Mirage Racing return to the FFSA GT4 with their pair of AMR Vantage GT4 Evos at Dijon-Prenois
It was a similar case for the opening round of the season from Nogaro that saw the previous announced Pro-Am #7 entry of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub return for another attempt at their class alongside the later announced #5 Am pairing of David Levy and Jodie Sloss.
This weekend’s entry list also possibly sees a one car increase in grid numbers (possibly now up to sixteen cars) for a series now split between just the Pro-Am and Am classes.
Last time out saw the grid take to the track in lovely spring conditions during testing but qualifying and race one were completed in horrendous track conditions as the heavens opened for most of the day. Despite that, both Mirage Racing cars finished P12 overall and P4 in class for the #5 car and P6 overall and in class in race one for the #7 before improving to a P3 overall and in class at the end of race two.
Having already been part of the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy last season (may still be on their books for this year but that hasn’t yet been confirmed either way by AMR) sees the young Scot Sloss part of the FFSA Drivers Academy process as she now takes to a confirmed full season entry in the series with Mirage and Levy.
Photo credit – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 |
Read more...
Solid start to the GT4 European campaign for the four AMR Vantage entries from Paul Ricard
This season sees just four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered entries with two cars apiece from each of the Mirage Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams.
Working this time around the track requirements of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup six-hour opener from the circuit on Saturday, the GT4 field found themselves with race on Sunday after the dual qualifying sessions earlier on Saturday.
The #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vanintrub were the best performing AMR car during Q1 starting from P9 on the grid with the sister #5 car of Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria just behind in P11. The #39 RSLM car of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler was next best in P13 overall whilst the #74 RSLM car of Will Orton and David Kullmann suffered the effects of one mistake on track to drop them way down in P41 overall.
Under cloudy morning conditions, the 2025 got underway with the #7 car running well in P7 overall, second in class as the hectic pace of the opening laps finally calmed into a rhythm. Stanislav, however, would quickly be consumed by the chasing pack as he was forced to pit with power steering issues even before the start of the compulsory pit stop window had begun.
By the time that window had opened, it was the sister #5 car of Faria leading the remaining three Astons from P6 with Detout just within the top ten and Orton still within his recovery drive from his earlier Qualifying mistake.
With the second driver now taking charge, there was little progress for either the #5 or the #39 cars as they become embroiled amongst equally abled silver grade drivers but there was significant progress from Kullmann who elevated his #74 car up to P16 overall at the end. The #5 Mirage would eventually finish P8 overall with the #39 RSLM P9.
Sunday afternoons second race was much of the same but this time all four Aston’s gave themselves a chance with top ten qualifying slots.
Still the sun was struggling to make an appearance as low double digit ambient temperatures and a persistent Mistral wind make their marks upon the grid as some cars took to some extra ordinary racing lines around the first three to four corners of the opening lap before the first Full Course Yellow of the season brought the proceedings to a temporary halt due to a stranded car at the end of the lap.
Due to that Safety Car restart, that left just a twenty-minute dash for the drivers aboard before the pit window again came into play as Luxembourger Seyler lead the AMR powered field from his P7 position at the end of his stint. Coming out the other side of the pit window, none of the Aston Martins would figure within the top five in each of their two classes but only just with Detout in P6 within silver.
Racing out their final laps would see the #39 car finish top in P7 overall and with their sister #74 car just behind in P9. The P5 Mirage car would round off the top ten within silver whilst the #7 Pro-Am Mirage car finished P18 overall but P5 in class this time around.
A good start to the season with plenty of learning points to move along with as the series looks at its ahead to its next round from Zandvoort in a months’ time.
Photo credit – Team / Series
Monday, April 14, 2025 |
Read more...
Bitter-sweet results for Forsetti AMR after another exciting British GT finale today
Having enjoyed a brighter, warmer autumnal day yesterday for both Free Practice and Qualifying, race day was a much greyer affair with air temperatures struggling to break into double figures.
Taking the start ahead of this final round, both the #7 and #47 Forsetti AMR Vantage GT4 crews laid at the head of the respective Silver and Pro-Am class, as well as the Overall GT4 Drivers Championship which the team hoped to add to their already confirmed GT Team Championship win from earlier.
Taking the start from third overall (and in class) was Jamie Day whilst Marc Warren would be starting from slightly further back eighth overall in GT4 and third again in class.
The only problem for the #47 car was that their final race of the race wouldn’t extend to more than the opening lap as having already avoided a GT3 spinning off into the gravel outside Paddock Hill Bend, the clumping pack caught Warren off guard as he impacted into the rear of Mustang causing not just front wing damage but also terminal damage to the radiator.
It was their championship charge over in a flash unless the chasing #31 Mercedes and the #29 BMW crews failed to score – possible, but not really probable given there was still two hours fifty-eight minutes to run as the Safety Car came out for the first time.
Despite an overnight Balance of Performance adjustment with the title contending Aston Martin Vantage and the McLaren Altura GT4’s where the Aston lost 10kg of ballast and the McLaren gained it, it was still hard to tell that apart as the race finally went back to green with Day trying to fend off the #90 McLaren for the lead in GT4.
Race Control warning and penalties were already being issued as first Day got a warning about his driving standards in defending his race lead whilst the #29 BMW was given a Drive through penalty for contact which only helped the cause of the #47 Forsetti crew now consigned to watching the race from the pit lane.
Whilst it remained somewhat feisty at the head of GT4, Andrew Howard was quietly keeping out of trouble within his #97 AMR Vantage GT3 that he would be sharing with GT3 debutant Tom Wood later in the race. Having started P9 overall (and P2 in GT3 Silver-Am), the green AMR was holding off the silver-Am championship winning McLaren behind them OK.
Just after thirty minutes of race clock time, the #90 Optimum McLaren finally got passed the #7 Aston Martin of Day and immediately gapped them to the tune of a second or two. With little over ten minutes to go before the start of the staggered pit stop windows, a Full Course Yellow was called for another GT3 off into the tyre wall at Stirling’s. Initially looking not that bad, that caution period was then notified to all as being a lengthy period as the tyre wall and barriers would need attention and the race wouldn’t be released again until that and all the mandatory pit stops had been completed.
Losing nearly forty minutes to that damage, the race finally got back to green with just over forty minutes remaining but in between all of that, the leading #90 McLaren had managed to get out of pit land ahead of the overall GT3 leader meaning that with the Safety Car restart – they would get waved towards the rear of the GT4 pack and technically nearly a whole lap ahead of the #7 car.
Getting back to green and it was swiftly back under yellows again as three more (this time GT4 cars) exited the race together after contact at Stirling’s to bring out another length FCY and Safety Car restart. The best news from the AMR powered paddock was that Tom Wood was already making an impression aboard the #97 with both the fastest lap of the race so far and having elevated the #97 car up to seventh overall.
Getting back to green with just ten minutes remaining, there was absolutely nothing that Mikey Porter could do about his position within the race as the #90 was literally miles in front but at least he was defending their Silver Cup position at the head of the pile.
After another eventful race, the chequered flag finally dropped to give the Beechdean AMR crew of Howard and Wood a P6 overall finish and another visit to the GT3 Silver-Am podium in P2 whilst (more importantly) the #7 Forsetti Vantage GT4 of Day and Porter finished P2 overall within GT4 to claim the Silver Cup Drivers Championship but not the Overall GT Drivers Champiosnhip as that went to the #90 Optimum crew.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad season for the championship debuting Forsetti team as they added the Silver Cup Championship to their GT4 Teams title alongside P2 finishes within the GT4 Pro-Am class (for the #47), P2 and P4 finishes within the Overall GT4 Championship for both the #7 and #47 cars respectively.
It’s absolutely been another cracking British GT Championship season.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Sunday, September 29, 2024 |
Read more...
Another tough GT4 European meeting brings slight reward for two AMR powered crews
Another two frantic races from the GT4 European Series from Hockenheim this weekend saw little reward for the eight Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews amongst another healthy and highly competitive grid of fifty-one runners.
High temperatures and blistering sunshine this time around produced a differing set of considerations for the teams and drivers to make after the cooler temperatures and precipitation of the last round at Spa Francorchamps three weeks ago as tyre management again became the focus of their attention.
High temperatures and blistering sunshine this time around produced a differing set of considerations for the teams and drivers to make after the cooler temperatures and precipitation of the last round at Spa Francorchamps three weeks ago as tyre management again became the focus of their attention.
Saturday’s opening race saw Roberto Faria become the highest qualifying AMR driver in P6 within his (and Baudouin Detout’s) #39 Racing Spirit of Leman car with the sister #82 car of Mateo Villagomez (and Jamie Day) down in P10/
Unfortunately, their joint sister #74 car of Alexandre Machado (and Kevin Kullmann) didn’t see much of the opening race here either, following on from his Spa qualifying accident that sidelined the car for the entire round, as contact was made going into turn one for the first time that put paid to both their efforts.
With all the Aston’s looking slow compared to certainly the BMW’s, Ford’s and Alpine’s, early place losses were inevitable for all the AMR crews as the race eventually settled into a natural rhythm. The #100 Prosport Racing AMR of Fabio Rauer (with Henrik Still) was another early casualty as he slowed and stopped off track at T16, something that he and another car stopping brought out the Safety Car just ahead of the pit stop window.
Despite recovering somewhat from early race place losses, the #39 car of Faria would also not make the opening pit window after damage received from unseen contact with another car left them with no further to go in pit lane whilst the #5 Mirage Racing AMR of Josh Miller and Ruben Del Sarte saw them penalised with a revisit to pit lane for a too short a minimum pit stop time.
With all the stops over, the #84 RSLM car of Day was now the highest placed AMR in P8 although the #72 GPA Racing AMR of Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez were hanging onto P3 in class within their Am class and with the #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandre Vaintrub now P3 in theirs.
Another FCY and resulting Safety Car brought all the cars back together again with just 15 minutes of the hour-long race remaining for another frantic dash to the flag but as the laps countered off, tyres started to hinder some as the race eventually finished to another BMW powered win. The #82 car eventually finished P8 overall but whilst the #7 car hung on to take P2 in Pro-Am, the #72 GPA Racing car eventually finished third in theirs.
Sunday’s second race was very much of the same ilk as the Alpines, BMW’s and Ford’s raced off out front to leave the Aston Martins dicing to be the best of the rest again.
The #100 Prosport car of Still hadn’t got off to the best of starts having been consigned to the back of the grid but that would get even worse when the car again had to pull over out of the race with technical issues just after the halfway point for a double DNF.
Others, like the #82 RSLM were having to work very hard for their money just to remain in contention as there were some clearly faster cars out there than the Vantage GT4. A lengthy Safety Car period for two cars going off within the opening five minutes helped to manage tyre longevity at the expense of a thrilling first half of the race with the mainly faster drivers aboard.
The #5 Mirage car would again be in the wars as contact either side of the pit window saw firstly Miller lose ground before secondary contact that would see Del Sarte penalised for causing a collision before retiring themselves from the race as a result.
Another late Safety Car again brought the pack together with just ten minutes to go, but again, the Aston simply didn’t have the pace to compete with the brands ahead as any hopes of a podium finish within the silver class needing nothing short of a minor miracle with the #72 GPA crews hope of another class podium also being spun around at the hairpin and the #39 RSLM again in the wars with frontal damage.
At the flag, the only AMR crew celebrating were the #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am crew of Safronov and Vaintrub as a last lap lunge earned them a class win to add to their P2 finish of Saturday to help elongate their championship lead.
The series now takes a few weeks off before their penultimate round of the season from Monza in late September before concluding in Saudi Arabia in late November.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, July 21, 2024 |
Read more...
Heart of Racing hit the SRO podium in both GT America and GT4 America season openers
The No. 26 Heart of Racing team had Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier team up for the first time as the duo combined for a victory in the Pirelli GT4 America AM category during Saturday’s first race. Greenemeier started from second where she maintained position before handing the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to Grisham who made a late race pass for the lead in turn nine.
“Overall, a really good weekend to start off the season,” said Grisham. “We came home with a win and a third place finish today, ultimately really strong points for us to go after the championship. I think the weekend went almost as good as it could have gone. Thank you to everyone on the Heart of Racing Team for the opportunity to be back again and I've really enjoyed being paired up with Hannah (Greenemeier). She's done a really amazing job and has gotten acquainted with this car very quickly. We’ll just try to carry that momentum into Sebring.”
Grisham started Sunday morning’s race from fourth in class making her way to sit third before Greenemeier took the wheel. Greenemeier was battling for second when a caution slowed the field for the remaining seven minutes of the race.
“It was a great end to the weekend, with the third place finish,” said Greenemeier. “I just wish that caution had not come out at the end of the second race. I think we could have made our way to second, maybe even first. Hannah (Grisham) did a great job keeping up at the beginning and allowing me to be able to push as hard as I could for the last bit of the race. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the championship. Two podiums this weekend is the right way to kick it off.”
Roman De Angelis and Gray Newell teamed up in the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the Pirelli GT4 America ProAm category, scoring a second place and fourth place finish during the opening weekend.
Newell was first in the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage on Saturday afternoon where he started from third in class. Newell passed the car to De Angelis in third. The Canadian driver laid down steady laps to make a battle for the lead, but unfortunately came up just short at the finish line.
De Angelis started Sunday morning’s race from fifth in class, he was able to make his way up to third when he passed the Aston Martin Vantage to Newell. He was able to continue to battle for podium position all the way up to the checkered flag.
“It was a good start to our GT4 campaign this year with Gray,” said De Angelis. “ The Heart of Racing did a great job all weekend. A second and a fourth, I think, is a really good way to start our season. The car is relatively unscathed, which is important as well. We are just trying to collect points and see if we can be there at the end of the championship. So great job to the team. Our sister card did a great job as well, two podiums, and looking forward to the next race.”
In addition to his Pirelli GT4 America driving duties, Newell also competed in GT America powered by AWS where he scored a second and third place finish to start the championship season.
Newell started second for the first GT America powered by AWS race Saturday afternoon. The Washington-state native was able to maintain his position over the 40 minute race to cross the finish line in second.
Newell had the third fastest lap time in race one securing a second row starting position for Sunday morning’s race. The No. 25 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 initially fell back to fourth at the start of the race, but Newell was able to pass for his third place position shortly after to secure his finishing position.
Source material - Heart of Racing
Monday, April 08, 2024 |
Read more...
Still fifteen Aston Martins being listed for GT4 European Series opener next week from Monza
Previous media releases from the series suggested a massive Aston Martin Racing powered contingent within its fifty-two-car entry and indeed this evening, that number of Vantage GT4 runners has been confirmed at fifteen entries albeit still with one remaining with two big TBC’s listed against their drivers.
None the less, this year represents itself as just about the largest Aston Martin entry within a single class series, even surpassing the heady days of the British GT Championship where we got to about 12-13 entries depending upon the race venue. Whereas the British Champiosnhip has since seen those numbers dwindle to the solo GT4 runner of this season, the attraction of GT4 racing around the finest circuits that continental Europe can offer keeps the GT4 European Series on all drivers radar!
Mirage Racing (like the FFSA GT4 Series) sees them with a three-car entry like that from the AGS Events Racing who also run a parallel FFSA GT4 programme this season with two cars from Racing Spirit of Lemans and GPA Racing who again do similar but with the likes of the Racing One, JSB Competition, Newbridge Motorsport and the Prosport Racing teams bring their cars and new driver lines ups as well.
Confirmed entries include: -
#5 Mirage Racing Ruben Del Sarte / Emil Heyerdahl. Silver
#6 Mirage Racing Jamie Day / Rory Van Der Steur Silver
#7 Mirage Racing. Romain Carton / TBC TBC
#9 Racing One TBC / TBC TBC
#18 TSR Team Spirit Racing (Racing One) Markus Lungstrass / Lorenz Stegman Pro-Am
#19 Prosport Racing Jessica Bachman / Andreas Bachman Silver
#24 JSB Competition Julien Briche / Florian Briche Pro-AM
#26 Racing Spirit of Lemans Rodrigue Gillion / TBC TBC
#27 Newbridge Motorsport Matt Topham / Alex Denning Pro-Am
#48 GPA Racing Bailey Voisin / Kajus Siksnelis TBC
#68 AGS Events Racing Romano Ricci / Julien Lambert Am
#72 GPA Racing Kevin Jimenez / Florent Grizaud Am
#74 Racing Spirit of Lemans Konstantin Lachenauer / Victor Weyrich Silver
#89 AGS Events Racing Mike Parisy / Nicolas Gomar Pro-Am
#98 AGS Events Racing Vincent Bouteiller / Tmothe Buret TBC
The 2023 GT4 European Series is going to be a busy one!!
Photo credits – Teams / social media
Friday, April 14, 2023 |
Read more...
Time for one last double podium for the D'Station Racing crew as the GT World Challenge Asia Series signs off at Okayama?
Having started in Malaysia back in mid-May with a comparably small entry, the series had planned to cover off the eventualities of any remaining COVID-19 travel issues with a mid-season, four round Japan Cup before culminating in Indonesia in late October.
That final round was cancelled by the series several weeks ago, so we are now left with a double finale as both the Japan Cup and overall GT World Challenge Series prizes are remain up for grabs at the Okayama Circuit with a continually impressive grid of both GT3 and GT4 machinery.
Competing within the Japan Cup we of course have the D’Station Racing team with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii.
After previous double header rounds at Suzuka, Fuji and most recently at Sugo in late August, the #47 D’Station Racing crew elevated their standing within their GT3 Pro-Am class with a podium double – first a P2 before a class win last time out at Sugo to now lie third in class with two races remaining.
Sixty-one points behind the class leading Mercedes AMG GT3 crew of Jefri Ibrahim and Nick Foster, the AMR team will be buoyed up by their success at Sugo over that of the Mercedes crew’s poor results whilst making the most of their ‘local knowledge’ of the Okayama circuit to their advantage to hopefully end the year one place higher in the table than they are now, although any chance of winning the class are obviously long gone.
As usual for any GTWC Series, a one-hour pit stop punctuated race will be held on both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Monday, September 19, 2022 |
Read more...
Two thrilling GT4 America races results in just a single Pro-Am podium for the BSport Racing AMR team
After something of a twelve week break in seeing most of the SRO America’s GT3 and GT4 runners and riders of the GT4 America back in action from Road America at the weekend, that wait proved to be worthwhile as the GT4 series gave us two extra-ordinary races.
Running as the fourth round of the seven-round season, Road America boasted a near forty car entry list for its two one-hour, pit stop punctuated races that saw the return of most of the season long Aston Martin Racing customer team entries as well as a new squad from the Automatic racing stable.
Last time out at Virginia International Raceway in early June saw podium finishes for the #59 WR Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Paul Terry and Brandon Davis as well as the first overall race win for the #15 Bsport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch but it also saw the Dexter Racing team sit out with an ongoing electrical issue with their car and another accident for Matt Dalton in his Notlad Racing Vantage.
Despite some torrential rain during the preceding sessions and overnight between races, the first GT4 Sprint X race was another highly exciting affair with some brisk early pace from the #062 Dexter Racing car of Ryan Dexter as well as a highly charged Terry. Unfortunately for the #59 crew, early contact with a BMW in the opening laps saw both cars stationary of the trackside which brought out an early FCY. Whilst the BMW would recover itself to the pit lane – that would be it for the #59 crew for the weekend.
With the BMW M4 GT4 obviously way out front in terms of performance to all the other makes and models entered, it was a case of hanging on to what they had achieved so far for the #15 Bsport and #2 GMG Racing car of Jason Bell and Andrew Davis as just one non-BMW featured in the top eight after the pit stop window closed.
By the end of another hard race, Davis had topped the #15 car to become the top AMR to finish P9 overall and P6 in Pro-Am whilst the #15 car finished P13 overall and P9 in Pro-Am. For the remaining Astons from both the Heart of Racing team and the Automatic Racing team, it was a slow catch up for their amateur drivers after the long break for Gray Newell aboard the #24 HoRT car and a tough introduction for Paul Kiebler in his #09 car as each finished the day P29 and P34 respectively.
Sundays second race was a very similar affair to the first but this time the #15 car of AMR Academy driver Kenton Koch had qualified P3 overall but with the next highest AMR down in P17.
Another early lunge from Koch into the first corner of lap 1 gained him an early position but that didn’t last two long before the BMW’s around him got their tyres up to temperature heading towards the stops. More early gains from Ian James aboard the #24 HoRT car as well as Davis in the #2 GMG Racing car but his namesake – Brandon Davis’s race in the #59 WR Racing Aston only lasted three laps before that car disappeared from the leader board.
An errant Porsche getting stranded in the gravel brought out another FCY just ahead of the pit window, meaning that that was delayed until the restart but with the Pro’s in most of the Astons, all would stay out until the last possible moment.
Another incident through The Kink brought out another FCY just ahead of the end of the available pit window, forcing all remaining cars to stop with Putt, Newell and Bell emerging P5, P9 and P10 respectively but another long period of caution would only give all just over seven minutes to improve upon their positions.
With just three minutes remaining, a bullish move from Putt dispensed with two cars in one corner as he moved up to P3 overall onto the final lap whilst Newell was having a better race as he improved his P8 (in class) position to P7 by the end whilst the #2 car of Davis was right behind.
This time, just two weeks separate the teams from the next two races from Watkins Glen – another traditional American circuit layout that will suit the GT4 platforms very nicely, so another two entertaining races should be in store. Whilst we wait for these results to be verified, the gap between the #15 Bsport car and the Pro-Am leading Nolasport Porsche remains vast and despite the #47 cars poorer performance at Road America so there is still very much all to race for.
Photo credits – GT4 America / CSJ Motorsport / Teams / F Lagunas
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 |
Read more...
Finally - the Total 24 Hours of Spa begins!!
Joining the GT3 cars from the GT World Challenge Europe and Intercontinental GT Challenge Series that will make up the fifty six car entry for this years event will again be the GT4 European Series as each Series reaches their penultimate round of the season in Belgium after their fragmented start to the season because of the virus.
Garage 59 remains the sole Aston Martin Racing contingent this year with one AMR Vantage GT3 entered into both Pro-Am and Silver Cup classes. After the last round of the Endurance Cup series from the Nürburgring at the beginning of September, #199 Pro-Am car of Alex West, Chris Goodwin and Jonny Adam presently rest in third place within the Driver’s Championship whilst the #159 Silver Cup car of Andrew Watson and Valentin Hasse-clot each top that table with third man James Pull slightly further back and all alone in P3 after he wasn’t available to compete with the team at the opening round at Imola in July.
To bolster the team’s efforts in Spa, each car will be re-joined by a driver who served with them way back in late January 2020 at the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Bathurst, Australia with AMR WEC Factory driver and local man Maxime Martin racing with the #188 Pro-Am crew whilst IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD racer Roman De Angelis re-joins Watson aboard the #159 car.
What will be monumentally different this year will be the fact that the event will this year be held from behind closed doors – no public trip down to the town centre for the annual ‘meet and greet’ and no party like atmosphere from within the public areas around the circuit.
The most immediate issue that teams will have to face will be the lower track temperatures, increased hours of darkness and of course the weather – something that is particularly unique at the forest surrounded racetrack in the Ardennes. Rain is forecasted for the week and we all know that when it rains at Spa – it rains!!!
The GT4 European Series (whilst they have yet to confirm their entry list) are scheduled to be first out on track tomorrow (Tuesday) for the first of three Private Testing sessions for the GT runners before a non-track day on Wednesday before Free Practice, Qualifying and night practice on Thursday. Both AGS Events Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s are expected to be at Spa this week as each car aim to progress their Am and Silver Cup Class Championship hopes with Hasse-Clot again being on double duty between his GT3 and GT4 commitments!
Photo credits – GTWCE / GT4 European / Garage 59 / AGS Events
Monday, October 19, 2020 |
Read more...
AGS Events Racing Team expand to four AMR Vantage GT4's for FFSA GT4
Having been doing rather well in Europe so far with a whole collection of class podium finishes in both the GT4 European Series and the FFSA GT4 Series, the AGS Events Racing Team expand up to a fleet of four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's for this weekends second round of the French national GT championship from Magney-Cours.
Their first round into the FFSA GT4 at Nogaro two weeks ago proved to be something of a mixed bag for the two Pro-Am and single Am class entered cars as all six drivers were thrusted into a competitive atmosphere of the opening round's triple header with not a lot of pre-season track time (if any) for some off them.
Despite that and a couple of DNF's between them, the team still came away with a couple of podium finishes for the #89 Pro-Am car of Nicolas Gomar and Mike Parisy.
Akhil Rabindra returned to GT racing at the opening round with the team having spent most of last season out in the USA competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge with CSJ Motorsport and this year he is also part of the AMR Drivers Academy again. He and co driver Gilles Vannelet have now had one meeting to become accustomed with one another as Rabindra gets back up to speed having had a long winter and summer away from the racetrack.
The first of the team's Am entries is the #161 car of Didier Dumaine and Christophe Carriere. For this pair, the started well with a class pole in race one before ultimately finishing P4 but after that incident and accident on track lead to a lowly finish in race 2 and a DNF in race 3.
For the second round's usual two race format at Magney-Cours, these three cars will be joined with another Am class entry for reigning FFSA GT4 Am Champion and AGS racer Julien Lambert who will be joined by Romano Ricci. Lambert was one of the original names listed with the team pre-season but it has taken him till now to find a suitable co driver in the form of the Bentley GT World Challenge Europe driver Ricci.
Track action begins on Thursday with Private testing before Free Practice on Friday. Similarly to the GT4 European Series, Qualifying will take place on Saturday ahead of Race 1 later in 6th day with race 2 on Sunday.
Photo credits - FFSA GT4 / AGS Events Racing
Tuesday, September 08, 2020 |
Read more...
