More AMR powered success after IMSAs visit to VIR at the weekend
The two AMR Vantage GT4’s from both the Rebel Rock Racing and 89X Motorsport teams were perhaps the busiest of all as certainly Frank DePew had three races in that series to compete in with a weather-related cancellation from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last time out coming back into the weekend’s race programme for him.
Whilst Mike Fitzpatrick and his 89X team probably had a race weekend to forget with early race DNF’s in both forty minute races otherwise spoiling his previous experiences in mainstream GT4 racing of late, DePew would see his yearly tally of podium finishes more than double at the weekend as he secured two P3 podium Bronze Cup finishes in each of race 2 and the CTMSP added race 3 to go with his earlier P4 finish at the start of the weekend.
After that, we had the four regular Michelin Pilot Challenge Series full season entries from the Rebel Rock, Team TGM and Van der Stuer teams amongst the forty strong GS (GT4) and TCR based entry.
A regular two hour race this time around saw the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again starting from within the top five with the other three Astons to the rear of the GS pack. This time around, the #46 crew were able to keep their car pointing in the right direction as occasional carnage lead others to do differently to bring their car home in P6 whilst the #71 Rebel Rock entry of DePew and Robin Liddell improved upon their starting position of P16 to end the day P9 – ending a dreadful and unfortunate run of damage induced DNF’s from the last two rounds.
The triumph in class again came from the two Bronze Cup entries of Christine and Ben Sloss in the #15 Van Der Steur entry alongside the #64 Team TGM car of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb who secured another win in class to add to their championship leading tally with the husband and wife duo left to make do with a P3 finish to fall further behind the #46 car with just two races of the season remaining.
The headline event was of course reserved for the GTD only entry of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship meaning that only those within both the GTD Pro and GTD classes were able to run this weekend – mainly because of the design of compactness of the VIR circuit.
That meant both Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson were back within the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT3 Evo again after their bruising experience last time out at Road America a couple of weeks ago.
With the #27 car again fully restored to its racing beauty, saw Stevenson qualify the car P4 in the GTD class ahead of yesterday’s two hours and forty-minute race. This time determined not to get caught up in other people’s incidents and accidents, the #27 pairing drove a solid race to answer their own disappointment of late with a P3 podium finish at the end despite still being bumped down to P11 on the opening lap after heavy contact from behind. That result helped keep alive Stevenson’s GTD drivers championship aspirations with just two races of the season left to go.
Next time out for both the Weathertech Sportscar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge AMR runners will be from Indianapolis in a month’s time before concluding the season for all series from Petit Le Mans in mid-October.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Monday, August 25, 2025 |
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A bruising encounter for one Heart of Racing entry but another credible achievement for another at Road America
The new Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie achieved its best finish yet in global endurance competition at the weekend, when it finished sixth in the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Motul Sportscar Grand Prix of Road America.
The result marked the sixth consecutive top ten finish for the British hypercar in IMSA, extending its remarkable points run and maintaining its 100% finishing record on its debut season in North America’s premier endurance series. Sunday’s result was the best IMSA finish ever recorded by a car built to 'Le Mans Hypercar' (LMH) regulations, Valkyrie being the only car in IMSA's premier GTP category derived from that ruleset and an actual road going car.
The British contender is also the first LMH car of any kind to compete in IMSA, and the only one contesting both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship simultaneously, having made its competition debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.
Heart of Racing and Aston Martin Racing works drivers Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn, delivered a solid and competitive performance in an incident-filled two hour and 40-minute race, consistently running close enough to the leaders to pounce on rivals when they hit trouble. And in an event featuring no less than four Full Course Yellow (FCY) periods (where the race was neutralised and run behind the Safety Car), this happened on more than one occasion.
Valkyrie showed promise all weekend, having set the second fastest time in free practice on Friday. Gunn then qualified the #23 Valkyrie 10th for the race, less than 0.7s off the pole position time in a highly competitive 15-minutes GTP-only session on the long and challenging 4.05-mile circuit.
The team opted to keep Gunn on track during the first FCY as others pitted early in the race, giving Valkyrie a competitive track position it then maintained for much of the race. In De Angelis’s hands, Valkyrie then ran as high as fifth as the event moved through its various FCY phases and teams deployed diverse strategies. Into the final uninterrupted 40-minute run to the flag, the hypercar held its own and even extended its advantage over the chasing pack to finish a comfortable sixth, 16.5s behind the winner.
The sister Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD entry, however, endured something of a bruising encounter in the same event as British drivers Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson, qualified second in the GTD class for the 160-minute race, and ran well early on but their #27 car, which won its class at Watkins Glen last month, was damaged avoiding a rival’s accident while running second, being sent airborne as Gamble swerved onto the grass along with another car.
Despite the damage and loss in ultimate performance, the #27 recovered to finish the race ninth in class ahead of both its nearest championship rivals. The car is now third in the standings, 117 points behind the series leader with a victory counting for 350 points and three rounds left to run.
The next IMSA action will be from Virginia International Raceway towards the end of August.
Source material and photo credits - AMR
Monday, August 04, 2025 |
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The race that was not really a race for Michelin Pilot Challenge from Road America
Road America and its seventh round of the season should have been one of those races but through mainly incident on track, that event was left to be something of a follow my lead behind the Safety Car with a quick dash off for the line towards the end.
There were again just four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s competing within the twenty-three strong GS class alongside the additional fifteen TCR based entries with the nature of the four-mile Road America (in theory) more than enough for this thirty-eight strong grid to make their way around. Team TGM were back with their #46 (Paul Holton/Matt Plumb) and #64 (Hugh Plumb/Ted Giovanis) alongside the #71 Rebel Rock Racing (Frank DePew/Robin Liddell) and #15 Van Der Steur (Christine/Ben Sloss) AMR entries.
Qualifying had seen Holton again take another forward starting position in P4 whilst the others were placed further back in P17 (#71), P19 (#15) and P21 (#64) but with the latter two again battling things out within Bronze Cup in P1 and P2 respectively.
All that, however, changed on the opening lap as first Holton was seen recovering himself back to the circuit way down in P14 as the then three other cars including the #71 Rebel Rock AMR of DePew were seen crawling away from the same scene with damage – Safety car number one! Whilst front near side damage to the #71 would normally have seen them retire from the race, the team did manage to effect repairs for them to rejoin the race later (nine laps down) as an effective elongated test.
There would be further turmoil for the #46 car as their start was adjudged to have been contrary to the rules (changing lanes before the start line) for which they would get a further drive through penalty!
Back to green but then quickly back under caution as ‘safety cars do breed safety cars’ upon those immediate restart laps – this time for a TCR punted off by another into the gravel with half an hour gone already without a full racing lap under anyone’s belt!!
There would be two further Safety car interventions after this to the start of the second and final hour of racing but even that was punctuated by another messy and unnecessary contact between GS cars that lead to an extended clean-up operation again.
That left less than thirty minutes to the finish to decide but whilst the #71 was already of contention with its earlier damage and the #46 hobbled with penalty time down pit lane, the only podium winning success was again with those two Aston Martins with Bronze Cup for which the #64 crew would again claim the top step with the #15 Van Der Steur entry of husband and wife duo in third.
The series now moves onto Virginia International Raceway for its next round at the end of August.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, August 03, 2025 |
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Four AMR crews also back in business this weekend in Michelin Pilot Challenge from Road America
Another healthy entry of twenty-three GS (GT4) based cars alongside the additional fifteen TCR based entries. Like most of the season so far, the Aston Martin Racing powered runners will be from the Van Der Steur, Team TGM and Rebel Rock Racing teams where things have been going well within the Bronze Cup sub-class for two of those entries.
Also last out at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park three weeks ago, saw the #46 car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again qualify at the sharper end of the GS class in third only to suffer late misfortune again after another Safety Car restart that eventually saw them finish tenth overall. That was still better than the #71 Rebel Rock entry that was unceremonious taken out of racing contention in a dramatic style after Robin Liddell became embroiled in three other cars racing accident after a promising start from Frank DePew.
Success in Canada however came from both the #15 Van Der Steur entry of husband and wife crew of Christine and Ben Sloss and the #64 Team TGM crew of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb who between them commanded the top two steps of the Bronze Cup podium after they finished P15 and P16 overall in GS.
Those results now tie the #15 and #64 crews at the top of the Bronze Cup championship battle ahead of this two-hour race.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Saturday, July 26, 2025 |
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Both Heart of Racing IMSA entries back in action this weekend fro Road America
A diary clash between the headline IMSA Aeries and the World Endurance Championship round at Interlagos saw the Aston Martin Racing powered team forced to invite Darren Turner back into the IMSA fold to race alongside Casper Stevenson within their #27 AMR Vantage GTD with usual co-driver, Tom Gamble otherwise engaged in Brazil.
That previous round from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park saw the improvised (but still highly able driver pairing) convert their fourth placed qualifying position into a P5 in class finish – not what that had hoped for but still valuable championship points as both Stevenson and Gamble reconvene togther at Road America.
Having not raced at CTMSP simply because the GTP class wasn’t involved that time around, but we also welcome back the teams #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP car of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis for this two hours and forty-minute race.
Results from Canada sees Stevenson slip down to fourth within the GTD Drivers Championship (but still within range for the Mercedes and Lexus powered crews above with the Valkyrie crew in P12 having skipped the opening round of the season of course.
Photo credits – Team / Series / Michelin / social media
Saturday, July 26, 2025 |
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The rough and the smooth of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge racing at CTMSP
Round six of the 2025 season has seen the ‘front runner’ AMR powered crews somewhat struggle for race pace whilst the lower Bronze Cup entered crews have enjoyed a large degree of racing success as the 2024 reigning champions from Team TGM continue to lead the way.
Again in qualifying, the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb continued to be the fastest of the five as they secured another second row start to this two-hour race whilst the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR for Frank DePew and Robin Liddell positioned themselves nicely in P14 for another one of the Scotsman’s epic drives.
Another hot and dry start to the race allowed Holton to comfortably hold track position for was to be an overall clean opening lap and the race quickly adapted a flowing format around the traditional twisting and undulating circuit layout. DePew was also having a good race holding P12 whilst Ted Giovanis was having another ‘difficult’ start to the race after having to start from pit lane and then getting a drive through penalty as a consequence.
Forty minutes done as it was minimum drive time achieved for all of the bronze rated drivers with Holton staying out but with Giovanis, Christine Sloss and DePew pitting with their Team TGM, Van Der Steur and Rebel Rock cars respectively.
After the turn of the first hour, Liddell was already on his move through the field and was circulating in eighth whilst (now Matt Plumb) within the #46 had dropped to P4 after their first service but that all changed at the forty minute to go mark as a multiple car incident along the back straight claimed the #71 Rebel Rock Aston Martin as it tried to thread the needle between the three cars originally involved only to become a victim himself with significant front end damage.
The extensive debris field obviously negated any possibility of an early restart as the full Course Yellow extended through to leave just over ten minutes to go at the restart. There was then further strife for the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin as Plumb got turned around on that restart lap after contact from a Ford Mustang behind after Plumb had impacted up the rear of another car beforehand, and that dropped them out of a third-place position.
At the chequered flag, the #46 car would recover to a disappointing for them P10 position and whilst the #71 Rebel Rock was an obvious DNF, the success came for the two remaining Bronze Cup entered Aston Martins with husband-and-wife duo Christine and Ben Sloss taking first with their P15 overall finish Giovanis and Hugh Plumb taking P2 one place behind.
There was some joy for the Rebel Rock Racing AMR team however, as DePew took he second position finish within the GSX class in the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series in-between Michelin Pilot Challenge sessions to go with his first earned at CoTA earlier in the year but race two was cancelled after earlier torrential rain to allow the other IMSA Series races to maintain their televised time slots.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 |
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IMSA trio of series back in action north of the border at CTMSP this weekend
At the top of the tree is of course the LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD entries making up for a thirty-five-car entry for Sunday’s two hours and forty-minute race.
With there being no top-flight GTP class, there will be no GTP class present and therefore no Aston Martin Valkyrie from the Heart of Racing team and with this being another sprint round we expect to see just the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD present within that class of twelve other cars.
Within that #27 car will be another revised driver line up of car regular Casper Stevenson alongside that of IMSA Valkyrie racer Roman De Angelis as Tom Gamble will be on FIA World Endurance Championship duty this weekend in Brazil.
Next up will be the four AMR Vantage GT4 entries within the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series with the Van Der Steur, Team TGM and Rebel Rock Racing teams fielding their usual full season entries.
Last time out in the series, it was the best collective result to date at Watkins Glen as the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb finally got in a relatively clean lap, eventually securing a P5 finish alongside a Bronze Cup 1-2 for the #15 VDS entry of Christine and Ben Sloss alongside that of the #64 Team TGM entry of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb. The #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell again complete the quartet of Aston Martins.
Rounding off the programme of events at Bowmanville, Ontario will be the two races of the fourth round of the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series for the now mixed class grid of LMP3, GSX (GT4) and GTDX (GT3) classes.
As with the AMR powered entry into the series so far (except for the season opener from the Roar before the 24 test at Daytona) that will be just the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR Vantage GT4 evo of Frank Depew.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Monday, July 07, 2025 |
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AMR crews taking the rough and the Smooth of motor racing over the weekend
The world famous former grand prix circuit, in New York, has proved a happy hunting ground for the US-based team and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 over recent years; this was their fourth IMSA GT win since 2022 across the GT Pro and GTD classes.
“What a day! The GTD car, the crew, the drivers, everybody just executed,” said THOR team principal Ian James. “I’m so happy for us to get back to Victory Lane. Watkins Glen is our happy place, and it continues to be that way.”
Robichon started the race from pole but had to stay focussed to avoid drama in a chaotic race that witnessed no less than nine full course yellow interruptions and a torrential rain shower at the start. Despite these hazards the Canadian maintained control of the lead from the second hour before handing over to Stevenson for the middle stint.
The Briton had to fight back from contact with a rival while fighting over third place in the hotly contested division and was unlucky to find himself out of track position a couple of times as the FCYs rained down.
Gamble took over the car during yet another caution with two hours to go and began his stirring charge back from eighth place. Assisted by attrition, and the ever-present FCYs, the FIA World Endurance Championship Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie driver found himself battling for second place in the closing stages. The matter was settled when his rival spun. Then one final caution in the last 10 minutes of the race brought THOR’s clever fuel-saving strategy into play and this ultimately proved the deciding factor when the leading Lexus ran out of fuel on the last lap, handing the victory to Gamble.
“I’d actually settled for second at that point,” said Gamble. “I can barely believe we’ve won the race. I was feeling a little disappointed because I knew how fast the Vantage was this weekend, it’s been strong all weekend. It was quite hard to hold it all together on the last lap once I saw the Lexus slowing, but it feels great to have finally won in IMSA”.
For Gamble and Stevenson this marked their first victories for THOR and in IMSA, having secured podium finishes at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours.
RECORD BREAKER
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Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam became the most successful British GT Championship driver of all time on Sunday when he shared victory with Blackthorn team-mate Giacamo Petrobelli in the 3 Hours of Spa, Round 5 of the largely UK-based series.
The achievement marked a record 20th victory for the Scottish driver who is contending to become the only person to have won the British GT Championship title five times. All his previous titles, in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 were won driving Aston Martins, and Adam has now won a British GT race in every iteration Vantage GT3 since its introduction in 2012.
The achievement marked a record 20th victory for the Scottish driver who is contending to become the only person to have won the British GT Championship title five times. All his previous titles, in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 were won driving Aston Martins, and Adam has now won a British GT race in every iteration Vantage GT3 since its introduction in 2012.
The victory, which was emphatic and founded upon a similarly impressive first pole position for the team, also marked the first overall triumph for the latest Vantage GT3 in the SRO-run series, as well as providing maiden wins for Petrobelli and the Blackthorn team at this level. The win, worth 37.5 points, marked the fourth consecutive points finish for the crew and moves them up to second in the championship, just two behind the series leaders.
Beachdean Motorsport, with whom Adam clinched his first British GT title, also won the GT3 Silver Am Class at Spa, thanks to an excellent run from team owner Andrew Howard and his team-mate Tom Wood.
PODIUM REWARD IN NÜRBURGRING 24 HOURS
Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 achieved its first top 10 finish in the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring in eight years as partner teams PROsport Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport took a class podium apiece in the twice-around-the-clock German classic last weekend.
PROsport Racing, running a previous generation Vantage for Steven Palette, Marek Böckmann and Nico Bastian, avoided the chaos around them and ran as high as fifth overall, before finally finishing seventh, which was good enough for second in the SP9 Pro-Am class. It was the best overall finish for the team, and the first time an Aston Martin powered by the fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine finished in the top ten since it was introduced to the Vantage GT3 lineage in 2019.
The British ultra-luxury performance car brand seemed on course to achieve its own best result in the event with Walkenhorst Motorsport’s latest generation SP9 Pro class #34 Vantage GT3, whose all works line-up of Mattia Drudi, Christian Krogne, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim, demonstrated podium contending pace in the 2025 edition. The car was running in third position overall when it ran into technical issues just before dawn on Sunday.
The German team’s sister #30 SP9 Am Vantage did finish second in class however thanks to a faultless run for the all-German crew of Henry Walkenhorst, Jörg Breuer, Stefan Aust and Christian Bollrath.
NEW PEAKS
A specially developed Aston Martin Vantage GT4 triumphed on the marque’s first proper attempt at the world-famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb over the weekend, breaking new ground for the competition vehicle that shares its mechanical architecture with the ultra-luxury Vantage road car built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis.
Having received guidance and support from Aston Martin Racing personnel, event rookie Stephen Wetterau dominated the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama division with his BBI Autosport Team entered latest generation Vantage; having set the pace and clinched pole position in the build-up to the event.
Pole earned Wetterau a prime spot in the running order and he ultimately set a time some 10s faster than his nearest class rival and completing the event 27th overall, surrounded by competitors with access to more horsepower and downforce, and establishing Aston Martin among the class winners of the 2025 event.
Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter said: “This has been a stellar weekend for Vantage all around. The Nürburgring 24 Hours is always a tough event so it’s impressive that the brand came away with two class podiums and we were encouraged by the performance of the Pro car in the first half of the race. I’d like to congratulate Jonny Adam for his British GT record. He has been a fantastic ambassador for Aston Martin and remains an outstanding works driver. Jonny deserves this accolade. The Heart of Racing has become a dependable source of results in IMSA and the team always seems to shine at Watkins Glen – and this year’s race was another case in point. Finally, I’d like to note Steven Wetterau’s class victory in Pikes Peak. Winning on such an event with Vantage demonstrates both its versatility and usability and we’re delighted to see it succeed in such an endeavour.”
Source material - AMR
Monday, June 23, 2025 |
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Better all round performances from the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews at Watkins Glen
Round five of the season and it was back to a two-hour race format this time around as the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again showed their one lap qualifying pace to secure their umpteenth front row start to yesterday’s race.
Featuring another thirty-nine strong GS (GT4) and TCR based grid, the next best was the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell in P14 with the two Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM Aston of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb and the #15 Van der Steur of Ben and Christine Sloss a bit further back in P18 and P19 respectively in class.
Fast and furious through the opening laps for the lead group in GS saw the #46 car hold position up until the first Full Course Yellow after only five minutes of racing – but just for a stranded TCR on the kerbs. Back to green and Holton stole the lead to the race from the Mustang which he then held convincingly up until the midway pitstop and driver change – a stop that was also done under another FCY.
With the ‘lesser’ driver aboard the other three cars having survived the opening laps, their track position would obviously improve once their faster drivers were aboard with Liddell again being the one to watch for progress within the #71 car.
Getting back to racing, the #46 car has also dropped to P2 behind the Toyota, but Liddell was already up to P8 with still fifty minutes remaining as the lead pack came across the next set of TCR backmarkers for the next time around. That was how the #46 car found themselves being bumped down the order as Plumb elected to take the TCR car around the wrong side of it only to be pushed back down to P5 as a consequence.
Going into the final twenty minutes, there were still only 3.5 seconds between first to fifth at the head of the train but three quick and consecutive FCY’s for stranded cars would bite hard into that remaining race time for all concerned.
Eventually having to make do with a P5 finish, this race saw the return of the feisty pair within the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin with the #71 Rebel Rock AMR finishing just two places back. The accolades again came from within the Bronze Cup sub-class as Mr and Mrs Sloss this time overcame their recent poor form to take the BC win P14 overall in GS and two places ahead of the #64 Team TGM of Giovanis and Plumb who took second in BC to maintain their title defence this season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, June 22, 2025 |
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Four Aston Martins back in Michelin Pilot Challenge for Watkins Glen this weekend
Last time out at Mid-Ohio, the series enjoyed the status of the main event as they embarked upon another four-hour race for the second time this season two weeks ago – an event which again saw the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entries struggle.
Despite claiming a front row start, the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb only managed to secure a P11 finish at the end whilst the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis ran out of time with their recovery driver to secure an AMR powered best of P8.
Only the Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM AMR of Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson enjoyed any kind of success with a P17 in class finish – P2 within their Bronze Cup sub class whilst the #15 Van Der Steur Bronze Cup entry of Christine and Ben Sloss failed to finish (although they were classified as finishing third).
This weekend sees all four cars back in action but with the omission of the third driver within both Bronze Cup entries amongst the combined entry list of twenty-two GS (GT4) cars and seventeen TCR cars.
Track action will begin on Thursday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before an 11:45hrs local start to their two-hour fifth round of the season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Track action will begin on Thursday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before an 11:45hrs local start to their two-hour fifth round of the season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, June 15, 2025 |
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