After what became yet another good year of motorsport for Aston Martin Racing Partner and Customer racing teams that we finally leave 2021 with sad news as reports overnight from America informed us of the untimely passing of Vantage GT4 gentleman racer, Paul Terry.

Coming to our attention only last year when he ran a Rearden Racing prepared AMR Vantage GT4 for the first time in the GT4 America Series, his somewhat Nicki Thiim ‘esq racing mantra of “go hard or go home” certainly brought a smile to our faces as he won some and lost others along the way.

Sundays third and final day of the fourth round and third triple header weekend of the GT4 America Series at Road America proved itself to be another display of driver domination from Flying Lizards Gentleman driver Michael Dinan over the events three races in both Sprint and Sprint X.

Having already secured three class podium finishes out the four races so far, Sunday would see Dinan extend his 2020 trophy haul with another two class wins over the day as Dinan literally raced with the class of driver above his own all weekend. Indeed, Road America proved itself to be another fine display from all the Aston Martin Racing teams over both series of racing as Rearden Racing, Bsport Racing and Rennsport One all enjoyed multiple visits to the socially distanced podium.


Road American even became the first event since the opening round of the Series at the Circuit of The Americas to enjoy the company of race fans over the weekend although not many probably enjoyed the torrential rain of Friday. Their patience was ultimately rewarded with clear skies and sunshine for the remainder of the race programme so hopefully all came away with smiles on their faces.

With Sprint X being the first race of Sunday, Dinan would again be the front AMR car on the grid starting from P4 on the grid with the #15 BSport AMR of Bryan Putt in P10 and the #33 Rennsport One of Matt Dalton in P17. This race also saw the return of the Rearden Racing #91 car of Jeff Burton and Vesko Kosarov after engine issues early on Friday saw that car not compete in either of the two opening races.


Despite an initial clean start the race soon came under the control of the Safety Car as car cars tangled  into the concrete wall with another car having its bonnet lift and obscure its windscreen. Fortunately that was just a quick FCY and soon the remaining twenty cars were on their way.

Having missed all racing since Race 1 of Sprint and his accident, Burton was the one making quick progress through the field as having started from last on the grid he was soon snapping at the heals of Putt and Dalton in P10 whilst Dinan was way out front in the Pro-Am class (P3 overall) and chasing after the Silver Cup race leader and the Pro-Am Porsche ahead.


With all four AMR cars electing to pit for their respective Pro drivers as soon as the pit window would allow, as Kozarov (#91), Gallagher (#33) and Koch (#15) exited pit lane almost line astern and that would lead up to a great battle between them to the flag.

Buoyed by there earlier two podium finishes, AMR Academy Driver Kenton Koch managed to pass both the Rearden and Rennsport One car for position and after one more overtake found himself upon what would be the final step of the Pro-Am podium early on into his 30 minute stint.


With little over ten minutes remaining, Dinan passed the #47 Nolan Porsche to take both P2 overall and the lead in Pro-Am as both Gallagher and Kozarov continued battle for P8 overall. By the chequered flag, Dinan and Foley continued to secure P2 overall and P1 in class with the #15 BSPort holding on to their third podium in P5 overall and another P3 finish in class.


The efforts of Rearden Racing to sort the engine issue of the #91 out was rewarded with the cars P6 finish in class whilst the red, white and black Rennsport car finished just ahead in P5.

The final race of the GT4 America programme was the third Sprint race - another event so far dominated by the #210 Flying Lizard Vantage with Dinan having secured two wins out of two so far.


With fastest laps per class again deciding the starting order for the final race it came as no surprise that the #210 car would again start as the lead Aston from P4 overall and P1 in the Am Class. Paul Terry's #59 Rearden car would be close behind in P5/P2 whilst his team mate Jeff Burton would also return to for this final race of the day aboard his #91 car. The #191 that he usually races in this class was obviously too badly damaged to repair at the circuit following his Race 1 accident but at least it was good to have him back on the grid.


As with all the races so far, Dinan again made his move right from the start temporally stepping up to P3 overall before leaving the door open for that car to repass him going through the opening sequence of corners and whilst Terry dropped two early places, his team mate Burton picked up tow early places as he again had to start from the rear of the grid.

With three Pro cars ahead, Dinan soon realised that he didn't need to pass any of the cars infront as long as he could keep up with them and they were faster than the chasing Am pack and soon that gap elongated itself to nearly ten seconds.


In their efforts to close that gap, both Terry and Burton started to make mistakes and errors of judgement as first Burton went wide and ragged through Turn 6 and Terry locked up heavily a few corners later.

With nobody able to close down the gaps to the cars ahead, Dinan would go onto secure another class win with his P4 overall finish as Terry would collect another podium finish for his weekend in P6 overall - P3 in class with team mate not too far behind in P7 overall - P4 in class. Hopefully that went to brighten up and otherwise expensive weekend for the lumber merchant!!


As the Series moves back to CoTA for the penultimate event of the season in little over three weeks time, the results from Road America still leave both Sprint and Sprint X as achievable targets for others should Dinan's excellent roll of race results come to a sudden end. Terry remains Dinan's nearest threat in Sprint bing just 40 points behind whilst in Sprint X Dinan/Foley remain 22 points behind Matt Travis and Jason Hart in Pro-Am.


So there is still all to play for at both CoTA and the season finale at Indianapolis in early October.

Photo credits - GT4 America / Flying Lizards / CSJ Motorsport

Having already scored on class win on the opening race day of the GT4 America's visit to Road America for another one of their race recovery triple headers, Michael Dinan and his Flying Lizard team went on to dominate proceedings with two more class and outright wins yesterday.

Starting with the second of three fifty minute Sprint races, the timings from race 1 are used to determined the grid order via their previous fastest laps. That placed the #59 Rearden Racing AMR Vantage of Paul Terry in P3 overall (P1 in Am Class) on the grid with the yellow accented AMR of Dinan next to him in P4 (P2 in class) with the #191 Rearden car of Jeff Burton again missing out as his team worked on to repair the damage of race 1's smash that took him and another car out in the wet on Friday.


As opposed to the wet of Friday afternoon, the now reduced starting grid of twelve cars were to enjoy a bright, sunny start to their second race of the weekend with Dinan being the more aware of the AMR runners to mug Terry at the start to take P3 from him as the pack went into turn 1. With the two Pro Class cars ahead, Dinan found himself being able to run with these guys as htheir collective pace gapped them from those in P4 and P5.

After twenty minutes of running Terry was eventually able to take the Ford Mustang of Staveley for position, lifting himself up to P4 overall and still P2 in class but minutes later Terry went into T1 too fast and spun himself around on the kerb (much like what his team mate Burton did in race 1 on Friday) to quickly loose out on his earlier hard work as he soon dropped down to P6 overall.


As the two leading Pro cars pushed on ahead, Dinan found himself being dropped into the no-mans land between them and the chasing pack but with the minutes counting down all he had to do was to keep it on the track to secure his 7th class win of the season.

So similar to race 1 of Friday, Race 2 produced another double AMR Am Class podium as Terry did enough to (a) keep his title challenge alive against Dinan and (b) secure his second podium of the weekend by claiming P6 overall and P3 in Class.


Then came after that perhaps Dinan's and Flying Lizards best performance of the season so with a P12 to overall race win in the second Sprint X race yesterday afternoon.

With the starting grid again being affected by the torrential rains of Friday, it wasn't possible for all the drivers to set a competitive lap time being Qualifying was red flagged due to the deteriorating track conditions. That again meant that many cars were out of their natural position at the start of the race and that certainly made for some very entertaining racing.


The #15 BSPort Racing AMR of AMR Academy Driver Kenton Koch was the highest placed AMR at the start and he certainly didn't waste anytime at the start as he both held onto his starting position and then pushed the Silver Cup drivers ahead. After Pat Gallagher's race of the season so far yesterday when he and his #33 Rennsport One car claimed their first podium of the year, he too was on a mission from his P12 start as he battled to keep ahead of Robbie Foleys #21 Flying Lizard AMR who started one place behind.

A slower BMW in P8 effectively served as an early chicane for the first five minutes of running that allowed the front runners to establish a large gap to the pack behind by the time that Gallagher finally got past. Foley meanwhile was having something of a slow or calculated start as his position in the field was steady as he had only climbed up to P11 by then.


With Koch enjoying himself at the front keeping the Silver #2 Porsche busy, Gallagher had moved up to P6 by the time that the pit window opened as Foley was carefully negotiating the teams fellow McLaren 570s for P8.

With the Pro's having done their work it was now down to their amateur drivers to capitalise upon any headway that had been made up till then. Bryan Putt emerged in overall second after his swap into the white #15 car with Dinan now up to P7 and Matt Dalton P10 in his #33 car.


The Flying Lizard team trimmed as much time off at their stop as they could and had to invoke their pit stop 'joker' by actually undercutting their minimum time by about a second. Having rode their luck there, Dinan 'rode his luck' on track with an outstanding demonstration of confidence and speed. Catching those in front by the rate of 2-3 seconds per lap it wasn't too long before the #21 car was upon to P4 overall but only had ten minutes or so remaining to make up the 10 seconds to the leading BMW.

Having dispatched Putt for P3 overall it only took Dinan another five minutes to get onto the tail of the leader and with a brave move into T1 on the final lap, Dinan had taken the overall lead - something that he would even extend to nearly 4 seconds at the chequered flag.



With Foley and Dinan claiming the top step, the #15 BSport Racing crew of Putt and Koch had also done enough to claim their second Sprint X podium of the weekend by finishing P5 overall and P3 in Pro-Am. The #33 Rennsport One AMR of Gallagher and Dalton would eventually finish P10 overall and P7 in class.

So that's yet another great result for the Aston Martin Racing runners in both Sprint and Sprint X with still one more race each on Sunday!!

Photo credits - GT$ America / Flying Lizards / CSJ Motorsport

Last weekends third round of the revised 2020 SRO GT4 America Series from the Sonoma Raceway on northern side of the Bay to San Francisco produced what must be for most national series, a record breaking streak of podium winning achievement for the most of the Aston Martin Racing teams that made the long trip to the west coast of the USA.

All very sadly missed by us due to prior commitments within our 'day job, like the previous round at VIR three weeks ago, Sonoma was to see their second consecutive triple header race weekend over the Course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the Series sought to catch up on races missed from their national lockdown problems from earlier in the year.


Flying Lizard Motorsports Michael Dinan was proving to be the man to beat with his #21 AMR Vantage GT4 having achieved a continuous podium streak since the start of the season from CoTA and this weekend was to be no different in the Sprint races just as he and Co-driver Robbie Foley would again reproduce in the longer Sprint X races.

Not too far behind them this weekend after having lost their way a little at VIR with some simple errors on track were the entries from Utah based Rearden Racing team. Again featuring three cars over the two race formats for customer drivers Paul Terry in Sprint and Jeff Burton alone in Sprint with Burton being again joined by resident team Pro driver Vesko Kozarov in Sprint X.


The #15 BSport Racing AMR of Bryan Putt and AMR Drivers Academy newest recruit Kenton Koch would again only compete in the three Sprint X races of the weekend as would the #33 Rennsport 1 AMR entry of Matt Dalton and Pat Gallagher.

The weekend for the #33 entry would however get off to a disastrous start and then end badly as Dalton would suffer an early testing accident at the circuit that would inflict significant front end damage to his car and whilst the crew and CSJ Motorsport would get that car back on track overnight, gremlins would soon creep back in leading to two DNF's and a DNS over the course of the weekend.


The snippets that we saw of the six available races was one of sheer dominance by the AMR Vantage running teams as the Flying Lizard and Rearden crews white washed the podium in races one and two of the Sprint Series before 'only' taking the top step in the final race on Sunday.

That level of performance almost crossed over into the larger competitive field of the Sprint X races as Dinan and Foley took three from three in their #210 car backed up by two podiums for the ∫Sport Racing crew in race two and three.


From a statistical point of view that was seven podium positions out of a possible nine for the Aston Martin Racing teams in Sprint and 5 podium finishes out of a possible nine in Sprint X. These, added to other podium successes for AMR teams elsewhere in the world attributed to a sizeable eighteen items of silverware going to AMR drivers last weekend alone!!

Now that must be some kind of record??


Whether or not that level of performance can be sustained by the teams or even be allowed to repeat itself under the Series Balance of Performance is yet to be seen but at least we won't have to wait too long as the Series returns at Road America in just two weeks time!!

Well done all!!

Photo credits - GT4 America

Not content to rest upon the laurels of their successes on the opening day of the new GT4 America Series from the Circuit of The Americas over the weekend, the five new Aston Martin Racing Customer teams entered into the SRO sanctioned Series pushed on to increase the number of podiums gained after the second day of running yesterday and marked the firm arrival of the new AMR Vantage GT4 in the USA.

The longer, pit stop influenced Sprint X race was the only race on Saturday that an AMR runner wasn't on the podium for but that was soon changed in Sundays race where the #21 Flying Lizards AMR Vantage GT4 of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley went onto claim a well earned second position overall in the multi-class race after the hour of racing.


With the #15 BSport Racing Vantage of Kenton Koch being the lead AMR car on the grid on the front row, a chaotic start was to ensue as the first four rows of cars became detached from the main body of the grid that lead to the usual 'argy-bargy' going into the tight left hander, dropping both the #15 and #21 cars down but also allowed the pack to regain their position just behind.

The first trouble for an AMR runner came on the opening lap for this race as the #33 Rennsport 1 AMR of Pat Gallagher tagged the rear of the KTM X-Bow, spinning that around but causing themselves substantial front end damage that would ultimately see that car retire by lap 6.


After a brief FCY/Safety car to clean up the debris field of the #33 cars accident, a competitive race began between the two Pro drivers aboard the #15 and #21 cars as Koch initially kept Foley behind him before the two traded places on many occasions as the cars headed towards their pit stops just after the halfway mark - which they would take a lap apart from one another.

The #91 Rearden Racing car of Vesko Kozarov had also been having an eventful race, going fast enough to maintain his then P10 position overall from the forceful attentions of the TRG Porsche behind. That all came to a horrible end for the Russian as a side swipe contact from the #23 Porsche lead to an immediate deflation of the right rear tyre going into turn 1 and although the car did eventually make it back to pit lane, too much time had already been lost.


A quick stop from BSport Racing and a slow stop from the Flying Lizard team meant that their cars had again swapped positions on the timing screen as the amateur drivers ventured out and both picked up easy places as two other cars struggled on cold tyres on their out laps. That moved both the #15 and #21 cars up to P2 and P3 respectively with just twenty minutes remaining but for Putt, that was unfortunately fifteen minutes too long!

Struggling for pace, the #15 car dropped down to P8 overall and P5 in class by the time of the chequered flag but Dinan was able to keep pushing to earn himself and co driver Foley a highly warranted P2 overall (and in class) finish for Dinan's second podium of the weekend so far.

Sadly, the #33 Rennsport and the #91 Rearden Astons were the only DNF's of the race.


To complete the opening weekend of the series saw the second fifty minute Sprint race of the weekend with the four AMR's making the grid. Paul Terry's #59 Rearden Racing AMR would again out qualifying the #210 Flying Lizard car in P4 and P5 respectively whilst the #91 Rearden car of Jeff Burton would start from P10 just ahead of the #89 RecStaff Racing car of Fred Roberts in P12.


For the second Sprint race of the weekend, Terry and Dinan went racing together creating some fine sights around the 5.5km circuit amongst those nail biting moments that could have seen both cars spin off into eternity. Also for the second time, transponder issue aboard the #59 car lead to it being placed incorrectly on the timing screen but that mattered not to either Am class Aston as they kept upon the tail of the leading Pro driven cars ahead despite their Am driver credentials.

Just before the halfway mark there was little over half a second between the two Astons as Dinan didn't want to let Terry look to reverse the class finish of race 1 where Dinan took the class honour at the penultimate corner.


A brief FCY for a stranded car followed by then a second FCY soon after for an accident on the restart lap let all the drivers have a breather and let their tyres rest before an eight minute final burst to the finish.

As almost expected of them, the battle to the flag went all the way to the final corner where Terry managed to get passed Dinan into the final corner and keep the power down in long enough to beat the #210 car on the drag up to the finish line. Further issues with timing and the #59 meant that Dinan was at first interviewed as the winner of the Am class but that was soon rectified behind the scenes to allow Terry to take the top step of the podium for the first time.


Last weekends GT4 America ended up producing five podium positions across some of the five AMR Vantage teams together with two P4's and a P5 from the Sprint and Sprint X races - that is a fantastic achievement but also one that will be very difficult to replicate considering the characteristics of some of the circuits the series will now visit.

Next stop for the Sprint cars will be next weekend from St Petersburg in Florida - gloves are off - now the season starts!!!

Photo credits - GT4 America / Flying Lizards / Rearden / CSJ Motorsport