They came as close to it as that they could 'smell it' but after the final race of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Series from the Hungaroring today, the best the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Racing racing duo of Hugo de Sadeleer and Aaro Vainio could do was that of Silver Cup runners up.

The expression on their faces yesterday after again not being able to beat the Silver Cup Championship leading AKKA ASP Mercedes crew of Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer seemed to acknowledge that the #89 cars last lap pass during race one would leave them a step too far for the young Swiss and Finnish drivers the cross in the final race of the season.


That was because a poor Qualifying session from the #62 AMR Vantage crew would leave them starting race two from one extreme of the grid to one other as Bastian claimed a P9 slot whilst de Sadeleer would start from near the rear in P23. The only plus point then was that the second placed crew in the championship would be starting behind them come the race.

Fortunately (or not) the heavy rains of yesterday had left and the final hour of the series would be conducted on a warm dry track as the race got underway on its first lap anyway after a spinning Am class car called for the release and the Safety Car.


Loosing nearly ten minutes of the race, time was rapidly running out for the #62 car to shorten the gap on track to the #89 Mercedes. The sister #76 AMR of Marvin Kirchhofer would see out their season on something of a whimper as a spin just after the restart pushed the car to the rear of the field.

The AKKA ASP crew rode they luck later after contact with another car just before the stops but that failed to extend into any loss of performance on track - or indeed anything that may have benefitted the AMR crew.


At the end of the pit window the gap had narrowed somewhat with Neubauer now just two positions ahead of Vainio as the Finn charged in some great laps - going into the final ten minutes of the race they were then nose to tail in P8 and P9.

That sadly was not enough as the chequered flag fell on the field with these two cars still in the same position. Being over ten points behind before the race even started, finishing again behind the Mercedes was simply not enough to change the Silver Cup Championship position with Bastian and Neubauer claiming the title with a twelve and a half point margin. The team's #76 Pro car of Kirchhofer and Collard would finish the season P8 but some points behind the championship winner.


That all said, it was still a great performance by the team's two young guns across the season, especuilly for de Sadeleer who suffered the phycological setback of being released by another AMR Vantage GT3 early into the year so to end the year as runner in in a series as competitive as the Blancpain GT Series says a lot about his (and Vainio's) capabilities.

Hopefully we will see these guys out again somewhere in a GT3 car next year.

Photo credits - Blancpain GT / R-Motorsport

If chasing down a five point deficit to claim an ultimate class title was difficult enough at the best of times, then Mother Nature's added mix of heavy rain at todays penultimate race of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe just added to the mix as Swiss team R-Motorsport took the conclusion of the Silver Cup Championship to the final round tomorrow.

Having spent most of the weekend so far in Hungary under clear skies and warm sunshine, todays heavy rainfall just after Qualifying was in start contrast and added an entirely different perspective on todays one hour race for all twenty eight cars.


With the team's Pro class #76 car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer having Qualified in P4 for todays race, all eyes were rightfully upon their #62 pairing of Aaro Vainio and Hugo De Sadeleer who were (before todays results) just 5.5pts off the Championship lead as the Safety Car led the field off into the gloom of todays race.

Things could have really taken a twist today after the pole setting AKKA Mercedes crew of Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer initially dropped back into the pack during the opening stages of the race with the R-Motorsport/Arden crew then dispatching their #62 out into the class lead after the stop.


With a faster and more stable car beneath him, Bastian was soon able to claw back the gap to the #62 of De Sadeleer and (cruelly) passed him on the very last lap for the class win and to claim the Silver Cup Team title in the process. The #76 Pro car would ultimately finish behind their stable mate in P10 in order to maximise the points potential of the #62 car.

With 16.5 points still available in tomorrows race, all is still possible for any of the top three crews in the Silver Cup class with just eleven points separating them from first (AKKA ASP Mercedes) to third (R-Motorsport).


The way things stand at the moment - it is AKKA ASP's title to lose!

Photo credits - Blancpain GT

Swiss based Aston Martin Racing Partner team R-Motorsport are at the Hungaroring this weekend chasing their championship dreams at the final round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Series.

After something of a slow start to the season with their pair of AMR Vantage GT3 cars that feature in both the Pro and Silver Cup classes, the team and their Arden colleagues have enjoyed a resurgence in results of late to promote their #62 Silver class entry for Hugo de Sadeleer and Aaro Vainio to just five and a half points behind the class leader with still thirty five Championship points on offer over the course of the weekend.


For the #76 Pro class entered car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer, last weekends race win from the Nurburgring came too late for them to remain in Championship contention still being forty points behind their class leader.

Their double class podium from Germany will however serve as a catalyst for the team to see out their five round season on a high with (hopefully) their Swiss and Finnish claiming the top prize in the Silver Cup.


With the Free Practice sessions now having been run, competition between the twenty eight car - multi-class grid is again ultra competitive with just 2.5 seconds separating the entire grid as the teams prepare themselves for Qualifying and the first race tomorrow.

Photo credits - Blancpain GT / R-Motorsport

With the opening round of the new 2019-20 World Endurance Championship from Silverstone already stealing the headlines, this weekend also sees another busy schedule of European racing with three series reaching or about to reach their conclusions.

The Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe reaches its penultimate round of the season at the Nurburgring this weekend after something of a slow start with both the series calendar and one Aston Martin Racing customer team but now with one crew very much in the mix for a class title with just four hours of racing left to run in 2019.


Much like the start of the season, R-Motorpsort had something of a slowish start to the season with their crews competing in both the Pro and Silver Cup classes. Whilst the Pro #76 car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer made for the early points at the opening races at Brands Hatch back in early May, it has since been the #62 Silver Cup pairing of Aaro Vainio and Hugo de Sadeleer who have stolen the march within the team to presently lie P2 in their Championship class going into this penultimate event of the season.

Back to back class wins last time out at the twisty coastal circuit of Zandvoort in Holland has helped to elevate the Finnish/Swiss pairing to just 15 points behind the Akka ASP Mercedes pairing of Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer.


For the Pro pairing, and despite promising Qualifying positions at some rounds has seen the duo fall behind in the Championship standings to P9 on 19.5 points whilst the lead car sits happily on 61.5pts.  With 16.5pts available per race that obviously means that the #76 are far from being out of contention before the Championship reaches its finale in Hungary in just over one weeks time but in order to place themselves into that position a decent points haul in Germany is a must.


As usual, both Free Practice sessions take place on Friday ahead of Qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday with the final one hour race on Sunday.

Photo credits - Blancpain GT

It was double class podium delight this weekend for R-Motorsport's Silver Cup duo of Hugo de Sadeleer and Aaro Vainio at the third round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Series from Zandvoort, The Netherlands.

Having had what could have been considered as a great meeting last time out at Misano when the #62 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 secured a P4 in race 1 before going some better by converting that into a P2 podium finish in race 2, then Zandvoort will have been their 'Christmas come early' meeting with two worthy top step class finishes for the Finnish/Swiss combo.

Arriving in Holland to some very mixed weather conditions, all very opposite to the heatwave that they had just contested with in Italy, Zandvoort started off with early possibilities for the team as their two AMR Vantage's Qualified P5 and P9 for the #76 car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer and De Sadeleer and Vainio respectively.


Race one got off to the expected door to door hustle and bustle on the opening lap but that sadly culminated in a multi car accident on the opening lap that forced a Safety Car - losing the race nearly ten minutes of its allotted one hour of running. As the top three cars broke away on the restart, Collard in his #76 was quickly becoming the bottleneck as the rest of the field tried to pass the young Brit but without much success.

At the opening of the pit window, most of the top ten runners pitted - including the #76 car but the sister #62 carried on for a further lap.


By the time the stops had all been completed the positions of the two grey AMR's had changed with the #76 of Kirchhofer in P7 overall with the sister #62 car of Vainio just behind in P8 but running P2 in the Silver Cup class. The tightness of the track and comparative speeds of modern GT3's proved again difficult for any car to overtake but pressure from the #76 forced the then Sliver Cup leading Mercedes AMG to miss its braking point sending them straight into the gravel trap allowing the #62 to also pass the #76 for position to for it to claim P6 overall and P1 in Silver Cup. The #76 would finish race one in P7 - still valuable points for the team.

For Sundays race the starting positions had again been quantified in Saturday Qualifying with Pro #76 car again starting ahead of the Silver Cup #62 car in P9 and P13 respectively for Kirchhofer and De Sadeleer.


The start of the race was delayed as an Audi became stranded on the first formation lap requiring the Safety Car led pack to go around once again. Another seemingly long hold as the pack approached the line finally first appeared as if it would cause the same carnage as the GT4 European Series suffered in its second race of the weekend but at least that wasn't to be.

Some signs of rain falling around parts of the coastal circuit must have thrown caution into the minds of the starting drivers as the racing, although fast and frantic, was extremely orderly and risk adverse. For this race, the Vantage GT3 didn't appear to be quite on the pace and certainly was nowhere near able to meet the pace of the leading cars to quickly fall over twenty seconds back.


Whilst that hurt the Pro #76 car it was fortunately not the same for the #62 Silver Cup car as the impeding pit stop would allow them to leapfrog five cars in the pack (but more important over the then class leading Audi) to move up to P9 and P1 in Silver Cup. The #76 car meanwhile would lose twelve places after its stop!!

By the chequered flag, The #62 would cement its position on track to claim their second class win of the weekend with their P8 finish whilst Collard would recover to a P18 finish - massively disappointing for them.


Next stop in the Championship is at the Nurburgring at the end of August - meanwhile for R-Motorsport there is the small issue of the Total Spa 24!!

Photo credits - Blancpain GT 

The SRO's Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe moves north this weekend for their third round of the season from the coastal circuit at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

For a Series that had a slow opener, two rounds in quick succession either side of the organisers official test days for their flagship Spa 24 event later this month will keep many World Challenge Europe teams busy as they keep their rolling stock in tip top condition for their respective multi-series racing commitments as well as feature events like at Spa Francorchamps.


One such team is of course Swiss based R-Motorsport who, together with there Arden operational partners will have to prepare two of their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3's again for the two - one hour races around the 2.6 mile circuit as drivers Aaro Vainio and Hugo de Sadeleer chase another podium in the Silver Cup class and Pro class drivers Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer look to go one better than they did in Misano two weeks ago.


Twenty eight GT3 cars again form the grid for the two races having had two Free Practice sessions on Friday and Qualifying for both races on Saturday morning.

Photo credits - Blancpain GT

After what was surprisingly only the second round of the season so far, this weekends races from Misano in Italy proved themselves to be fruitful ones for the lone Aston Martin Racing team of R-Motorsport as everyone got themselves back down to business in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Series.

Running with a new AMR Vantage GT3 in both Pro and Silver Cup, the Swiss based team was somewhat adrift in each championship table despite a reasonable points haul fist time out at Brands Hatch in early May so a good show in Misano was imperative for the team to maintain the season chances.

The #76 Pro car of Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhofer showed great intent in the first of Saturady's Qualifying sessions with the young British driver setting the 2nd best time to position their car on the front row of the grid for the 'into the evening' one hour sprint. The #62 Silver Cup of Aaro Vainio wasnt too far behind in the twenty eight car grid to Qualify P13 overall but P5 in class.


Qualifying 2 also took place soon after where this time the #62 car of Hugo de Sadeleer out qualified the Pro sister car of Kirchhofer to start P9 overall (P3 in class) compared to the unexpectedly low position of the #76 car in P13 - albeit just a second off the pole time such is the competitive nature of the competition.

With the weather conditions over most of Europe being extremely high this weekend, tyre wear and the management of which was going to be the controlling factor again as the preceding races before the evening start to the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe had already demonstrated.

At the start of Race 1, Collard soon found himself being past into the first sequence of corners dropping him down to P3 and already having to run defensively as the top two cars soon set about breaking away from the pack. Vainio meanwhile had had a better start in his #62 car to pick up a couple of early places as the sun began to drop to a visibility impairing level just above the horizon. Just after 15 minutes of racing, instances of contact between other cars and then one of the leaders spinning out into the gravel allowed both AMR's to pick up places without actually having to pass anybody.


With the pack having been slowed first by a Full Course Yellow and then Safety Car, racing only went back to green just as the pit window opened - too late for most to dart into the pit lane, and forcing most to do another lap as both R-Motorsport cars did before pitting - dropping the #76 down to P6 and the #62 P23 (P6 in class).

Another FCY and SC with just 20 minutes of racing left at least allowed the pack to close the gaps to one another on the restart and this allowed both AMR's to pick off a couple of easy places as the clock ticked down to the final minutes of the hour long race. At the chequered flag, the #76 car would finish a very credible P4 whilst the #62 would finish P17 overall (and also P4 in class). Great results and points for both cars.

For Race 2 on Sunday afternoon, the track temperature was just as high (if not hotter) than it was on Saturday evening but at least this time drivers had their own working knowledge of tyre degradation on the baking asphalt.


In a very hectic opening quarter to the race, it appeared that both AMR cars overtook many but were themselves overtaken by just as many to end up running somewhere very close to their respective starting position but both had dropped off some distance off the lead cars to the tune of 16 seconds for the #62 and 21 seconds for the #76 car.

Another FCY and SC, this time to remove a damaged sausage kerb was called just before the start of now delayed pit stop window which again put strategy at the forefront of the race engineers mind as race control tried to combat the possibility of a mass descent of 28 cars into the tight pit lane of Misano. With both cars having pitted at the half way mark of the race, both would also benefit from the results of penalties being awarded for FCY procedure infringements - that would list both cars up one position.


Outright pace was never a strong point of either AMR Vantage GT3 with the Audi, Mercedes and Lamborghini chassis' clearly faster as an overall package. What they did have was consistency and the ability of making the most of any opportunity from  errors made by others others leaving 'the door open' to them. Vainio did just that in the final minutes of the race as the Finn capitalised on a mistake between the battling Silver Cup leading pair to place his car in-between to take the next step up the podium.

At the chequered flag, the #62 car would cross the line P7 overall but incredibly P2 in class whilst the #76 car could do no more than P13. Another great race from the team with an invaluable large addition to their must needed points haul.


The teams now have just two weeks off before the third round of the series at Zandvoort, Holland before the attention of many turn to the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps just two weeks after that.

Photo credits - R-Motorsport / Blancpain GT

With another day of the week having a 'Y" in it today then it must be another 'AMR kind of a day' to be announcing some more amazing news in the world of #TeamAMR - and these certainly weren't withholding any intention to be considered as championship contenders.

Swiss based R-Motorsport are presently testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France both today and tomorrow and they chose today as the day to highlight their own return to the Blancpain GT Series for the 2019 season (after the already astonishing news from Garage 59 yesterday) with up to three new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3's running in both Blancpain GT and at the Spa 24.


With the subtle changes of campaign titles within the Blancpain GT Series for 2019, R-Motorpsort today announced some name changes and re-organisation of their own within their driver line ups but still retained the additional of two factory AMR drivers in the process. Todays announcement included:-


Two full Pro cars in the Endurance Cup - each with an AMR Pro driver.

In the #62 car, last years drivers Maxime Martin and Mathieu Vaxivierre  return to the car to be partnered this year by the teams 2019 Bathurst 12Hr debutant Matt Parry, whilst the #76 car will feature the returning Jake Dennis and Marvin Kirchhofer (stars of this years Bathurst 12hr in the teams older generation V12 Vantage) but this year joined by AMR factory driver and Formula E racer Alex Lynn.

Cars bearing the same numbers (numbers that represent the birth years of the teams two owners - Florian Kamelger and Andreas Baenziger) will also be entered into the renamed Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe - formally the Sprint Cup with a mix of drivers per car involving the likes of Ricky Collard (who raced with the team at the Gulf 12Hr last last year, Hugo de Sadeleer (who has only just been announced to be racing with PROsport Performance in the ADAC GT Masters), new Finnish driver Aaro Vainio with Kirchhofer being used to fill in the spaces as required.


Then comes the teams three car entry for the Spa 24hr where Collard, De Sadeleer and the teams new DTM racer Ferdinand Habsburg will compete together with the two Pro cars listed above.


So with these three R-Motorsport cars, the two Garage 59 cars confirmed yesterday and with one more blue/white and gold car still to be confirmed - the Blancpain GT Series is looking pretty exciting as far as AMR runners is concerned.

Can motor racing get any more exciting??

Photo credits - R-Motorsport