The penultimate round of the GT Winter Series is fast approaching and todays reveal of their somewhat modest entry list for this round at Motorland Aragon, the list also confirms the rumours of another racing return of an once Aston Martin Racing factory driver.

Having been busy since his professional retirement with his family racing team (amongst other things), this weekend sees Stefan Mucke partner long time team customer Thilo Goos aboard his #700 AMR Vantage GT4 within the Club class.

 

For the three previous rounds, Goos has been partnered by Mattis Pluschkell but as that young German now steps up to the Prototype Cup with the Mucke Motorsport team, Goos has apparently persuaded Mucke himself to see out the remaining two rounds of the season with him.

They will again be joined by the #007 Araujo Competicao AMR Vantage GT4 Evo squad of Bruno Pereira and Frederico Peters within their Pro-Am entry.

 

 

To date, both AMR powered crews have been successful in class, but the Mucke squad were consigned to just one race last time out in Valencia after contact in race two or three for Pluschkell saw then notch up a DNF in that one and a DNS in race three.

As usual, each driver will race solo in races one and two before doubling up in race three of the weekend.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

There was further class podium success for the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered teams within the weather curtailed GT4 Winter Series at the weekend but neither had it all their own way at Valencia.

With predicted strong winds effectively taking out all programmed track action at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Saturday, teams were left with just their Friday testing (if they were in attendance) or going in blind over the course of their race races on Sunday as organises were forced to race series within series in order to get through the race programme.

 

A third consecutive race weekend with the Gedlich Racing Series sees them moves along the coast to the Spanish circuit of Valencia for this weekend’s third round of their GT4 Winter Series.

Whilst the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries that ran in last weekend’s non-championship round of Portimao have moved on, we are back to the (so far) two AMR Vantage GT4 entries that will compete within the aptly named GT4 Winter Series again.

 

 

Daytona was not the only racetrack witnessing an Aston Martin Racing powered podium at the weekend as the rain in Portugal certainly continued to fall over the racetrack at Estoril as the GT4 Winter Series soldiered on with their second of a five round series there at the weekend.

Sometimes having to scrub test sessions on the grounds of safety, the grid of the Winter Series are certainly becoming accustomed to the art of wet weather racing and that was no different within their small but perfectly formed twelve car grid.

 

 

Both the Araujo Competicao and Mucke Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4’s were eventually known to be on track featuring no driver change within the #700 Thilo Goos/Mattis Pluschkell Mucke car whilst Bruno Periera this time stepped in for Goncalo Araujo alongside that of Frederico Peters in their new #007 Vantage GT4.

Again running a three-race format – an individual twenty-five-minute sprint race for each driver before ending the weekend with an hour long, pit stop punctuated endurance race saw the Mucke crew improve upon their results from the opening round at Portimao the week before with a P2 Club class result in race one for Goos followed by two class wins in races two and three.

 

 

There were also improvements for the Araujo team as Pereira secured an opening class win before Peters came home P5 in race two before ending the weekend with an overall P4 finish – P2 in their Pro-Am class.

The series now moves back to Portimao for a non-championship six hour race at that circuit in two weeks’ time before finding their way to Valencia over the 14/15th February.

Photo credits – Gedlich Racing

 

The second round of the GT4 Winter Series kicks off this weekend with the grid having made a relatively short trip between their opening venue of Portimao to Estoril for this weekend’s three races.

Fresh indications now show Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered teams will be attending events this time around in the form of the #700 Mucke Motorsport Club classed entry for Thilo Goos and Mattis Pluschkell and the #007 Araujo Competicao car of (what's been listed as) Bruno Pereira and Goncalo Araujo.

There were class podiums to be had this weekend as the GT4 Winter Series kicked off its five-round season around Autódromo Internacional do Algarve near Portimao with two Aston Martin Racing powered actually taking part within the sixteen runners.

Earlier reported as just the Araujo Competicao team running their #007 new Vantage GT4 with an additionally changed driver line up and class of Goncalo Araujo and Frederico Peters within the Pro class, we later saw that the Mucke Motorsport crew of Thilo Goos and Mattis Pluschkell had in fact arrived with their older Vantage GT4 and not their published BMW M4 GT4.

 

Three races on the books with each driver taking one alone before both pairing up for the third saw the grid take on some (usual) challenging conditions as rain showers passed over the circuit during the weekend.

Kicking off the weekend saw both Araujo and Goos open up the racing within their respective cars to eventually finish P6 overall/P5 in class for the #007 and P11 overall/P2 in class for the #700 Mucke entry after that fifteen-lap affair.

Race two saw their opposites take to the wheel for the next race where it was to be a class double for the Aston runners where Peters claimed a P4 overall/P3 in class finish and Pluschkell P7/P1 result for his efforts.

Race three was a longer one-hour race with a mandatory pit stop and driver change. A problem with the #007’s pitstop duration saw them have a 64 second time penalty being added to their race time which (obviously) dropped them out of class contention with a P11 overall/P5 class finish whilst the #700 Mucke duo claimed another P2 within their Club class.

 

The next round of the season will be from Estoril next weekend.

Photo credits – L Southern / P Hay - Gedlich Racing