Just over a week after claiming their first World Endurance Championship's GTE race win in Japan, West Sussex based TF Sport were back at the humble Snetterton racetrack in Norfolk during the week to offer some their drivers an end of season test before flying off to Las Vegas to collect their British GT and Blancpain GT prizes at the annual SRO Awards there this weekend.

The first of the two day test saw 2019 British GT Champions Graham Davidson and Jonny Adam take in a few laps of a wet then dry Snetterton 300 circuit - probably trying to entice the Bronze driver championship the reason to return to both the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 and the team somewhere in Europe next season. Sadly missed but also taking in some laps aboard the new AMR GT3 was team favourite Derek Johnston - more for old times sake probably rather than any imminent plan to come out of retirement.

We also understand that Jamie Chadwick also indulged in a few laps around the circuit in the blue GT3 as well!


What was more special was the availability of one of the team's GT3 cars for the teams young 2019 British GT4 Champions Tom Canning and Ash Hand to test at the circuit in-between driver coaching duties of their own that they were giving to others in one of the teams V8 Vantage GT4's that was also at the circuit.

Running unofficially timed six lap runs at a time, the better weather on Thursday allowed the two youngsters to get somewhere near to a lap time set by Adam earlier in the day (within a second for Canning) but then, that was also probably just Adam 'playing' with them.


With any GT3 test having significant financial implications for those conducting the test, that cost and trust from team boss Tom Ferrier was not lost on the young heads of either Hand or Canning who (the latter) kindly took some time out to speak with us in-between runs.


We were assured by Ferrier that nothing at Snetterton this week had anything to do with any potential deals for 2020 - or at least that was what he said.........!!!

Interesting faces past, present and future were in attendance at the British Racing Drivers Club Track day event from the home of British motor racing at Silverstone today.

Aston Martin Lagonda CEO Dr Andy Palmer was there along with his race suit as he put in some laps aboard the new Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 that Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman will race in this weekend at the opening round of the 2019 British GT Championship season.

His conclusion to the his first experience of the new race car around the Grand Prix circuit was more than adequately summarised in his "My first drive in anger of the @astonmartin @AMR_Official #Vantage GT4 race car. No better place than at Silverstone to experience it. Its just bloody awesome!" tweet.


He was followed in that car by the two racing generations of the Brundle family as both Martin and Alex prepare to take the next step to be able to race together at the Nordschliefe. From all accounts Alex will be at the next round of the VLN Series next weekend aboard one of the AMR Performance Centre cars.


Finally, it was great to see the return of both Derek Johnston and Flick Haigh with their own AMR V12 Vantage GT3's that they raced in last year - to great effect for Haigh as she and Jonny Adam (also in attendance) won the British GT overall Championship aboard the Optimum Motorsport prepared car.

Johnston was also there in his now fully rebuilt car was again being supported by his friends at TF Sport - what other events have been pencilled in for the now 'retired' former Champion have yet to be confirmed.



Photo credits - social media

Almost three months since TF Sport confirmed the return of Mark Farmer to the British GT paddock for 2019, they have today finally confirm that his new trusted side kick and driving mentor Nicki Thiim shall indeed be there too.

For the Surrey based team, 2018 they had the pleasure of both Danish drivers from the Aston Martin Racing factory team to guide their then two Gentleman drivers (Farmer and Derek Johnston) to great effect with Farmer/Thiim only just missing out on the final GT3 Championship to AMR rival team Optimum and their line up of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam at the last race of the year.


Since then, Johnston has (apparently) hung up his race suit for the final time and his position within the TF Sport garage swiftly taken up by Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson in one of the two new 2019 specification AMR V8 Vantage GT3's that the team will run this season alongside the two new Vantage GT4's previously announced.

This year will be the second season that Farmer and Thiim will be together and they automatically add themselves to the growing list of potential Championship contenders along with Adam and Davidson with the driving/mentoring services of Marco Sorensen since being scooped up by Andrew Howard and his Beechdean AMR team to form yet another formidable GT3 crew. All factory drivers have again been permitted to support their Partner teams again in 2019 due to the extended calendar of the World Endurance Championship as it finally evolves into a winter series when its next season starts in September.


When we last spoke with Thiim prior to the final round of the 2018 season at Donington Park, he confirmed just how much he had enjoyed the 'distraction'  and great competitive racing spirit of the British GT scene from his then hectic Blancpain and WEC commitments and it will certainly be good to see him back in the UK paddocks both for his driving abilities and his sense of humour.

With over ten brand new Aston Martin Racing Vantages in both GT3 and GT4 form expected to be in pit lane ready for Media Day in early March - 2019 is already looking extremely good (and busy!).


Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey/TF Sport

After six months of highly competitive racing around the best of British race tracks plus their annual excursion abroad, the 2018 British GT Championship finally came to a conclusion on Sunday with Aston Martin Racing customer team's and drivers standing tall having claimed four Championship titles at an unsurprisingly eventful 'Donington Decider'.

Optimum Motorsport's Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam completed what they needed to do to secure their place in the Championship's history books with a fourth place finish at the end of the final round's two hour race - enough to win them the overall Championship despite the best efforts of the Barwell and TF Sport rivals who both finished in front of them.


That result also earned Haigh the honour of being the first woman driver to win the overall championship as well as the her previous accolades of being first woman driver to qualify on pole in her own right followed by being the first woman to win the GT3 class race - all achievements that she earned first time out at Oulton Park back in early April and despite treacherous track conditions.


Aston Martin Racing placed co-driver Jonny Adam also earned himself a further entry into his on- going chapter of the Championship by winning his third GT3 crown.


Team Boss Shaun Goff was beyond words as he tried to convey his utmost admiration and respect for his new race pairing that had started on such 'shaky ground' as Haigh nervously first tested her new Vantage GT3 with Adam at a cold and damp Snetterton back in January through to the guts and determination of a driver who was no longer afraid to 'mix it' with more seasoned racers at even the all deciding final round at the weekend! That is not only great credit to the character of the pupil who was willing to learn and develop but also absolute credit to the tutor who has now coached some three amateur drivers to the same prize.


By virtue of Sunday's results Haigh and Adam also claim the 2018 Pro-Am Championship and Haigh the Blancpain Trophy each time just ahead of Barwell's Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen who, for a third time narrowly miss out on the big prize!


The only GT3 Championship that either Haigh, Adam and Optimum didn't win was the GT3 Team Championship as that award went to fellow AMR Customer team, TF Sport who themselves finished just nine points ahead of the Barwell team thanks to a stellar drive from the #11 car of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim to finish P2 at Donington after a time penalty had been applied for track limits - they had actually crossed the line first!


With TF Sport, Sunday's race was also the end of an era as Derek Johnston hung up his race suit for the (query) final time however sadly with a bitter taste after having been hit from behind with some force by the #1 Team Parker Racing Bentley sustaining terminal damage to the cars gearbox and forcing a much premature end to his tenure in the British GT paddock. Also as a result of that we didn't get to see Marco Sorensen perform his swan song stint in the car either!


When we (and we know others noticed too) shook Johnston's hand and thanked him for the time, efforts and service to the sport, we saw a slight welling up in his eye's with a ' I only raced a car' as he made a polite exit to the throng that was his family and friends in the TF garage. Somehow - we don't think that it will be too long before he is back in a car somewhere - maybe a selective round return to the Championship maybe but anyway, Johnston will take his car home with him as a keep sake to his AMR/BGT adventures that after all landed him the GT3 Championship title back in 2016.


Both Optimum and TF Sport have already been confirmed as the earlier precipitants of two examples each of the new GT3 and GT4 platforms apiece that we hope the teams will reveal details of in good time.

The final Championship winning performance from the weekend came from someone not directly competing within an AMR car but someone who is very much 'up and coming' with the factory team as Jack Mitchell secured a solo Championship win in his Century Motorsport BMW M4.


Formally with MacMillan AMR, Mitchell is also presently leading the China GT GT4 Championship in the #618 China Equity AMR entry that he did share with Ryan Liu as that series enters its final two events of the season with a street circuit format coming next up in just two weeks time.


For the rest of the Aston Martin Racing customer team contingent, Donington proved to be just as bruising and 'character building' as any previous round of the championship if you believe that rubbing is racing!


Jetstream Motorsport found that the only way past the 'blocking' Barwell Lamborghini was the hard way with a last minute and very elbows out move on the #69 car at the Melbourne hairpin before slipping off the circuit on someone else's oil at turn 1 before returning to the track under the Safety Car for some more panel bashing from others. Drivers Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin would finish the race P11 and the championship in P7 so for their somewhat last minute confirmation into the Championship having never driven the car or having even met each other - that is some achievement that they should all be proud of. They did win the Spa round after all!


For Beechdean AMR, their earlier good start to their return to the domestic GT scene had been hampered by some mid season misfortune so were hoping to round the year off on a high. As a result of Darren Turner's off track excursion during Qualifying, the #99 car that he shares with team boss Andrew Howard started lower down the starting grid than they had first hoped but they still found themselves as being one of the many stuck behind the intentionally slowly Lamborghini.

Despite some very competitive wheel to wheel racing in the opening stages, contact with the Nissan spun both cars around loosing them both a substantial amount of time before both were able to return to the track. After the pitstop it was the turn of Turner to come to the attention of the race officials for track limits earning himself a drive through penalty although he was later able to redeem himself with a multiple overtake to claim the cars finishing position of P5 - the position they also finished in the Championship. We await for news of a 2019 campaign.


The biggest heartache sadly befell the Academy Motorsport crew again and their two V8 Vantage GT4 entries of Will Moore/Matt Nichol-Jones and Jan Jonck/Tom Wood. Having started side by side on the grid and having earlier 'hijacked' the display of the new AMR Vantage GT4, Donington would again be cruel to the them all.

With the shenanigans of the opening lap, the #61 Moore car became embroiled in early contacts within the GT4 field that would leave several cars damaged dropping him down the order whilst local boy Tom Wood would benefit from that to find himself running up to third in class by the time of the Safety Car that was later called for the oil at turn 1. Just before the restart however, the #62 Wood car would suffer a puncture, albeit very close to the pit lane but enough to drop them out of contention.


That bad luck was quickly followed by disaster for the team as the #61 disappeared from the timing screen after apparently suffering engine failure going downteh Craner Curves marking the disappointing end of the season to Moore's/Nichol-Jones' intermittent season. For the other car, Donington would typify their own season of bad luck and misfortune (mostly not of their own making it has to be said) to finish down in P25 - some three laps down to the winning GT4.


All in all 2018 has been a year that Aston Martin Racing could easily showcase as the inaugeral year for their V12 Vantage GT3, claiming multiple podium finsihes throughout the year both in GT3 and GT4. Some teams have already confirmed their acquirement of the new turbo charged car with many more waiting to do similar.

With many national and European seasons now at an end we will have to await the timely announcements of such new race programmes as and when the teams see fit!

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey / AMR / ChinaGT

Eight exciting races later and we have again reached a 'winner takes all' conclusion to the 2018 British GT Championship as Sundays two hour race will again determine both the GT3 and GT4 overall winners in what's now aptly become known as the #DoningtonDecider!


Earlier this month we saw what may just be a significant decision in deciding the final outcome of the GT3 Championship with the overturning an earlier race steward time penalty imposed upon the Optimum Motorsport car after race 1 from Snetterton back in May that reinstated the full race points initially claimed to the #75 V12 Vantage GT3 crew of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam at the chequered flag. As a result of that decision, Adam and Haigh now enter Sunday's two hour finale with a 27.5 points over long time championship leaders Jon Minshaw & Phil Keen with their Barwell Lamborghini and by a further point ahead of TF Sport's Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim.


Only these three crews are in contention for the overall GT3 crown but with just 37.5 points on offer the latter two crews chances will be subject to the finishing positions of others. However, it is important to remember that recent Championship history has indeed proven that stranger things can and indeed do sometimes happen so all is not yet concluded!


Then late last week came the shock news that TF Sport's Derek Johnston will be making his 'home' event his last as the former British GT GT3 Champion will be hanging up his race helmet to competitive motorsport at least come the close of play Sunday afternoon. Never a stranger to wearing his heartstrings upon his sleeve we can be sure that the atmosphere will be somewhat emotional whatever the outcome for him and the team in their final race of the year in the Championship.

To Derek - its been great watching you race in the national GT series,  more so obviously when you came over to TF Sport in only their second year aboard one of their Vantage GT3's with Matt Bell. It was then a real privilege to see you lift the GT3 Championship at Donington just a year later with Jonny and we thank you for both your involvement and your time. Have a great finale and hopefully you and Marco will stick in on the podium for an AMR 1-2-3.


Rounding out the GT3 side of things, the #17 TF Sport car of Johnston/Sorensen will be having their own inter AMR battle as just over twenty points separate them from the Andrew Howard/Darren Turner Beechdean AMR car and the Jetstream Vantage of Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin as they all look to pass the ERC Mercedes team for fourth overall in class.



In GT4, Academy Motorsport will see out their season with just the remotest of championship possibilities for team boss Matt Nichol-Jones/Will Moore laying in fifth but that would involve the top four GT4 Championship cars ahead of them not finishing. The young gun line up of Jan Jonck/Tom Wood in the teams second V8 Vantage have endured something of a 'nightmare' of a season with technical issues too regularly taking the car out of competitive running positions.


Donington will also probably be the final time that we see the current iteration of V12 GT3 and V8 Vantage GT4 race their way around the national circuits as most (if not all) the main British GT teams are understood to have committed to buying the new turbo charged version of the Vantage GT3 and GT4 once both platforms have completed their development testing and homologation over the winter.

Thats sad in some respect but at least there is plenty to look forward to in 2019!


We will also keep an eye of for Jack Mitchell who presently stands at the top of the GT4 Drivers Championship table. Although racing this year in a BMW M4, he does of course make up a winning half to a China Equity AMR racing line up over in the China GT Championship this year!

Timetable for the weekend's event

Saturday 22 September
09:40 – 10:40: Free Practice 1
12:00 – 13:00: Free Practice 2
15:55 – 16:05: Qualifying – GT3 Am
16:09 – 16:19: Qualifying – GT3 Pro
16:23 – 16:33: Qualifying – GT4 Am
16:38 – 16:48: Qualifying – GT4 Pro

Sunday 23 September
09:35 – 09:45: Warm-up
12:30 – 13:00: Pitwalk and driver autograph session
13:35 – 15:35: Race

With just one round of the 2018 British GT Championship remaining, Derek Johnston has decided to announce his racing retirement following a long and successful career in both two and four-wheel competition.

His final start will be at the British GT Championship season finale at Donington Park, a fitting location as he claimed the drivers’ championship there in 2016 and it is of course his favourite circuit on the calendar and one that has been central to his race career.



Derek Johnston

“TF Sport are just like family, I’ll miss them and it will be sad for sure at the end in Donington. TF are such good friends, but I know that I’ll stay friends with them all.

“I’ve loved British GT and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the Paddock and the professionalism, but I have nothing left to prove there and most importantly, I have nothing to prove to myself because I have achieved far more than I ever thought I would.

“I made the decision to retire from racing earlier in the year and I’ve not regretted that. I’m sure I’ll test cars again, but I’m stopping racing and I’m happy to stop.”

Tom Ferrier, TF Sport Director

“Derek Johnston was our first headline signing at TF Sport. As a driver he has evolved with us as a team and we are very happy to have helped him win the championship in 2016. Derek is a racer at heart and we will miss him!”


Source material - TF Sport
Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

After the first customer test for the new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 that ran at Silverstone last week, tomorrow sees a continuation of that extensive testing programme by the factory and its customer teams with another such test at Donington Park.

Having just taken delivery of his own road going variant of the new turbo charged Vantage, TF Sport's Derek Johnston was again in the hot seat of a new race car at the circuit almost four years to the day since he first tested the outgoing V12 Vantage with Tom Ferrier's team.


We saw that TF Sport's Charlie Eastwood was amongst the first 'third party' drivers to test the car at Silverstone last week presumably due to his own commitments this week?

Todays test was under the watchful eye of AMR's Ross Gunn and Darren Turner as the remainder of the factory driver squad are readying themselves for the next round of the World Endurance Championship from Silverstone this weekend.

It is expected, although not confirmed, that TF Sport shall be one of the first Customer Teams to receive the new Vantage GT3 car.

Photo credits - driver social media

Heavy overnight rain and storm clouds looming around the Snetterton racetrack all day today, began to paint another damp picture over what will be the third round of the 2018 British GT Championship this weekend.

Thankfully, those clouds seem to be lifting and passing the track by with the weather forecast still being for a warm and dry window over the Saturday and Sunday track sessions.


To be honest, there isn't too much 'news' to report as AMR GT3 teams TF Sport, BeechdeanAMR, Optimium Motorsport and Jetstream Motorsport reconvene alongside GT4 team Academy Motorsport - everyone wants to win after all - thats the whole point!

The #17 car of Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen does however revert back to its livery design of 2016 in the hope the 'colour' will improve their luck on track - especially after having their podium position at Rockingham removed with an additional post race time penalty for further unavoidable contact during the race.

We must say that it looks much better - would have preferred the red wing option of Donington last year but ....................!!!


Certainly the five AMR teams, they will also be looking at their Championship positions having seen themselves drop down the table to (at best) third for TF Sport in GT3 and P6 for Academy in GT4 despite continuous scoring at each of the three races beforehand.


Saturday of course see's the meetings only Practice session in the morning ahead of Qualifying later in the afternoon. Sundays two - one hour races start at 11:00 and 15:30. Most, if not all of the British GT teams will have tested at Snetterton at least once this year already.


See you there!

Well, there was simply nothing dull or predictable about the second round of the British GT Championship yesterday from Rockingham with positions changing even after the throwing of the chequered flag in what can only be described as a classic GT race.

Thankfully for all, Sunday's stiff wind had cleared the rain of yesterday and most of the 1.9 mile track was now dry although still incredibly slippery due to its low abrasive state. During yesterdays Qualifying, all five Aston Martin teams had been blown away by the incredible pace of the  #33 Lamborghini with just the #75 Optimium and #11 TF Sport car coming anywhere close with the remaining three cars from the MAR stable starting from the lower half of the GT3 grid.


The 22 car GT4 class again fielded an incredibly challenging line up with Will Moore and Matt Nichol-Jones bouncing back from the Oulton Park disappointment to start P6 but with the teams younger guns way back in P20.

Sunday's Warm up was more about driving a track that was finally dry with all cars entering laps times 10-15 seconds quicker than yesterday however, as the clock neared the start of the GT race at just after 13:00 the clouds began to build again and light rain began to fall.


At the drop of the green flag, the #33 Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw quickly established a early lead over Flick Haigh in the Optimum car but her attentions were soon turned to the second Lamborghini close behind before soon dropping back to P3. Unfortunately for one, a heavy impact with the outside retaining wall for another GT3 brought of the first of many Safety Cars that at least allowed the field to bunch up again when the time came.

The drizzly rain had just about stopped but the wind had picked up considerably and that must have been very noticeable to the drivers at the far end of the circuit to the pit straight.


Mark Farmer's #11 TF Sport car was suffering from an unquantified electrical ailment that necessitated a quick visit to pit lane - that dropped him a lap in the process. Even from the track side it was possible to identify cars that were on the move - the main one being Graham Davidson in the #47 Jetstream car who had spent too many laps languishing behind the slower Nissan GTR GT3 - but once passed the gap to those ahead collapsed.

Another Safety Car for a beached GT4 again slowed and tightened the pack with Davidson now up to P3 with a three way AMR battle going on behind him between the Optimium, Beechdean and #17 TF cars who had had their own trackside issues up till then. A further Safety Car allowed Davidson to make stick an ambitious move on De Haan on the #69 Lambo as the cars turned into the first chiccaine off the bank circuit - P2 for the Scotsman in only his second BGT race.


Just before the pit window opening Johnston got a drive through penalty for avoidable contact with the #1 Bentley that would be compounded with the 15 second success penalty from Oulton Park when the #17 final pitted. What was bad news for them was good news for Haigh and Howard as the moved up to P4 and P5 respectively.

By virtue of the #33 cars own success penalty, AMR works driver Maxime Martin suddenly found himself leading his first British GT race before even lapping his factory co-driver Nicki Thiim (now in the #17 TF Sport) soon after!


Two more quick Safety Cars caused chaos in the ranks with GT4's again being caught in the chain amongst faster, race challenging GT3. Martin had himself a very close call coming from the infield and onto the banking when a GT4 driver lost control of his car right infant of him but soon the Belgium and Scots elation was to be turned into dejection as the #47 was themselves given a drive through for track limit violations.

Stealthily down in GT4, the #62 Moore/Nichol-Jones had been slowly moving up the order to take the final podium position with just five minutes left on the clock whilst its sister #61 car had moved up from P20 to be holding a comfortable P9 in class for youngsters Wood and Jonck.


Normally, the chequered flag is the end of the race and that may still be so but it's normally over until the results have been officially verified. The podiums showed a jubilant Derek Johnston and (nearly) smiling Marco Sorensen take second place in GT3 whilst Moore and Nichol-Jones saw out their own class to finish on the final step of the GT4 podium.

Post race however would see the #17 Johnston/Sorensen car have a 30 second penalty applied to them (for query a secondary penalty for avoidable contact), a move that would knock them down to P7 but would see the #99 Howard/Turner Beechdean car take the final step of the podium in their place and maintain their own momentum in the Championship so far this year.


Although a great racing spectacle for us watching, the levels of frustration was obvious in both the Jetstream and TF camps in a race that should have been much different for them both. For Jetstream the washout of Oulton Park and the missing of FP2 yesterday confirmed the teams resolve and ability which was rightly rewarded with Davidson being given the Blancpain Driver of the Day Award despite the visibly annoyance in their Pro driver. For Sorensen, breaking the circuit lap record still earned him the Fastest Lap trophy.


Beechdean AMR now hold top spot in the GT3 Championship for a AMR team in P3 with Optimum just behind as the BGT season moves on to Snetterton at the end of May. For many within these AMR teams next weekend presents them with a new challenge - the first round of the WEC aboard the new Vantage GTE!