Two Aston Martin maybe out of the championship hunt but both remain class contenders as GT4 European Series heads to Zandvoort
The GT4 European Series joins the headlining GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Series at the Dutch coastal circuit of Zandvoort as this fellow SRO sanctioned series also sees out their penultimate round of the season there.
This weekend’s entry of thirty-six cars again sees both full season Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s that will compete within the silver class for drivers Pedro Garcia and Clement Seyler aboard their #74 car as well as Florent Grizaud and David Kullmann who will be racing their #72 car within the Pro-Am class.
Championship wise, the #74 silver crew are already out of contention being fifty-nine points shy of the present leaders but with a maximum of fifty-two points being available across the final four races of the season. For the Pro-Am #72 crew, their championship position is far worse, but they did enjoy a P2 finish in class in the second race of the weekend last time out at Misano.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Thursday, September 17, 2026 |
Read more...
Townsend Racing AMR fill in their final British GT missing pieces today
The other snippet of British GT Championship related news today comes from the recently announced Townsend Racing powered by Fox Motorsport team again.
Nothing new with that revelation of course after James Twonsend’s new association with Fox Motorsport and Aston Martin Racing within the UK domestic championship was released several weeks ago now.
Despite his younger years, Wheeler comes to the team with four years of British GT racing experience that has rewarded him with several class podiums during that time.
Photo credits - Team
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 |
Read more...
The return of Beechdean AMR with some very familiar names again in this seasons British GT Championship
Also confirming their return to the championship’s Pro-Am category after both Howard and Tom Wood secured the Silver-Am Championship win last season, sees this familiar duo reunite for the first time in several years since their last full season effort together (although both did race together at last year’s Spa 24hr) as well as their more familiar blue and white Beechdean livery.
Since winning the British GT Championship GT4 Championship back in 2015 with Jamie Chadwick, Gunn has of course grown in status from his humble silver grade GT beginnings to now claim a platinum grade seat within one of the Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie cars competing in both the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship at the 24Hours of Le Mans to very much earn his AMR factory driver status.
“I’m so excited to be back in the British GT Championship for 2026 and to have the opportunity, as part of the Aston Martin Racing family, to race again with Beechdean AMR and with Andrew,” said Gunn. “From watching my dad race Beechdean Minis when I was little, to the support Andrew’s given me through my career, there’s always been a strong link between myself and the team and it’s brilliant to be back.
“Andrew’s coming into the season as the reigning Silver-Am champion and finished 2025 on such strong form, so my target is to pick up where we left off and be fighting to finish at the sharp end.”
“Having Ross back is brilliant. He’s been a regular in the garage since he was a child, and it’s been awesome to watch his career go from strength to strength since he first raced with Beechdean AMR in 2015. I’m looking forward to the coming season more than I have done for a long time” added Howard.
This news is now the fifth Aston Martin Racing powered team to commit to the new British GT Championship season after both GBR Stratton Motorsport and Full Send Racing each confirmed a dual AMR Vantage GT4 car entry for the new season.
Official track action will begin for all entries at the Media Day test at Silverstone at the end of March before revisiting the Northamptonshire circuit for the first round of the new season and its Silverstone 500 blue ribband event just a month later.
2026 is looking rather healthy already!
Photo credits - Team / Social media / Jacob Ebrey
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 |
Read more...
Safronov and Vaintrub chase the SRO Pro-Am double as the GT4 European Series concludes this weekend
The French based Mirage Racing team return with their pair of crews but it will be all eyes on the #7 pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandre Vaintrub again as they look to continue after their championship win in the FFSA GT4 Series from Paul Ricard last weekend.
Going into this final two race weekend, the #7 Mirage Racing crew protect a modest eight-point lead over the Porsche powered crew behind after the five previous rounds so far but with up to twenty-six points available per race, nothing is guaranteed.
Joining them will again be the three silver classed entries – the sister #5 Mirage Racing entry for Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria with two from the Racing Spirit of Leman stable for drivers Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler aboard their #39 car and Will Orton and David Kullmann aboard their #74 car.
Private testing on Thursday will precede the more formal Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Friday before two qualifying sessions on Saturday with the first of two – one-hour races spread over Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, October 07, 2025 |
Read more...
Mirage Racing and co secure the FFSA GT4 Pro-Am title at last weekends finale
Featuring another Vantage GT4 double entry within the French series, their #7 crew of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandre Vaintrub made the best of their slight championship lead going into last weekend’s fifth and final round of the season from Paul Ricard to end their 2025 account in the best way possible with a P4 finish in race one before their season clinching race win in Sunday’s second and final race.
Meanwhile, the team’s #5 Am class entry of David Levy and Jodie Sloss showed off their fine form again both on the car as well as team apparel as their #5 car was adjusted in livery form for this final round to incorporate a distinguishable red tartan attire.
Obviously taking Sloss by surprise upon her arrival at the circuit, members of the team elected to wear the kilt as well as having parts of their car reliveried in a red tartan design. That change obviously inspired the duo as they both converted their P12 and P7 starting positions into a pair of P3 class finishes to round off an otherwise successful first dip into the French series for the young Scot and her more established teammate.
As a results of Sunday’s results, the Mirage Racing team also secure the Pro-Am Team title alongside that of the drivers as well as third placed within the Am Class Teams and Drivers Championships.
For the team, Safronov and Vaintrub, they also embark upon a final championship battle within next weekend’s final round of the GT4 European Series from Barcelona.
Photo credits – FFSA GT4
Monday, October 06, 2025 |
Read more...
A frustrating visit to The Bend for the Volante Rosso AMR team down under
Again having to fly halfway around the world following on from his GT World Championship Europe Endurance Cup efforts from the Nurburgring, The Bend was just another circuit to the young Englishman for this penultimate round to the Australian series for only the second time of asking this season having debuted at Sandown last time out.
The weekend started well for the team and crew though as Am driver Talbot secured a pole position start for Saturday’s opening one long race but an error by the driver defending his race position going into turn 13 saw the car dip its tyres off the circuit and spin off into the tyre wall.
Despite damage to the side and rear of the car, Talbot was surprisingly able to continue at the same race pace as his had before the incident but had also dropped down to sixth before he eventually handed over to Day at the stop. Initially dropping to tenth overall, Day soon recovered the #1 cars position to end the day P8 for their efforts.
Race 2 on Sunday started with Day opening the proceedings for the team from his earlier qualifying position of seventh which is where the Pro from the Pro-Am side of their entry remained for much of his stint.
Completed their stop with just over twenty minutes remaining, Talbot emerged from pit lane in seventh but was then one of two cars who suffered from unassisted spins on their out laps to lose himself over six seconds before the race was then interrupted by a Safety Car for another stranded vehicle on track.
Leaving a thirteen-minute dash to the flag, Talbot had to work his way back up from eighth in the pack before contact between the #1 car and the #77 Ferrari saw the Ferrari spin off for which the #1 car would then be awarded a fifteen second time penalty to their final race time for that contact.
Finishing fourth on track, the time penalty sadly dropped the #1 car down to sixth as the series now prepares itself for its finale from Hampton Downs in New Zealand at the beginning of November.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, September 07, 2025 |
Read more...
Mirage Racing assume the Pro-Am class lead going into final round of the GT4 European Series
A double Pro-Am class win at the Nurburgring this weekend was enough for the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandre Vaintrub to leapfrog into the lead of the class as the GT4 European Series heads to Barcelona for the conclusion of their season next month.
A wet introduction into the race weekend was thankfully replaced with a clear and dry (albeit delayed for earlier kerb damage around the circuit) hour long race into Saturday evening after the #7 car had claimed its first overall pole position of the year.
Alongside them in the thirty-eight strong entry was the #39 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Clement Seyler who also secured pole in the silver class sentry that he shares with Baudouin Detout whist each sister car was further back in P9 for the #5 Mirage Racing car of Roberto Faria and Ruben Del Sarte and P23 for the #74 RSLM entry of David Kullmann and Will Orton.
For the latter crew, however, their race weekend abruptly ended between turns 1 and 2 as Kullmann was an apparent victim of secondary contact (maybe from the Ford Mustang that also stopped at the same position on track) to end their day early with front quarter damage whilst Orton’s best qualifying performance for race 2 in P4 never materialised thanks to a late electrical problem before the cars even assembled on the grid.
The #5 Mirage AMR of Faria would also be in the wars before they had even crossed the control line to start the race as the Brazilian jinxed out of line early to try and pass the overall championship leading Audi, only to make contact with the #3 car – effectively putting them both out of the race.
For the other two cars, by the end of the another highly eventful GT4 European Series the #7 Mirage held onto their Pro-Am class win finishing sixth overall whilst the #39 RSLM crew would have their best finish of the year finishing just off the overall (and class) podium in fourth.
Sunday’s finale was another strange bag of fortunes or misfortunes within the series as (already said) the #74 RSLM AMR failed to make the race again whilst the other three crews had to start from the midst of the pack with the #5 Mirage car being the best of the three starting from P10.
Not without its own incidents and accidents again, the start to the race was at least a much cleaner affair with the remaining participants allowed to settle down into their own rhythm. However, it was again only the #7 car that pushed through for any class recognition by the end as they left it late to make the final pass on track to take their second class win of the day down in P11 overall whilst the remaining silver class crews finished P12 for the #39 car and P14 in silver for the #5 crew.
Safronov and Vaintrub now take a slender 8 points margin into the final races of the season in Barcelona in mid-October.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Monday, September 01, 2025 |
Read more...
Another #doningtondecider in store after another barnstorming race from Brands Hatch in British GT
Having qualified their #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 onto the front row of the grid behind just one of their 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG advisories, the Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam car didn’t get off to the best of starts as despite taking the race lead out of Paddock Hill Bend for the first time, the car was served with an unwanted drive through penalty for using external devices upon the car during the formation grid.
That transgression by the team dropped their car into the midst of the GT4 field on only about the third full racing lap having been behind the Safety Car from the second lap due to an off for a GT4 car at Druids on the opening lap.
Slightly further back meanwhile, the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood had also gotten off to a great start from their aggregated P7 position that Wood had earned the crew on Saturday by topping the Pro drivers qualifying session. After the earlier Safety Car restart, Howard had progressed up to P6 and distanced their class rivalling #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda who were then down in nineth.
Thwarting the Blackthorn’s progression through the lower order of the GT3 class was an on-track fire for one of the Ginetta GT4’s but fortunately for them, the driver was able to vacate the vehicle quickly for the trackside staff to bring things to a swift and safe conclusion although that did lose nearly eighteen minutes on the race clock.
Later after that restart, Petrobelli found himself being baulked by the #86 Honda which, whilst it was bad for them, that delay only helped their Beechdean AMR counterparts further ahead in the pack. Only just before the opening of the GT3 pit stop window did the #7 Aston pass the Honda before all bar the race leading Mercedes pitted for service at the first availability.
Pit stops done and Adam had come out in fourth thanks to the success time penalties affecting three cars out front in class whilst Wood was now P6 overall, still with a healthy lead of his own from the Honda in the silver-am class as Adam even got a warning for track limits such was his degree of determination for a decent finish this time around.
Further track drama was soon to follow as contact between a McLaren and a Porsche GT3 cars saw debris left upon track and one of those cars stranded in a gravel track – all of which necessitated a further Full Course Yellow and later Safety Car restart to sort out the mess.
With ten minutes to go, Wood put a lap onto the Honda so all he had to do was to finish to secure another class win but Adam had more problems upon his hands as he soon had other, faster cars upon him looking for track position as he became the head of a five car train with Wood immediately behind the Scot doing what he could to defend the #7 cars position.
Eventually the chequered flag came with the #7 Blackthorn car taking P4 with the #97 Beechdean car just one place behind in P5 – also taking the class win. With 37.5 points on offer at the final round from Donington Park in early October, both crews still need to perform if they want to have a chance at the class titles. The #7 car is now 28.5 points behind the championship leading #42 Mercedes whilst the #97 crew are still just 14 points ahead of the Honda powered crew.
Still all to race for at Donington then!!
Monday, August 25, 2025 |
Read more...
Tomorrows penultimate British GT race of the season all teed up to be another thriller
Despite just twenty cars taking to the track for today’s Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying sessions, like any discernible British GT Championship of the past, there are still several teams across both the GT3 and GT4 classes that could either win this weekend or take to another #DoningtonDecider those overall championship aspirations.
For the #7 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam car – they need a better performance this weekend that the two 2 Seas Motorsport Merecedes AMG GT3 crews that they are presently chasing within their Pro-Am class and whilst they were faster than both in this morning’s Free Practice, it was not the same in Pre-Qualifying.
Then within the two-horse silver-Am class that the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 car of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood fight themselves battling against the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX team this year, they were faster than the #86 in both preliminary sessions – despite having to endure a rough ride through the gravel in both sessions.
After lunch, it was time for Qualifying with each driver again taking their turn for an aggregated started position for tomorrows race. With the Am’s aboard first with Petrobelli not being able to beat both 2 Seas Mercedes crews this time around for a P4 finish whilst Howard was still faster than the #86 car as they had a lap deleted for track limits for a P9 finishing position.
Then came the Pro’s – and it wasn’t long before the #97 car of Wood had overtaken the #7 car of Adam at the top of the timing screen despite the Scot taking new tyres towards the end of the session for a final dash to the flag.
Finishing top, Wood would haul their overall starting position up to seventh – five cars ahead of their class rivals whilst the #7 car would claim a front row start in second with them and three other cars splitting the championship leading 2 Seas crews.
But like any series, Free Practice and Qualifying is one thing – the race is something completely different. That all starts at 13:00hrs local tomorrow.
It should be interesting based upon just how hard all the crews were pushing today!
Saturday, August 23, 2025 |
Read more...
A trio of podium visits for the Mirage Racing Aston Martins in FFSA GT4
Racing with a car apiece within both the Pro-Am and Am classes saw the #7 Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub slightly stall on their championship aspirations after they struggled to recover from their lower-than-expected P7 overall qualifying position ahead of Saturdays into the night opening race.
Eventually finishing P6 overall, the team’s other #5 Am classed entry of Jodie Sloss and David Levy did do better after they improved their qualifying position of P13 overall/P4 in class to finish P10 overall/ P3 in class for their efforts.
Sundays second, hour long to the weekend was a more traditional daytime affair where the #7 car had this time qualified in sixth with the #5 car P9 overall/P3 in class.
That race eventually finished with both cars claiming a P3 class win as the series now moves onto final round to the season from Paul Ricard at the beginning of October where both available Pro-Am and Am classes will be decided.
Photo credits – Team / Series /social media
Monday, August 04, 2025 |
Read more...
Both Mirage Racing AMRs chasing continued class success as FFSA GT4 visits Magny-Cours
Racing what will be their fourth round of a six-round season, both Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo entries from the French based Mirage Racing team will again be in action as Pro-Am runners Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub go again within their #7 car whilst Am class runners David Levy and Jodie Sloss do likewise within their #5 car.
An upturn in results from the #5 crew now sees the Am pairing kicking themselves after their non points finish in the second race of the opening round from Nogaro as they now feature just thirty-one points behind the class leaders after their recent string of podium finishes at both Dijon-Prenois and most lately from Spa Francorchamps over a month ago.
The team’s Pro-Am pairing meanwhile, have continued through from the second race of round one with an impressive string of podium or race winning finishes to so far lead their Pro-Am class by fourteen points going into this round at the former home of the French F1 Grand Prix.
Friday starts the track action with both Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying ahead of individual qualifying sessions and race one on Saturday before concluding on Sunday with its second one-hour race of the meeting.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Monday, July 28, 2025 |
Read more...
Double class win in Misano for the Pro-Am entered Mirage Racing Aston Martin crew
Generally, it was a much better showing from the four AMR powered crews with just one blot upon their copy book for the #39 RSLM entry of Baudouin Detout and Clement Seyler in Saturday’s one hour race but also with a double top step visit to the podium for the #7 Mirage Racing Pro-Am entry of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub.
Race one took place under the heat of Saturday afternoon as all four Aston Martins started within the top twelve only for the #39 car to run wide and drop positions on the opening laps thinks mainly to cold tyres but as well as over defending and over attacking positions that weren’t his to have at the time. Whilst that car had dropped down to P22, the other all silver class entries meanwhile where making hay within the top ten as the #39 cars issues went from bad to worse.
After just ten minutes, front end contact with something/someone for Detout saw coolant pouring from an open wound on his car and that was their race over as the first Full Course Yellow was called.
The #5 Mirage car of Ruben Del Sarte and Roberto Faria was first to pit alongside the remaining #74 RSLM of Will Orton and David Kullmann as they soon became embroiled in a battle together for P14 overall at the time. Vaintrub meanwhile was having battles of his own to preserve not just his own track position but also that at the sharper end of his class battles.
Race one would eventually wound out with Kullmann getting a post-race ten second time penalty for earlier contact that spun around a BMW for them to eventually finish P13 in class whilst the two Mirage Racing crews fared better with a class win for the #7 crew in P10 overall with the #5 crew just one place behind for a P10 finish in silver.
Race two on Sunday morning was a similar affair with all four cars again starting within the top fifteen cars (albeit with the second driver now aboard for the start) as the #5 car of Del Sarte leading the way in P10 after both the #7 and #74 cars got bumped down in the opening laps.
As the laps ticked by, Vaintrub was slowly making his way back up the order in class whilst both Del Sarte and Seyler were comfortably maintaining their position but seemingly unable to have the performance to move any further forward.
An incident at the opening sequence of corners to the lap brought out another FCY just ahead of the opening of the pit stop window but the pack was soon bunched up together again as that soon went into s Safety Car restart procedure. Whilst the other Aston Martin’s soon pitted, the #39 car of Seyler stayed out for as long as possible to make up in part to his non drive in race one after the damage sustained by Detout.
After the stops were over, Detout had a better race as he interchanged positions in and around the P6-P7 mark overall whilst the #7 Mirage car was now consolidating their Pro-Am class lead. Race two would be Faria’s turn to make the error as he stuck the nose of his #5 car up the inside of turn 2 only for the McLaren to chop it off and spin the Aston Martin out down to P20 for his efforts.
With the last few laps turning a little scrappy in terms of driver standards, the #7 RSLM car came home a more credible P7 overall whilst the #7 Mirage crew would claim their second, class win of the weekend. The #5 Mirage car would come home P10 in class on track but would be blessed with a post race time penalty of their own for too shorter pit stop (P18 overall) with the #74 RSLM ahead in ninth on track but P13 in reality after their own post race penalty for track limits as the series now looks to the Nurburgring for its next round at the end of August.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Sunday, July 20, 2025 |
Read more...
