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










 

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