The new for 2026 SRO GT3 Revival Series will be another European based series sadly coming to an end this weekend as they thrash out their final two races of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain.

Designed specifically for those who continue to own the more venerable examples of SRO GT3 class of race car, now well out of homologation for the GT3 based series of today where the series has never really struggled for a client base over this first season although numbers have fluctuated as you would expect.

 

This weekend’s finale in Spain will see another eighteen-car strong entry for these two final fifty-minute races with now just one of the three available class championship titles still up for grabs.

Have seen more within the earlier rounds, Barcelona will see just two V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s take part – one from the Britec Motorsport team again as German based Doctor Afschin Fatemi races (what’s expected to be) his Spiderman liveried Vantage again with the former R-Motorsport Vantage GT3 of Franz Wunderlich and Pascal Huteau again behind the wheel of the #62 Fanta Racing Legend by Code Classic entry.

 

 

Within the Gen 2 Am Drivers Championship, Heiko Neumann will run almost unopposed this weekend as the former championship leading Team TRG Aston Martin Racing car of Jonathon Mitchell is again not in attendance. Huteau/Wunderlich and Fatemi presently stand P7 and P8 in class but already too far away to make any difference even if one or the other won both races.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

Whilst the current Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 was running riot within the DTM Series with Nicki Thiim behind the wheel, some older examples were having similar fun and games at the Le Mans Classic as the SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival Series ran its next two races of the season around the full Circuit de La Sarthe.

Also commemorating the twenty-year anniversary of the platform, the race did also welcome in some forerunners to that class with some well-known names behind the wheel too as Barwell Motorsport also fielding their Aston Martin DBRS9 for the likes of Stephane Ratel of the SRO itself.

 

Featuring two fifty-minute races around the circuit, the #6 Barwell DBRS9 secured a pair of class podium finishes as Ratel and co-driver Robert Hissom finished second within the AM1 class in both races to the Ford GT Matech.

Within the other AM2 class, the V12 AMR Vantage GT3 of Jonathon Mitchell came away with the best Aston Martin powered performance scooping P3 at the end of race one and a class win in race two.

 

 

Dr Afshin Fatemi and his Spiderman liveried #16 car also enjoyed a good run out as he returned with an improving P8 and P5 results respectively whilst both Janos Santa and Franz Wunderlich/Pascal Huteau each suffered misfortune as Santa had a DNF in race one and a P10 in race two whilst the #62 former R-Motorsport driven pairing only managed a couple of laps per race.

Photo credits – Series / teams

 

 

There were only four Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3’s entered into this weekend’s second round of the SRO GT3 Revival Series from the Spa Classic in the end but three of the four put on show to claim further race silverware for their efforts.

Jonathon Mitchell and his Scott Sport prepared #007 former TRG-AMR runner was again the man to beat as he came away with the race win on track after a red flagged shortened race into the night on Saturday only for a post race BoP based time penalty dropped him down the order before taking a class win at the end of Sunday’s fifty-minute finale.

 

Race one was shaping up into an exciting clash between the #007 car and the #4 GDM Motorsport prepared car of Guido Dumarey into the evening right up until another car suffered a high speed off at Blanchemont which was first covered by a Safety Car before the race was eventually pulled at the halfway mark. Fortunately, the driver involved was later reported as being otherwise OK

The #62 former R-Motorsport AMR of Franz Wunderlich and Pascal Huteau would claim P18 overall/P5 in class whilst the solo driven #16 Britec Motorsport car of Afshin Fatemi would finish his first race within the series P20 overall/P11 in class.

 

Sundays finale was this time run earlier in the day under full sunshine around the Spa Francorchamps circuit. This time the #007 and #4 Aston Martins had been knocked off the front row in earlier qualifying so there was much to do for the four V12 powered Prodrive machines.

Numerous Safety Car interventions sadly marred the race, taking significant time off the available race clock but that was still enough time in the final minutes for Mitchell to bag another class win (albeit in third overall) with the #62 Fanta Racing AMR also claiming P6 overall/P2 in class finish.

 

Next stop for the series will be from the Le Mans Classic in early July.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

After five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 runners within the opening round to the new SRO supported GT3 Revival Series, there will be another mix of another five V12 Vantage GT3’s at this weekend’s second round to the series from the Spa Classic.

Whilst all of this is obviously great news for any lover of the old V12 Aston Martin engine, the biggest problem that we have is actually identifying which car will be presented by each team moving forward.

What we do know is that Jonathon Mitchell will be back with his #007 former Team TRG-AMR GT3 that he raced to a double P2 podium finish last time out at Paul Ricard back in early April after which he enjoyed similar racing success at the recent Donington Festival.

 

 

The #16 Britec Motorsport of Afshin Fatemi is again listed like he was for the opening round but failed to part in any of the proceedings.

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

 

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

Franz Wunderlich and (maybe) Pascal Huteau will be back with their #62 former R-Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 that also raced in the south of France first time out with just Wunderlich behind the wheel. He was also at Spa Francorchamps two weeks ago as he peddled is former TF Sport AMR Vantage GTE in the FIA WEC support race there.

Rounding off the indicated five car entry is that of the #82 ERA Motorsport entry for Christian Abrecht and Kyle Tilley. This one we really don’t know about other than it could be a platform recently sold by the RoFGO Collection a few months ago, but we will have to wait and see.

 

All being well, there should be two forty-minute races over the course of the race weekend for the forty-six car entry.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

It was a rewarding race weekend for a former The Racers Group Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 and its new owner as they competed within the new SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival meeting at Paul Ricard at the weekend.

Assisting the Peter Auto historic racing organising with this GT3 only event, the entry list for this inaugural event swelled to thirty cars on paper although race day did see a couple of cars drop by the wayside.

 

What we did see were four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s, previously owned and raced by others when such V12 powered beasts were allowed to roam where driver Jonathon Mitchell put his former TRG-AMR through its paces to go fastest in Free Practice before securing two overall podium finishes as the end of the two forty-minute races.

There were also entries running the former Salih Yoluc TF Sport ran GT3, a former R-Motorsport car as well as one that has only ever been raced by its present owner.

 

Unfortunately, the photographs made available are not of a high quality despite the number of quality photographers at the circuit to shoot both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and GT4 European Series.

Maybe next time as the series now moves onto the Spa Classic at the end of May.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

 

 

Up to five gloriously sounding Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3’s could be pounding the Mistral Straight of Le Castellet next weekend as the newly SRO coveted GT3 Revival Series gets under way at Paul Racard in support of two other mainstream SRO series.

Aston Martin Racing’s test and development Vantage chassis is up for sale on the open market after being acquired by a private collector.

Being the test and development chassis for their new iteration of turbo charged Vantage GTE primarily for the World Endurance Championship, the 15A – 001 – 01 platform was later converted to be the test mule for the new Vantage GT3 race car.

With the GTE version competing in its first season within the WEC, the first competitive race for the GT3 version was at Le Mans in 2018 when Ross Gunn took the car to a commanding race win during the Aston Martin Racing Festival race. The car has since seen racing with the R-Motorsport team and most recently at the Rolex 24 at Daytona when TF Sport first raced with Ben Keating in 2021.

Now owned by Alex Lienau in Germany, this new 2019 specification of Vantage GT3 is one in a long line of cars that he now owns (having taken on board the entire R- Motorsport collection) on top of his extensive V12 Vantage GT3 platforms.

Further details on the car can be found at https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/127592/aston-martin-vantage-v8-gt3-chassis-001

Photo credits – TF Sport / A Lienau

Incredible to think that it was two years ago since we saw the two R-Motorsport Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3’s race around the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch at the last round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Series to have visited the UK.

Even taking a year out for COVID and then a delayed attendance this year for the same reason, that is still a long time to be without any high class European based GT racing within our shores, so this weekend’s twenty-nine car entry is certainly more than welcome back.

With both a Pro and Silver Cup entry from the Swiss team back then, this time we again have both a Pro-Am and Silver Cup entry from the UK based Garage 59 team after something of mixed bag for the team last time out in the Sprint Cup at Misano in Italy at the start of July when the #188 Pro-Am car of Alex West and Jonny Adam bagged a double podium with a P2 and then P1 class finish respectively in the two races.

That was followed by with firstly a DNF after contact in the first race for drivers Tuomas Tujula and Nicolai Kjaergaard before they collected themselves back together for a P5 class finish in race 2.

Since then, the team were of course involved at another eventful Spa 24 which started with Adam missing out completely have tested positive for COVID after the British Grand Prix. Although his #188 car ultimately retired from the race with technical issues, his omission from the results now sees West head the Pro-Am Drivers table alone, some ten points ahead of Adam in third!! A similar issue with the #159 car sees Kjaergaard head the cars crew in P15 with Tujula in P19 after omissions at the start of the year.

With all still to race for, this weekend’s event will feature two – one-hour races (both on Sunday) with track action not starting until the first Free Practice session for Bronze and Silver ranked drivers on Saturday morning.

Photo credits – GTWCE / Garage 59

 

The GT4 European Series today finally confirmed their expected full season entry list today ahead of a six round season that starts at Monza in just two week’s time.

Initially hoping to match or even out strip their sister FFSA GT4 Series, the European Series today confirms five Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 runners from two familiar teams, although the list did omit all the driver’s names.

Garage 59 has entered two Aston Martin Vantage GT3s into the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series. This is the first time the reigning GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Pro-Am Champions will race in Asian Le Mans and the team is working on assembling the perfect blend of drivers for the challenge.

In the first Garage 59 Aston Martin, the rapid Mike Benham returns to Garage 59 to take up the bronze seat, with Ricard 1000kms sensation Marvin Kirchhöfer joining the team on loan again from R-Motorsport.

Benham said: “I’m looking forward to racing again with Garage 59 and I think we have a good opportunity to take a top result in the Asian Le Mans Series. I’m excited about the prospect of racing with Marvin as I have seen how fast he is so February can’t come soon enough for me.”

Alexander West is one of the fastest bronze-rated drivers in GT3 racing and has previous experience of racing in the Asian Le Mans Series. He will be joined in the sister Garage 59 Vantage by Aston Martin works driver, the platinum-rated Maxime Martin.

Each of the two Aston Martins will also have a third, silver-rated driver, the identities of whom will be announced in the New Year.

The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series takes place in February, with the first two races running during a February 4-6 event and the second pair of races at a February 18-20 event. In order to manage the Covid travel restrictions, the organisers of the series chose to host every race at the world-class Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. At each event there will be two, four-hour races, using two different circuit configurations and a combination of day, night and twilight racing.

A top result in the Asian Le Mans Series secures a coveted entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Garage 59 team would love to have a shot at the greatest endurance race of them all.

Garage 59 Team Principal, Andrew Kirkaldy said: “The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series is very well-timed for us. It gives the drivers a lot of competitive running before the summer GT3 season starts and from a logistical point of view is it fairly straightforward. The added bonus is that if you do well you can gain a Le Mans entry, which is something that every team would love to have.”

Source Material - Garage 59

In the first Garage 59 Aston Martin, the rapid Mike Benham returns to Garage 59 to take up the bronze seat, with Ricard 1000kms sensation Marvin Kirchhöfer joining the team on loan again from R-Motorsport.

Benham said: “I’m looking forward to racing again with Garage 59 and I think we have a good opportunity to take a top result in the Asian Le Mans Series. I’m excited about the prospect of racing with Marvin as I have seen how fast he is so February can’t come soon enough for me.”

Alexander West is one of the fastest bronze-rated drivers in GT3 racing and has previous experience of racing in the Asian Le Mans Series. He will be joined in the sister Garage 59 Vantage by Aston Martin works driver, the platinum-rated Maxime Martin.

Each of the two Aston Martins will also have a third, silver-rated driver, the identities of whom will be announced in the New Year.

The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series takes place in February, with the first two races running during a February 4-6 event and the second pair of races at a February 18-20 event. In order to manage the Covid travel restrictions, the organisers of the series chose to host every race at the world-class Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. At each event there will be two, four-hour races, using two different circuit configurations and a combination of day, night and twilight racing.

A top result in the Asian Le Mans Series secures a coveted entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Garage 59 team would love to have a shot at the greatest endurance race of them all.

Garage 59 Team Principal, Andrew Kirkaldy said: “The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series is very well-timed for us. It gives the drivers a lot of competitive running before the summer GT3 season starts and from a logistical point of view is it fairly straightforward. The added bonus is that if you do well you can gain a Le Mans entry, which is something that every team would love to have.”

In the first Garage 59 Aston Martin, the rapid Mike Benham returns to Garage 59 to take up the bronze seat, with Ricard 1000kms sensation Marvin Kirchhöfer joining the team on loan again from R-Motorsport.

Benham said: “I’m looking forward to racing again with Garage 59 and I think we have a good opportunity to take a top result in the Asian Le Mans Series. I’m excited about the prospect of racing with Marvin as I have seen how fast he is so February can’t come soon enough for me.”

Alexander West is one of the fastest bronze-rated drivers in GT3 racing and has previous experience of racing in the Asian Le Mans Series. He will be joined in the sister Garage 59 Vantage by Aston Martin works driver, the platinum-rated Maxime Martin.

Each of the two Aston Martins will also have a third, silver-rated driver, the identities of whom will be announced in the New Year.

The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series takes place in February, with the first two races running during a February 4-6 event and the second pair of races at a February 18-20 event. In order to manage the Covid travel restrictions, the organisers of the series chose to host every race at the world-class Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. At each event there will be two, four-hour races, using two different circuit configurations and a combination of day, night and twilight racing.

A top result in the Asian Le Mans Series secures a coveted entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Garage 59 team would love to have a shot at the greatest endurance race of them all.

Garage 59 Team Principal, Andrew Kirkaldy said: “The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series is very well-timed for us. It gives the drivers a lot of competitive running before the summer GT3 season starts and from a logistical point of view is it fairly straightforward. The added bonus is that if you do well you can gain a Le Mans entry, which is something that every team would love to have.”

In the first Garage 59 Aston Martin, the rapid Mike Benham returns to Garage 59 to take up the bronze seat, with Ricard 1000kms sensation Marvin Kirchhöfer joining the team on loan again from R-Motorsport.

Benham said: “I’m looking forward to racing again with Garage 59 and I think we have a good opportunity to take a top result in the Asian Le Mans Series. I’m excited about the prospect of racing with Marvin as I have seen how fast he is so February can’t come soon enough for me.”

Alexander West is one of the fastest bronze-rated drivers in GT3 racing and has previous experience of racing in the Asian Le Mans Series. He will be joined in the sister Garage 59 Vantage by Aston Martin works driver, the platinum-rated Maxime Martin.

Each of the two Aston Martins will also have a third, silver-rated driver, the identities of whom will be announced in the New Year.

The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series takes place in February, with the first two races running during a February 4-6 event and the second pair of races at a February 18-20 event. In order to manage the Covid travel restrictions, the organisers of the series chose to host every race at the world-class Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. At each event there will be two, four-hour races, using two different circuit configurations and a combination of day, night and twilight racing.

A top result in the Asian Le Mans Series secures a coveted entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Garage 59 team would love to have a shot at the greatest endurance race of them all.

Garage 59 Team Principal, Andrew Kirkaldy said: “The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series is very well-timed for us. It gives the drivers a lot of competitive running before the summer GT3 season starts and from a logistical point of view is it fairly straightforward. The added bonus is that if you do well you can gain a Le Mans entry, which is something that every team would love to have.”