Each running the new 2024 40A version of the Vantage GT4 platform sees the Racing Spirit of Leman move up from their Le Mans Cup duties at Le Mans last weekend to field both the #74 Silver classed car of Victor Weyrich and Mateo Villagomez alongside their #92 Am classed car of Clement Dub and Ronald Basso.

They join the solo Mirage AMR entry of #7 car for Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub as well as the ad-hoc entry for the locally based team of Street Art Racing and their car for drivers Jahid Fazal Karim and Pascal Bachmann.

Just twenty-three GT4 cars are listed for this weekend’s two-hour long races but results are already important for some as the #74 crew lead the championship in Silver/ Silver Teams as well as remaining in contention within the Am class with the #92 crew. The Pro-Am #7 Mirage crew need to break their habit of finishing no higher than P4 in class if they are to scale their respective championship table.

Photo credits – team / series / social media

Only a DNF at the end of race 1 for the #92 crew blotted an otherwise near perfect return to the circuit after their five-week break.

At this early one-third season distance, these results see the #92 crew climb up to P6 in class after Sunday’s class win whilst the #74 crew climb up to the top of the silver class with their new maximum points haul from the weekend.

For the solo running Mirage Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub, Ledenon was not quite as forthcoming for the Pro-Am classed entry as they finished their second round with a pair of P5 finishes in class at the end of these two one-hour races. 

Now sitting on thirty points within the class, this #7 car duo will need to claw back some points at the next round of the series from Spa Francorchamps in late June if they are to reduce their present fifty-four-point points deficit to the class leaders.

Both teams now venture across to Misano for the second round of the sister SRO GT4 European Series.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

However, who we do have is the return of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub aboard their new 2024 #7 Mirage Racing AMR Vantage GT4 and the two #74 and #92 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR’s of Victor Weyrich/Matteo Villagomez and Clement Dub/Ronald Basso respectively who will also be fielding their new 2024 specification Vantage’s again.

Last time out at Nogaro saw promising qualifying pace although it was only the two Racing Spirit of Leman cars that came home with class podium finishes at the end of either hour long race.

Whilst the pair of Mirage cars only finished at best P5 in class with either their DNF or DNS in the other, the #74 car of Weyrich and Villagomez secured a P2 silver class finish in race 2 whilst the #92 car earned themselves a P3 Am class finish in Race 1.

Despite the numbers, this weekend’s will just an exhilarating as the last one!

Photo credits – teams / social media

Despite that, both the Racing Spirit of Leman and Mirage Racing teams return with a two-car effort each (for this season opener at least) with a late consignment from the Prodrive factory in the UK lifting the Racing Spirit of Leman weaponry up to two new 2024 40A variants of the Vantage GT4 for their driver crews of Victor Weyrich/Mateo Villagomez and Clement Dub/Ronald Basso.

Whilst the Mirage Racing team presently have one new 2024 chassis for their pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub, their ‘guesting’ pair of Ruben Del Sarte and Josh Miller will be competing within their older 17A version as they really prepare themselves for the start of their GT4 European Series endeavours next weekend from Paul Ricard.

Yesterdays individual Qualifying sessions again proved fruitful for the AMR runners as the #92 car of Dub secured pole position within his Am class, Del Sarte slotted his older car as the fastest off all four Aston Martin runners in P6 overall (P2 in class) with Weyrich not too far behind in P8 overall (P3 in class).

In the later session, Villagomez again secured a P3 Silver class start for their #74 car, immediately in front of the #5 Mirage car of Miller whilst Basso would claim a P2 start in Am for his #92 car. The #7 Mirage car of Safronov and Vaintrub will have some work to do after their P11 and P22 qualifying sessions.

They will race later this afternoon and then again on Bank Holiday Monday.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

Today’s entry list for this opening round has however confirmed that the round will now be used by both Ruben Del Sarte and Josh Miller as they prepare themselves for the opening round of their own GT4 European Series from Paul Ricard just next weekend as they join Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub within the Mirage camp at Nogaro.

They in turn, will be joined by the two Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT4 entries for Mateo Villagomez and Victor Weyrich return in the silver class and Clement Dub and Ronald Basso return for another season in Am.

This weekend sees a reduced twenty-three car entry spread across the three available classes ahead of another SRO race programme featuring two one-hour races over both Saturday and Sunday.

Whilst we understand that both Mirage cars will be the 17A version of the Vantage GT4 (for this round at least), we believe that the Racing Spirit of Leman team may have at least one new 40A version of the car – but time will tell on that one, as well as the liveries for all four cars!

Photo credits – FFSA / Team / social media

Unveiling their first new chassis to their sponsors in Geneva earlier this week, the Racing Spirit of Leman team will pair up with AMR stablemates Mirage Racing for what will be another six-round season of multi-classed GT4 racing within the SRO sanctioned series.

Photo credits – Social Media / FFSA

Why? We don’t know, as all these Aston Martin powered teams were also busy at last weekend’s GT4 European Series round at Spa Francorchamps and we cannot recall any issues with either Mirage or GPA Racing cars that would have stopped them entering this weekend.

Nevertheless, Clement Dub and Ronaldo Basso aboard the #74 with Victor Weyrich and Mateo Villagomez aboard the sister #92 Racing Spirit of Lemans return to the series after a hugely successful round for them all last time out at Dijon where the two crews scooped three podium finishes between them having already locked out the front row in the classes at the head of each hour-long race.

Nicolas Gomar and Hugo Bac and Christophe Carriere and Didier Dumaine return within the AGS Events team garage aboard the #89 and #98 cars respectively, again buoyed by their recent performances in class within the parallel GT4 European Series but where success has so far illuded them in this series.

We will see what this weekend delivers them this time around.

UPDATE

The #48 GPA Racing crew will not be in attendance after the damage sustained previously at Dijon has not proved repairable in time. 

Photo credits – Teams / Series

 

 

Having endured some rotten luck and misfortune in recent rounds, Saturday’s Qualifying went especially well for the Spirit of Leman team after its #92 silver ranked crew of Mateo Villagomez/Victor Weyrich earned themselves pole position for race 1 whilst their #74 Am class crew of Clement Dub/Ronald Basso earned themselves a P2 start in class respectively.

Whilst the #74 unfortunately listed a DNF in race 1, alongside that of the #6 Mirage of Yves Lemaitre/Vincent Beltoise, the #92 car came home in third overall with the #5 Mirage crew of David Kullmann/Ruben Del Sarte not far off either in P5.

The #39 GPA Racing car of Baudouin Detout/Tom Verdier also suffered a late race incident which although left them still classified as a finish, left them with irreparable damage in time for Sundays second for the second time this season so far!

In Q2, the #92 car also gained class pole (albeit P3 overall) as did their sister #74 car in Am.

This time around, there was no mistakes from the Racing Spirit of Leman guys who brought their cars home to earn themselves a P2 in Silver and a class win in Am. The #5 Mirage would again enter a repeat of their bets result of the season so far with another P5 in class whilst the AGS Events team completed both races with both cars (for the first time) within their Pro-Am and Am classes.

These results still leave the #74 RSLM crew in second within the Am Class after the leaders again outscored them this weekend as the series looks ahead to the Val de Vienne Festival in early July.

Photo credits – FFSA

The #7 Mirage of Louis Meric and Romain Carton were the front running silver class Aston in Silver whilst the #74 Racing Spirit of Leman car of Clement Dub and Ronald Basso were doing similar in their Am class.

Under the darkening skies of a Saturday afternoon start, race one got off to a faltering start as a three-car incident at turn one on the opening lap eliminated two cars including the #5 Mirage of David Kullmann where the clean-up operation lost a quarter of the available race time.

Going back to green, the #74 and #7 cars maintained that pace as the sister #6 Mirage car of Yves Lemaitre and Vincent Beltoise also fell by the wayside for an early DNF to allow the #7 Mirage car to claim a worthy P3 overall finish with the #74 picking up a second in Am.

With Qualifying for race 2 also happening on Saturday, the #74 would claim another front P3 start in Am whilst its sister #92 silver class car of Mateo Villagomez and Victor Weyrich claimed a front row start at the front in P2.

Going green in today’s race 2 saw an early wild ride through the gravel for the #89 AGS Events Racing Aston Martin of Higo Bac and Nicolas Gomar but this time they survived to race another lap as Villagomez pushed hard for the lead from the off.

The race was decided within the pit lane as the #92 RSLM and #17 BMW pitted at the same time for a drag race out which saw Weyrich being the quicker to react to assume the lead for the first time. Having lost out in race 1, the #5 Mirage car of Kullmann had a lucky escape with another gravel trap at the end of the lap after he was pushed wide and into the stones only to be narrowly avoided by the #89 AGS Events Aston as he re-joined the circuit.

A late Safety Car for another car in the gravel set up a final two lap dash to the flag for the #92 car but the RSLM team held their nerve as they came home for a double podium celebration with the #92 came home for a race win with the sister #74 also taking P3 in Am. It also saw the best result of the season so far for the AMR runners with this time only the #98 AGS Events Racing Am entry of Christophe Carriere and Didier Dumaine failing to finish.

The next round will be from Dijon in about five weeks’ time.

Photo credits – FFSA GT4