Safety Car thwarts D'Station Racings efforts in Super Taikyu from Autopolis
With the #777 AMR Vantage GT3 car of Satoshi Hoshino, Yuta Kamimura and Tomonbu Fujii narrowly missing out on pole position by just 0.032 of a second saw this five-hour race start under clear blue skies and sunshine around this complex 4.67km circuit.
Fujii opened the proceedings for the team, yet he had to spend his entire opening stint chasing the #101 third placed starting Audi to hold a comfortable P2 at the top of the first hour. Hoshino was aboard next who took the car towards the halfway mark to the race but their post stop outlap was slowed by being the wrong side of a Safety Car for a car in the barrier.
From that point on, it was impossible for the #777 crew to make further inroads into the gap to their ST-X class rivals ahead where they ultimately finished fourth overall just under a lap down to the top three finishes.
Next stop for the team will be back in the Super GT Series from their home track of Fuji Speedway next weekend.
Photo credits – Team
Sunday, July 27, 2025 |
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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 |
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D'Station Racing dominate in Super Taikyu this weekend
Having elected to just co-partner their Porsche ST-1 class entry at the most recent Fuji 24hr race, it was business as usual again this weekend as Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura concentrated upon their own #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3, leaving their #47 team mates to their own devices this time around.
The weekend started well for the #777 crew as earlier fast Free Practice times were replicated into an overall Pole position ahead of Sundays race.
Again running their series specific red livery, the car quickly established a controlling race lead ahead of their two ST-X class rivals as the race got underway around a dry Sugo circuit.
Just a couple of brief interruptions for cars stopping on track interrupted the flow as both the #777 Aston Martin came home to claim their first Super Taikyu Series race win of the season with its #47 crew also taking another class win for themselves.
The series will now move onto Autopolis at the end of the month.
Photo credit – Team
Sunday, July 06, 2025 |
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The red D'Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 due back within the Super Taikyu Series this weekend
The red D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 should be back on track at the weekend as the second tier Japanese GT series gets back underway at Sugo after their last twenty-four round from Fuji Speedway.
At the twenty-four hour, it was decided to amalgamate their respective driving forces within their #47 ST-1 Porsche 992 entry for which that earned the team an overall P4 finish – first in class for their efforts.
This week, the respective driver crews return to their specific #777 and #47 entries with team owner Satoshi Hoshino again partnering team manager Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura.
As a result of preferences made for their home track Fuji 24, the class position of the #777 car has now slipped to fifth in class with now a 59-point margin to the present ST-X class leader.
It will also be back-to-back race weekends for some parts of the D’Station Racing team having just competed within the Super GT’s sole fly away round of that championship over in Sepang, Malaysia last weekend where both Fujii and Charlie Fagg were at the wheel of that #777 AMR there.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Sunday, June 29, 2025 |
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D'Station Racing park the Aston for the Super Taikyu 24 Hours from Fuji
Having stepped back somewhat from international based series to concentrate upon their domestic Super GT and Super Taikyu Series endeavours, the team will be competing within this weekend’s series flagship event at the 24Hours of Fuji with a six-driver line up within their #47 Porsche.
The earlier two rounds of the series from both Motegi and Suzuka saw the #777 AMR powered trio of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fuji and Yuta Kamimura finish a distant fourth at the opening round before finishing third overall next time out, so to give way from the top ST-X class of the Aston Martin to the two-car entry of the ST-1is something of an ‘eyebrow’ raiser!!
Photo credits – Team / Series
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 |
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Back to Super GT for the D'Station Racing team but with another AMR soon upon the horizon
Racing at their home track of Fuji Speedway sees the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg return to the track together after another eventful opening round to the season at Okayama just three weeks ago where the pair failed to capitalise upon a P2 in class qualifying position to eventually finish P24 within GT300 after that event.
With the team taking momentum gained from a great podium winning return to their Super Taikyu Series commitments just last weekend at Suzuka, the team will be hoping that repeated experience within both drivers of the circuit will hold them in good stead for this three-hour race on Sunday and with series enforced tweaks to the old balance of performance subject – who knows!!
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 |
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Two more AMR powered teams round off last weekends events with more podium finishes between them
For the D’Station Racing AMR team, it was the second round of the Japanese domestic GT series from Suzuka where their #777 Vantage GT3 Evo crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura were again on hand to do battle within their six strong STX class for last weekend’s five-hour race.
The crew were eager to improve upon the misfortunes of the opening round from Motegi were a Qualifying session crash saw the team placed onto the back foot to repair the car in time for the race only to see the multi-tonal Aston Martin recover to fourth in class at the end.
This time around, things were better as the #777 crew qualified upon the front row in P2 for Sundays race and were able to claim a podium P3 result at the end.
Next up for the team will be the second test at their home circuit Fuji Speedway at the beginning of next month in preparation to the 24hour event at the circuit at the beginning of June.
Leaving the best till last, last weekend we also saw the British GT Championship again run their second round Blue Ribband event from the home of British motor racing at Silverstone with their customary three-hour battle around the full Grand Prix circuit.
Just three weeks since the opening round of the season from Donington Park, we also saw the Blackthorn AMR, Beechdean AMR and MKLH Racing Aston Martins joined by a fourth car as an invitational entry for this round which helped swell the grid from that of the season opener.
Both the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood and the #50 MKH Racing Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall enjoyed class success last time out with a Silver-Am win for the #97 and a P2 in Endurance Cup Pro-Am for the MKH racers. The #7 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 of Giacoma Petrobelli and Jonny Adam however, endured self-inflicted hardship last time out after heavy front-end contact for the Italian cost their opening bout in damage and drive through penalties to end their day with a lowly P9 Pro-Am class finish.
Fortunate enough to say that all full season entries were on point during Qualifying, making full use of the earlier Media Day track running with the new Pirelli control tyre to place themselves no worse than third in class for the start of Sundays race. The additional #19 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 entry of Claude Bovet and Charlie Bateman completing their qualifying run with an aggregated P6 in class result.
Fortunate enough to say that all full season entries were on point during Qualifying, making full use of the earlier Media Day track running with the new Pirelli control tyre to place themselves no worse than third in class for the start of Sundays race. The additional #19 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 entry of Claude Bovet and Charlie Bateman completing their qualifying run with an aggregated P6 in class result.
With air and track temperatures now much warming than before, the race go underway under mainly clear blue skies and sunshine but the busyness of the track and the slight performance margins between all crews meant that contact was inevitable at some point.
Indeed, Howard was one of the first drivers to suffer the consequence of that as he was given an additional ten seconds at his next stop for causing a collision but at least at that stage, there was still time to make amends. Fortunately, Petrobelli was also more conservative with his passing manoeuvres this time about as the crews cycled through their pit stop/driver sequences within their maximum drive time allowances.
At the end, both the #97 and #50 AMR’s continued their podium run in class with a P2 finish to impress their new sponsors this time around for the #97 car with the #50 also finish one step down the ladder this time in P3. It was also a better day for the two Blackthorn AMR’s as the #7 crew finally got some significant championship points under their belts with a P4 Pro-Am finish with the guesting #19 car also finishing P3 in class too (although a non-points scoring entry).
Next up are the first of the sprint rounds with Oulton Park stepping up first for their two, hour long races at the end of May where we also expect the MKH Racing crew step aside leaving just the #7 and #97 Vantage GT3’s to cheer.
Photo credits – Team / Jacob Ebrey / social media
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 |
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D'Station Racings AMR Vantage GT3 within the Super Taikyu Series rounds off this weekends AMR powered participation
Round two of the season from Suzuka and this time it’s a five-hour affair for the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 Evo of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura within their ST-X classed machine now of course racing its bright red livery.
Not that was always the case at the opening round to the season from Motegi after an early session off for the lead to the aesthetically bizarre sight of the car running in a mix of its new red and more traditional green livery colours for the race.
Although at the time, the #777 was unable to make the qualifying sessions whilst repairs were being undertaken, the crew did come back from the back of the grid to secure an overall and class P4 finish at the end of that four-hour race.
Hopefully, they will have more luck this time around.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Thursday, April 24, 2025 |
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A multi-tonal D'Station AMR completes opening round of their Super Taikyu Series return
Returning to the second tier of domestic GT racing in Japan with one of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo’s, the #777 Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and (substitute driver) Yuta Kamimura had intended to start the year with an all-new red livery however, an incident during Qualifying saw the need for need panels which were of the more familiar green colour scheme.
That incident saw the A+B drivers within the car (Hoshino and Fujii) unable to complete the required session.
With the team having to spend much of the time after qualifying conducting the necessary repairs, the #777 was at least able to take part within the four-hour season opener from Motegi where they eventually claimed P3 within the ST-X class – albeit four laps down to their peers.
With the team having to spend much of the time after qualifying conducting the necessary repairs, the #777 was at least able to take part within the four-hour season opener from Motegi where they eventually claimed P3 within the ST-X class – albeit four laps down to their peers.
The next round of the series will be from Suzuka at the end of the April.
We think that this ad-hoc livery design is somewhat pleasing to the eye!!
Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Sunday, March 23, 2025 |
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When red is the new green for the D'Station Racing AMR team
Having already completed the official test weekend at the circuit back in early March, the D’Station Racing team are back at Motegi for the season’s opening four-hour race with one of the new AMR Vantage GT3 Evo’s.
Sporting a very familiar driver line up of both team owner Satoshi Hoshino and team manager Tomonobu Fujii, the pair with this time be joined by third driver Yuta Kamimura for their five strong ST-X class battle as the team step back to the more domestic home roots having competed upon the word stage for the last few years in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Another sixty strong mixed class grid will be at the circuit this weekend however, the fastest and the slowest cars classes will be split again into two individual races – on the grounds of safety if nothing else.
Another sixty strong mixed class grid will be at the circuit this weekend however, the fastest and the slowest cars classes will be split again into two individual races – on the grounds of safety if nothing else.
The team do run with a second car within the ST-1 class but their previous AMR Vantage GT8R machine has now been replaced by a Porsche 992 platform to again battle with the all dominant KTM X-Bow from the KS frontier team.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Thursday, March 20, 2025 |
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Final official test for D'Station Racing ahead of a Super GT start at Okayama
Having tested solo before with Tomonobu Fujii behind the wheel of their #777 AMR Vantage GT3 Evo, this weekend’s two-day test also sees co-driver Charlie Fagg behind the wheel for the first time this season as the young Brit looks forward to a full season within the topflight Japanese series having stepped in with great effect after the opening couple of rounds last season.
The team also showed off their revised anniversary livery to celebrate the 30th anniversary of team boss’s Satoshi Hoshino’s Nexus Group of companies although the familiar green is still there to be seen.
The team has already been busy pre-season testing ahead of a busy 2025 as they embark upon GT3 participation within Super GT, Super Taikyu and GT world Challenge Asia Series with varying driver line ups.
After the four available sessions this weekend, the opening round of the season will be from Okayama later in April.
Photo credits - Team
Friday, March 14, 2025 |
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Weekend round up and an unexpected podium celebration
Racing as the sole AMR representative this time around within the two forty-five-minute races (both held on Saturday this time) saw the venerable American racer take third place within the Bronze Cup sub-class within his main GSX class in race one.
DePew and his team will now move onto Sebring for the next round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series there in two weeks’ time.
Also, within the USA at Barber to be exact, the #168 Team Speed Syndicate team were also back in action within the World Racing League Series and their demanding 8 + 7 Hour race weekend format.
With detail always hard to come by, it appears that an early DNF within Saturday’s opener sidelined the Airbnb liveried AMR Vantage GT4 before coming back on Sunday with an overall P12 finish within their GTO class.
Jason Bell and Michael Cooper were also out testing for the first time with their Racers Edge prepared AMR Vantage GT3 Evo that they will compete in within this seasons GT World Challenge America Series that starts soon at Sonoma.
Finally, and away from any pressures of a race weekend, we had a coupler of AMR powered teams out testing ahead of the start to their 2025 commitments. In the UK, the MKH Racing team were out at Silverstone with their Vantage GT4 Evo that drivers Peter Montague and Stuart Hall will run this season within the (new for 2025) Endurance Cup.
The team presently remains the sole AMR confirmed entry and with Media Day fast approaching at the end of the month – we hope it doesn’t stay that way!!
Then finally in Japan, the D’Station Racing team were out at the Super Taikyu Series official test weekend at Motegi with their Vantage GT3 Evo.
Recently confirmed as competing within this series as well as the Super GT Series again, drivers (and bosses) Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii were again on hand alongside guest driver Yuta Uemura who was deputising for an absent Charlie Fagg within the #777 car.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Monday, March 03, 2025 |
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Back to familiar grounds for a new look D'Station Racing Vantage STX classed Vantage GT3
With their previous World Endurance Championship efforts taking both time and resources from other endeavours, the team had to step away from the second tier, multi-classed series in 2024 having ran both a Vantage GT3 and Vantage GT8R the year before.
Although last night’s announcement is for two cars, only one will be an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for a realignment of their 2022 WEC campaign with Charlie Fagg joining the usual Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii within the #777 car whilst their previous GT8R runners will now be within a Porsche having sampled the Vantage GT3 within a couple of rounds of last season’s GT world Challenge Asia Japan Cup.
This season’s seven round season starts at the end of March and runs through to mid-November.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Monday, February 17, 2025 |
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Two new Aston Martin Vantage GT3s go again at this weekends second round of the GT World Challenge Asia
Having started out in Malaysia in mid-April, the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 and again the first of two such cars competing under the AMR banner as the #8 Earl Bamber Racing supported car is again also present.
The opening rounds at Chang International were difficult affairs for the #777 Pro-Am entry of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii as well as the #8 Am class car of Setiawan Santosa with a P4 in class the pick of the bunch in the opening hour-long race for the #777.
Not racing this year in either their domestic Super Taikyu or Super GT Series, these rounds of the only race mileage that Hoshino will be getting ahead of him taking a place within the teams #777 LMGT3 car at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour.
This weekend will again see two-hour long races.
Photo credits – Team / social media / Series
Wednesday, May 08, 2024 |
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