Whilst actual racing action for the many Aston Martin Racing powered teams around the world may have already come to either an end of a enforced sabbatical over the Christmas and New Year period, there is still plenty of activity happening both on and off track for many others.

Earlier this week in Paris, we saw the SRO hold their annual prize giving gala dinner where both Series and class winners were officially recognised and presented with their spoils.

The Heart of Racing (HOR) will head to the bayou for the next rounds in Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS. HOR will return to NOLA Motorsports Park after a podium finish for Gray Newell and Ian James last season, but a new face will drive with Newell this time around.

Newell will be joined by Roman De Angelis to pilot the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entry in Pirelli GT4 America in hopes of repeating a podium finish from last year’s race. 

De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD Champion and 2023 Rolex 24 Hour of Daytona winner, will make his first SRO America start since the 2020 season where he earned wins at Circuit of the Americas and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Newell / De Angelis duo already have previous racing experience together, as the two have teamed up most recently in the 24H Series scoring a class win at the 12H of Mugello in March.  

“I’m super excited to be in SRO GT4 America,” said De Angelis. “I’ve had the opportunity to do once before with another team and not only had a lot of fun racing in the series, but had some good results. Being with Gray in the car who knows the series well will be nice to help me understand the weekend’s layouts and how the racing is.”

Rianna O’Meara-Hunt and Hannah Grisham will team up in the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, with both looking forward to making their first SRO competition laps at NOLA Motorsports Park for rounds 3 and 4 in Pirelli GT4 America. 

“I am excited to get going at NOLA,” said O’Meara-Hunt. “I feel like Hannah and I are yet to show what we truly have on track so it’s going to be a good next round! I managed to get some sim time, thanks to Matt from Track Tec in Cromwell, NZ, so I am hoping it pays dividends over and above the practice sessions we will get prior to racing.” 

The duo looks to rebound after the team suffered from contact in the very first corner of the first race of the weekend at Sonoma in the season-opener. The team was able to come back and bring home a top ten finish in the second race of the weekend. 

“I’m really excited for race weekend number two with the Heart of Racing,” said Grisham. “I have been to NOLA once before so I’m excited to be at a familiar track. I’m excited to also continue to learn and grow on our opening round at Sonoma. I think Rianna and I have a better idea of the series and our competitors so I think we have a great weekend ahead of us.”  

Newell will also be behind the wheel of the No. 25 Aston Martin GT America powered by AWS entry. This will be the first time the GT America series has raced at NOLA Motorsports Park. Newell goes into rounds 5 and 6 sitting third in GT America championship points standings.  

“NOLA presents a good challenge for us to get back on the horse and dig in,” said Newell. “I’m looking to apply some new techniques from my time at Mugello and make my place in the championship stick.”

Source material - HoRT 

With mainstream GT racing now thankfully back underway in North America with the IMSA Weathertech Championship getting back down to business at the weekend at Daytona, this coming weekend sees the SRO's GT4 America Series do likewise at the very picturesque circuit of Virginia International Raceway in North Carolina.

Having opened their season from the Circuit of the Americas way back in early March, another heavily revised calendar was forced upon the Series soon after as COVID-19 struck down the United States, forcing many States into lockdown. Since then, only a small amount of private testing has been undertaken by some of the teams.


Looking forward to this weekend's second round see a combination of four Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 teams enter cars into both of the Sprint and Sprint X races - three cars amongst the fifteen car grid of the single driver, fifty minute race with another four cars in the longer, mandatory pit stop and driver change Sprint X races alongside the sixteen other expected entries.

Rearden Racing come back with the most cars as Paul Terry returns with his #59 car whilst it appears that Jeff Burton comes back with his now two AMR car collection as he races in both classes, this time being joined again by his long time co-driver Vesko Kozarov for the Sprint X races.


Next on the list is the Flying Lizard team as they return with their customer driver Michael Dinan and his two cars as he again races race one car in Sprint and then another car in the Sprint X alongside his Pro co-driver Robby Foley.

The balance of the AMR grid is made up of the BSport Racing Vantage of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch and the Rennsport One Aston of Joe Dalton and Pat Gallagher. The only car missing from the VIR entry list from that who competed in the opening round is that of Fred Roberts is finds himself sadly locked away back home in Canada, unable to travel into the USA without having to spend two weeks in self isolation at either end of his journey south.

Last time out, Rearden's Paul Terry and Flying Lizards Michael Dinan shared the Am Class podiums after some fantastic racing between them in race one before swapping positions after some more action and late passes in race two. For Dinan, there was an additional podium for him and Foley in the Pro/Am class of the second Sprint X race.


Whilst that is obviously bad news for him, we hear that he will also be extending his coaching relationship with a UK based driver as the season progresses through August to October. All teams will again be supported by AMR's North American partner in CSJ Motorsport.


Track action starts on Wednesday with the first of the Free Practice sessions before the races in both classes spears over both Saturday and Sunday. We understand that the whole event will be conducted behind closed doors!

Photo credits - GT4 America

Just under a year ago was the when it was all officially confirmed by Aston Martin Racing that they had finally filled that void in their customer racing programme in North America with the appointment of a new strategic partner to oversee all new customer racing endeavours in that region on their behalf.

Officially appointed in writing many months previous but not announced to the world by the UK team until after the 24 Hours of Le Mans in late June 2019, work had already got well underway from their base in San Antonio, Texas as CSJ Motorsport set about cementing their own business and management credentials with that of their new corporate partner in the ever expanding American GT marketplace for the first time since AMR parted ways with their previous ally in TRG-AMR some four years earlier.


For Aston Martin Martin Racing, they had already taken the decision to introduce their new turbo charged V8 Vantage GT4 into the American marketplace earlier than otherwise expected with supplying long standing AMR customer and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (as it is now) team Automatic Racing with one example in time for the series opener at Daytona International Speedway in January 2019. That bold move by the factory at the most significant event in the US GT calendar, together with the early successes that the new car was then enjoying with their new teams over in Europe during the early stages of the 2019 season more than helped the cause of CSJ Motorsport promote and capitalise on early interest and indeed seat time to anyone who enquired.


Only weeks into their new business arrangement with AMR, Cy and Susan Jary (founder members of CSJ Motorsport) delivered their first pair of AMR Vantage GT4's to their new customers in time for the next IMSA race weekend at Watkins Glen in early July before they saw out the 2019 IMSA season with a variety of driver pairings with more than some impressive performances between them.


Although not immediately successful in terms of end of race silverware (other than a class pole for Akhil Rabindra later at Road Atlanta) despite from some excellent racing in between, success can always be measured in many ways and that reward came about towards the end of the 2019 season when the team received multiple orders for the new Vantage GT4 which had till then been somewhat limited in numbers to marketplaces outside of Europe - mainly due to the lack of capacity at their Prodrive facility in the UK.


Before years end, teams like BSport Racing and Rearden Racing had already announced their new alignment to the AMR marque and the assistance of CSJ Motorsport as they (and others) prepared for the start of their respective IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and SRO GT4 America Series for 2020.

By the time the official entry lists had been revealed for the 2020 opener at Daytona in early January, the role call had escalated to two AMR Vantage GT3's for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Challenge (AMR supplied vehicles with CSJ support) and four GT4 Vantages - one each for new team's Cameron Racing and Kohr Motorsport and another new chassis for Automatic Racing.


Although the 24hr race certainly didn't go in favour of either Vantage GT3 (both retired before the end of the night with accident damage) it was certainly game on in the events proceeding GT4 race as both Kohr Motorsport and Cameron Racing finished in the top 10 with both Automatic racing cars also completing strong finishes. CSJ's hospitality efforts along Pit Road at Daytona also went down a storm with fans getting both access and informed conversation from those within the teams!


That hard work and determination from CSJ Motorsport was in addition to their new and expanding SRO GT4 America customer base who were also 'swarming at their door' with orders in time for their season opener at the Circuit of The America's in early March.


For this Series, the customer count had risen to an incredible eight cars, not all supplied by CSJ and not all would run at each event admittedly but that would be the number of cars that the team would need to keep race ready as the season progressed. By the time this Series had started in early March, CSJ Motorsport had already made numerous trips over to California for Rearden Racing as that team had their three new Vantage GT4's running in the SRO Winter Invitational at the Thermal Club - a trilogy of races that came with much success in class for the AMR Vantage!!


With the SRO GT4 America Series running both Sprint and Sprint X race formats again, some teams would enter each race with a fresh car whilst others would use the same car for both. Two cars from Rearden Racing, two for the Flying Lizard team and single cars for each of Rennsport 1, BSport Racing and Roberts Racing again made for some exciting racing.

Unlike the opening round of IMSA, GT4 America proved itself to be a happy hunting ground for the new Vantage GT4 as both the Flying Lizard and Rearden Racing teams enjoyed podium winning success over the opening weekend.


Clearly, there was something to like about AMR's latest creations as the American Pro-Am drivers from each series looked forward to their next rounds at Sebring and St Petersburg respectively but whilst Free Practice did actually kick off at St Pete's, the engulfing problem with the Corona-virus pandemic spreading around the globe stopped track action all around the world in a instant with St Pete's being abandoned with cars still out on track until later in the year and the cancellation of the Sebring IMSA event in its entirety.

Several other events between the two series have now also been lost due to social restrictions imposed due to the virus.


That 'emergency stop' in world events yet alone in motorsport circles has already been catastrophic for many around the world. Whilst we still wait for motor racing in North America kick start itself back into action (which it did last weekend with a class podium for Jeff Burton and his Rearden Racing at a regional event in Utah), what impact these events have had on the customer base of both CSJ Motorsport/Aston Martin Racing and the greater paddock is still yet to be seen.


In addition to Rearden Racing getting back out on track last weekend, we have also recently seen the Rennsport 1 car of Matthew Dalton and Patrick Gallagher take to the track already at Virginia International Raceway as that will be the next destination for the GT4 America Series (if able) at the beginning of July so there are still positives to be taken after all of this and that very small number of personnel at CSJ Motorsport remain buoyant as to what the future holds for them.


The initial Press Release confirming their appointment as North American agents to Aston Martin Racing used the term "a fresh start"in AMR's GT3 and GT4 customer programmes on the continent.

Whilst any deal to provide and support a further GT3 to a customer team into any of the IMSA/SRO Series remains illusive to them, CSJ Motorsport have certainly already come up trumps in the GT4 scene with an incredible twelve cars now in circulation all because of them. A thirteenth car (seen below in an commemorative Anglo/American livery) is also available for immediate delivery!


Its certainly a big thanks from us for all what the team have achieved in this first year, we can only thank them again for all their time, help and information that they have provided us since so here's looking forward to the resumption of racing in the USA!!

Happy Anniversary guys!

Photo credits - IMSA / SRO GT4 America / CSJ Motorsport / Automatic Racing / Fabian Lagunas

It appears that the long wait for competitive motor racing to begin somewhere around the world is finally over as news on social media confirms another class podium for one of the many Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's now competing over in the United States yesterday.

Well known for being a competitor in the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Series for 2020, Gentleman driver Jeff Burton and his Rearden Racing prepared AMR Vantage GT4 have again been racing this weekend in the National Auto Sport Association Utah Regional Series at the Utah Motorsport Campus - a programme that we understand that always was to run in Parallel to his new SRO commitments.


As expected, the event is heavily controlled in the wake of that States recent relaxation of control measures during this Corona-virus pandemic which has allowed the event to take place on the basis of following measures be ensured.

No spectators nor media personnel have been allowed to attend and all those permitted entry have had temperature readings taken and must wear gloves/masks/eye protection where appropriate. Only one car is permitted per garage and there will be no podium celebrations or post event BBQ as would usually be the case amongst many other things as well.


Either way - at least racing is beginning to pick itself up again where permitted and that can only be a good thing!! Oh, and congratulations on another piece of silverware guys!!!

Photo credits - Rearden Racing / GT4 America.

Eight brand new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's will converge at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas next weekend for the first rounds of the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Sprint and Sprint X Series of races.

Previously run under the Pirelli World Challenge banner, these Sprint and Sprint X races follow the same pathway as before, allowing both amateur and Pro-Am driver line ups to race competitively under the SRO Balance of Performance system whether as individuals or as part of a driver pairing.


The Sprint Series is a 50 minute race for an individual driver whilst the Sprint X Series is an hour long race with a compulsory pit stop and driver change in the middle with the race diary allowing for cars to participate in both series per race event.

In Sprint X we see four such cars enter, the #15 BSport Racing entry for Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch, the #33 Rennsport One entry for Joe Dalton and Patrick Gallagher, #91 Reardon Racing with Jeff Burton and Vesko Kozarov and the #21 Flying Lizard entry for Michael Dinan and Robby Foley.


These four cars are in turn matched by another four cars that will run in the Sprint Series with lone races for both Jeff Burton and Michael Dinan abroad their respective Reardon and Flying Lizard cars but are this time joined by Paul Terry with his #59 Rearden Racing car and Fred Roberts with his #89 Notland Racing Vantage GT4.

Test sessions are available for all on both Thursday and Friday ahead of Qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday.


These eight cars are mainly down to the hard work of Aston Martin Racing North America strategic partner CSJ Motorsport and one of these cars has already enjoyed Championship success with a former owner elsewhere in the world - can you guess which one, who with and where??



Photo credits - GT4 America / social media

With a large number of teams from around the world swapping over to the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 platform for their 2020 season, these past couple of weeks has seen a distinct upturn in track and factory activity as both Prodrive keep building, testing and shipping new cars out for these teams to start testing locally ahead of their respective campaign's.

The largest number of convertees has to be in the North American GT racing arena as AMR strategic partner CSJ Motorsport changed the GT landscape over the winter months, supplying nearly ten Vantage GT4 cars to teams competing signed up to compete in both the IMSA sanctioned Michelin Pilot Challenge and the SRO's sanctioned GT4 America Series.


Whilst we have already seen the four new 2019 specification AMR Vantage GT4 take to the track of Daytona International Speedway for the start of the IMSA season, the GT4 America Series still has a few weeks to go ahead of their opening round at the Circuit of the America's in Austin, Texas over the 6-8th March.


We have already seen the California based Rearden Racing team accumulate three such examples of this race car and even race them competitively at the series Winter Invitational at the Thermal Club with great effect. At least two of their cars have gone on to test at CoTA this week although it's not yet known in which classes these cars will compete in.


Last week also saw the Flying Lizards team take delivery and test their new AMR Vantage GT4 (above) with drivers Michael Dinan and Robby Foley having a turn behind the week as they tested at Sonoma Raceway. The conversion  to the AMR platform from such a traditionally staunch Porsche supporting team came about after Dinan raced the Optimum Motorsport Vantage GT4 at least years Gulf 12Hr.


First to announce their passing over to the AMR brand has seen BSport Racing test their new Vantage at both Palm Beach and most recently at Sebring (below). Footage from todays test under the Florida sun has seen the first visuals of their already published livery detail with drivers Kenton Koch and Bryan Putt behind the wheel.


Then, and back in the home country of Aston Martin Racing, this weeks has seen the French AGS Events Racing Team take delivery of their first (of an expected four) car batch direct from the Prodrive factory ready to test at Silverstone ahead of what is expected to be a dual FFSA GT4 and GT4 European Series calendar.

Whilst the team have already announced the driver line ups for their two FFSA GT4 Pro-Am and Am entries - nothing has so far been said in regards to drivers for the other SRO sanctioned Series. Clearly, there is some way to go before the car below looks anything like the image below that!


Whilst we await the declaration of his own racing intentions for 2020, the reigning British GT GT4 Champion and winner of the the 2019 AMR Drivers Academy, Tom Canning has been kept busy shaking down two examples of the V8 Vantage GT4 today alone before they are shipped out to their new clients.

We have already learned that at least one GT4 platform will be making its way over to Japan to support D'Station Racing AMR in their dual class 2020 Pirelli Super Taikyu GT3 and GT4 campaign.

We think that its about to start getting busy!!!

Photo credits - GT4 America / Rearden / BSport Racing / AGS Events / Flying Lizards

Utah based Rearden Racing will be looking to maintain their winning record as the SRO GT4 America Series sees out their Winter Invitational at The Thermal Club in California again this weekend.

Having entered their first brand new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 at the opening round of this three round amateur driver only series just prior to Christmas, their 2019 GT4 Sprint X West Am Championship winning driver Jeff Burton opened his AMR driving account with two wins out of two in his black and red #91 car.


That event was followed up with then two new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's being entered for the second round in mid January where Burton was joined by Dimitri Novikov in his own white and green #29 AMR Vantage GT4 and over the course of that weekend, Burton and Novikov won a race a piece.

This weekends final round of the Winter invitational is the final chance for these amateur drivers to settle in with the teams and cars ahead of the opening round of the GT4 America Series itself in just under four weeks time from the Circuit of the Americas at Austin, Texas.


It has also come to light since the last round of the series, the team (or at least a driver within the team) has secured the purchase of another AMR Vantage GT4 from AMR North America's strategic partner CSJ Motorsport and that takes their GT4 sales tally over the winter months to four cars in the SRO GT4 America Series alone.

We have been told that we may have to be patient to see if this new owner turns up to race at this final meeting before the full season gets down to business later next month.

###UPDATE

We have since had it confirmed that Rearden Racing's driver Paul Terry will now also be at this final Winter Invitational event with his new AMR Vantage GT4

Photo credits - GT4 America

With all the new Aston Martin Racing customer teams in North America taking much of the news attention in the last week or so, a team closer to home has also taken today as their opportunity to announce two further driver crews for their 2020 adventures.

Previously having raced Porsches Cayman's in the French national FFSA GT Series as well as Lamborghini's in the European Super Trofeo Series, French team AGS Events Racing Motorsport took an early decision in 2019 to swap over to the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 for their 2020 FFSA GT GT4 commitments as well as possibly other series within Europe.


Today sees the team confirm their third driver line up who will again race in their national FFSA GT GT4 series that starts at the Nogaro circuit in mid April.

Following on from last years primary driver line up of Mike Parisy and Nicolas Gomar sees the team confirm four more drivers in Christophe Carriere and Didier Dumaine as well as Stephane Desbrosse and Lauris Nauroy.

The 2020 season will feature six race meetings including races around the streets of Pau in late May as well as a race during the SRO's Speedweek over the Total 24hours of Spa week.

More AMR racing teams are expected within this Series but have yet to announce.

Photo credits - AGS Events Racing

The continued hard work of recruiting new teams into the Aston Martin Racing family by the factory's North American strategic partner CSJ Motorsport again came up trumps today with the announcement that the Flying Lizard team will the latest racing team in the USA to compete in an AMR Vantage GT4 for their forthcoming 2020 season.

A long standing Porsche team, todays announcement sees their driver line up of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley swap to the new turbo charged Vantage GT4 for the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Series in both the Sprint and Sprint X race formats for which the team have already acquired two cars.


Having more recently competed in a Porsche Cayman GT4, it appears that a racing trip over to the Gulf 12hrs at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi last December was enough for Dinan to decide between the car platforms as he shared one of Optimum Motorsports AMR Vantage GT4's for the first time in a race environment with great personal success.

“I’m ready and excited to take on my second season in SRO GT4 America with Flying Lizard Motorsports,” said Dinan. “I've learned plenty of valuable lessons in my first full season of racing that I'll be looking to improve on in 2020. The new car is exciting, so hopefully we can compete for wins and podiums right away.”