Bullitt Racing help out with the AMR Drivers Academy process in Spain
Utilising the services of the locally based Bullitt Racing team and their AMR Vantage GT3 had a number of driver candidates step up from their Vantage GT4 programmes of this year for a GT3 test around the Circuit de Catalunya, all under the watchful eye of AMR factory, Bullitt Racing driver and former Academy winner Valentin Hasse-Clot.
Originally starting out with over twenty young drivers within the process, a number of drivers were unfortunately lost along the way seemingly leaving this top half dozen to undertake this test in Spain to help the panel of judges determine the eventual winner.
Proudly posing alongside the team’s black and red GT3 had both Phil and Ben Dorr (ADAC GT4 Germany), Konstantin Lachenauer (GT4 European), Josh Miller and Jamie Day (British GT) and Romain Leroux (ADAC GT4 Germany) undertake what was for some of them, their first GT3 test.
What comes of this test both in terms of determining the winner of the AMR Drivers Academy process and moving forward into 2023 is obviously yet to be determined.
Photo credits – Bullitt Racing
Monday, November 21, 2022 |
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Just a couple of title chances as twelve Aston Martins take on the final rounds of the GT4 European Series in Spain
Always a popular series, the final weekend welcomes another near capacity grid of forty-eight cars with some battling it out to the conclusion of their class whilst others dip that metaphorical toe into the water ahead of any decision for next season.
Amongst those forty-eight cars, we have been told to expect a whopping twelve Aston Martin Racing powered teams competing again through all three available classes with a few crews returning to their earlier combinations whilst we also welcome new crews to the series for the first time.
Amongst the latter we see the FFSA GT4 entry of the GPA Racing’s Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez join the sister SRO series for the first time ahead of their French national series finale in just two weeks’ time as well as Ruben Del Sarte partnering British GT GT4 racer and GT4 Championship contender Jamie Day aboard the #58 Mirage Racing AMR Vantage.
From a season ending championship stand point of view, just two AMR crews stand any mathematical chance of securing the Silver Class by the end of the weekend with the #24 Prosport Racing duo of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse best placed in third but still thirty eight points behind the leading Mercedes whilst the #10 Racing Spirit of Lemans AMR of Konstantin Lachenauer and Gus Bowers really do need to win both races and rely upon the leaders failing to score to have any hope there.
In the Pro-Am class, it’s just the #25 Prosport Racing car of Rodrique Gillion/Nico Verdonck and the return of the #9 Racing One AMR of Christian Gisy/Ralf Kelleners again but they both sit mid table with just personal pride and ambition to race for whilst we also see three cars compete within the Am class.
Like we’ve said earlier, it’s a series debut for the #72 GPA Racing crew whilst the #18 Racing One AMR of Henrik Pederson-Lyngbye and the #89 AGS Events Racing AMR of Julien Lambert and Wilfried Cazalbon both see the season out in Spain but with still a very distinct chance for the French #89 crew being just twenty-two points behind their class leaders.
The #6 Racing One car of Moritz/Vincent Gisy, the #7 AGS Events AMR of Mike Parisy/Nicolas Gomar, #80 AGS Events AMR of Tom Verdier/Loris Cabirou and the #19 Racing Spirit of Lemans AMR of Tom Canning/Akhil Rabindra complete the Aston Martin powered driver line up going into this final round.
Photo credits – Teams / GT4 European Series
Friday, September 30, 2022 |
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Another challenging GT4 European Series for the Aston Martin Racing runners at the Hockenheimring
Since the previous round of the series at Speed Week at Spa Francorchamps at the end of July, the summer break had generated several driver changes – particularly amongst the French AGS Events Racing team all stemming from one driver leaving for his previous Mirage Racing outfit. There was also a rationalisation of driving recourses with the Racing One Team Spirit outfit that saw them loose a couple of drivers, gain a couple but loose a car to what they had previously entered.
Setting up over periods of wet and dry tracks, Saturdays double Qualifying sessions left several crews on the back foot as the track conditions dried and others had excursions through the gravel to sustain damage for the second driver.
For race one, it was the #19 Racing Spirit of Lemans car of Tom Canning heading the AMR bunch in eighth, just ahead of his teammate in the #19 car of Konstantin Lachenauer with the close presence of both Hugo Sasse (#24 Prosport Racing) and Ralf Kelleners (#6 Racing One) nearby.
A typical large gaggle entry and exit out of turn one saw many break limits as many crews made up or indeed lost ground in the run up to the next corner with a great move from Lachenauer around the Chevrolet allowed him and Sasse to gain quick ground before the young Swiss tried his luck once too often with the next car at the same corner only to spin the Porsche around.
Fortunately for him, he escaped any official redress for his actions (until the end of the race when they were given a five second time penalty) as Nico Verdonck confused the Audi ahead of him at the time to double switch back to claim a P16 overall position just ahead of the pit window.
First to pit was Sasse to hand over his #24 car to Mike David Ortmann and that proved itself to be a good move as the rain began to fall once again. The fresh crew with the Mirage Racing team (Ruben Del Sarte and Paul Aural-König) had almost kept themselves out of the wars but appeared in pit lane with frontal damage although this didn’t stop them from continuing their maiden voyage together.
Fifteen minutes to go and the rain really started to fall, and whilst many at the front of the pack remained out on slicks, others took the gamble and pitted for wets. Unfortunately for them, a resulting incident on track with two cars left stranded brought of the first FCY but the race would ultimately finish behind the Safety Car because of the track conditions.
That left the #24 Prosport Racing entry to claim another (unchallenged) P2 overall finish to add to their others and helped to consolidate their Championship positions.
That left the #24 Prosport Racing entry to claim another (unchallenged) P2 overall finish to add to their others and helped to consolidate their Championship positions.
Sundays second race was fortunately under clear blue skies and sunshine again as a guesting Will Tregurtha was lead AMR car this time on the grid in P3 with Gus Bowers in his #10 car in fifth.
Another chaotic opening couple of corners soon saw the grid calm down into what appeared to be an orderly queue before the lead bunch came across some fluid left on track by an ailing BMW on the opening lap, leading to many cars (including Tregurtha and Bowers) exiting track right before importantly returning to the race pace only slightly otherwise unscathed.
Elsewhere, Markus Lungstrass was leading the Am Class aboard his #18 Racing One AMR whilst Del Sarte was hanging in there just behind Akhil Rabindra in the #19 car in P15.
Showing some of his old pace, it wasn’t long before Tregurtha was back up with the traffic and challenging for position but suddenly made a bee line for the pit lane with a rear left puncture – that all but destroyed his and co-driver, Nico Hantke’s race.
What followed next was a cascade of incident and accident that claimed another long list of Aston Martin runners with first Bowers hitting into the rear of one car to break his steering, Lungstrass doing similar whilst also challenging for position before both Kellener’s Racing One car and Tom Verdier’s AGS Events cars also pitted with terminal ailments.
That left just the #19 Racing Spirit car of Canning/Rabindra to claim a P6 Silver Cup finish with Del Sarte/König claiming a debut P7 in Silver Cup result too. The new AGS Events line up of Nicolas Gomar and Mike Parisy to claim a P5 Pro-Am result together.
With just one more event to go at Barcelona at the end of the month, only the #24 Prosport Racing and #10 Racing Spirit Astons have any chance of the Silver Cup Champiosnhip prize although both lie at least thirty-eight points back with just fifty points maximum on offer. In the Am Class, another DNF for the #89 AGS Events car of Julien Lambert and Wilfried Cazalbon in race 2 has left them twenty-one points behind their class leader with the same points being available.
That is a tall ‘ask’ but in the land of GT4 racing – anything is possible and probably to the effect!!
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Sunday, September 04, 2022 |
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Many changes in the AMR line up ahead of GT4 European Series first visit to Hockenheim
It’s still eleven Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews expected at the next round of the GT4 European Series from Hockenheim this weekend but with just with ‘one or two’ changes along the way to keep us on our toes about things!!
As per the recently published entry list the differences are: -
· #5 Racing One Team Spirit Racing – no longer Kenton Kock/Thijmen Nabuurs – now Nico Hantke plus Will Tregurtha in Silver Cup· #6 Racing One – Moritz now not with brother Vincent Gisy – now Ralf Kelleners in Silver Cup
· #7 AGS Events – FFSA GT4 crew mates Mike Parisy and Nicolas Gomar return to the European Series
· #58 Mirage Racing – enter their new GT4 crew of Ruben Del Sarte and Paul Aural-König
· #80 AGS Events – Tom Verdier is now joined by team FFSA racer Loris Cabirou after Del Sarte moved to Mirage Racing
Photo credits – Series / Teams
Monday, August 29, 2022 |
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A revised nine AMR Vantage GT4 car effort gets ready for ADAC GT4 Germany from the Nurburgring
For the nine Aston Martin Racing powered teams that entered round three, it was an emphatic display from the #24 PROsport Racing car of Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse who converted two outright pole positions into two overall race wins to elevate themselves up the Drivers Championship leader board.
There were also further podium finishes for the #7 Dorr Motorsport Aston Martin of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux who finished just behind the #24 car each time as well as the #48 PROsport Racing car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner who finished third and second in their own Trophy class.
This time around in Germany, we still see nine Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s but with a small twist in who.
This time around in Germany, we still see nine Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s but with a small twist in who.
Having raced at Zandvoort as a one-off, the Team Speed Monkeys car of Jacob Riegel and Marc de Fulgencio is not amongst this weekend’s provisional entry list (obviously), but the numbers have been made up with a third car from PROsport Racing.
Again, we see both the #24 and #48 full season cars as listed above, but we also see the addition of another (as yet) un-numbered car for German drivers Leon Wassertheurer and Donar Munding. Wassertheurer is already a contender within the ADAC GT4 Germany Series having competed with the W&S Motorsport team in one of their Porsche’s whilst Munding steps across to GT4’s for the first time having competed previously in various LMP3 series.
Other returning entries include the #99 Team Speed Monkeys car of Paul Aural König and Konstantin Lachenauer after their series debut together in Holland, the #6 Racing One entry from Tom Wood and Euan McKay as well as the remaining Dorr entries for #69 Phil/Indy Dontjie, #95 Simon Connor Prim/Nico Hantke and the #97 car for brothers Sandro/Juliano Holzem.
Championship wise, Phil Dorr and Dontjie still lead the overall table by five points from both Sasse/David-Ortmann and Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux with Wood/McKay some thirty-one points behind them.
In the Junior Class, Sasse leads Leroux and Ben Dorr by six with Sokolovskiy in joint third in the Trophy class with Dorr Motorsport thirty points ahead of PROsport Racing the teams table.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / Teams
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / Teams
Tuesday, August 02, 2022 |
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Not Aston Martins day at the latest round of the GT4 European Series from Misano
Both the Prosport Racing and Racing Spirit of Lemans crews had enjoyed some fine results in the series (and others) up until now and everyone was hopeful of similar performances that helped both teams settle at the top of the Silver Cup Drivers Championship leader board going into the weekend.
Whilst we all know that Qualifying may not necessarily paint an accurate picture of overall performances, the results of Q1 did show that the two Spirit of Lemans cars of Tom Canning/Akhil Rabindra (#19) and Gus Bowers/Konstantin Lachenauer (#10) were still amongst the top runners with their P5 and P8 overall positions whilst the double race winners of last time, the #24 Prosport Racing AMR of Higo Sasse/Mike David-Ortmann was way back in P17 overall.
With five other Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4s amongst the grid of forty-five cars (after the unfortunate early demise of the #9 Racing One car during Free Practice), the odds were surely still stacked in the favour of at least one of these coming through by the end of the first hour long race.
Due to sheer numbers involved, the opening corners were of course a little bit fraught but at least they were clean as the natural hierarchy of performance soon made clear who was fastest and who wasn’t – sadly for the AMR runners, the utter dominance of the Mercedes AMG GT4 quickly proved that it wasn’t to be Astons day this around.
The next pain for some came just after the pit stop window as Wilfried Cazalbon parked his #89 Am Class AGS Events Racing car with a clear technical issue having only just taken over from Julien Lambert. Whatever the problem was, that car would not compete again over the weekend.
Soon after that, the problems for the AGS team got worse as a pit lane exiting Noah Andy got hit from behind, taking both him and the Porsche assailant out of the race on the spot too.
With the two Pro-Am Aston Martin being the last to pit, by the time debris was cleared from the AGS car, Am drivers Rodrique Gillion and Henrik Lyngbye-Pederson each found themselves running within the top 10 on merit as the race went back to green but with just fourteen minutes remaining, contact between two Mercedes spun one of them around and straight into the path of the #25 Prosport Car of Gillion causing extensive front end damage to both cars.
With the two Pro-Am Aston Martin being the last to pit, by the time debris was cleared from the AGS car, Am drivers Rodrique Gillion and Henrik Lyngbye-Pederson each found themselves running within the top 10 on merit as the race went back to green but with just fourteen minutes remaining, contact between two Mercedes spun one of them around and straight into the path of the #25 Prosport Car of Gillion causing extensive front end damage to both cars.
Like the Cazalbon car before it, the #25 Gillion car would not be seen again in race 2.
Another Safety Car and then more issues for the AMR runners as Bowers pitted his #10 car with technical issues that would lose the then Silver Class leaders valuable points as the #24 Sasse/Ortmann car eventually came through for a P15 overall/P3 in Silver finish with the #19 Rabindra/Canning car just behind in P17/P4. The #5 Racing One car of Thijmen Nabuurs/Kenton Koch car would persevere for a P6 Silver finish with the #18 Racing One AM car of Pederson/Lungstrass fifth in Am and the #80 AGS car of Tom Verdier/Ruben Del Sarte the last of the AMR finishes in P27 overall/P10 in Silver.
Another Safety Car and then more issues for the AMR runners as Bowers pitted his #10 car with technical issues that would lose the then Silver Class leaders valuable points as the #24 Sasse/Ortmann car eventually came through for a P15 overall/P3 in Silver finish with the #19 Rabindra/Canning car just behind in P17/P4. The #5 Racing One car of Thijmen Nabuurs/Kenton Koch car would persevere for a P6 Silver finish with the #18 Racing One AM car of Pederson/Lungstrass fifth in Am and the #80 AGS car of Tom Verdier/Ruben Del Sarte the last of the AMR finishes in P27 overall/P10 in Silver.
Sundays second race was sadly not a great deal better as the #24 Prosport car of Sasse failed to finish even the opening lap as an early puncture saw the young German elect to call it a day rather than risk the pointless process of limping his car back to the pit lane.
Despite this early negative, the #80 AGS car of Verdier and the #5 Racing One car of Nabuurs at least looked racy as they put early challenges onto those in front before an early Safety Car was called as a McLaren impacted along the pit wall.
The #10 Racing Spirit of Lemans car would again suffer an untimely exit from the race as Lachenauer would this time be forced to retire his car with technical issues just after the pit window as again, the Mercedes AMG cars just ‘walked away’ at the front.
Despite the best of efforts from all those involved, the best AMR result in Race 2 would be the P10 overall and P6 in Silver finish from the #19 Rabindra/Canning car with the #5 Racing One Nabuurs/Koch effort at least being the more consistent of them down in P12 overall/P8 in silver.
These results have seen the #10 crew lose the lead of the Silver Class to a Mercedes powered crew after their double race win in Misano and the Aston Martin crews double DNF. The sister #19 crew and the #24 Prosport crew remain in P2 and P3 respectively with a similar fate with the #89 AGS crew of Cazalbon/Lambert losing their Am class lead thanks to their double DNF as well.
Next top for the Series will be at Spa Francorchamps later this month during the SRO’s annual Speed Week.
Photo credits – GT4 European Series
Monday, July 04, 2022 |
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Will the #24 PROspotrt continue their incredible race form as the GT4 European Series visits Misano
Having raced already at Imola and most recently at Le Castellet over the four races so far, the Aston Martin contingent shrinks back to a paltry ten car for the third round of their six-round series with the #6 Racing One AMR entry again absent along with driver Vincent Gisy but will Moritz Gisy again joining Father Christian aboard the teams #9 car in lieu of Ralf Kelleners.
That is the only expected change ahead of this weekend’s round of action as the Racing One team still field a further two cars for Kenton Koch/Thijmen Nabuurs in the #5 car as well as Henrick Lyngbye Pederson/Marcus Lungstrass in their #18 car.
With then have the two PROsport Racing entries for both Rodrique Gillion/Nico Verdonck and Hugo Sasse/Mike David-Ortmann, the AGS Events Racing team also field their three full season crews of Tom Verdier/Ruben Del Sarte, Hugo Conde/Noah Andy and Julien Lambert/Wilfried Cazalbon as well as the two Swiss based Racing Spirit of Lemans entries for both Tom Canning/Akhil Rabindra and Gus Bowers/Konstantin Lachenaur.
Results for these crews so far have been ‘pretty good’ with Bowers/Lachenaur, Sasse/Ortmann and Canning/Rabindra forming a 1-2-3 at the head of their Silver Cup class but with the front running crew demanding a 31-point lead over their Prosport rivals whilst in the Am class, we see the #89 AGS crew of Lambert/Cazalbon at the head with a twenty-eight-point lead over their closest rivals there. The latter will however be in another chassis for this weekend after their #89 car was rolled in Qualifying at last weekends FFSA GT4 event at Albi.
Looking back at the results last time out at Paul Ricard and for last weekend, the team to beat this time around will be the #24 crew of Sasse and Ortmann after they secured a double overall win in the GT4 European Series at Ricard at the beginning of June as well as two pole positions and lights to flag race wins last weekend in the ADAC GT4 Germany Series.
Photo credits – GT4 European / Teams
Wednesday, June 29, 2022 |
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Nine Astons due for third round of ADAC GT4 Germany from Zandvoort
Sporting an equally high number of Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 runners as the FFSA GT4 Series this weekend will be the ADAC GT4 Germany Series as they travel to the Dutch coastal circuit of Zandvoort for their third round of the season.
Since the last round of the series from the Red Bull Ring about a month ago, we have since learned that the Team Speed Monkeys squad have now entered a pair of their own Aston Martins for the remainder of the season alongside those from the Dorr Motorsport, PROsport Racing and Racing One teams.
That takes the ADAC GT4 Germany AMR headcount to nine out of the provisional entry list of twenty-seven cars for this weekend’s two races.
Last time out proved to be successful for many of the AMR runners with the #48 PROsport car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner securing a pair of P3 finishes in their Trophy Class, whilst the #7 Dorr car of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux secured a Junior Class win in race 1 whilst the #69 Dorr car of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie and the #6 Racing One car of Tom Wood and Euan McKay secured P2 and P3 respectively in race 2.
Those results have Dontjie and P Dorr holding the overall lead by nine points over last season’s champions with both Wood/McKay and B Dorr/Leroux a bit further back in P3 and P4 whilst in the Junior Class, B Dorr and Leroux lie in second but some fourteen points behind. The Dorr Motorsport team also lead the Team’s Championship battle by twenty-nine points.
Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse complete the PROsport Racing line up with Nico Hantke/Simon Connor Primm and Sandro and Juliano Holzem complete the Dorr Motorsport quartet.
Newcomers, Team Speed Monkeys see Paul Aurel-Konig finally swap over from his Porsche entry to partner Konstantin Lachenauer aboard their #99 car whilst Jacob Riegel partners fellow DTM Trophy racer Marc de Fulgencio aboard their #63 car.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 / Teams
Thursday, June 23, 2022 |
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Team Speed Monkeys make that two AMR Vantage GT4s into ADAC GT4 Germany Series
We have already posted about Assen based Team Speed Monkeys outfit branching out from their DTM Trophy racing commitments and into the ADAC GT4 Germany Series with their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4, but this week’s news takes that just a little further.
With Paul Aurel-Konig and Konstantin Lachenauer already confirmed for this weekend’s third round of the ADAC series from Zandvoort in Holland, last weekend’s DTM Trophy sensation Jacob Riegel heads the teams second AMR entry into the series as he partners fellow DTM Trophy racer Marc de Fulgencio in the teams #63 car.
This news takes the AMR powered team headcount to nine cars featuring the four Dorr Motorsport, two Prosport Racing and the single Racing One AMR entries that have already contested rounds (with great success so far) from Oschersleben and the Red Bull Ring.
Christian Bracke, Team Principal Speed Monkeys: “We are really happy that we are going to compete in the GT4 Germany with two Aston Martin Vantage, albeit with a delay. With the König / Lachenauer driver pairing, we definitely want to fight for overall victory. Konstantin is not only a very good driver, he also knows the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 inside and out. That will certainly help us as a team and our other pilots. With Marc we were able to win a strong young driver. "
Photo credits – Team Speed Monkeys
Monday, June 20, 2022 |
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Team Speed Monkeys to debut their new Vantage GT4 in ADAC Germany next time out at Zandvoort
As reported on the driver’s website, Paul Aurel-Konig is finally due to make his transition from the Allied Racing Porsche team and over to the Team Speed Monkeys team for what will be the third round of the season from the historical Dutch circuit.
Team Speed Monkeys did declare prior to the start to the season of their involvement within the German Series but to date had yet to appear. As reported today, that was apparently down to the lack of available capacity within the Prodrive factory to deliver the team with what would be their third Vantage GT4 platform to alongside the two that are already used within the DTM Trophy Series.
Aurel-Konig will be partnered by GT4 European Series AMR racer Konstantin Lachenauer.
Photo credits – Team Speed Monkeys
Tuesday, June 14, 2022 |
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