Valmon Racing Team Russia have withdrawn from the fourth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship at Slovakia Ring, the team run Aston Martin DBRS9s in the World Championship in partnership with French team LMP Motorsport.

The backers of Valmon Racing Team Russia have discovered that LMP Motorsport has outstanding invoices unpaid with various partners relating to previous rounds. Due to this unforeseen situation, Valmon Racing Team Russia has taken the tough decision to withdraw from the Slovakia Ring event.

Valmon Racing Team Russia will return to the FIA GT1 World Championship at Portimao with the new Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3.

Valmon Racing Team Russia will represent Aston Martin in the 2012 FIA GT World Championship which gets underway at Nagaro this weekend.

Run by 2011 FIA GT3 team, LMP Motorsport who will campaign the cars in partnership with Aston Martin Racing the team will start the season with two Aston Martin DBRS9s before switching to the new V12 Vantage GT3 later in the year. Austrian Andreas Züber will be joined by Sergey Afanasyev in the lead car with Alexey Vasilyev and his yet to be confirmed team mate in the second car.

Valmon Racing Team Russia supported by Villois Racing will also compete in the FIA GT3 round at Nagaro with 2011 Le Mans LMP2 class winner Tom Kimber-Smith and Natalia Freidina.

2012 FIA GT1 World Championship

6th - 9th April: Nogaro, France
20th - 22nd April: Zolder, Belgium
26th - 27th May: Navarra, Spain
8th - 10th June: Slovakia Ring, Slovakia
6th - 8th July: Algarve, Portugal
24th - 25th August: Beijing Goldenport, China
30th August - 2nd September: Ordos, China
14th - 16th September: Korean International Circuit, Korea (*)
29th - 30th September: Moscow, Russia (*)
30th November - 2nd December: Delhi, India

2012 FIA GT3 European Championship

6th - 9th April: Nogaro, France
20th - 22nd April: Zolder, Belgium
26th - 27th May: Navarra, Spain
6th - 8th July: Algarve, Portugal
29th - 30th September: Moscow, Russia (*)
5th – 7th October: Zandvoort, Netherlands
(*) TBC by April 15th

Valmon Racing Team Russia will represent Aston Martin in the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship, the team will be supported by 2011 FIA GT3 European team LMP Motorsport who will run the cars in partnership with Aston Martin Racing.

Valmon Team Russia has rising Russian star Mikhail Aleshin, who has progressed through the open-wheeler ranks with impressive results. In 2010, he was the Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, his partner will be announced shortly.

The second car is likely to bring together the talented Spaniard Andy Soucek, a former FIA Formula Two champion and the experienced Austrian Andreas Zuber, who drove for Corvette in the 2010 and 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship.

The team will start the season with the DBRS9 before switching to the new for 2012 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.