Catching up with the news from yesterday was a more concise provisional entry list for this year’s Spa 24 being released by race organisers, detailing an expected grid of sixty GT3 cars for this year’s event that will start at the end of the month.

Having again been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 saga in terms of dates, this year’s event has reverted back to closer to its ‘usual’ summer fixture after having been moved out to a wet and wild date in October for last year’s event and (importantly) for this year, the public are being invited back!

This news comes out just as catastrophic events have also been seen right across central Europe (including Belgium and Germany) where huge volumes of rainfall have come down over the previous days leading to flash floods, structural damage and a large loss of life as a result. Even today, the Spa Francorchamps circuit posted images of service roads into the circuit having been literally washed away and destroyed after this week’s rainfall – that goes on top of previous damage caused to the racetrack surface only a few weeks ago.

Getting back to the racing, this week’s entry list doesn’t really give up all the news that we were expecting as whilst it did again confirm the three car Garage 59 Aston Martin Racing entries across the Pro, Pro-Am and Silver Cup classes – it didn’t potentially mention all of their drivers?

The #95 Pro Cup car effort for AMR Factory drivers Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Ross Gunn was again confirmed as was the #188 Pro-Am car for full season GT World Challenge Europe (Endurance Cup) drivers Alex West, Chris Goodwin and Jonny Adam. They will also be joined by a fourth driver at Spa – now confirmed as being Charlie Eastwood.

The only expectation that hasn’t been confirmed either way is a 4th man for the teams #159 Silver Cup entry for season long drivers Valentin Hasse-Clot, Alex McDowall and Nicolai Kjaergaard. Earlier releases from the team stated a 4th driver for both their full season cars and sources within the team suggest that a 4th driver may still be on the cards – but who??

A bronze driver test kicks off the Spa 24 proceedings on Tuesday 27tyh July with Practice, Pre-Qualifying, Qualifying and night practice taking care of Thursday. Hopefully, we will get to see the #95 car in Super Pole on Friday evening before the start of the 24hr itself being waved off at 16:30hrs (local) on Saturday.

Photo credits - GTWCE

 

Speculated about for the last few weeks after some 'carrot on a stick' social media traffic sees those details finally confirmed - and what a storyline that could make!!

Aston Martin Racing partner team Garage 59 will challenge for overall honours in the 2021 Total Spa 24 Hours with a full ‘Pro’ driver line-up that includes reigning FIA GT World Endurance champions Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim.

Despite some fine attempts from other race and road car manufacturers to steal the limelight at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Aston Martin Racing and parent company Aston Martin Lagonda have again pulled out another fine repertoire of new (and indeed old) race and road cars to woo the crowd and viewers at this year's event.

With 2019 also marking the 70th anniversary of the company having first raced at the Goodwood circuit close to the south coast of England, no expense or viewpoint has been spared as the company celebrates that fact with its customers and fans with both demonstration runs and static displays of cars past and present to drool over.


From the Aston Martin Racing side of the equation, we have seen examples of the now historically classified DBR9 GT2, the now outgoing V12 Vantage GT3 from R-Motorsport (in its Bathurst 12Hr livery) through to an example of the new 2019 specification and turbo charged V8 Vantage GT3 from Optimum Motorsport.

These beauties have been bolstered by another appearance of the factory teams new V8 Vantage GTE, a car that only raced for the first time just over a year ago but since then has gone on to secure its first class pole and then class wins in etc World Endurance Championship over the course of the 2018-19 Super-season.


Familiar faces likes AMR factory drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam as well as many guesting drivers have com to support the team over the four day event on the Goodwood Estate.

As a ticket only event, unless you are lucky enough to have applied for and been accepted for tickets the best we can hope for is to watch the incredible live stream available HERE











With the WEC, there is no time to lose as the next season to the Championship resumes in just three weeks at the Prologue - this time from the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain over the 23rd and 24th July ahead of the season start at Silverstone on the 1st September.

Photo credits - FOS / AMR / AML

This weekend will certainly pack a punch for most GT motorsport enthusiast with more than a handful of events due to take place with the presence of umpteen Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing cars competing between them

Starting at Donington - this weekend sees the penultimate round of the GT Cup Championship with a mighty five AMR cars from both season regulars, returning favourites and welcome guests.


Whitebridge AMR's Chris Murphy and Adam Hatfield presently lay in second place in the overall Championship table just two points behind the current leaders. They return with their #72 AMR V8 Vantage GT4 leaves them looking to secure their GTH Class as well as taking the lead overall before the championship concludes at Silverstone next month. They also bring a second GT4 for James Murphy.

Nigel Hudson returns with his JMH prepared V12 Vantage GT3 having taken something of a break from the championship earlier in the year with the news that 2018 will now not be his last season in motor racing, promising something 'interesting' for next year!.


Also returning to the Championship is Andrew Howard and his Beechdean AMR team with a V12 Vantage GT3 for himself and a V8 Vantage GT4 for TV personality and team favourite Paul Hollywood. This will be Paul's second outing with that team car having also participated at the Aston Martin Racing Festival at Le Mans back in June.


Moving south to Snetterton sees the fifth round of their seven round season with EDF Motorsport again preparing the AMR Vantage GT4 entry for Aussie Mal Sandford and Ben Seyfried. Again, they too also enjoyed the rigours of the AMR Festival but unfortunately incurred significant damage to their car when they returned to the Britcar Championship's round at Oulton Park just a few weeks later. We believe that Snetterton is their first event since then?

Blancpain GT full season entry, R-Motorsport dip their foot into the next round of the 24H Series season in Barcelona this weekend with a 24 hour entry for one of their V12 Vantage GT3's with co team principal Andreas Baenziger being joined with familiar team faces of Peter Leemhuis, Markus Lungstrass and Jake Dennis.


None of these drivers are strangers to endurance racing with many learning their trade with the team in the VLN series, Bathurst 12hr, etc but not (we believe) in this series and not on the Hankook control tyre. The team did test at Barcelona on Hankooks a few weeks ago alongside their other  Blancpain GT3.

Back to the east of Spain, Matt George has lived the 'high life' today with testing at Donington Park  with his Invictus Games Racing crew before private jetting off to Many-Cours with his Generation AMR co driver James Holder for their second entry into the FFSA GT4 Championship with their Vantage GT4.


Around the world to the Shanghai International Circuit sees China Equity AMR return from their summer break for the next round of the China GT Championship with one of their cars just two points behind in the highly competitive GT4 Championship.



Britain's Jack Mitchell again shares the #618 AMR car with Ryan Liu as they chase down the championship leading McLaren 570S with team mates David Pun and Bill O'Brian again sharing the teams golden #619 car.


Florida based team, Automatic Racing make the long trip across the USA to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the next round of the Continental Tyre Sports Car Championship. Only weeks ago did driver Craig Lyons destroy one of their V8 Vantage GT4's in a horrifying barrel role plus a substantial contact from another car at Road America. Fortunately, Lyons emerged from the wreck unaided and relatively unscathed which was unlike his car!

Finally but by no means least, we see the Goodwood Revival meeting again take place at the historic circuit with cars and drivers too various to mention on their own. We know that AMR factory drivers Darren Turner and recent birthday boy Jonny Adam will be in their midst as well as cars such as the DB2 and DB4GT on the entry list from event regulars such as 22GT Racing.


Several of the above events will feature a live stream as well as tickets being available on the gate (NOT at Goodwood) for the others.

Photo credits - 22GT / China GT / FFSA / Steve Jackman / EDF Motorsport / British GT / BES

Another good job done for Aston Martin after four days of terrific display of both road and race cars to die for and all demonstrated with vigour up the legendary hill of Goodwood House at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

For 2018, emphasis was very much upon the new road cars being released out of the Gaydon factory including the  all new DBS Superleggera, the extremely exclusive V12 Vantage V600 as well as various models from the AMR Performance range including the Rapide and DB11.


Aston Martin Racing factory drivers Darren Turner and Nicki Thiim have been on hand throughout the weekend to run demonstration laps aboard the Vulcan AMR Pro and the new V8 Vantage GTE. The teams yet to be finalised V8 Vantage GT3 was there but surprisingly only as a static display.

An Aston Martin of old grabbed the news headlines earlier this weekend by becoming the most expensive car ever sold in a European auction room when a 1961 DB4 GT Zagato was sold for over £10 million to an undisclosed European buyer.


Finally and in a totally outlandish display of technical ability, we saw the 'ultimate city car' get fitted with a V8 engine from a Vantage S as a bespoke commission from a customer with Aston Martin's Q service to race up the hill in a time its smaller engined 'cousin' could only dream!


This weekend also draws the early summer break to an end with many national, European and World championships resuming over the coming weeks. For many of the factory AMR drivers, that resumption of customer team duty starts just next weekend as the British GT Championship returns with their annual excursion to Spa Francorchamps before many stay behind for the Blancpain GT Endurance Spa 24 headline event just the week later.

As for the World Endurance Championship - that resumes at Silverstone in just four weeks time! Its all going to get rather busy - very quickly!!

#TeamAMR

Photo credits - Drew Gibson / Aston Martin / Goodwood FOS

Aston Martin will be taking the Goodwood Festival of Speed by storm in 2018, with nine cars confirmed to take on the world-renowned hillclimb. Between 12th and 15th July, there will be no fewer than three public debuts, as well as the new Vantage and the entire DB11 family, at the famous home of the Duke of Richmond.

Aston Martin’s new flagship Super GT, the DBS Superleggera, will be making its first public appearance at the festival. Not only will it be on static display in the Supercar paddock where visitors will be able to get a closer look at its muscular carbon fibre bodywork, but it will also be driving up the 1.16-mile hillclimb. As the 211mph DBS accelerates away from the start line, spectators will be treated to the sound of its 725PS, 900NM, twin-turbo V12 as it thunders between the lime trees.

Making its dynamic debut from the First Glance paddock will be the Rapide AMR. The 205mph four-door is the latest car in the exciting new AMR stable that draws direct engineering and aesthetic links to Aston Martin’s successful race team – Aston Martin Racing. In a first for a Rapide it has both 21-inch wheels and carbon ceramic brakes, which will help it to slow in time for the fearsome Molecomb corner.



Also making its dynamic debut will be the stunning V12 Vantage V600. This car made its static debut last month at Le Mans but now the public will be able to to see and hear this incredible limited-edition car in motion. Only 14 examples (seven coupes and seven roadsters) of the V600 will be made, so Goodwood provides a rare opportunity to see this special customer commission created by Q by Aston Martin. With a naturally aspirated V12 it should sound wonderful as it negotiates the famous flint wall.

All three members of the DB11 family will be in attendance at the Festival of Speed. The V8 and the Volante will be joined by the latest, range-topping DB11 AMR in the Supercar Paddock. Sitting alongside them will be the striking new Vantage with its 510PS, twin-turbo V8. All of the current production car range will also be in action from Thursday to Sunday, tackling the Birdless Grove as they climb through the final turns of the hillclimb.



In addition to Aston Martin’s renowned sportscar range, Aston Martin Racing will also be bringing its latest Vantage GTE to the Goodwood hill, fresh from the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Based in the Motorsport Paddock, the #95 will be piloted by the 2016 GTE Pro champion Nicki Thiim throughout the weekend. The Dane will be sure to wow the crowds in the lime-liveried World Endurance Championship ‘Super Season’ racer from Friday onwards.

Finally, the wildest model the company has ever produced, the Aston Martin Vulcan AMR Pro, will be taking part in the timed runs up the hill, driven by Aston Martin Racing veteran Darren Turner. Its 820BHP V12, huge levels of downforce and, perhaps most importantly, its shorter gearing should all give this uprated version of the Vulcan the best possible chance of setting an impressive time on the short, technical course. As it sprints under the famous chequered finishing arch and breaks the timing beam at the top of the hill there will no doubt be more than a few people intrigued to see what the stopwatch says.



While Aston Martin is more than well represented on track, visitors will also be able to get closer to the brand’s latest models at a dedicated stand with six models on hand - DBS Superleggera, Vantage, the DB11 family and Rapide S. The stand is located close to the Cricket Pitch, which serves as the Festival of Speed Silver Jubilee Display throughout the weekend.

The action kicks off at Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday 12 July.


Source material - Aston Martin

A group of fantastics photographs were released by Aston Martin today of the entire seven car production run for their extreme, race to road car Vantage AMR Pro.

First announced just over a year ago, this road legal thoroughbred has taken many influences from its Vantage GT4 and Vantage GTE racing stablemates that helped launch the AMR Pro branding. Back in July last year, the running of the car up the infamous hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed helped the iconic brand 'steal the show' before the car was then unleashed onto the motoring press at Snetterton.



Todays announcement confirms that the entire production run has indeed been fulfilled with each example off David King's Special Operations department beautiful creations being shipped off around the world to their respective new owners.

Mimicking the colour scheme of last years Aston Martin Racing WEC squad, these cars also carry a little memento from the factory teams achievement at Le Mans last year! Sweet.........



Photo credit - Aston Martin

We would like to think that we have a relatively balanced social media stream coming into The-Advantage covering most lines of motor sport and the marques competing within them, but having watching four days of 'awesomeness' coming out of Goodwood last weekend you would be hard stretched to beat the achievements of Aston Martin.

Featuring four days of sheer indulgent, inclusive and sometimes exclusive access from not just the Aston Martin Lagonda parent company but also that of Aston Martin Racing, fans of motor cars and motor racing cars alike bore witness to everything that it good about the English marque, with some featuring the added bonus of a celebrity figures of note.




This years Festival of Speed event saw the exclusive launch of the heavily revised and extremely exclusive Aston Martin Vulcan AMR Pro at the hands of AMR works driver Darren Turner as well as the first public running of the even more exclusive Vantage AMR Pro track car.

Mixing these two beasts with that of the 2017 Le Mans 24Hour GTE Pro winning car as well as the latest hard wear from the road car business running up the twisting hill track through Lord March's country estate, we're sure that all who attended and those who watched the live stream were left suitably contented.






For Aston Martin Lagonda - its back to the development bubble ready for the next iconic model whilst for Aston Martin Racing - its back to the grindstone in readiness for the next round of the World Endurance Championship from Germany in two weeks time.

Photo credits - Aston Martin / Aston Martin Racing