Not since their triple GTE podium success at the last round of the World Endurance Championship to be run pre COVID-19 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas way back in late February have many of the Aston Martin Racing and TF Sport team personnel been together in the paddock.

Having competed in last weekends opening round of the European Le Mans Series from the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, the #98 AMR Vantage GTE's crew made an overnight dash across the Spanish border to the Motorland Aragon Circuit to the west of Barcelona to join up with the team's other two GTE Pro cars as well as TF Sport's GTE Am car for some tyre testing and team re-bonding ahead of the next rounds of both the ELMS and WEC in the coming weeks as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans later in September.


The enthusiasm to be back behind the wheel couldn't be move evident for both Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim with some more 'mad-hattery' on their social media channels after both had been limited to just some sim racing since the beginning of the international racing lockdown soon after the conclusion of the CoTA round and the travel restrictions there after.

We assume that all full season AMR drivers are present at the test - not sure if Paul Dalla Lana has returned home to Canada after last weekends ELMS debut (especially considering international transit issues for those entering and leaving the USA and Canada or not but we do know that Charlie Eastwood is absent from the three day test. He and his significant other are patiently waiting at home  the safe delivery of a certain new (but now overdue) bundle into their lives.

Additional drivers present included the teams two Le Mans 24 only drivers in Richard Westbrook and  Harry Tincknell.

That leaves Jonny Adam and Salih Yoluc aboard the bright red #90 car.


A new name within the team is certainly present at the test in Augusto Farfus who will race with the #98 crew of Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda at the next round of the ELMS at Spa Francorchamps in two weeks time before re-aligning to Dalla Lana, Gunn and Farfus for the remainder of the WEC season again from Spa the week after that. Aston Martin Racing confirmed that Darren Turner would be stepping aside for Farfus two weeks ago.

Whilst it is highly unusual to hear of any official feedback from the teams at these private tests, the teams should however have no issues with getting temperature into their Michelin tyres with air temperatures pushing 40 deg C - indeed, overheating may become a real issue here!!

But its good to see them back!!!

Oh - and many congratulations to Mr and Mrs Adam and their recent announcement!

Photo credits - Social media

Success in most things can be measured in many ways and that's the same in motor racing as Aston Martin Racing came away on track empty handed from the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at the Circuit Paul Ricard is southern France today.

Having had their new Gold rated driver Ross Gunn qualify their #98 AMR Vantage GTE at the front row of the GTE grid yesterday having missed out on Pole by just fractions of one second, the race start was left to Gentleman driver Paul Dalla Lana ahead of todays four hour race.


This time under partly cloudy skies but still with a higher track temperature, the Canadian found himself quickly being mugged by the plethora of Ferrari 488 GTE's that make up the majority of the full season GTE entry this year on the opening lap to drop back to P5 in class before heavy traffic at the final corner of the opening lap caught him out allowing the front corner of his car to strike and damage the rear of an LMP3 car.

That incident was immediately placed under investigation by Race Control and just a few laps later the car would be served with a drive through penalty for causing a collision. Their race then went from bad to worse on the in-lap to serve that penalty when Dalla Lana drifted wide and onto the marbles that already existing off the racing line even at that stage of the race to spin out off onto the infield but thankfully undamaged before continuing a few seconds later.


Both the spin and the drive through dropped the #98 to plumb last in class and it would then always be an uphill battle to salvage anything from the race but then, they were only there as a training exercise for the resumption of their World Endurance Championship duties later next month in the first place so any decent finish would just be a bonus!!

Then, their predicament was helped by the misfortune of two cars ahead as first a Proton Porsche got spooked by a passing LMP2 car to spin off into the tyre wall before a more serious looking incident with another LMP2 car saw the then race leading Spirit of Race Ferrari collected into another tyre wall and into immediate retirement. Fortunately neither drivers were injured beyond that of their pride.


Dalla Lana would also undertake a double stint aboard his #98 car, driving for nearly two hours before he finally passed the car to former WEC team mate Mathias Lauda and soon the Austrian Silver ranked driver had clocked up the cars best lap so far. Not before too long, the experience of Lauda had worked its magic as he hauled the #98 onto the rear of the JMW Ferrari for position and ultimately forced the error to take P4 in class before he handed over to Gunn for the final charge to the flag.

Strangely exiting pit lane behind the JMW Ferrari, after they managed a quicker stop, it didn’t take the AMR factory driver more than half a lap before he swept past Jody Fannin's yellow Ferrari to retake that position, but then that was the easy bit as the then third placed Iron Lynx Ferrari was over twenty five seconds ahead!!


With just under an hour remaining, that was a gap even the mighty Gunn could not recover so all was looking good for a P4 finish for the #98 crew before a puncture late on the penultimate lap forced Gunn to stop just as the leading LMP2 took the chequered flag. We believe that it is this that has listed the car as a non finisher as the #98 clearly left pit lane after the stop?

None the less, it was a racing exercise well undertaken as the team looked to refocus themselves after the extraordinary long COVID induced sabbatical. Next stop for the car and some of the team is a multi day Michelin test elsewhere in Southern Europe ahead of a double weekend in Belgium with the second round of the ELMS ahead of the next round of the WEC from Spa Francorchamps.


Racing is back and its great!!

Photo credits - ELMS / AMR

Returning to the series for the first time with their new turbo charged GTE race car, Aston Martin Racing nearly came away with a class pole with their GTE after a pair of flying laps from their new Gold rated factory driver Ross Gunn.

Joining the feeder series for the sole purpose of lifting the race craft of their long term customer and gentleman driver Paul Dalla Lana before the return of the World Endurance Championship later in August, it has been the work of both Gunn and Mathias Lauda to set up the #98 AMR Vantage for the Canadian businessman throughout the week at the official Prologue before his arrival at the circuit on Friday.


Over the five session of the Prologue earlier in the week, the #98 car ran with a best lap time of 1:52:959 before Gunn elevated that time to be quickest of the nine GTE runners with a 1:51:507  in the second and final Free Practice session yesterday. Dalla Lana also pushed his comfort zone from is Bronze Driver test time of 1:55:350 down to 1:53:912 in the same session as the team and drivers became more used to the spec Goodyear tyres around the Le Castellet circuit.

Running with Gunn in the car against some formidable factory driver opposition in this afternoon ten minute Qualifying session, Gunn literally went off with bang to claim the top slot on the timing board by the halfway stage. Setting a fastest time of 1:51:745 over this two flying laps, the #98 car was finale pipped at the line by the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari as the third from last car to take the chequered flag by just 0.0163 of a second.


Sundays four hour race begins at 11:00hrs local

Photo credits - ELMS / AMR

The two days of official testing at the European Le Mans Series Prologue from the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France came to an end earlier today ahead of the revised season start for the ACO sanctioned series this weekend.

Initially believing that this feeder series into the World Endurance Championship would have no Aston Martin Racing runners within it, the severity and fluid nature of the global COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to the situation of where long term AMR customer Paul Dalla Lana seeing the validity of entering (certainly the first two rounds of the European Series) to help bolster his preparations in going back to racing in the WEC that restarts at Spa Francorchamps later next month.


Testing and indeed racing next weekend with Dalla Lana will be his current WEC team mate in Ross Gunn and his former WEC team mate in Mathias Lauda before Gunn steps aside at the Spa round for Augusto Farfus to race with the squad for the first time before Dalla Lana, Gunn and Farfus take the #98 to the conclusion of the WEC in Bahrain in mid November.

Despite missing out on track time during the lockdown, the main difference for the team would be the adjustment to the new Goodyear spec tyre within the ELMS series for the GTE class as they run Michelin within the WEC and plenty will have happened in tyre technology between now and when AMR lasted Dunlop rubber in any Series/Championship.


The timing results showed that Dalla Lana did not run in the car yesterday, we don't know if that was by choice of whether he simply hadn't arrived at the circuit by choice or whether travel/entry restrictions between Canada and France was an issue. We now understand that Dalla Lana will not arrive at the circuit until just before his Bronze driver session on Friday.

With tests like this never really painting the true picture Gunn did post on social media that he believed that their #98 package was competitive with their class opposition which is made up of mostly Ferrari 488 GTE's with a few Porsche 911 RSR's.


The dreaded Balance of Performance is of course back with the turbo charged V8 Vantage GTE being issued a criteria somewhere in-between its Pro and Am classed ones from the WEC. Base weight is up compared but fuel load is more and the boast pressures are slightly different across the range.

Ahead of Fridays first official session of the new 2020 season, another quirk of process coming out from the Stewards is that all teams complete their own initial scrutineering process. The only trouble there is that any error on their part in doing so will be rewarded with a 15 second stop and hold penalty during the race!!


Whilst all this is going on in France, Darren Turner is being kept busy back home getting the other factory Vantage GTE cars ready for a tyre test somewhere in Europe next week.

Photo credits - AMR / ELMS

Not since the year of Beechdean AMR's unsuccessful GTE Class title defence and TF Sports series audition back in 2017 have we seen an Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE compete in the European Le Mans Series and then, it was the older normally aspirated engined fan favourite.

Thinking back to when the original 2020 full season entry list was first announced way back in mid February do we recall just how disappointed we were not to see any AMR representation in that series so todays news is most welcomed, particularly with the global situation as it also confirms the first outing of the 2019 specification Vantage GTE in the feeder series to the World Endurance Championship.


Then obviously since the entry list announcement came the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the fall out that such a monumental global event presents.

As a direct result of this global situation however has come todays announcement from AMR that confirms a two round entry for their long term customer Paul Dalla Lana who will, with the mixed help of drivers Ross Gunn, Mathias Lauda and Augusto Farfus, be using the ELMS as something of a training exercise before the World Endurance Championship reconvenes after its COVID-19 enforced sabbatical at Spa Francorchamps in mid August.

Such is the separation between the two ACO rules series revised race dates that the #98 crew can fit fit both the Official Test (15th July) and opening round of the ELMS (19th July) at Le Castellet in southern France as well as the next round at Spa Francorchamps (9th August) before the 6hrs of the WEC in Belgium just the week later.


Todays news also confirms a revision in the driver line up for the #98 car within the remaining WEC races as Darren Turner steps aside to concentrate on his Aston Martin Valkyrie development duties (that have also been delayed by COVID-19) to be replaced with the former BMW racer Farfus in those rounds.

We have of course seen WEC AMR and Am class competitor, Salih Yoluc take on a similar line of thought by entering the International GT Open Series to hone in his racing skills in-between WEC rounds with Charlie Eastwood in a TF Sport supported AMR Vantage GT3.

Photo credits - AMR

Aston Martin Racing returns to action this month when it contests the opening rounds of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) with the Aston Martin Vantage GTE. It will be the first time a works Aston Martin has been on track competitively since the team’s victory in the 6 Hours of COTA in February and will act as preparation for the final three rounds of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.

Paul Dalla Lana will drive the #98 machine with Mathias Lauda (A) with whom he won the 2017 WEC title, and his regular team-mate Aston Martin Racing works driver Ross Gunn (GB) in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on 18-19 July. This will also mark the ELMS series debut for the works team with the Vantage GTE. For the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (8-9 August), the second round of the ELMS, Gunn will make way for BMW works driver Augusto Farfus, a long-time family friend of Dalla Lana’s, so he can take his turn to prepare for the WEC races ahead.


Refreshed and ready to race, Dalla Lana, Farfus and Gunn will pilot the #98 car for the remainder of the FIA WEC GTE Am campaign in Spa (15-16 August), the 24 Hours of Le Mans (19-20 September) and Bahrain (14-15 November). Gunn and Dalla Lana currently lie third in the standings, just 12.5 points away from the lead.

Three-time Le Mans class winner Darren Turner meanwhile has been asked to further step up his already significant involvement in the development of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie hypercar programme as testing ramps up prior to going on sale in 2021. The Briton’s focus will remain on this through 2020, while staying on standby to assist in the GTE and customer racing programmes ahead of a full return next year.


“Like all of us, I’ve really missed competing on the track and getting the opportunity to put in extra competitive miles in the ELMS is really exciting,” said Dalla Lana. “I’ve been friends with Augusto [Farfus] for a long time, and we’ve wanted to race together for a while, but it’s only now that a break in his programme has allowed us to do this. The ELMS presents a tough challenge and the races are long enough to test our skills and our systems as we prepare to return to WEC. And as we look towards Le Mans and the world championship challenge, I think it gives a good chance to fight at the front. It’s going to be fun!”

Aston Martin Racing Managing Director John Gaw: “This is the longest break from active motorsport that we have ever had at Aston Martin Racing but we’ve used the time wisely to ensure we’re in the strongest possible position to resume the WEC season. The ELMS is a strong series where we have historically had good success with our partner teams – in fact, works driver Darren Turner won the series with Beechdean AMR back in 2016 – and it presents exactly the kind of challenge we want to refresh our systems ahead of our WEC return. Paul has chosen to recruit Augusto Farfus to race with him and we look forward to welcoming him into the team.”


The 4 Hours of Le Castellet begins at 1100, local time, on Sunday, 19 July.


Source material - AMR

With civilisation and motor racing slowly but surely returning towards something that will eventually be construed as being 'normal', there is no way we could miss off the events of the 2017 World Endurance Championship in our series of corona-virus passing time galleries.

Being the second year with the new aero regulations that produced those prominant rear defusers, 2017 would again see the same variant of Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE run in both GTE Pro and GTE Am and having stayed with tyre partner Dunlop, the team thought that they had retained an edge over their class competitors after the success of the previous year in GTE Pro.

Running just three cars again for the nine round series of that year, another juggle around in drivers saw Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen being joined by Richie Stanaway (for the first three rounds only after which he would leave the them and return home) in the #95 Pro car whilst Darren Turner and Jonny Adam were joined by Brazilian stock car racer Daniel Serra in the sister #97 car. The #98 GTE Am car of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda saw out the line ups for the full season at least.

With photographs from the only two rounds of the year that we attended, things proved difficult for the ageing normally aspirated V8 Vantage at the opening round at Silverstone with both Pro cars only able to bring up the rear in class by the end of the six hours whereas the #98 crew did at least convert their class pole into a P2 finish in their field of just five cars.

The big news of course came two months later at the Circuit de La Sarthe in France where the avoidance of last years shenanigans in Balance of Performance put last years winning Ford GT's firmly back in their place but at least allowed the Vantage to blossom. A late Qualifying session run for Turner late on Thursday night put his #97 on Pole for the 24 hour race with the #95 only just behind in P3.

Joining the #98 crew in GTE Am saw the return of the #99 Beechdean AMR GTE of Andrew Howard, this time with Ross Gunn and Oliver Bryant and a new GTE entry from TF Sport for their customer racer Salih Yoluc. He would be joined by his then usual side kick Euan Hankey and a returning Rob Bell.

For this race the proceeding 23hours and 55minutes were all just a warm up as Jonny Adam left it to the last lap to pass the then GTE Pro class leading Corvette to secure his and Serra's first win at Le Mans - something that Turner was a little more used to but a massive result for the oldest car in the Pro field!! The #99 Beechdean AMR car would finish highest of the Aston runners with a P4 in GTE Am.

That class win at the home of endurance racing was later complimented the #98 crew's ultimate achievement of finally lifting the GTE Am Drivers and Team's Championships by the end of the season with another mighty podium winning string of results.

What a way that was  of putting the 'old girl' out to pasture in the Pro class at least with the factory about to deliver their new turbo charged iteration of Vantage ready for the start of the 2018 season.

These photos (not in any particular order we're afraid) may not be anything special, but are ones we certainly have enjoyed taking and witnessing events from behind the lenses - hope you like them too.

Seeing more news today of some imminent AMR customer team testing coming up next week, we hope that part 12 will be the last of our looking back in time as circumstance now allows us to look forward to what's in front of us for a change.

In the meantime - keep safe and we hope to see you at a race track soon.































































































































End.