Day and Talbot go again in this weekends penultimate round of GT World Challenge Australia
Round five of a six round season sees Day pair up with Liam Talbot for only the second time this season having been sent to replace Declan Fraser aboard the #1 Volante Rosso AMR Vantage GT3 Pro-Am entry from the previous round at Sandown at the end of July. The mixed-race conditions on the day and with most things being new to the squad allowed them to convert a P8 overall finish in race one of the weekend into an overall race win on Sunday.
Unfortunately, that may prove itself to be too little too late for the team as Talbot rests P4 within the Pro-Am Drivers Championship and a whopping eight one points shy of the current leaders but with still a possible one hundred and four points on the table over the four remaining races of the season – never say never as they say!!
Fourteen cars will again compete across the two – one hour pit stop and driver change punctuated races weekend at The Bend starting with Free Practice 1, 2 and Pre-Qualifying on Friday before Qualifying 1 and 2 on Saturday morning before race one later in the day and race two on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, September 02, 2025 |
Read more...
A birthday win for Talbot alongside Day for the first time in GT World Challenge Australia
Only thrust together for the first time this year after a driver re-alignment within the #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crew that saw Declan Fraser be replaced with the young Brit for the remainder of the season.
Having jetted into Australia on the back of his own class win within the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup round in Misano in Italy last weekend, Day was welcomed by some very cold and wet conditions for his series debut within a team he has already raced with a the 12hrs of Bathurst earlier in the year.
Earlier qualifying had seen Talbot start Saturday’s race opener from the second row of the grid which saw a very ‘elbows out’ opening lap to the race that saw the #1 move up top second to sit comfortably as the race settled. A Safety Car for a car in the gravel saw those gaps removed as the race went back to green still ten minutes short of the pit stop window.
Talbot would later be issued with a driver standards warning for rear end contact with the #888 Audi as he looked for a way passed.
Eventually handing over to Day, the #1 car would assume the race lead after the #888 had to serve both a success time penalty from the previous race weekend and an additional five seconds for their lap one overtake of then pole setter to gain a position off track, but Day would immediately have multiple cars on his tail.
Unfortunately for the Brit, two separate mistakes on track saw him first loose the lead before then spinning out from fourth having ridden the exit kerb on turn one to eventually finish a disappointing (for them) P8.
Race two on Sunday was something entirely different as rain immediately prior to the start put all the fourteen cars onto full wets and kept them that way during the entirety of the hour-long race.
As usual, Day started this one from his qualifying position of P7 to run through an early Safety Car (for a car stranded on track after contact with the barrier) to pass an error free stint this time around over to Talbot from P6.
As the rainfall again intensified, Talbot quickly gained track position from the start of his stint to assume the overall race lead with just twelve minutes remaining but as the track conditions deteriorated, the #888 Audi was also hunting him down.
Despite side by side contact between the two cars going into the final lap, Talbot was finally able to demonstrate his capabilities within the AMR Vantage GT3 for the #1 crew to claim their first ever race win within the GT World Challenge Australia Series as the team now looks forward to the next round from The Bend at the beginning of September but as Day now flies back to Europe for the next round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup from France this weekend coming.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, July 27, 2025 |
Read more...
A more sedate race programme to look forward to this weekend
A much quieter race weekend coming up with what would be taking our fancy with just three main series featuring a sole Aston Martin Racing powered Vantage GT3 or GT4 within their midst.
Starting with the farthest away from us will see a sole AMR Vantage GT3 takes its place within a fourteen-car line up for this weekends fourth round of the GT World Challenge Australia as the #1 Volante Rosso car this time features a revised driver line up for their visit to Sandown Park.
Joining the Pro side of the previous line up in Liam Talbot will be the young British racer Jamie Day who now apparently replaces Declan Fraser for the remainder of the season after his best finish to his GT3 based GT World Challenge Europe season last weekend with a double podium visit and class win (alongside Kobe Pauwels) in the Sprint Cup Series.
The reason for the swap is unclear with the series itself referring it as a ‘withdrawal’ of Fraser from the crew after their good start top the season from Phillip Island has somewhat waned over recent rounds. Day, of course, featured within the teams 12Hrs of Bathurst GT3 entry alongside Mateo Villagomez and Jaylyn Robotham earlier in the year as well as another entry into the series last season that failed to materialise on race day thanks to ongoing technical issues that rounded off that season’s efforts.
They will run their usual two race format.
Next there is the fifth round of the Super Taikyu Series from Autopolis in Japan where the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Yuta Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii again take the wheel of their ST-X entry.
Last time out at Sugo at the start of the month saw a near lights to flag race win for the trio and all will be hoping for more this time around after that result lifted the team up to fourth in the overall Championship with these three rounds remaining.
This will be another five-hour race starting at 11:00hrs local.
Then finally, we also have the ESET Cup or GT Cup Series as its now referred to as and their fifth round of an eight-round season with their latest collection of sprint and endurance races from Most in the Czech Republic.
There, the #73 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of the Janik Motorsport team and drivers Vaclav Janik and Petr Koukola enter one sprint race apiece before the longer endurance round at the 4.2km circuit.
Last time out in the series should have been from Poznan but that was cancelled at the eleventh hour by the series although we did learn that the team did still compete at an event of some description from the venue.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, July 22, 2025 |
Read more...
Dice quickly turns for Volante Rosso at Queensland
Having promised so much at the opening round of the season from Phillip Island only to struggle last time out at Sydney Motorsport Park, the #1 car of Liam Talbot and Declan Fraser looked back at this weekend’s two races that looked to be going back in the right direction after race one only to fall foul with technical issues and driver errors during the second.
Having started the race weekend with torrential rain, both races at least got underway in the dry although the weekend’s opener took a bizarre turn of events as two Audi’s managed to spin out even before the opening corner. Luckily avoiding that, the #1 car of Fraser was able to move up from its P9 Qualifying position to fourth after the Safety Car restart. Looking racey, Talbot was pushing the #26 Ferrari hard as the weather was again looking a little unsettled up towards the pit stop window before giving way to his AMR Drivers Academy team-mate.
Despite no success time penalty to serve, the #1 car unnecessarily earned themselves a drive through penalty for working on the car whilst the engine was running but that only dropped the crew down from third to fourth by the end.
Race two was equally cool and overcast as the first as Fraser this time started the #1 car from Talbot’s qualifying position of P9 where Fraser was quickly up to sixth but again tight behind the #26 Ferrari again.
Another car stranded in the gravel brought out the Safety Car for the first time, that slowing of pace brought about unwelcome gremlins within the #1 car as Fraser suddenly struggled for pace and quickly dropped two or three places. Further time was then lost within their stop as Talbot was unable to fire up the V8 again.
Going down at least a lap with that electrical issue, any hopes of decent championship points were over, but Talbot is not a driver who ordinarily gives up on anything. That ambition may have been the cause of a later spin that left him broadside across the track – exaggerated again by his ability not being able to restart the car in a timely fashion for an eventual finish at the rear of the grid.
The team will be hoping for much more next time out at Sandown at the end of July.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, June 01, 2025 |
Read more...
Keeping an eye out for stolen pit equipment
It sadly appears that Bourne, near Peterborough based EDF Motorsports have this weekend been victim to some petty crime that has left them without vital workshop equipment, damage to their race transporter and all the inconvenience to boot.
A more colourful account of the teams actual thoughts and sentiments can be found on their faceebook page HERE, otherwise if we could all keep an eye out for any offerings of 'cheap' torque wenches, socket sets, pliers, grip, etc (especially in the local area to their base) then we are sure that they would like to hear from you so that they can get their gear recovered and put those responsible into the legal system (for what that could be worth!)
Monday, July 16, 2018 |
Read more...
A maximum points haul for Gray in Australian GT
Rounding off another successful weekend of motor racing for Aston Martin Racing and its customer and Partner teams was a clean sweep in the GT4 proceedings down at the third round of the Australian GT Championship at Sundown Park.
Having lost his 'mojo' a little last time out at The Bend in the first endurance round of the season, the #67 JMG/Bilstein V8 Vantage GT4 of Jeremy Gray secured total dominance over the weekends three, forty minute races to restore his lead in the overall championship.
With his main protagonist Justin McMillan not racing at the weekend, Gray now sees his championship lead extend by 213 points over the KTM X-Bow racer as the championship now moves over to Philip Island in early June.
Photo credits - Australian GT
Tuesday, May 15, 2018 |
Read more...
EDF Motorsport confirm both Britcar and AMR Festival in 2018
Also confirming their 2018 racing activities at last weeks Autosport International Show last week were Lincolnshire based EDF Motorsport and their new new Aston Martin customer Mal Sandford.
Having seen out the tail end of the Britcar Endurance Championship last year at both the Silverstone and Brands Hatch rounds, the Portuguese based Aussie Mal Sandford confirmed that he and co driver Ben Seyfried will be making a full season return to Britcar in 2018 as well as an appearance at this years Aston Martin Racing Festival from Le Mans 24Hour in June.
Sandford's EDF Motorsport prepared Sterling Green and lime coloured AMR V8 Vantage GT4 will also kick off its pre season testing in style at the AMR family three day test from his 'local' Portimao circuit, Portugal in early March ahead of the Britcar season opener at Rockingham in April.
Photo credits - EDF Motorsport
Saturday, January 20, 2018 |
Read more...
Into the Aussie GT melting pot for RSR
Australian GT team Ross Stone Racing had a baptism of fire with their first race experience in their national GT series at Sandown racetrack, near Melbourne a couple of weeks ago in their recently acquired #95 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
With long term car dealer and experienced multi race formula driver Andrew Miedecke at the wheel the team managed a very respectable P12 in qualifying out of the strong 30 car grid before finishing P18 in race 1 and P12 in race 2 over the two day, V8 Supercar support event. The team may have also finished slightly higher had it not been for some customary GT car panel interaction and a drive through for a pit lane violation.
The team will now reassemble at Highlands Motorsport Park, New Zealand for the final round of the 2015 Australian GT Series in mid November.
Photo credits - Australian GT
Monday, September 21, 2015 |
Read more...
