media

Danish squad Massive Motorsport will have made another long drive down from their base to central Europe for the fourth round of the FIA International Endurance Series from Crevetic and the 12Hrs of Zandvoort this weekend.

Entering their distinctively liveried Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 into what was their first round round of the series in Mugello back in the middle of March the team will be hoping that the progressively faster running that the new four driver line up offered back then can be replicated in Holland but without any of the bad luck or indiscipline that robbed the team of a potential podium.

A puncture on the right rear left the team not just loosing time limping back to the pits but the repairs to the damage caused lost the team further and more significant time plummeting the team down from their fifth place before the incident. Drive through penalties for pit lane infringements also sealed their fate of a lowly finishing position.


The team again list a four driver line up for Zandvoort with team boss Caspar Elgaard, Kristian Poulsen together again with younger brother Roland Poulsen alongside their new young 'hot shot' Nicholai Sylvest completing the A6 class entry.

This race again features a split race format with qualifying and three hours of the race being completed on Friday 6th May starting at 16:00Hrs local with the balance of the race being completed from 09:20Hrs on the Saturday.

Photo credits - Massive 

Series debutantes Massive Motorsport were left ruing a tyre failure that possibly robbed the team of a potential podium finish at the end of the two part 12Hours of Mugello race.

Starting Saturday's Part 2 race from fifth with new boy Nicolai Sylvest at the wheel, the Danish squad  were soon looking to push the series solitary Aston Martin further up the leader board to pressurise those with much newer race machinery.


By the time Sylvest stopped to refuel he had elevated the #55 up to P2 overall but that was soon lost as he served a 34 second stop and hold penalty caused by Kristian Poulsen speeding in the pit lane during yesterdays four hour segment of the race.

That time dropped them back down to P5 but that was soon to be the least of their worries…….!

At about 90minutes into the race Sylvest suffered a right rear puncture just into the start of another lap forcing him to crawl back to the pits where the resulting pit stop would loose the team a further three minutes.


The bodywork turned out to be only superficial damage - the real damage from the puncture was underneath and the car was again forced to return to the pits for repairs, this time to damage brake lines loosing the #55 yet more track time relative to the overall leaders and dropping themselves down as low as thirteenth overall.

Cycling through the remain four hours or so of the race the four driver line up would again push themselves up through the leader board as some of those around them also incurred technical or mechanical issues and by the time Sylvest took the chequered flag at the end of another eight hours of racing Massive Motorsport would finish their first 24H Series race in fifth - eight laps down to the winner.


A6 cars are not eligible for the next round of the series at Silverstone so the team will regroup in readiness for their second venture into this series at Zandvoort, Holland at the beginning of May.

Photo credits - Creventic / Massive

Danish squad Massive Motorsport have taken to their first outing in Creventic's International Endurance Series like a duck to water with their red, white and black V12 Vantage GT3 competing in the series top A6-Pro class.

Competing on the control Hankook rubber for what must have been the first time in anger, the Caspar Elgaard, Kristian and Roland Poulsen together with Nicolai Sylvest driven car was fast straight out of the box right from their first rack action in the Private Test session yesterday when the finished P8 fastest out of the 64 car entry.


That performance level increased during the official Free Practice session when they elevated themselves up to P5 overall but that fell back a bit cum Qualifying this morning when they finished in P12. At the green flag that starting position would increase to P11 when the Ram Racing Mercedes AMG failed to start.

The 12hours of Mugello are split into a four hour and then another eight hour race spread over Friday and Saturday. By the end of the first hour of the race the #55 car had moved up to P6 and by the end of the second hour up to P3. Indeed at some point at the half way mark the then Elgaard driven car was leading the race overall.


At the end of the first four hours of racing and with Kristian Poulsen in the car, the #55 would be resuming the remainder of the race tomorrow from P5 - all to play for!!

Photo credits - Massive / Creventic  

Also released tonight were the first images of the new livery aboard the Massive Motorsport's Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 that they are now transporting down to Mugello in time for their first, and the series second round of the 2016 FIA International Endurance Series from Creventic.

Swapping from the European Le Mans Series after the abolition of the GTC class at the end of last year team regulars Caspar Elgaard and Kristian Poulsen will now be joined by the younger Roland Poulsen and newcomer and future Danish star Nicolai Sylvest.




Official track action begins with the first Free Practice session on Friday 18th March. We wish you well!

Photo Credits - Massive Motorsport

Great to see Aston Martin release a whole series of photographs taken of their 2016 WEC specification V8 Vantage GTE at their recent winter test in Valencia.

Like they say 'a picture paints a thousand words' so if some of the shots are anything to go by - they've won already!!

View them HERE

Photo credit - AMR