News today from the ACO sanctioned Le Mans Cup Series has confirmed the return of an Aston Martin Racing powered team to the series, but this time with a change in actual team but with the return of a familiar face to guide it.

Not included within the entry this time around has seen the Spanish based Bullitt Racing team be replaced for the 2023 season by the French based Racing Spirit of Lemans team as they step up from GT4 to the GT3 class with an all-new driver line up that will include AMR factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot amongst them.

 

Unbelievable news out of the Bullitt Racing stables this morning regarding the shipment (or at least envisaged shipment) of their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 to the Middle East in time for the opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series that starts in Dubai in just over a week’s time.

Despite having containerised their car and all their equipment in good time at the beginning on the month, an unwelcomed phone call from their local dock operator near Barcelona earlier confirmed that their precious cargo was in fact still sitting on the quayside, still in Spain and going nowhere quickly.

 

Spanish based Bullitt Racing this morning filled in that missing information regarding their driver line up within their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 ahead of the team’s own debut in the fast-approaching Asian Le Mans Series.

Having joyously announced their entry acceptance within the ACO rules series just a few weeks ago, the Stephen Pattrick led team today went on to confirm a three-driver crew for the four hour – four quick succession round series that will again be split between the Dubai Autodrome circuit and the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi. 

 

And long may that be the case as several Aston Martin Racing powered teams have continued to pound the tracks of Europe this week ahead of the start of their 2023 season, which for some is just a couple of months away.

Over in Portimao this week, you will find the Bullitt Racing AMR team continue with testing with their AMR Vantage GT3 ahead of a recently confirmed entry into the Asian Le Mans Series which starts in Dubai in February.

It has been another mighty few days for various Aston Martin Racing powered teams this week as entry confirmations have been landing in their in-boxes ahead of next year’s Asian Le Mans Series.

We have already warmly received the news that the D’Station Racing team from Japan will again be making that long trip to the Middle East for the quick fire, four round series together again with their long-standing friends at TF Sport.

In scarily quick succession to one another, this weekend sees a further two GT race series conclude as both the ACO rules Le Mans Cup and European Le Mans Series come to an end after their sixth and final round of the season at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal.

With the Bullitt Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 again being listed within the LMC entry as well as the two TF Sport prepared AMR Vantage GTE cars of the Oman Racing team within the ELMS grid, this weekend sees the unfortunate fact that none of these cars will be in championship contention for either series after their respective results at the last round of each Series at Spa Francorchamps saw them fall short of what was needed to continue that campaign.

 

Something that was nothing short of a total disaster struck the Bullitt Racing team down earlier this afternoon as an incident on the way to the grid for todays penultimate round of the Le Mans Cup Series at Spa Francorchamps ended their GT3 crown aspirations in the armco barrier.

Arriving in Belgium earlier this week placed second in the GT3 drivers’ championship, the #99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Stephen Pattrick and Valentin Hasse-Clot was looking ‘steady’ during the earlier test day and into yesterday’s Free Practice.

 

Joining the European Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps this weekend is of course the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series with the Bullitt Racing team from Spain representing the Aston Martin Racing brand within the GT3 class.

This weekend’s event will be the first for the series outside of France and Italy after previous rounds at Le Castellet, Imola, Le Mans and most recently for them at Monza right back at the start of July where the #99 Bullitt car of Stephen Pattrick and Valentin Hasse-Clot secured another P3 podium finish after a post-race disqualification for another competitor moved the black and red liveried AMR Vantage GT3 crew up from their fourth-place finish on track.

Sometimes we all need a little luck, especially when things are not going as expected. Saturday at Monza for the fifth round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup was that day when really, we did not put our best foot forward and were somewhat fortunate to finish on the podium.

Given our track record, a non-perfect day is permitted, and we leave Monza somewhat relieved with our third position finish, a result that moves us second in the championship race with 60 points, 17 adrift of our title rival at GMB Motorsport with two rounds remaining.

 

Three rounds and four races into this seasons Michelin Le Mans Cup Series sees the grid move onto the “Temple of Speed” at the Autodromo Nazionala di Monza for this weekend’s fourth round of their six-round season.

First time out at Le Castellet and then at Imola, the #99 Bullitt Racing team competed with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for the first time with drivers Stephen Pattrick and Theo Nouet nearly pulling off the dream start in France, just missing out on a class podium finish by the smallest of margins despite the most difficult of starts before completing that job next time in Italy with a class P2 finish there.

Two incident packed rounds of the Le Mans Cup at their annual Road to Le Mans visit to the Circuit de La Sarthe last week saw the Spanish based Bullitt Racing take a deserved podium finish by the end of Saturday’s second race.

Having already qualified at the from the GT3 grid for Thursday’s first race, an over eager pack around Stephen Pattrick saw the Englishman quickly muscled from his prime position only for the race to be partially nullified as multiple cars needed recovering after contact on the opening laps.

That and a further transgression of their own at the time of their pitstop saw the #99 car eventually being brought home by Valentin Hasse-Clot a disappointing P7 in class by the time the necessary drive through penalty had been served.

Just ahead of the start of the 24-Hour WEC race, the distinctly black and red liveried car started from P8 on the GT3 grid of Saturdays second race before Pattrick was able to progress up to P5 in class before handing over (cleanly this time) to the young Frenchman.

With a Safety Car again affecting the flow of the race, Hasse-Clot had just two laps to progress any further up the GT3 class and that he did, claiming a class P3 finish on the final lap to continue the team’s podium visiting trend after their podium finish at Imola last time out with Pattrick and Theo Nouet.

The #99 car now lies in third within the GT3 table as the series visits Monza in just two week’s time.