End of the line for both the WRL Series and CSJ Motorsport this weekend
Over in North America, sees the World Racing League run their final double endurance round of the season from the Circuit of the America’s near Austin, Texas where another eight plus eight-hour event rounds of their 2023 season with another diverse and multi-classed grid.
Eighty-three listed entries amongst the five available classes again sees the David Tuaty led TLM Racing team prepare two current variants of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 whilst the Automatic Racing team again field their older version for their respective gentleman clients.
With no car running the entire season, non are in any Championship contention with their participation bracketed within the ‘more for the sheer hell of it’ category of participation.
Jim Hamman returns with his distinctly familiar liveried #172 TLM Racing entry alongside that of Jody Miller and Stephen Hamman whilst their stablemate #888 also sees a subtle change in driver line up from last time around at Sebring as father, Brian O’Shaunessy this times partners Troy Ermish and Pippa Mann in lieu of son Zang.
The #909 Automatic Racing AMR is also listed as again running but they did have something of a torrid time at their home event in Sebring and couple of weeks ago as a fuel pressure/pump issue kept them side-lined for much of the weekend. We are still awaiting confirmation that they are again in attendance and with which drivers behind the wheel.
Whilst this race is also the final race of the season for the series, it is also (and very sadly) the final race in which those at CSJ Motorsport will be in attendance, functioning within the role as appointed Partners to Aston Martin Racing within the North America race theatre for the supply and race cars, parts and service to their clients.
Built up from virtually nothing by husband-and-wife duo Cy and Susan Jary back in early 2019, CSJ Motorsport command a large degree of the responsibility in building the American AMR GT racing scene into what it is today and like many Team Managers have already said to us – their absence in the paddock from the start of next season will be sorely noted. Whilst we still await confirmation of the organisation who will be taking over that role in 2024, hopefully Cy and Susan can just sit back and enjoy this ‘local’ race weekend and savour all that they have achieved as they seek out business opportunities elsewhere within the racing industry.
Photo credits – CSJ Motorsport / Tom Beer Photo
Friday, December 01, 2023 |
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Aston success at end of WRL's latest 8+8Hr event over the bumps of Sebring
For this events 8 + 8-hour race format drew the attention of over sixty runners within the WRL’s multi-class format with four Aston Martin Racing powered crews featuring amongst them with their allotted GTO class.
Two crews from the David Tuaty lead TLM Racing outfit saw the bright red #172 entry of Jim Hamman, JP Southern and Tom Herb take to the infamous bumps of the former wartime airfield circuit alongside the #888 ‘Mona’ with the young Zang O’Shaunessy behind the wheel of his father’s car, supported again by the more experienced racers in Pippa Mann and Troy Ermish.
The locally based Automatic Racing team were also in attendance with their older iteration #909 AMR Vantage GT4 that Ramin Abdolvahabi would have shared with Jim Cox for the weekend had it not been for repeated electrical/fuel pump issues that side lined the car for much of the weekend.
The locally based Automatic Racing team were also in attendance with their older iteration #909 AMR Vantage GT4 that Ramin Abdolvahabi would have shared with Jim Cox for the weekend had it not been for repeated electrical/fuel pump issues that side lined the car for much of the weekend.
They in turn was joined by another new to AMR team in 89X Motorsport who had acquired both a Vantage GT8R and Vantage GT4 from New Zealand ahead of their racing debut in them lats weekend. More akin to American muscle cars, this would be a racing test for their driving duo of Mike Fitzpatrick and Sebastian Vassen.
In Saturdays opener, the #888 started the highest in P7 where they were able to come home P5 overall (P4 in class) despite the loss of their air conditioning whilst the debuting 89X #89 car home just two places behind in their first ever AMR powered race to finish P7 overall and P6 in class with the #172 finishing immediately behind them to make it a rather successful race 1 outing.
Sundays second eight-hour race was much the same, but the #172 car did start from pole position, but race issues and fatigue did creep in which did affect their respective results.
The #888 car again finished P4 in class (this time still on the lead lap as opposed to be being one lap down to the winners on Saturday whilst the #172 eventually finished P8 in class with the #89 crew P15.
The season moves onto the Circuit of the Americas where their 2023 season will conclude at the start of December with another 8 + 8 Hr event – sadly alongside the final race for the Aston Martin Racing supporting CSJ Motorsport crew of Cy and Susan Jary (amongst others) who have grown the American marketplace to the scale that we have seen this season and whose presence within the paddock will be sorely missed.
Those were the words from one team manager this weekend, not ours!!
Photo credits – Teams / social media / Tom Beer Photo
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 |
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New Aston Martin Racing powered faces appear in WRLs visit to Sebring
With Friday testing already underway and our eyes and ears of CSJ Motorsport still pounding the beat within the paddock, we see that we have four Aston Martin Racing powered teams due to compete within the GTO class – three we already know but one is racing their AMR for the very first time.
David Tuaty’s TLM Racing team is back with two of their customer driven Aston Martins as Jim Hamman, JP Southern and Tom Herb power the red #172 car whilst Pippa Mann, Zang O’Shaunessy and Troy Ermish driver the newly sponsored #888 together for the first time.
Whilst we believe the older, normally aspirated #909 Automatic Racing AMR Vantage GT4 is there with presumably familiar Stoner Car Care driven faces, the main attention does swing over to the #89 entry from the Team 89X Motorsport team who have taken delivery of two familiar cars.
Whilst one is the familiar AMR yellow and the other plain black, we understand that both have been purchased from New Zealand where both were driven within the New Zealand GT Series up until the end of last season with the yellow one being the Vantage GT8R car of Stephen Harrison. The other is a Vantage GT4 variant that is believed to be that of Shane Helms where both drivers drove with the RaceLab team within the NZ GT Series back in 2022/23 seasons.
We don’t presently know of all their names – other than Mike Fitzpatrick runs alongside both Sebastian and Jeff within whichever one they elect to run.
As usual for the WRL Series, it’s a long a hard eight-hour race on Saturday before they do it all again on Sunday before shipping out to the Circuit of the Americas for the final round of the season in early December.
Photo credits - Tom Beers Photo / CSJ / Racelab
Friday, November 10, 2023 |
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Impressive debut for TLM Racings Aston Martin GT4s in the WRL
Amongst the multiple class grid, we had the three effectively brand-new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from the TLM Racing stable competing for the first time in the series since their owner purchases over the winter with only a local Floridian shakedown meeting between them and Saturday’s opening nine-hour race green flag.
All very distinguishable from their very vibrant livery designs saw the white/red/blue #888 car host father and son driver pairing and Brian and Zang O’Shaughnessy partner alongside team owner David Tuaty and former IndyCar driver Pippa Mann with Jim Hamman, Thomas Herb, Jody Miller and we believe JP Southern (DTM Trophy racer) aboard the red #172 car.
The dazzling bright #453 Ruckus Racing Aston Martin had Scott Blind, Evan Stamer and a young GT4 debutant in Jaiden Beckman behind the wheel.
Despite the best attempts from Mother Nature to disrupt the meeting on Friday with both torrential wind and rain as well as forecasted tornado’s, both the Saturday and Sunday race days turned out nice for the grid.
Although consistency was the name of the game for both the #453 and #172 cars scoring a decent class finish of P7/P9 and P9/P8 between them respectively, it was the #888 car who ended up running something of a hero to zero outcome by the end of this meetings nine- and seven-hour races.
Finishing third in race one, the #888 car would crash out early into race two after contact from another car following am earlier full course caution for a stationary vehicle. Luckily neither driver was injured, but armco damage to the #888 put them out of the race even before the race had made a double-digit lap count.
Photo credits – Team / social media
Monday, March 06, 2023 |
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Will it be three or four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4s at WRLs visit to Barber this weekend?
This time featuring both a nine and a seven-hour race over the weekend, the topflight GTO class will this time see a great expansion within its class as three brand new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s enter the equation for the first time after their shakedown event at Homestead in Florida in the opening event of the FARA USA Series.
With the #909 Automatic Racing Aston Martin from the Stoner Car Care crew again missing from the entry and the #43 Prosport Competition entry also facing last minute driver crew issues with the unexpected loss of two drivers two weeks before the event, it may be that the three new TLM Racing AMR entries will be left to fly the flag alone on their series debut.
Not that many of these AMR crews are new to the TLM team or to the series of course as all have made the switched to the Vantage GT4 having seen its success in other American Series and with their own WRL Series slowing expanding out into newer GT4 based race machinery than before.
This weekend’s twenty-three strong GTO class entry list details similarly new GT4 platforms from both Porsche and BMW so the moves from the TLM Racing team is simply them keeping up with the Jones’.
Driver crews for the three TLM Racing team have been confirmed to us by the team as being father and son duo Brian and Zang O’Shaughnessy with Pippa Mann and team boss David Tuaty aboard the red/white/blue #888 car with the #172 car being driven by Jim Hamman, Thomas Herb and Jody Miller with Scott Blind, Evan Stamer and a young Jaiden Beckman completing the line-up aboard the colourfully liveried Ruckus Racing #453 car.
Photo credits – Team / social media / FARA USA
Sunday, February 26, 2023 |
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Two Aston Martin back for 14 hour WRL race from Daytona this weekend
Whilst many of us will be transfixed upon the events from the 90th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend, over at Daytona the World Racing League will be running a mini version of their own with another of their fourteen-hour race events.
With costs managed by the series to ensure sustainable efficiencies within their clientele, this event again features another multi-class grid of seventy-eight entries which, like always, sells out well before the day.
Featuring again in what will be a local event for one Aston Martin Racing customer team sees both the Automatic Racing and Prosport Competition teams return with their older, normally aspirated Vantage GT4 cars that runs in a Grand Am specification.
Last time out at Road America in May, the GTO #909 Automatic Racing car of Ramin Abdolvahabi, Brandon Kidd and Stephen Davison won the first eight-hour race on Saturday before coming home P5 after Sundays second eight-hour race.
The Prosport Competition will also be back in the paddock having gingerly returned to the series at Road America having missed two rounds thanks to an engine issue earlier in the year. Featuring a driver line up including Pippa Mann again at Road America, the best the #143 car could do was a P6 on Saturday with a P8 on Sunday.
For Daytona, the team will arrive with a driver line up of Mark Doran, Dwayne Moses, Jim Cox and Nick Pearson who will presumably be looking to take the team back to the top of the timing screens.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Tuesday, June 07, 2022 |
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Older generation AMR Vantage GT4 powers it way to double podium at latest round of WRL
Continuing the great weekend of results for many Aston Martin Racing Partner and Customer teams around the world had two such teams earn themselves a great weekend at the latest round of the World Racing League with their older generation of Vantage GT4.
Having had an engine blow during the early sessions of the second round of the season at Barber way back in early March saw the Prosport Competition team also miss the next round at Mid-Ohio for them to be finally fit and ready to race again at last weekend’s 8 + 8 hr event from Road America.
Citing a driving crew of Pippa Mann, Mark Doran and Dwayne Moses, saw the #143 normally aspirated V8 powered car complete a pair of P6 finishes in the GTO class by the close of racing on Sunday.
They were joined by the Automatic Racing prepared Vantage GT4 from the Stoner Car Care stable for drivers Ramin Abdolvahabi, Brandon Kidd and Steven Davison who secured two podium finishes including an overall race win in Saturday’s first race.
The next event in the series will be a fourteen-hour marathon at Daytona in mid-June.
Photo credits - Teams
Monday, May 09, 2022 |
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Come-back drive from Prosport Competition to claim P2 in inaugural WRL 24hr from Sebring
One car from the local Automatic Racing stable for their regular Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers (past and present) and one from the Prosport Competition team who swapped to the AMR chassis for this season, it was to be another weekend of success and indeed not so much for either team come the fall of the chequered flag on Sunday.
Despite the #909 Automatic Racing Aston of Rob Ecklin, Ramin Abdolvahabi, Brandon Kidd and Steven Davison claiming pole position for the start, a ‘robust interaction’ for the Stoner Car Care boss Ecklin during the early evening, as well as earlier contact damage affecting amongst other things the throttle pedal sadly put paid to the blue and white car’s endeavours as it was retired before the halfway stage.
The #143 Prosport Aston was equally in the wars of a twenty-four-hour race as the car was reported as having flames emitting from it – forcing them to pit for investigation losing themselves ten laps in the process.
Fortunately, all was proved well with the Dwayne Moses, Zach Arnold, Jim Cox and Pippa Mann driven car, and they were able to drive a stellar recovery run through the night to come out of the thirteen hours of darkness in second place overall with just over four hours remaining.
The final couple of laps deficit to the eventual race winner proved just to be just that little too much for the #143 crew to overcome as the raced out their final WRL race of the season for a highly accomplished second placed finish overall.
Photo credits – Automatic / Prosport / drivers social media
Monday, November 01, 2021 |
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Two older gen. Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 race out the WRL season at a 24hr from Sebring
Two older generation Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4’s will take to the track of the Sebring International Raceway this weekend in what will become the World Racing League’s first continuous twenty-four race in its history.
For those of you who may not be aware of this series, the series specialises in low cost, endurance races around many of the iconic circuits that North America has to offer with next years calendar again featuring race weekends like an 8Hr + 8Hr, 9hr + 7Hr or a 14hour long races at places like Sebring, CoTA, VIR, Daytona, Mid-Ohio and Road America to name just a few.
Two Aston Martin teams have been dipping in and out of this year’s calendar so far this year and both return to see the season out with the biggest race yet.
We have already heard of the Prosport Competition team turning up this weekend with their #143 GTO classed AMR Vantage GT4 GA spec car with drivers including Pippa Mann, Zach Arnold, Jim Cox and Dwayne Moses.
Also confirmed in joining in the multi-class entry of over fifty cars is the #909 Automatic Racing AMR Vantage GT4 entry for the ‘regular bunch’ of Rob Ecklin, Ramin Abdolvahabi, Brandon Kidd, Steven Davison and maybe even Automatic Racing’s boss David Russell.
Friday sees the teams have up to four hours of testing ahead of the start of the 24hr at noon on Saturday. There is usually a live stream available via the series social media channels, but these are sometimes limited to just circuit cameras.
What a great way to see out the season!
Photo credits – Prosport / Automatic / Drivers / WRL
Thursday, October 28, 2021 |
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Pippa Mann joins Prosport Competition for Sebring 24
Following her racing career within the IndyCar series, the lady racer with the pink helmet has been turning much of her time to driver coaching and, where she can, a new career within the GT class both in Europe and in the USA.
With visits to the Nordschleife in the German NLS Series, her most recent GT exploits were at the 8hr Intercontinental GT Challenge Series visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where she was in a Porsche Cayman GT4 crew that finished ninth in class.
Next weekend sees her join a four-driver crew with the #143 AMR Vantage GT4 car for the 24-hour national club sport series event around the infamous former wartime airfield circuit. She joins co-drivers Dwayne Moses (Porsche Club of USA Champion), Zach Arnold (Grand Am Rolex GT racer) and Jim Cox (IMSA LMP3 racer).
Photo credits - Prosport
Thursday, October 21, 2021 |
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