#TeamAMR move on to VIR for round three of SRO America
It’s the third round of the SRO America family of races this weekend from the beautiful Virginia International Raceway as sixteen GT3 cars from the GT World Challenge America Series join up in the paddock with twenty-nine GT4 cars from the GT4 America Series and further twenty-four GT3 and GT4 cars that make up the GT America Series.
Now five weeks since they last all battled out their respective races from the Circuit of the Americas, few of the seven Aston Martin Racing Customer and Partner teams that help to make up this colossal grid have been resting on their laurels, testing hard as many still have work to do to get themselves up to where they want to be.
The Notlad Racing with RS1 team unfortunately claimed the most ‘column inches’ in race reports from CoTA last time out after a high-speed barrel roll destroyed one of Matt Dalton’s AMR Vantage GT4’s in the first GT4 America race before seriously damaging the other in the second of the GT America races. From our own social media ‘chats’ with Dalton after the event, he confirmed that he was otherwise OK other than a bit bruised in both body and in wallet as one car was obviously a write off but at least the other was repairable.
We are not aware if his recently acquired chassis replacement from Prodrive will be with the team in time for them to make use of it at VIR or not!
In the amateur only GT America Series, CoTA was a good event for both the GMG Racing car of Jason Bell who secured his first double with a P2 and P3 finish as well as the #25 Heart of Racing car of Gray Newell who progressed from a P7 finish in R1 through to a P4 position in R2 – a great continuation of improvement from the otherwise novice racing driver.
In the larger grid of the GT4 America Series and despite there being six AMR’s listed within it, only the #062 Dexter Racing of brothers Ryan and Warren Dexter came away from Texas with any silverware after another P3 Silver Cup finish for them in R2.
The Notlad Racing #00 car obviously failed to finish in R1 nor did the #2 GMG Racing car of Bell and Andrew Davis in R2. Out of the other five Pro-Am entered cars, it was the #59 WR Racing car of Paul Terry/Brandon Davis and the #15 Bsport Racing car of Kenton Koch/Bryan Putt who otherwise had the more consistent of meetings for #TeamAMR with two goo finishes apiece, unfortunately just off the podium each time.
The remaining #24 Heart of Racing car for Newell and Ian James continued along Newell’s learning curve and should improve exponentially from now on as driver coach James has since passed over on his IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship seat in the teams AMR Vantage GTD to factory driver Ross Gunn to see out that season – in theory giving the son of the team owner more time to develop in the two SRO series in which he races this year.
The remaining #24 Heart of Racing car for Newell and Ian James continued along Newell’s learning curve and should improve exponentially from now on as driver coach James has since passed over on his IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship seat in the teams AMR Vantage GTD to factory driver Ross Gunn to see out that season – in theory giving the son of the team owner more time to develop in the two SRO series in which he races this year.
Finally, and certainly by no means least sees the #12 Ian Lacey Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Drew Stavely and Frank Gannett return after two very different races from CoTA – one under torrential rain, red flagged before the end because of track conditions mirrored by a second race under clear blue sky and sunshine.
Having had Prodrive engineers and technicians in attendance again at the circuit in Texas, the team says that they again learned lots more about the car both in set up and in race trim to be able to travel to VIR on their own to a circuit (hopefully) more suited to the cars characteristics than Sonoma and CoTA. Featuring only a bronze and silver graded driver in a highly competitive Pro-Am class, the team hope that their inter race develop so far will allow them to improve upon the P8 in class positions earned last time out.
Being SRO sanctioned series, all three series will have their two races streamed live via their respective social media channels. VIR is a beautifully unique circuit in the USA but despite that, the racing there never fails to disappoint.
Photo credits – GTWCA / GT America / GT4 America
Monday, May 31, 2021 |
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GT World Challenge America and GT4 America sees growth in AMR GT3 and GT4 entries
With the GT World Challenge America runners again competing in two – 90-minute races across each weekend, the new GT America Sprint Series will see cars from both the GT3 and GT4 classes compete against each other for the first time whilst the GT4 America returns with its highly competitive GT4 style of racing.
Whilst Aston Martin Racing numbers have dropped slightly within the IMSA family of racing going into the new season, AMR Customer and Partner team participation looks like it will continue to flourish in SRO rules racing after the Flying Lizard’s Michael Dinan and Robbie Foley dominated both Sprint and Sprint X last season to secure most of the available Championship accolades by the end of the then COVID delayed 2020 season with their two AMR Vantage GT4’s.
Several teams have already gone public over the winter months with their transition to the AMR marque whilst others on the list have kept their intentions well under wraps – until now of course. Yesterday’s announcement by the SRO Series unfortunately only confirms the team, car and series it’s entered into and for accuracy’s sake, it’s probably best to only confirm all once they have been officially ratified by the SRO.
In a fourteen strong GTWCA Series, the Ian Lacey AMR Vantage GT3 of Drew Staveley and Frank Gannett has already been announced and seen testing in Utah this week having finally received their new car from Prodrive late last month. These guys step up from the Ford Mustang GT4 to the GT3 for 2021 and they will compete against Dinan/Foley who themselves both step across to the GT3 platform this year.
In GT America, we saw early announcements from GMG Racing having swapped to the AMR Vantage GT4, Notlad Racing with Rennsport 1 make a return to the SRO series and we also see another brand new AMR GT4 car for IMSA GTD team Heart of Racing as they enter the SRO GT4 domestic arena for the first time.
Then in GT4 America we see another exciting array of entries from GMG Racing, Notlad Racing with Rennsport 1, Bsport Racing, Heart of Racing, Dexter racing and WR Racing. From what we understand is, whilst some of these team names may be new to us, some of the names expected behind each steering wheel may not be.
Either way, news of this expected 100 car attendance at the opening round at Sonoma should figure no less than seven teams preparing and racing AMR machinery – all under the guiding eye of those at CSJ Motorsport of course as each series starts to work its way through the expected seven race weekend season.
It’s going to be another busy one from across the pond – but who’s complaining but with so much achieved last season, the pressure to succeed this season will on on their shoulders from the off.
Photo credits - GT4 America / Respective teams
Thursday, February 11, 2021 |
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