Team Brit join forces with Skip Barber at VIR this weekend
Aaron Morgan, known within the UK as being a disabled young man who turned his hand motor racing with the Team Brit racing outfit to run within the British GT Championship and their AMR Vantage GT4 back was one of the racers within the #249 entry for the six hour race on Saturday.
Early sustained damage unfortunately delayed the #249 car but despite that, they still claimed third in class overall for their efforts at the end. As always – success in measured in many way!
Photo credits – USAC / social media
Saturday, November 08, 2025 |
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Four Astons due for penultimate round of the British Endurance Championship at Donington Park
Four Aston Martin’s of various iterations feature on the provisional entry list for up to thirty-seven cars ahead of this weekend’s penultimate round of the British Endurance Championship.
Racing again at Donnington Park on Saturday, we see the season regular entries of the #6 Aston Martin Vulcan from Venture Innovations for drivers Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins, the #68 Team Brit normally aspirated AMR Vantage GT4 for Andrew Tucker and replacement driver Chris Overend (taking over from Luke Pound) as well as the newer turbo charged Vantage GT4 from the T7 Motorsport team for drivers Peter Montague and Stuart Hall.
Whilst three cars have been listed throughout the season, both the #6 and #50 cars have skipped at least a round due to driver availability.
We also see a second AMR entered by the Venture Innovations team for their driver Neville Jones and team driver coach Matt George aboard their #21 numbered car.
Results from the previous rounds sees the #50 presently laying fourth overall, just six points behind the Championship leading Class C Ferrari with two races of the season remaining.
Again featuring the Championship’s single day event regime, this Saturday’s two hour race begins at 15:00hrs and should be streamed live via the Championship’s social media pages.
Photo credits – Stephen Jackman
Monday, August 15, 2022 |
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R-Racings AMR touch of magic brings home another GT4 Class win at Spa Francorchamps
With thirty cars scheduled to start this mid-season round of the 2022 Championship, various technical issues and personal sickness side-lined two cars overnight whilst a third car crash on its way to the grid but fortunately, the #23 R-Racing AMR of Josh Miller were still there P3 on the grid with Matt Topham’s #27 Newbridge car in P8 ready for this afternoon’s start.
Scheduled for another two-hour affair around the 4.3mile circuit, Miller held his nerve for his first GT racing start at the Spa circuit to hold onto P3 going into La Source for the first time and then to move up to P2 as the pole setting Ford Mustang dropped back.
Chasing their GT4 class pole setting Toyota, Miller would soon drop back to P3 behind the #42 Stellar Audi whilst Topham struggled with confidence if nothing else (having had a crash into the wall at the start of FP2 yesterday) to maintain his P8 starting position at the head of the three Pro-Am entered cars at the rear of the pack.
Just after twenty minutes, a Safety Car for a stricken GT3 halfway up Raidillon gave the drivers some rest bite from the high ambient temperatures during the twelve minutes that that accident took to clear and at the restart, Miller was again on the ball enough to keep the fast Mustang behind him as he quickly built up a three second margin between them going into the pit stop window.
Topham was unsurprisingly one of the first to stop to hand over the #27 car to Darren Turner from P8 but that was after he had had to serve an additional 10 seconds of success penalty time thanks to their podium finish last time out at Snetterton.
On the hour mark, the #23 car would pit from second in class but being a Silver Cup car, they also had an additional 26 seconds of stop time to count down but then, so did their immediate rivals with the race. As Jamie Day exited pit lane, he retained the cars P2 position relative to the Toyota ahead, but Turner was soon moving up the order up to sixth in class and behind their Pro-Am Championship rivals from Team Brit.
For the next three quarters of an hour, that #68 Team Brit McLaren was the widest car on the grid as ex-AMR Vantage GT4 Britcar racer Bobby Trundley raced the race of his life against the multiple Le Mans winner to stay ahead both on track and within their class.
On the hour mark, the #23 car would pit from second in class but being a Silver Cup car, they also had an additional 26 seconds of stop time to count down but then, so did their immediate rivals with the race. As Jamie Day exited pit lane, he retained the cars P2 position relative to the Toyota ahead, but Turner was soon moving up the order up to sixth in class and behind their Pro-Am Championship rivals from Team Brit.
For the next three quarters of an hour, that #68 Team Brit McLaren was the widest car on the grid as ex-AMR Vantage GT4 Britcar racer Bobby Trundley raced the race of his life against the multiple Le Mans winner to stay ahead both on track and within their class.
A break came for the #27 Newbridge crew as well as the #23 R-Racing car have just passed Day for position, as the #42 Stellar Audi was given a ten second stop and hold for their incorrectly timed pit stop. That dropped the Audi back both on track and behind the #27 car and let the #23 car reassume its P2 race position.
Eventually forcing the error from the Toyota, Day was able to take the GT4 race lead with still half an hour remaining – a position that they would never look back from as the Norfolk team and their young dup of drivers went on to secure their second race win of their inaugural GT4 season after that of Snetterton last time out.
For the Newbridge team, their race wasn’t quite over as having caught the Toyota on the final lap, they were also caught by the #42 Stellar Audi which eventually passed both for position making for a P6 overall and P3 finish in Pro-Am for the #27 crew.
With the results of Spa Francorchamps already under appeal by at least two GT3 teams after their Qualifying penalties, this race result will remain provisional as a matter of course but as those appeals do not affect any of the GT4 runners, we believe that the #27 should retain its overall GT4 Class lead going into the next round of the Championship at Brands Hatch in September.
For R-Racing, they have proved that Snetterton wasn’t a ‘get lucky’ opportunity as they have brought home a class win at the most challenging circuit that they will visit this year. Today’s result will close in their points margins to the Newbridge, Stellar, Century and Academy drivers ahead of them in the Champiosnhip.
Photo credits – Teams / Jacob Ebrey
Sunday, July 24, 2022 |
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Another tough one for two Aston Martin runners at BECs visit to Snetterton
Yesterday’s third round of the British Endurance Championship from Snetterton proved itself to be something of a ‘character building’ affair for two Aston Martin teams, although one would still come out on top by the end of that three-hour race.
Going into this weekend at the head of Championship table, the #68 Team Brit crew of Andy Tucker and Luke Pound had high hopes after their consistency in results from the previous rounds at both Oulton Park and Silverstone.
Having qualified towards the rear of both the combined grid and their respective class for yesterday’s race, the older normally aspirated generation of the AMR Vantage GT4 unfortunately didn’t make it beyond the forty-minute mark as Tucker was forced to stop the car on the infield with engine smoke billowing from under the bonnet.
Just prior to that incident, the #6 Aston Martin Vulcan of Stephen Tomkins had also been off track and possibly into the barrier as the car was seen to return to pit lane with tyre smoke billowing from the rear quarter.
Despite dropping track position for those repairs, the #6 car was able to recover some of those places lost before the team was adjudged to have refuelled the car under the Safety Car (something that is not allowed) and was awarded a one-minute stop and hold penalty.
Unfortunately for them and Matt George who was at the wheel at the time, a gear box issue forced the car to pit again and eventually retire from the day’s proceedings. Maybe the earlier contact had had an effect on the cars gearbox for George to lose forth gear?
That left the #50 T7 Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and a deputising Dan Brown for the Monaco Historic Grand Prix busy Stuart Hall.
Having this time not qualified on class pole (P3 this time) it was again Gentleman driver Montague who started the race off with his turbo charged variant of the Vantage GT4 where he and former British GT racer Brown worked their way up to eventually claim P2 in class by the end of the race.
The next round of the Championship is again back at Silverstone, this time in mid-June.
Photo credits - BEC / S Jackman
Sunday, May 15, 2022 |
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Three Astons for third round of BEC at Snetterton tomorrow
Already hitting their third round of six for the season, this weekend’s visit to Snetterton comes off the back of previous rounds at both Silverstone and Oulton Park and again comprises of (this time) of just three Aston Martins from the Venture Innovations, T7 Motorsport and Team Brit teams.
Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins return after a difficult and bruising round (for the car) at Oulton Park where the nature of the circuit and weather conditions on the day simply prevented them from delivering all of the power that their Aston Martin Vulcan has to offer whereas the AMR Vantage GT4 power from the T7 and Team Brit crews allowed the former to Qualify on class pole position whilst the latter went on to secure a class podium by the end.
No Stuart Hall within the #50 T7 Motorsport AMR this time as Dan Brown pairs up this time with Gentleman driver Peter Montague whilst Hall enjoys the benefits of the Monaco Historic GP meeting this weekend.
Luke Pound and Andrew Tucker again pair up in their specially adapted normally aspirated version of the AMR Vantage GT4 for tomorrow’s three-hour race as the #68 car presently lead the handicapped Championship table by just one point after the two rounds so far but with the top 10 crews (including both the #6 Vulcan and #50 car within ten points of them.
Photo credits - Teams / Eat my Pixels
Friday, May 13, 2022 |
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Team Brit come out on top again after second round of the British Endurance Championship from Oulton Park
Unlike the opening round of the new for 2022 season at Silverstone, the twists and turns of the MSV circuit were to prove expectedly difficult for the #6 Venture Innovations Aston Martin Vulcan of Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins. In contrast, the three more nimbler Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s of the Team Brit and T7 Motorsport were to be the favoured cars from the marque by the end of this two-hour race.
Losing time due to an earlier incident within the BEC, it was to be a delayed start to the race with the Vulcan still having Qualified in P2 overall and with the #50 T7 Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall claiming pole position in their Class D car. The last time class winning Team Brit AMR Vantage GT4 of Luke Pound and Andy Tucker claimed P5 in class just ahead of their team’s sister car, that of Mark and Dale Albutt in their #33 Aston.
At the start, Stepanov lost places hand over fist as he gave those chasing him a wide berth around the opening corners – rightly protecting his multi-million-pound car against the ravishes of panel damage for only slight gains on track.
Luke pound also soon removed the class lead from Montague in his #50 car and set about extending his lead with Albutt Snr doing likewise soon after.
With this time two compulsory pit stop and driver changes required, Montague elected to get one of these over with early swapping over to his ex-AMR factory co-driver to lead the chase during the middle stint of the race.
At the halfway stage, the #6 Vulcan was suffering from technical issues after an earlier off-track excursion for Tomkins and that would put paid to their efforts for the remainder of the race as the orange Vulcan would eventually finish down in P12 overall but still P3 in class.
Unlike the 1-2 of Silverstone for the #68 and #50 Vantage GT4’s, the Team Brit crew would be unable to hang onto their class lead during the final stages of the race to ultimately finish P9 overall and P2 in class. Whilst the #50 car would finish just ahead of the Albutt car in P4 in class, the father/son combo aboard the #33 would this time have a much better race to end their day in P5 in class.
The next round will be at Snetterton in just over five weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Steve Jackman (Eat my Pixels)
Sunday, April 03, 2022 |
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Aston Martin runners looking for some more of the same as the British Endurance Championship resumes at Oulton Park
This Saturday sees the second round of the new for 2022 British Endurance Championship takes place from Oulton Park after a rather success opening round of the season for the Aston Martin runners down at Silverstone three weeks ago.
Last time out around the full Grand Prix circuit of Silverstone, it was a podium success for all but one of the Aston Martin runners as Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins secured top honours with a second placed finish overall in their #6 Aston Martin Vulcan whilst a post-race time penalty affected the results for two of the three AMR Vantage GT4 runners with Team Brit’s #68 car of Andrew Tucker and Luke Pound stealing the class win from #50 car of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall who had crossed the line ahead of them during the race.
Looking to make amends for their early error at Silverstone however will be the Team Brit prepared AMR Vantage of Dale and Mark Albutt who after taking avoiding action on lap 2, spun and then being stuck on the wet grass along the Wellington Straight which put them laps down by the time that they were able to resume.
Silverstone to Oulton Park – two wholly different circuits of course which will probably hinder the characteristics of the AM Vulcan with Stepanov telling us that his Vulcan had been reduced in weight over the winter and is pretty close to the performance of another GT3 anyway (although it doesn’t run to any true homologation) with it now running on 18” wheels as well but with its V12 engine all powerful along a straight, it was the corner exit speed that would be the determining factor for them at Oulton Park.
Like the handicap system that the Britcar Series work to and from where the BEC originated in form, the last result has the #68 Team Brit placed in P4 overall and Montague/Halls T7 Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 in P6 going into Saturday’s three-hour race.
Photo credits – Steve Jackman
Thursday, March 31, 2022 |
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Triple Aston Martin podium at opening round of new British endurance Championship
The #6 Venture Innovation Aston Martin Vulcan of Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tompkins was the highest of the four after Qualifying, finishing P3 overall and P1 in it’s a Class ahead of an early Saturday afternoon start.
The T7 Motorsport Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall also fared well during the earlier 30-minute session finishing up P15 overall/P1 in its class with the #33 Infinity Racing with Team Brit AMR of Dale and Mark Albutt not too far behind in P22/P3. GT race debutants Luke Pound and Andy Tucker completed the quartet bringing home their Team Brit Vantage GT4 P23/P4 ahead of the race.
Fortunately avoiding the scattered rain showers that affected their test day at the circuit on Friday, Saturdays opening round would be run on a dry track but with still a stiff breeze blowing across the former wartime airfield circuit.
With Stepanov taking the start within his now brightly coloured AM Vulcan, he would briefly take the lead of the race overall after a calculated move down the inside into Stowe on the opening lap but by the end of that lap, but he would have to settle for P2 overall for the remainder of his stint. Come the chequered flag, Tomkins will have driven a stellar two-hour race to recover back from P8 overall after their first stop to eventually finish P2 overall and in class but a full lap down to the eventual winners.
The #33 AMR of Mark and Dale Albutt would however have a torrid start to the race with Albutt Snr spinning out coming onto the Wellington Straight on only the second lap, bringing out the Safety Car in the process but fortunately being able to continue apparently further unaffected for the remainder of the race. They would finish the race P5 in class albeit six laps down to their stablemates ahead.
The old and new versions of the AMR Vantage GT4 of T7 Motorsport and Team Brit would have a fantastic battle together, jockeying for position relative to one another as the driver stops and mandatory pit stops cycled through.
Despite the age differences between cars as well the physical abilities of the drivers behind the wheel, the Team Brit Aston of Andy Tucker was able to keep former AMR works driver Stuart Hall ‘honest’ and firmly stuck behind him before Hall’s ultimate ability eventually allowed him passed, building a large gap until the chequered flag.
Unfortunately for the #50 T7 Motorsport team however, two pit lane speed limit transgressions gave them a 42 second post-race penalty and with only 39 seconds between the #50 and the #68 Team Brit car behind at the flag – that gave the class win to the #68 car at the first time of asking with the #50 car crew graciously accepting a race defeat with a P2 finish instead.
The next round of the Championship is at Oulton Park on April 2nd.
Photo credits – BEC / Steve Jackman
Sunday, March 13, 2022 |
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The British Endurance Championship kicks off its new season at Silverstone tomorrow
Ran by the same team behind the more familiar named Britcar Championship, the new BEC Championship will host a six-round calendar for their multi-class grid which this weekend comprises of a thirty-two car field spread across six classes and range (as far as we are concerned) from an older, normally aspirated Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to an Aston Martin Vulcan.
Four Aston Martins have been confirmed for the Silverstone round with the Venture Innovations AM Vulcan of Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins headlining in Class A whilst T7 Motorsport debut their new AMR Vantage GT4 in Class D for drivers Peter Montague and Stuart Hall.
Team Brit return for another year with a redressed GT4 for their new driver pairing of Andrew Tucker and Luke Pond within their #68 car and also with series returnees Mark and Dale Albutt aboard their Team Brit prepared #33 Vantage GT4.
After testing today, the new Championship will have a further Free Practice and Qualifying session tomorrow morning ahead of a three-hour race in the afternoon.
Photo credits – Steve Jackman (Eat my Pixels)
Friday, March 11, 2022 |
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The new British Endurance Championship hold their Official Test Day at Silverstone
Morphing from the Britcar Endurance Championship of old (and which will still operate this season) after its recently acquired Motorsport UK sanctioned status of a national series, the BEC will host a six-round season in its debut year, starting at Silverstone in mid-March and ending at Donington in late October.
Returning to the Championship (on what we believe to be on a full season basis this time) is Gleb Stepanov and his Venture prepared Aston Martin Vulcan that he, co-driver Stephen Tomkins and we believe third driver Matt George will drive.
Indeed, George was present yesterday testing the car at Silverstone ahead of a quick winter test in Spain/Portugal before the start of the new season.
Joining the biggest road car-based race car Aston Martin have recently made was also the smallest as T7 Motorsport again rolled out their new for 2022 AMR Vantage GT4 that AMOC Racing veteran Peter Montague will race alongside Stuart Hall and Dan Brown at some point in the year.
Also listed as joining the new Championship is Team Brit team who will field a different pair of drivers in their older iteration AMR Vantage GT4 with drivers Andrew Tucker and Luke Pound this time behind the wheel after Aaron Morgan and Bobby Trundley progress up to the British GT Championship in their new McLaren 570s.
They of course may be joined by other AMR powered teams ahead of the opening round on March 12th.
Photo credits – Steve Jackman
Sunday, February 13, 2022 |
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Team Brit AMR sign off their Britcar endurance campaign with another podium
Team Brit finished off their 2021 Britcar Endurance Championship in style at the weekend by claiming one final podium of the year by the end of Saturday’s final race of the season at Donington Park.
Eventually finishing third in race two, that and their P6 in class from race 1 left the #68 crew of Aaron Morgan and Bobby Trundley fourth overall in the Endurance Championship and third in class. They could rightly look back onto a season of ‘what might have been’ for the normally aspirated Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 crew after those races where they either finish upon the podium or they didn’t really finish at all as they missed the E4 Class title by just nine points.
They were joined at Donington by both the part time Britcar entry from the Triple M Automotive team and their AMR Vantage GT4 for Dale and Mark Albutt who concluded their season with an improving P8 and P6 in class over the final day of racing.
Gleb Stepanov’s Aston Martin Vulcan was also in attendance with the series again although they were not a quick as we would have thought they would have been as he and co-driver Stephen Tomkins only achieved P7 and P11 finishes around the full Grand Prix circuit to see out the Championship for another year.
Photo credit – Steve Jackman
Monday, October 25, 2021 |
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Three Aston Martin's including a Vulcan at Britcar finale from Donington Park
Like so many other series that we have already spoken about in recent weeks, the Britcar Endurance Championship is just another one coming to its seasonal conclusion this weekend, this time from Donington Park with another multi-class grid including three Aston Martins.
Season long contenders from the Team Brit Team make their final appearance of the year after issues at recent rounds sadly saw out any overall Championship contention possibility that drivers Aaron Morgan / Bobby Trundley may have had with their Vantage GT4. Their P9 overall Championship position is a remarkable achievement in any situation but with two races still outstanding this weekend, there may still be some improvement upon that position as well.
Joining then in their Class 4 grid will be the Dale and Mark Albutt AMR Vantage GT4 from the Triple M Automotive team. Unfortunately for these guys, they haven’t been able to commit to a full season of Britcar racing this season, so we expect them to finish on something of a high after Saturday’s final one hour race.
Also making another guest appearance in the Championship is the Gleb Stepanov and Stephen Tomkins Aston Martin Vulcan. Raced in the series several times before over the years with various teams, the Class 1 Invitational car will be expected to win the race on outright pace but presumably only is the track conditions allow them the throw this high value car around like a race car!!
Photo credits – Britcar / Teams / Stephen Jackman
Thursday, October 21, 2021 |
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Words of note from this weekend and last
Just a few words of note from last weekend’s event and what should have been happening elsewhere this weekend coming.
The Britcar Endurance Championship were at Brands Hatch last weekend for the latest races for their Endurance and Praga Cup class. That meeting on Saturday was of course abandoned after the serious accident that occurred during a support race - an incident that cost the life of a race marshal at a post on the outside of the circuit going into Paddock Hill Bend.
Recently named by colleagues as Robert Foote, racing driver Alice Powell has kindly set up a “Just Giving’ page to help those left behind after this terrible accident. A link to that account can be found here:-
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/forourmarshal?utm_term=dzB6rMYVq
Also, another event that should be taking place this weekend has already been postponed allowing the circuit to carry on with its humanitarian efforts in southern Germany after the recent catastrophic floods in the region a couple of weeks ago that saw an ever-increasing loss of life.
Those efforts mean that the scheduled ADAC GT4 Germany round from the Nurburgring this weekend will be delayed until a future date to be confirmed. Donations towards these efforts can be made via the links that @frozenspeed (local motorsport photographer) has posted on his Twitter account as well as other fund raising opportunities.
Photo credits – Britcar / GT4 Germany
Monday, August 02, 2021 |
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An untimely reminder of the dangers of motor racing
However, it sadly transpires that during one of this afternoon’s races, a serious incident took place at Paddock Hill Bend during one of the support races when a race car left the racetrack and impacted with manned circuit infrastructure.
We don’t know the circumstances of the incident, nor the existent of the injuries received but the race meeting was abandoned as a result this and the extent of barrier damage as well.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those involved as well as the friends and family of those involved.
Like always, there would not be any racing if it wasn’t for the unselfish actions of the men and women of the many race marshalling clubs of the world, each volunteering their time for the safety and benefit of others.
Photo credit - BMMC
Saturday, July 31, 2021 |
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