Ever puzzled what to buy your motorsport fan friend as a Christmas present, then look no further than the opening pages of Racecarsdirect.com and you will soon come up with an idea to two.

Firstly, we have Barcelona based Team Virage offering one of their two recent Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 acquisitions up for sale. Having taken possession of two such cars mid way into 2019, the team had hoped to enter both cars with long standing team customers in regional series including the SRO sanctioned GT4 South Europe Series.


From what we have seen, they have only managed to enter both cars for just one round with the main stay customers (Freddie Hunt and CO Jones as reported last week) now looking towards the teams other platform of motor racing in LMP3 so this car is now presumably surplus to their requirements.

Full details of their listing can be found HERE


The next new offering took us a little by purpose and lies in the form of the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 as used this season by Ollie Wilkinson in both the British GT Championship and GT Open Series.

Operated out of the Optimum Motorsport workshop, Wilkinson went on to clinch the British GT GT3 Silver Cup prize will co driver Bradley Ellis whilst securing podium finishes, including an overall race win whilst under the tutorage of AMR factory drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam.


There is obviously a story yet to be confirmed behind the reason for this sale - we are certainly not going to pretend to know what it is all about but we do understand that matters may become a little clearer before the end of the year by which time we expect to have had an announcement from Wilkinson.

Full details of this Christmas cracker can be found HERE

Photo credits - Team Virage

Last weekend saw the FIA Motorsport Games 2019 take place at the Autodromo de Vallelunga near Rome in Italy as a replacement to last years Nations Cup which Salih Yoluc and Ayhancan Guven won at the first time of asking in their Ram Racing prepared Mercedes AMG GT3. Unfortunately for the spectacle that was the event, track action was marred and dramatically limited by some heavy and persistent rain storms that hung over the city for the entire weekend.

Swapping this year to one of Tom Ferrier's Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3, the Turkish drivers looked like a safe bet against some of the other teams who had come together specifically for this event with no prior knowledge and experience of either themselves, car nor the team. Joining the AMR family for this event (and who were also one of these 'newbie' teams was that of the Optimum Motorsport entry for Team Kuwait in their AMR Vantage GT3 for Khaled At Mudhaf and Zaid Ashkanani.


A drive through the Rome city centre by some of the race cars involved across the four road car formulae looked spectacular to witness although not always good for the race car as, not designed for this constant starting and topping of urban traffic flow cooked more than one clutch in the GT Cup Class.

Then the rains came......................... albeit at first throughout the Friday night Opening Ceremony where the cars and drivers were introduced to the crowds and waiting TV audience, that was not necessarily a problem - but then it hit the track action of the weekend!!


With the event featuring Qualifying for two one hour feeder races on both Saturday and Sunday which themselves would be used to determine the starting line up for the 'main' one hour race on Sunday afternoon, even they became quick victims to the weather as Race Control limited running as the track quickly became washed out ahead of the first race on Saturday.

With a point per finishing position up for grabs and this time the lowest total from the first two races winning Race 3's pole position, things began very badly for the two AMR runners as the Kuwaiti car of Al Mudhaf was tapped into a spin at turn three of the very first lap that resulted in race ending, heavy frontal damage to the #007 car - the culprit, Team Belgium would loose their podium position at the end as a result.


Whilst that was all being recovered under the Safety Car, the rains returned with torrential downpours  and despite Team Turkey's P2 starting slot, Yoluc began to fall back as the track got wetter with the whole grid on slicks!

Fifteen minutes in and a move from Team Portugal on the #1 car of Yoluc was drifted out wide, just enough for the Portuguese Audi to hit the wet grass of the infield and majestically spin out to hit the barrier on the outside of the circuit - they would retire from the race because of that and Yoluc would be served a post race time penalty for causing a collision.


As the rainfall intensified and the number of track casualties increased Race 1 would be red flagged at the half way stage to (a) allow the debris field to be cleared and (b) wait for better weather. Over twenty minutes would be lost and Race Control would mandate the required driver change in pit lane before the restart but not compel the remaining runners to fit wets as well as a late addition of last track time to the race clock! Wets would have lasted eight minutes but not over twenty minutes!!

Originally restarting on wets from P3, the track quickly began to dry soon making slicks the preferred rubber of choice with the nett result of the #1 car tumbling down as the wets overheated themselves. Team Turkey would eventually finish P13 against Team Kuwaits DNF - not a good start!!


Race 2 on Saturday wasn't much better either - it started behind the Safety Car and had a red flag of its own as once again the heavens opened and the track became another washout.

Thankfully, Optimum had worked their magic (with a little help from TF Sport) to rebuild their damaged Vantage GT3 for Ashkanani to get his first racing laps in of the event (although both cars had started from towards the rear of the grid after weather related issues in Q2) but sadly for all they were all behind the Safety Car before the race was red flagged after ten minutes of following the leader.


Another hour lost waiting for a window of opportunity and it was off racing again with 30 minutes now left on the clock - again Race Control had mandated the driver change whilst the race was under suspension . Despite some early glimmers of hope in the restart when Yoluc moved up to P9 from his P13 position at the break, late contact with the Team China car was see him hobbled before the end where Team Turkey claimed P16 and Team Kuwait P17.

Those results meant that both AMR teams had lowly starting positions for the final race of the Motorsport games with Team Turkey and Team Kuwait starting P16 and P19 respectively for the start of a race the was actually almost dry at the time - although more rain was expected not before too long.


Originally starting on wets, both cars soon decided that that was the wrong choice and soon pitted to swap to slicks which was great for a handful of laps before the rains returned again. Up until then, things were going well for Ashkanani in the #007 car as he drove the stint of his life and elevated his position as high as P5 and within visual range of the race leading Japanese Lamborghini.

Within minutes of the rain starting to fall, cars began to fall off the track again as all slowed hoping that the pit window would open and saving them all a second stop. By the time all (and the all sickly did) stop Race Control put the Safety Car back out on track with still twenty four minutes remaining. The race did go back to Green for about a lap before another stranded car from teh restart forced further Safety Car intervention and effectively the end of the race and the event which finished behind the Safety Car.


Disappointing for all concerned but Mother Nature is someone who not even the FI and SRO can influence. Team Turkey would finish the event in P12 - a massive disappointment for the defending champions who really did nothing wrong except battle the elements to the best of their abilities and do what they thought the Regulations expected of them. For Team Kuwait and their pair of drivers who had never driven an AMR Vantage GT3 until the first Free Practice session of the event, the can hold their heads high with their overall P14 finish and fastest driver of the day for Ashkanani.


Next up for TF Sport is of course in Shanghai and the next round of the World Endurance Championship for Yoluc, driver coach Charlie Eastwood and works driver Jonny Adam!

Photo credits - Motorsport Games / TF Sport / Optimum

Seven rounds fourteen races later, BRDC Rising Star and British GT GT3 Silver Cup Champion Ollie Wilkinson rounded off his 2019 European racing commitments with another podium at the season finale at Monza this weekend.

Having started the season at Paul Ricard in April and then competing in the Pro-Am Class with his #96 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 and co-driver Bradley Ellis, the twenty three year secured his first podium finish of the new season with a P2 Class finish in race 2 at that event.

Under the guidance of others, the #96 car took the significant step up in class to compete within the full Pro class with Aston Martin Racing factory driver Darren Turner being recruited to be the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy participant's new co-driver.


Having to skip round round three at Spa Francorchamps due to his (then) ongoing British GT Championship title possibilities, a co-driver change going at the Red Bull Ring, Austria lead to Wilkinson and the deputising Jonny Adam securing his first outright win in the Series.

A dreadful weekend at his home event at Silverstone and then technical issues next time out in Barcelona, it was something of a phycological milestone for the #96 crew to end the season on a high at the last two races of the season in Italy.

With Turner Qualifying P7 for race 1 on Saturday, the race appeared (from the outside at least) to be somewhat processional one as the #96 car struggled to get past the #17 Teo Martin McLaren 720s. Turner has already acknowledged during Qualifying that the 720s was the fastest car on the long straights and it was hard for the new Vantage GT3 to keep up with that.


Their only option then was strategy and with running Turner to the maximum permitted time in the hope of overlapping the #17 car during the pitstop cycle - and that is exactly what they did. All over the back of the McLaren in the corners but dropping away slightly on the straights, the Vantage was clearly the stronger overall package between the #96 and the #17 cars and by the time Wilkinson exited pit lane after their shorter minimum time stop he was in front of the #17.

With an eight second lead and with just seventeen minutes to get, Wilkinson kept his eyes firmly fixed on making his braking points and corner apexes whilst making his car as wide as legally possible to see off the attention of the McLaren behind to finally make the chequered flag in third position overall.

Another great result for the drivers and team to secure their third podium finish of the season - the second of the year in Pro!!


Sundays final race of the season was (if we are brutally honest) was something of a quiet one for the team. With Wilkinson having Qualified P8 earlier in the day, he drove a very consistent race, maintaining his starting position for most of his opening thirty minute stint - only losing out when he compromised his own exit speed on a corner at the far side of the circuit to drop him back to P9 by the time of his stop.

Despite some progressively faster laps being entered by Turner, the #96 car simply didn't have the legs of the likes of the McLaren 720s to make any inroads into the gaps to the cars ahead to eventually finish the race and the season down in P8.


That aside, 2019 has been another great year for Wilkinson racing with Shaun Goff's Optimum Motorsport team with their new AMR Vantage GT3 since stepping up from last years Audi R8. We will have to wait to see what 2020 will bring this young man!

Photo credits - GT Open

Like many other Series and Championship's around the world, his weekend also has the International GT Open Series racing out their final two races of the season from Monza in Italy.

Having started in Pro-Am but then confidently progressed up to the full Pro class in his Optimum Motorsport prepared Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3, Ollie Wilkinson again pairs up with his AMR factory driver mentor in Darren Turner to hopefully finish the season on something of a high after the disappointments of Silverstone and a technical DNF last time out in Barcelona.


Being part of the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy process, the Leeds based racer has had Turner watching over him for most of this season despite starting the season off with his British GT Championship co-driver and co Silver Cup Champion Bradley Ellis. His progression up to the Pro was fully vindicated in Austria in July with an overall race win for him and a deputising Jonny Adam at the Series 200th race milestone.


The two races at Monza will also be Wilkinson's final efforts to impress the judges within the AMR Drivers Academy process of his on track credentials in his effort to win the coveted prize of an AMR factory contract and GTE test.

Qualifying for the weekends races takes place in the morning before each race.

Photo credits - GT Open

We know this young man as being the new 2019 British GT GT3 Silver Cup Champion and we also know him as being an International GT Open GT3 overall race winner - but we don't know him (yet) as being a Nordschleife racer but those were the tiny steps being taken towards yesterday by Ollie Wilkinson.

Never short of any lack of determination, the twenty three year old Optimum Motorsport racing driver from Leeds quietly went across to Germany at the weekend to participate in the penultimate round of the 2019 RCN Series (Rundstrecken Challenge) aboard an AMR Performance Centre Vantage GT4 all in the course of an ultimate Full VLN permit.


Again under the watchful eye of driver coach Bradley Ellis, Wilkinson shared the #621 with a Tim Neuser to 'win' his class but more importantly get that signature confirmed on his licence application.

Possibly too late to do much more with this dream in 2019 whether in RCN or VLN, it will be interesting to see where this Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy candidate will go next (beyond what that has already been announced for 2020).


His next port of call will however be at the GT Open finale at Monza this weekend.

The penultimate round of the International GT Open Series from the Circuit de Catalunya was something of a contrasting affair for all the runners but particularly the #96 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage of Ollie Wilkinson and Darren Turner as both weather and technical issues presented the team with both sides of the racing spectrum of success at the weekend.

Going down to be a race that the team will surely never talk about again, things were looking pretty good for the Pro car entry from the Wakefield team going into race one as AMR Factory driver Turner claimed a P3 start for Saturdays race in the then dry track conditions.


Starting from a wet grid (but then not raining) Turner soon found himself caught up in an incident at turn one where a car diagonally in front suddenly cut across his path leaving the #96 car with nowhere to go and tapping that Lamborghini into a spin. Although undamaged from the contact Turner was able to continue although he had already lost two places in the process but later he would be adjudged to be at fault by Race Control.

With rain now falling heavily and dense spray hindering visibility it wasn't much of a surprise to see the Safety Car called into action just before the hour to help marshals with the recovery of a stricken car stuck in the gravel. At the restart Turner used all his years of experience to literally drive around the outside of the BMW in from to claim P4 overall in the race as it seemed a recovery drive was on its way.


With the Optimum Team Manager now having been summoned to Race Control for the earlier incident it seemed that the team then 'lost track' of what was going on as the pit lane opened with just forty minutes remaining. Following the top two cars around again and again, either Turner forgot or the team forgot to tell him to pit before the driver change window had actually closed by the time the #96 pitted next time around. That would cost them a penalty.

Well, that would have had it not been for a problematic left front wheel change seen from pit lane as Wilkinson climbed aboard. With the mechanic having taken two attempts at the wheel Wilkinson was dispatched and was immediately unhappy with the balance of the car as he weaved slowly around the first few corners before running wide and stopping turn 9.

The team would later confirm a broken stub axle at the front left corner had allowed that wheel to part company from the car. Race over.


In Race two on Sunday, both the conditions and execution of the race were happily near polar opposites to Race one.

Wilkinson this time took the earlier Qualifying session for the team but suffered somewhat with understeer with the team having swapped the car back to a dry set up from that of the day before. That meant that the 22 year old would start the car from P16 on the grid.

With three consecutive non scoring races from both Saturday's race and preceding races at Silverstone already under their belts from last month, it was clear that Wilkinson was playing the percentage start - keeping the car along with those around him but clearly out of possible harms way as he waited for the grid to space out.


Two opportunist moves on the opening lap saw the #96 car soon establish a rhythm into the race that would hold their position at P13 by the time he pitted at the halfway mark. Taking advantage of their shorter minimum pit stop time to those around them, it didn't take Turner too long to get up to speed and indeed up to P7 overall and P5 in class by the time the pit window had closed.

Another two overtakes just before a late Safety Car intervention for another car in the gravel nearly paid off for the #96 team as that just left a five minute dash to the flag.

In the end, that didn't pay off for the AMR Vantage as the Teo Martin McLaren 720s ahead was just that little too fast for him to find a route around. They would ultimately finish P5 overall and in Class at the end of this hour long race. Happily they would have something positive to celebrate on the way home!


Although not what anyone within the team expected, the mistakes of Saturday were clearly learned from as they executed the best race they could on the Sunday with the package that they had available.

The final race of the 2019 International GT Open Series will be raced at Monza in just under three weeks time.

Photo credits - GT Open / Optimum

Hot off the heels of the final round of the 2019 British GT Championship season from Donington Park last weekend sees the Optimum Motorsport team back on the road again for this weekends penultimate round of the 2019 International GT Open Series from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain.

This circuit is apparently the location of Ollie Wilkinson's debut into the European series just two years ago and 2019 has seen a dramatic improvement in maturity, confidence, competance and general driving ability of the 23 year old from Leeds having achieved his first full Pro race win in the series at the Red Bull Ring, securing the overall GT3 Silver Cup class in the British GT Championship as well as being elevated to a BRDC Rising Star driver just a few weeks ago - all in his first season with the all new AMR Vantage GT3.


Whilst his season within the British GT Championship unfortunately ended for him and co-driver Bradley Ellis with a late DNF, he and GT Open co-driver Darren Turner will both be determined to erase the memory of the last round of the GT Open Series from Silverstone just two weeks ago when spins in both races destroyed any chance of a decent points haul for the #96 car.

Whilst TV evidence supports that Wilkinson was not responsible for either spin it goes to prove how sometimes results are wholly reliant upon the performance of others competing around them.


“Silverstone was a tough weekend but that’s firmly behind us and we’re hungry to make up for lost points. Our recent test in Barcelona – our first running there in the Aston – was encouraging and we learnt a few things to take forward into the race. But a clean and clear qualifying session will be key for us. We’ve had issues in the last two, including a broken subframe, which has stopped us from maximising the opportunity. That said, I’m really pleased with how my form is progressing, I was just a couple of tenths off Darren’s pace in Q2 at Silverstone" Wilkinson said.

Whilst they are not in the title race in the Pro category, four decent race results from both Barcelona and at the final round at Monza in early October would really boost their final finishing position in the Championship as Wilkinson continues to chase the AMR Drivers Academy ultimate prize.


Despite the current season coming to an end the news is still coming out thick and fast so make sure that you keep an ear open to any fresh news concerning this team!!

Photo credits - GT Open / Optimum

All previous examples of the British GT Championship's infamous hashtagged final race of the season have all provided highly exciting and eventful races that have in the past (mostly) gone in the favour of any Aston Martin Racing customer team in the equation, but Sundays events took all of that to the next level.

Going into Sunday's finale there were four AMR cars all with a statistical possibility of lifting a class or overall crown should all other results go their way. Indeed, such was the complexity of the issue that TF Sport had even created themselves a large excel document listing all of the scoring permutations just in case!


The 'favourites' had to be the then class leading entries of the #42 TF Sport Vantage GT3 car of Graham Davidson and Jonny Adam, the #97 TF Sport Vantage of Tom Canning and Ash Hand along with the #11 Beechdean AMR Vantage of Martin Plowman and Kelvin "Twinkletoes" Fletcher all up for a potential haul of accolades in both GT3 and GT4. All they had to do was to follow the team plan and not fall off the track!

The #96 Optimum Vantage GT3 of Ollie Wilkinson and Bradley Ellis did have a small statistical possibility of taking the overall GT3 crown but following issues during Free Practice and Qualifying it seemed that that duo had 'settled' for the GT3 Silver Cup title which they received on Saturday as their prize for a job well done in the first season of British GT.


Speaking with many of the drivers concerned, it was quite surprising just how 'matter of fact' they were being about it all - even for those who hadn't won anything of this level before as it would after all be what it was going to be. One thing was always going to be for sure though, that none would go down without the biggest fight that they could muster on track!!

On the formation lap, clearly some had got a little ever excited with two GT4's coming together at the Melbourne Hairpin putting themselves effectively out of the impending two hour race even before it had started - fortunately none of the AMR family of cars were affected as the actual race then began behind the Safety Car.


With the Am drivers taking the start, the opening laps saw Davidson do exactly what he needed to do in terms of following (whilst still applying the pressure) onto their Championship rival in the #72 Barwell Lamborghini - then the BMW of Angus Fender got past the #47 for position to start applying (helpfully) some significant pressure onto Adam Balon.

In GT4, Tom Canning was doing the same as he followed the class leading #29 Stellar Performance Audi R8 whilst the #97 TF Sport car of Patrick Kibble acted 'like his wingman' keeping their Championship rivalling Multimatic Ford Mustang of Scott Maxwell safely behind.


Whilst the order within GT4 would remain the same until the pitstop, pressure clearly got the better of Balon who dropped behind Davidson and into the crosshairs of both the #96 Optimum of Wilkinson and the #99 Beechdean AMR of Andrew Howard. At the halfway stage the #47 pitted for their extended pit stop from P4 whilst the #72 was now down in P11.

For the GT4 starters of Canning and Kelvin Fletcher (#11), they both ran impeccable opening stints with fast lap times built upon the basis of zero mistakes and that helped them to be able to pass on almost undamaged cars onto their respective co-drivers.


Obviously there were a few other Aston Martin Racing teams competing in the event. Despite Academy's experiencing another problematic opening day to the meeting to a point where many of the teams mechanics would spend more time working upon the #62 car of Will Moore and Alex Toth-Jones that the car ever would on race track over the weekend, at least they, with Micah Stanley and Ben Hurst in the #61, would see their season out with two solid, mid table finishes.

Also, the two Optimum GT4 cars of Connor O'Brien and Jack Butel (#35) and Mike Robinson and Patrik Mathiessen (#75) would sadly see out the season on something of a crash and a whimper (despite earlier promises in Qualifying) as O'Brien would crash out in an incident at the Old Hairpin where he would at first leave the track before rejoining it (facing the wrong way) and being collected by the Race Performance Mustang ending their season on the spot.


That incident also prompted another Safety Car period that would rotate the tables slightly for both the #47 and #97 TF Sport cars at the restart.

Firstly, the #15 Multimatic Mustang of Seb Priaulx would take P2 from Ash Hand as the pack began to space out a little once the circuit went green again - that would reduce the points deficit between the two cars slightly in the Championship but was OK as long as things didn't get any 'worse' on track.


In GT3, the biggest drama was just about to unfold going into the closing minutes of the race when the #18 WPI Motorsport Lamborghini at first gave Jonny Adam a more than decent whack up the rear going into the final corner of one lap before giving him further 'kisses' down through the Old Hairpin before overtaking him for P5 a corner later on the next lap.


That overtake took the #47 car off the top of the table in GT3 and with Adam seemingly unable to respond that all allowed the #69 Barwell car of Sam de Haan and Jonny Cocker to be the surprising victors at the chequered flag just half a lap later. That 'disaster' within one side of the TF Sport garage opposed directly with the joy and elation on the GT4 side as Hand delivered the #97 Vantage GT4 home to claim P3 in class and the GT4 crown.

Martin Plowman would also avoid all the clashing and banging on the restart (action that would ultimately claim the #96 Optimum GT3 into the gravel on the final lap) to finish P4 overall in GT4 and convincingly claim their GT4 Pro-Am title which was being celebrated in the pit lane even before the #11 car returned to Parc Ferme!!


Even at their younger ages, it was extremely professional of all four members of the TF Sport crew to mellow their celebrations as the team responded to the events on track and pondered any protest against the actions of the #18 car against the Adam/Davidson car. That action quickly went into full effect as the #47 car's Prodrive engineer was soon on his way to Race Control armed with the car's software data upon his laptop closely followed by both Adam, Davidson and other AMR representatives.


Passing them waiting outside the office of Race Control was reminiscent of waiting outside the headteachers office at school but obviously a lot more rode upon the outcome of any decision they might make - it could have easily been a very long night for all as the race results remain strictly provisional.

Investigation/appeal - counter claim/investigation from all parties all ended with WPI Motorsports appeal against their five second post race penalty finally being rejected by the Stewards allowing both Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson to be officially declared GT3 Champions based upon their adjusted P5 finish to the race thanks to a 0.037 of a second gap to the #18 car now behind them in the results.


To say that the eleven Aston Martin Racing GT3 and GT4 race cars entered this year dominated the season wouldn't be so, whilst the #47, #96, #97 and #11 car's have dominated six British GT Championship titles in both GT3 and GT4 classes which they have won, the 2019 season has been one of the most competitive and closest seasons to date and is a testament to the SRO ability to regulating such close inter marque competitiveness.


What a race - what a season and thank you to all who made that possible!

Now - when does 2020 start......???

Optimum Motorsport saw out the second day of the International GT Open's return to the Silverstone Circuit yesterday with another mixed bag of results for their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 and GT4 entries.

For the full season GT Open entry from Ollie Wilkinson (joined again this weekend by AMR factory driver Darren Turner) better things were being hoped for on Sunday after all their hard work on Saturday came abruptly to nothing half way around the opening lap in the feature race.

Both drivers again having set their aggregated Qualifying time earlier in the day (new series rules that took affect from Silverstone) would have their #96 AMR Vantage start the shorter second race from P6 on the grid and with Turner this time behind the wheel.


With mostly the Pro drivers taking the start in the top flight classes the opening laps were at least a little more controlled and thankfully had none of the accident and incident of race one that claimed at least four cars. With a warmer track temperature on Sunday, suitable tyre management was again required and for a time Turner enjoyed a 'little scrap' with Tom Onslow-Cole aboard his SPS Mercedes before that Englishman had a episode on track of his own!

The Lamborghini's and McLaren's ahead were too fast for Turner to catch with the set up that he had beneath him and for a large portion of his stint had to content himself with P6. That did change as those ahead pitted and the Optimum team ran Turner for a few additional laps hoping that their reduced minimum pit stop time would help the younger Wilkinson. It did until (exiting pit lane as P5) before another small error at Maggots/Chapel saw him run wide to lose a position down to P6.


As the laps ticked away that seemed that that was that as far as the race went but incredibly on the last lap the third and forth placed cars suddenly lost all pace as their tyres went away and Wilkinson suddenly came across the Lamborghini and McLaren floundering going into the loop. Predatory like, Wilkinson went for the move that would have elevated him to P3 with just a few hundred metres to go - well he would have had it not been for the Mercedes of Miguel Ramos who saw a similar gap and went for it spinning around the McLaren and Wilksinson's AMR in the process.


The ten second post race penalty awarded to Ramos was weak considering the race results of two other cars had been compromised and both finished much more than ten seconds behind. The #96 AMR would end the day P7.


Also joining them at the circuit for a one off appearance at the series supporting GT Open Cup Series was of course the teams #35 AMR Vantage GT4 of Connor O'Brien and Charlie Eastwood. Having come so close in race one where they nearly won the race outright there were high hopes of something similar on Sunday.

With O'Brien having Qualified P6 and taking the start this time all he had to do was bide his time, stay out of trouble and race like he did on Saturday. That as all going to plan until he was unceremoniously pushed off the track at Luffield (but was able to rejoin without losing a position) but the antics between him and the offending McLaren 570s driver would earn them both a five second time penalty for causing a collision and retaliating


Pitting at the halfway mark from P7 it didn't take the TF Sport WEC and Blancpain driver (and AMR Driver Academy Coach) Eastwood too long to start setting purple sectors as he went about picking off those ahead one by one. The first couple of cars were relatively easy until he came to the rear of the fourth placed Lamborghini - whatever he tried, where ever he went he simple couldn't get the nose of the new Vantage GT4 inside that of the Italian car. As the laps ticked by even another personal best wasn't enough to proceed the march of the car and the duo had to 'settle' for P5 overall but P2 in Pro-Am.


With the final round of the British GT Championship coming up this weekend from Donington Park we can bet that O'Brien will still be wearing his double podium success smile by the time we get to the circuit at the weekend. Well done to them!

Photo credits - GT Open / Optimum