Under the sweltering clear blue skies of southern Spain, three cars from the Aston Martin Racing stable completed the first of a two day official test today at the World Endurance Championship Prologue at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Only three cars out of a confirmed four car entry for the 2019-2020 WEC season that starts in little over five weeks time at Silverstone at the end of August, but with a long line of drivers all hoping of a chance of maintaining or progressing their way up onto the world stage.


Having unveiled their distinctly revised livery upon the AMR factory supported cars together with a brand new livery for the TF Sport prepared V8 Vantage GTE, over eleven drivers were on hand today to start the proceedings and have the required official Championship photographs taken as many found themselves double booked between this event and the start to the proceedings for the Total Spa 24H over in Belgium.

Drivers Jonny Adam (TF Sport), Ross Gunn, Nicki Thiim, Maxime Martin, Matthieu Vaxivierre and Alex Lynn only had time to participate in this mornings first 4 hours of track time before they all had to leave for Belgium and their AMR Partner team duties over there.


Whilst the #90 TF Sport car is already confirmed with Salih Yoluc being joined again this season by Charlie Eastwood and Jonny Adam, the other GTE Am entry for Paul Dalla Lana obviously has a degree a seat competition in regards who will be joining the Canadian this season after people like Vaxivierre and Gunn joined former regulars Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda at the test.

Times are not of any consequence at the test as the Championship will not be returning to the country during its first winter based season although decent, uninterrupted running obviously was. Whilst the laps times were recorded it is be difficult to determine any kind of pattern to performance amongst any of the GTE Pro or GTE Am fields without the technical data being available.


In GTE Pro - Martin, Thiim and Lynn completed 95 laps between them with Martin posting the seventh quickest time of the session this morning whilst Adam was quickest AMR runner in the Am class in his brand new TF Sport car, just ahead of Vaxivierre in the #98. Laps from Lauda, Turner and Gunn also saw off the session for them.

In this afternoons four hour session only Marco Sorensen ran in the #97 Pro car completing a 'leisurely' 40 laps whilst Lamy, Laura, Turner and Dalla Lana all ran in the #98 car. With Adam now having left the circuit and with his co-drivers Yoluc and Eastwood remaining at Spa, we believe that that car will not run again at the test.


That still leaves plenty of drivers on had to undertake driving duties on the second and final day of the test tomorrow as AMR hope to make use of their final allocation of new confidential Michelin tyres ahead of the Silverstone opener.

Photo credits - AMR / TF Sport

The 2019 TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa will feature the strongest ever Aston Martin partner team entry as the British luxury sportscar manufacturer bids to secure its first outright victory in the legendary Belgian race this weekend.

With no less than six Vantage GT3s in the race, it is the largest frontline Aston Martin contingent entered in the event - the blue riband round of the Blancpain GT Endurance Series. The cars will be run by some of AMR's most valued partner teams Garage 59, R-Motorsport and TF Sport, and they will be buoyed by Optimum Motorsport's impressive win with the car at Spa in the domestic British GT Championship last weekend.

Moreover, spread among the three teams will be five of Aston Martin Racing's works drivers -
Alex Lynn (GB), Maxime Martin (BEL), Nicki Thiim (DEN), Jonny Adam (GB) and Ross Gunn (GB) - as well as Aston Martin High Performance Test driver Chris Goodwin and BBC Top Gear presenter Chris Harris.

Series front-runner R-Motorsport will contest the race with a bumper three-car entry. The Swiss team enters their two regular Blancpain GT Vantage GT3s in the Pro class; the #62 for Matthieu Vaxiviére (F), Matt Parry (GB) and Martin, and the #76 for Marvin Kirkhhöfer (D), Jake Dennis (GB) and Lynn (GB). Then it will run a third car in the Silver Cup class for Ricky Collard (GB), Hugo de Sadeleer (CHE), Ferdinand von Habsburg (A) and Aaro Vainio (I).

Garage 59 have entered their two regular Blancpain GT line-ups of Cóme Ledogar (F), Andrew Watson (GB) and Adam in the Pro #59 entry, while Alexander West (SWE), Harris and Goodwin, who lie second the Am class championship standings after their victory in the last round at Paul Ricard, will race the #188 car along with works driver Gunn.

TF Sport Racing With Oman, whose drivers Salih Yoluc (TUR), Ahmad Al Harthy (UAE) and AMR Junior driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL) lead the Pro-Am standings after three consecutive podium finishes and two pole positions, will be joined in the #97 car by Thiim who also races for the team in British GTs.

David King, President, Aston Martin Racing, said: “You only have to cast your eyes over the 72-car entry for the TOTAL Hours of Spa to realise the quality of the field and the importance of the event in the international GT calendar, so for Aston Martin's partner teams to going there in such numbers and strength in depth is a true testament to the Vantage GT3's qualities as a customer racing package. Optimum Motorsport’s dominant win in the British GT Championship last weekend, and the consistent level of competitive performances around the world, suggests that the car is on the brink of a breakthrough result halfway through its first season. We have every reason to expect the Vantage GT3 to be in contention for honours this weekend, and wish our partner teams the best of luck.”

The TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa begins at 1630 CET on Saturday, 27 July with qualifying taking place at 2000 CET on Thursday 25 July. The event can be followed around the world on the Blancpain GT Series official livestream YouTube.


Source material - Aston Martin Racing

This weekend saw the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup take to the home circuit of the Stephane Ratel Organisation for their now customary double length, third round of the 2019 season with the 1000km of Paul Ricard.

For the five full season Aston Matin Racing Partner Team entries from Garage 59, R-Motorsport and Oman Racing with TF Sport all spread across three of the available four driver classes of racing, this race race would also see the need of important preparatory work ahead of the banner 24Hr event at Spa Francorchamps at the end of July as well as the extended points that the 6hr would offer.


It was consecutive podiums in the Pro-Am and Am Classes for the #97 Oman Racing with TF Sport car as well as the #188 car from Garage 59. For the three Pro class cars, Silverstone was another one to forget with the #59 Garage 59 car of Come Ledogar, Jonny Adam and Andrew Watson being taken out of the race on the opening lap with significant frontal damage, unfortunate driver sickness within the R-Motorsport camp forcing double driving duties for AMR factory driver Maxime Martin for whom their first decent finish of the season so far looked on the cards before a bizarre incident with track debris forced the untimely release of the #76 cars internal fire extinguisher.

With many of the fifteen drivers associated with these five Aston Martin Race cars also required for driving duties at the Le Mans 24Hour Official Test day the next morning, this weekend was always going to be a little frantic. With cars rebuilt and drivers well again where applicable, the Pre-Qualifying Race on Friday and Qualifying itself on Saturday morning went relatively well across the board withe the #62 R-Motorsport car of Mathieu Vaxivierre heading the group on the early evening grid in P6 overall with the #59 Garage 59 of Jonny Adam right behind. Jake Dennis and his #76 car completed the AMR Pro grid in P13 whilst the #97 Oman Racing and #188 Garage 59 cars started the race from pole position in their classes - P23 and P34 out of the starting number of 49 cars respectively.


Racing from early evening and up until midnight, the thunderous grid took the green light at the stroke of 18:00hrs leading to an understandable large number of avoiding manoeuvres through the first sequence of corners to avoid any inevitable contact. Whilst that chaos worked well for Adam on the lap (gaining two places) it didnt work our quite so well for Salih Yoluc in the #97 Oman car who lost seven places on the opening lap alone. Restraint would soon be called for as three cars were involved in a high speed incident at the end of the Mistral Straight that would require an early use of the Safety Car.

Later confirmed as an incident that caused no significant injury to any driver or marshal, twenty five minutes of race time was lost and then on the (again) congested restart another incident at the final corner would lead to further 10minutes of lost racing. For some, these periods allowed teams to split their fuel/driver strategies but only time would tell who had made the right choices!


By the end of the first hour, Adam was pushing hard against both Rowe Racing Porsche's for P3 in his #59 car sure that he was faster than them as the leader scampered off into the distance. For those who didn't pit under the Safety Car, sixty five minutes was the maximum stint time per driver (which could be reset by passing through the pit lane) as it was time for their first stop. Due to the now split strategies down the pit lane, by the time the starting drivers of Adam (#59), Dennis (#76) and Vaxivierre (#62) had all pitted their positions relative to the leader had dropped although both the #97 and #188 cars were still in podium claiming positions in Pro-Am and Am.

As the laps and hours ticked by, the AMR Pro class cars slowly hauled themselves up the timing board although the #62 R-Motorsport car would take a hard hit with a drive through penalty for an unsafe release - at first contested but later confirmed. At the two hour mark of racing all would pit for a full service and driver change.


Alex Lynn was now aboard the #76 car for his first racing experience of the Blancpain GT Series and was pushing his way up the timing screen from his inherited P11 position. Andrew Watson, now in the #59 car would become involved in a dice with Christian Englehart and his Lamborghini that would keep those two far too occupied to notice the large group back markers in front that, in defending their positions, lead to another car bumping into the #97 Oman Racing car of Ahmad Al Harthy to send him spinning off towards the tyre wall. With only the smallest of touches at either end of his car, the Omani racer would relinquish control of his Pro-Am class as a result as he was forced to seek further assistance from the team with two unscheduled stops. It wasn't his fault but they were certainly paying a high price for someone else incident.

As the half way point car and went, Lynn was now up to P5 in Pro and Alex West was maintaining the Am Class lead that Chris Harris had earlier established in the #188 car. Trouble was obviously haunting Watson as he and his #59 car suddenly started to plummet down the order, down from P3 to 23 in only a matter of a couple of laps - sadly he had to pit from which we would see the blue and white #59 car no more. An electrical issue apparently - gutting for them all.


Going into the final two hours, the third and final driver for each car would be racing in total darkness with only the headlight of them and others to light the way.

Lynn would pit and hand the #76 car over to Marvin Kirchhofer from an overall P2 position whilst team mate matt Parry would hand his #62 car to Maxime Martin. Chris Goodwin would inherit the Am class lead in the #188 whilst Charlie Eastwood had a little work to do to recover their #97 car back to a podium position after Al Harthy's earlier and externally influence spin.


Kirchhofer would soon come within the sights of Marco Mapelli's Lamborghini, the German would be able to fend off the Italian for a couple of laps but the inevitable was there to be seen before the disjoined final stops between the two cars set up a final hour of cat and mouse between them for the final step of the podium. Goodwin meanwhile would be enjoying the benefit of being the Am Class leader that also headed all of the remaining Pro-Am Class runners as well!!

Unfortunately for Kirchhofer and the R-Motorsport team, Mapelli's Lamborghini was finally able to pass the #76 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 with just five minutes remaining with a move that he simple had no answer to with the clearly faster Lambo.


Despite losing that final step of the podium at the end of 5 hours 55 minutes of racing, the #76 still claimed an admirable P4 finish (just 1.1 seconds behind P3) after what had been a fairly disappointing Blancpain season so far. Well done to them.

For the #188 Garage 59 car, Paul Ricard meant a third consecutive podium for them in the Am Class but this time on the top step with the first win of the season so far for Alex West, Chris Harris and Chris Goodwin and it was the same sense of achievement for the #97 Oman Racing with TF Sport car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood as they recovered to a P3 finish in Pro-Am.


These results take the #97 car to P2 in the Pro-Am drivers Championship and P3 in the Pro-Am Teams Championship - a similar position for the #188 crew who now stand P2 in both Drivers and Teams listings.

The next round of the season for these guys will be at Spa and the Total 24 Hours of Spa at the end of July.

Photo credits - Garage 59 / TF Sport / R-Motorsport / Blancpain

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

Having unfortunatley had to disconnect from the live stream from Bathurst after the final Free Practice session last night, it appears that we missed out on some very dramatic events later in into the events proceedings.

Finishing seventh in that final FP session, the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 of Jake Dennis, Mathieu Vaxivierre and Marvin Kirchhofer had been progressing their car through the days proceedings to maintain a comfortable top 10 finish as the schedule then turned to the Qualifying sessions this afternoon.


Qualifying 1 was for all runners - the #62 car claimed top spot in that session with the teams sister #760 car of Florian Kamelger, Andreas Baenziger, Peter Leemhuis and Matt Parry claiming P10.

Qualifying 2 was just for GT3 based cars so both R-Motorsport cars ran again with Dennis again claiming top spot with a then provisional lap record. New team member Matt Parry would run the lap for the #760 car to finish a commendable P17 at his first visit to The Mountain - that would be their final starting position for Sundays race whilst the #62 would carry on into the Top 10 Shoot out.


This was however kind of where the drama started to unfold as Dennis put in another lap of all laps to  initially claim overall pole position and the Allan Simonsen Trophy with it, but a previous pit speed violation would see that car get a two place grid penalty meaning that they would actually be starting the race from P3.

Well, thats not too bad considering but ....................


It was only after post Qualifying that checks were again made to the cars that an unintentional technical violation of the cars homologation was discovered within the #62 car that meant all lap times would be deleted from the Shoot Out meaning that the car would drop to the back of that pack - that and the previous awarded 2 grid slot penalty meant that the #62 car would indeed start from P12 on tomorrows grid. They also loose out on the Allan Simonsen Trophy as well.

Bitter disappointment for the multi national team running the venerable V12 Vantages for their final time as a factory supported platform. Hopefully, todays disappointing events can be channeled by their drivers into placing the last of the V12 screamers onto the top step of either Pro or Pro-Am Class at the end of Sundays 12 hour endurance race.

The race starts in little over an hour from now!!

Photo credits - R-Motorsport / Bathurst 12










 

Early proceedings for the 2019 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race kicked off this afternoon with a new Spa 24 esq' drivers parade and drive to the circuit from the Bathurst town centre for a representative group of cars taken from this years entry.

With one example from each brand on parade that duty fell to the Am entry from Swiss based R-Motorsport with their #62 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 - a car previously raced by them in the Blancpain GT Series but this time making its final appearance with the team as an AMR factory supported platform. All of the drivers (although one did evade this photo) were on hand to meet and greet those who attended the parade in another example of something that GT based motorsport does so well - fan access and interaction.


No strangers to 'The Mountain' in south-east Australia, this year will be the first that the team have competed in the top flight GT3 class having previously settled (and achieved) so well before in both the GT4 and INV class. Last time out for the crew was with Aston Martin's GT8 car in 2017.

Track action for the main event of the meeting begins Friday morning with three practice sessions before lunch before a fourth in the afternoon. Things then become very serious just before lunch on Saturday with Qualifying all classes and then Class A (GT3's) only before the highly exciting Top 10 Shootout later in the early evening.


The start of the 12hour itself begins at 05:45am local - Sydney is GMT +11Hrs

62

R-Motorsport

Jake Dennis

Matthieu Vaxiviere

Marvin Kirchhoefer

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

A

760

R-Motorsport

Florian Kamelger

Andreas Baenziger

Peter Leemhuis

Mathew Parry

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

A

The above graphic confirms the driver lists for both of R-Motorsports AMR Vantage GT3's with the #62 being the Pro and the #760 being the Am entry - both Class A.

With just two weeks before the 2019 Bathurst 12Hr event down and over in Australia, Swiss based R-Motorsport have finally confirmed their two car driver line ups in what should be their final outing in the Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 as a full works supported race car.

When the team did announce they intention to return to the Mountain in 2019 early last year, they had originally wanted to contest the Pro-Pro and Pro-Am classes with the new 2019 turbo charged V8 Vantage GT3 but unfortunately race Balance of Performance rules demanded a 'year old' car so plans immediately switched back to the venerable V12.


With the team already having at least one of the new iteration of AMR GT3 cars in their possession after its inaugural race at the Gulf 12Hrs in Abu Dhabi last month, what more of a fitting way could there be to see out the tenure of one of the most competitive race and championship winning GT3 machines than by taking them back to one of the most challenging circuits in the world for a full on assault on the GT3 class.


Unsurprisingly, their Class A Pro-Pro entry is made up of three drivers who raced for the Arden Motorsport prepared cars in the last year Blancpain GT Series and some who have gone on to support the team in other one off events like the 24H Series in both Barcelona and Austin, Texas.

For that car the team have today confirmed Jake Dennis, Marvin Kirchhofer and Mathieu Vaxivierre.

In the sister Pro-Am car entry sees Team Principles Florian Kamelger and Andreas Baenziger return with long term customer driver Peter Leemhuis alongside latest team signing Matt Parry.


With the team having skipped the 2018 event, it will be great to see an AMR Vantage GT3 back on track - the first since the ill-fated Miedecke Stone AMR attempt of 2017 that ended so dramatically with their car hard into the wall at turn 1 and with the driver suffering from the effects of carbon monoxide.

R-Motorsport did also attend the 2017 event but only with the AML factory supplied Vantage GT8 and a Vantage GT4 for its then guest drivers.


We don't however, expect this to be the last time that you will see on of R-Motorsport's V12 Vantage race cars out on track somewhere around the world in 2019 either!

Full press release from the team available HERE

Race proceedings begin on January 31st.

Photo credits - R-Motorsport/Bathurst12hr

Yesterday saw the final round take place of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series from the Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya with season regulars Oman Racing with TF Sport and R-Motorsport seeing out what could only be described as a frustrating campaign.

With just the solitary race win for the #76 R-Motorpsort car of Nicki Thiim, Jake Dennis and Mathieu Vaxiviere earlier in the year at Silverstone there has been little for either team to shout about as incidents and injuries most foul have hobbled all three cars from finishing any high than they have despite their (sometimes heroic) efforts both on track and in the garage.


Unfortunately prior commitments kept us from watching yesterdays race live but in another cruel twist of fate, what happened to the #76 car in Spain sadly summed up the season for all.

With luck from an earlier race control decision placing Thiim's car on the second row of the grid after a debacle in Qualifying, the first two hours of the race appeared that he and his team could well come away with another overall podium in their final Blancpain event with the soon to be replaced V12 Vantage GT3. Its was never going to be easy for them admittedly as the queue behind the #76 grew longer but that simply paid testament to the driving ability of both Thiim and Dennis as the latter passed the reign over to Vaxiviere for the final hour of the race.


Full Course Yellows and Safety Car periods gave the opportunity for the pack to move back up to the then race dominating Mercedes on many occasions but it also served to place the chasing pack firmly onto the rear bumper of the grey liveried car with no clear passage past but that eventually led to the #1 Audi taking matters into their own hands in a desperate move to get ahead. Side swiping the Frenchman off the track and into the gravel at Turn 7 the car did rejoin the circuit and continued for a time but the resulting incident damage that would soon end the car's race with just twenty minutes remaining.

Heartbreaking it was for all but the the Swiss race team and their Arden colleagues can hold their heads high with their (at times) superb displays in what was only their inaugural season within the Blancpain GT Series and with a platform that is only now about to be replaced by Aston Martin Racing's 2019 specification, turbo charged car.


What has been said about R-Motorpsort can also be copied into the season report for Oman Racing and their TF Sport colleagues as Ahmad Al Harthy stepped up from his 2017 Pro-Am crown to race in the all new and ultra competitive competitive Silver Cup class alongside Euan McKay and Charlie Eastwood.

Without checking through the annuals of the season, the #97 car finished the race just five times in the points - not a discredit to the ability of the drivers (far from it) but just a realisation of the fact as to just how hard and competitive the series has become throughout the permitted class range. It just feels like time after time the car was 'removed' from the race by other peoples over exuberance and neglect whilst the Oman crew had quietly gone about the ways and all on top of their own bad luck and misfortune like at the Spa 24 when accident damage forced a very early retirement from the proceedings.


Despite all of this 'character building' we just hope that both teams will come back to the series next year - older, wiser and with 'elbows' the same width and strength as others have given them throughout this season so we could just see where this new Vantage GT3 finds its natural position in this super competitive pack!

Not all is over for either team's V12 Vantage's as the #97 Oman Racing car will re-emerge over the winter in the Asian Le Mans Series with the Red River crew whilst R-Motorsport have confirmed slots in both the 24H Series event at the Circuit of the Americas next month as well as the 12hours of Bathurst in early February next year.

Photo credits - Blancpain / R-Motorsport / Oman Racing

The 2018 Blancpain GT Series has certainly been a difficult one for the three Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 cars entered into both its Pro and Silver Cup classes. This weekend, we see the final race of the six round season come to an end with sadly just team and personal honour at stake with all three cars already out of any headline championship titles.

Swiss based R-Motorsport's first venture into top flight European GT3 racing with their new Arden Motorsport technical partners has certainly ventured them onto steep learning curve which they have sometimes excelled at to the point of winning the Silverstone round back in May and then claiming overall pole position for the Spa 24 later in July. That successes has unfortunately also been blighted with both bad luck an misfortune that sees them presently placed unjustly lower in the championship table than they perhaps ought to have been considering the abilities of their six drivers.


The team's #76 and #62 cars will see out the season with their usual three driver line up each as will the TF Sport prepared Oman Racing crew who themselves will round off their first venture into the new for 2018 Silver Cup class after previous years success in Pro-Am.


Again, it wouldn't be exaggerating any fact that the #97 has been incredibly unlucky this season with at least two decent race results destroyed by the errant ways of others with the teams blue, white and gold Vantage sustaining race ending damage in the process. Their exploits into the Spa 24 sadly typified that position with an early exit due to accident damage.

Like R-Motorsport, Oman Racing find themselves over hundred points behind their respective class leaders so Barcelona will just have to be one for what they can each get out of it as both teams run their V12 Vantage GT3 one last time before all three chassis are expected to be replaced with the new turbo based car ready for the 2019 season.

Photo credits - BES / R-Motorsport

It would be a shame to think that R-Motorsport's otherwise faultless display in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup meeting at Silverstone over the weekend could come to nothing if they fail to win their appeal for alleged sporting regulation irregularities.

With the team having come away form the opening round of the Blancpain Series in Monza with a DNF and a lowly P9 finish, they had hoped that the expanse of the Silverstone circuit would allow their two V12 Vantage GT3's to stretch their legs.

With a steady improvement between their two cars over the Free Practice and Pre Qualifying sessions, its was Mathieu Vaxiviere who made the defining statement for the #76 car early in Q1 this morning setting a time of 1:56:637 - a time that would not be beaten although Nicki Thiim was required to put in a quicker lap in Q3 to improve their three way average lap time to retain that position at the end.


With the exception of less than one complete lap, the #76 car put in a faultless light to flag performance to take the overall win at the end of the three hour race. Vaxiviere started the race for the team and for a time had the team's sister #62 car acting as 'wing man' as he built up a lead from the #88 Mercedes. Pitting one lap later than the #88 car, Jake Dennis found himself coming out of the National pit land just behind the Mercedes but by the time they had reached Luffield for the first time, the Red Bull F1 tester had reclaimed the overall lead that they would not be relinquished again.

That left Thiim with the relative simple matter of just having to drive for his hour long stint managing the gap to the cars behind which he did leaving eleven seconds in the bag at the chequered flag.


For the sister car #62 car of Alex Brundle, Marvin Kirchhofer and Maxime Martin, they were never able to quite match the pace of the #76 car and would ultimately finish P5 overall - a finish that was still an improvement from last time and comes with a decent haul of points.

For the #76 car, there remains this appeal process that remains in place after series officials found that the cars data logger had not collected any data during the Qualifying process earlier in the day. As the team formally appealed that decision with the Stewards they were allowed to keep their qualifying position for the start of the race.


Until the series conclude this appeal process the race result shall remain provisonal.

Either way in that process, Silverstone was a still a magical event for the team running the oldest iteration of GT3 car in the top flight European series. Whilst the alleged transgressions are matter of fact, they were not performance enhancing so what was seen on track was true pace.

The teams now just have two weeks to settle themselves for the day to night race that is the 1000kms of Paul Ricard.

Photo credits - Blancpain