The latest Aston Martin Racing team revealed today in Malaysia
Already an established race team within the LMP3 arena of the Asian Le Mans Series and in TCR with the Creventic 24H Series (amongst others) saw the team take a decisive change of direction with their motorsport into GT racing with a pair of Aston’s that certainly look beautiful in their new livery.
With lots of hard work going in behind the scenes as early as the beginning of the year from the likes of Weiron Tan of AMR’s Asian Motorsport Services AMR Asia Partners as well as Prodrive going into the deal, saw Douglas Khoo finally announce to the world today his intentions of competing as early as next week around the street of Singapore in the F1 supporting Super Series with both of their cars. More details on that to come on that we are sure.
Seeing the news earlier certainly rang one of those bells of familiarity for us later to confirm that we had indeed seen Khoo testing one of the Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3’s at Silverstone back in May.
With the Asian motor racing finally opening up again after a couple of years of lockdown through COVID may allow us to see yet more AMR cars competing within the available Asian arena series such as the Asian Le Mans Serie, GT World Challenge Asia, etc.
We welcome you all.
Photo credits - Team
Tuesday, September 20, 2022 |
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Adderly Fong joins up with AMR Asia as team continue to champion the brand in the region
Aston Martin Racing Asia is pleased to announce that Adderly Fong joins the team as Ambassador and AMR Asia - driver. Adderly is currently based in China and will be responsible for supporting Aston Martin Racing customer teams, driver coaching as well as racing in this region. The ex-Lotus F1 Team Development Driver has multiple years of experience in GT racing, most notably being crowned the 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup Champion. Aston Martin Racing Asia presents a warm welcome to Adderly to join the family and look forward to working with him.
Adderly Fong, Aston Martin Racing Asia Ambassador and AMR Asia - driver:
"Coming to 2022, it is my privilege to become an ambassador with such an exclusive mark as Aston Martin Racing Asia. Our aim is to broaden the reception of the brand in Asia and hope to go racing as soon as things return to normal. Having driven both the AMR Vantage GT3 & GT4, I have confidence that great things can happen!"
Weiron Tan, Director, Aston Martin Racing Asia:
"We are very excited to have Adderly join the AMR Asia family! He’s one of the most reputable drivers we know who not only has vast knowledge & experience in motorsports but also a very likeable character by many. We’re certain he will work well with our customers and grow the AMR brand presence together in Asia. In addition, Adderly would be setting the benchmark for many more young up-and-coming drivers we hope to recruit in the future."
Source material – AMR Asia
Friday, May 27, 2022 |
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Uno Racing do themselves proud as they take their AMR GT3's to Macau
Featuring two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3’s from the Uno Racing team, this event was the first time that the latest generation of AMR Vantage GT3 had competed in the event since 2015 when three V12 examples raced for the then AMR powered Craft Bamboo team.
Well fashioned in livery designs from the two Oriental fashion houses, their #38 car was driven by long term GT3 racer Marchy Lee whilst their #91 car was driven by David Pun, a Gentleman driver who had stepped up to GT3 racing only this season within the Chinese GTSSC Series.
Competing against some more experienced and hardened racers, their short Qualifying session allowed them to Qualify P7 and P9 respectively for Saturday afternoon’s shorter eight lap race of the Sands China Macau GT Cup. The earlier warm up however, was marred by a big impact for the #17 Audi R8 which resulted in one destroyed car, significant barrier damage and sadly multiple chest injuries for the driver.
Down to eighteen starters for Race 1, a street circuit layout again confirmed just how hard it was to pass as both Aston’s initially dropped back before recovering again to run together just behind the lead pack in P5 and P6 overall before an engine failure for a Lamborghini going into Lisboa curtailed the race as the approaching P2 Mercedes AMG GT3 of former AMR racer Darryl O’Young spun off and crashed into the barrier from the dropped fluid.
The race was red flagged at this point and then quickly conformed as not restarting at the track curfew and release back into public use approached – P5 for Lee and P6 for Pun were later confirmed.
Those results were then used to form the starting grid for the twelve-lap race finale on Sunday and it was another feisty start for the grid as Marchy Lee ran three wide into Lisboa but was lucky to come out the other side in one piece leaving the two Astons again running line astern in P6 and P7 by the end of the first lap.
With the top four cars again breaking away with a big gap then back to Lee, drama again soon unfolded as first a Mercedes contacted the barrier and stopped on track before another Lamborghini hit the barrier harder at another part of the circuit.
Further debris from a tyre blow out on a Porsche lead to the need for a Safety car to help clear the circuit to allow at least a last lap dash to the flag from where Lee finished just the overall podium in P4 with Pun just behind in P5 overall but P3 in his CAMF Class to mark a fine return of the brand to the Macau scene.
Congratulations to all involved.
Photo credits - Macau GT
Monday, November 22, 2021 |
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Two AMR Vantage GT3's get set to compete at Macau
Tomorrow sees that start of the formal track proceedings ahead of the running of the 68th Macau Grand Prix this weekend around the distinctive street circuit of the semi-autonomous region of coastal China.
For the first time since a three-car effort back in 2015, this weekend’s event shall see the return of Aston Martin Racing’s latest Vantage GT3 platform, this time running in the hands of Uno Racing for their drivers David Pun and Marchy Lee.
With neither driver no stranger to the demands of the circuit and with the entry list for this weekend’s Sands China Macau GT Cup races being restricted to Chinese (and colony) nationals rather than being opened up to the wider audience for an FIA sanctioned event, the #38 car of Lee and the #91 car of Pun will face just as a good a chance within the two races as the next driver in the provisional 19 car grids.
Running just a 25-minute Free Practice session on Friday before a 25-minute Qualifying session later in the time, track time is obviously being limited around the 3.8 mile Guia street circuit for the Grand Prix’s six series programme.
Saturday will then see a brief warm up session before their first eight lap race that will start at 15:50hrs local before a further 12 lap race on Sunday at 13:10hrs local.
Both Aston Martin’s will be conspicuously liveried to represent the two fashion labels that a supporting the teams with Pun’s Evisu fashion empire (presently celebrating their 30th anniversary) supporting his #91 car with the Bathing Ape label supporting Lee’s #31 car.
As with any street circuit race, incident and accident is never too far away!!
Photo credits – Uno Racing / Macau GP
Thursday, November 18, 2021 |
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Two new Aston Martin Vantage GT3's to race at Macau Grand Prix
Racing back then with the venerable V12 variant of the Vantage GT3, the Craft Bamboo Racing team entered three such cars into the first running of what was then the FIA GT World Cup for drivers Stefan Mucke, Darryl O’Young and Richard Lyons for which Mucke claimed pole position for the weekend’s first race before eventually finishing P3 in both races.
This time in 2021 however, it is the turn of the Uno Racing Team with the assistance of the AMR appointed Motorsport Services Asia AMR crew to bring two of the latest V8 turbo charged Aston Martin Vantage GT3’s to the peninsula to race in the Sands China Macau GT Cup over the weekend of 19th-21st November.
Recently appointed GT Super Sprint Challenge Series runner up David Pun will be the driver of one of the cars with experienced GT racer Marchy Lee aboard the other.
Neither no stranger to the Macau street circuit, Pun last raced at the event in 2019 behind the wheel of an AMR Vantage GT4 from the Chinese based BSEM team (under his clothing firm’s Evisu Racing banner) where a last lap incident ruled out a podium finish for him but gained one for his then team mate.
Lee also comes with a long line of recent GT experience, racing before in single seaters and then in GT series such as Blancpain GT Asia, Asian Le Mans Series and the Japanese Super GT Series – mainly in an Audi R8 GT3 chassis.
These two Aston’s are due to compete in a provisional grid size of nineteen cars including a Mercedes AMG GT3 with O’Young aboard. The Uno Racing team have also had Adderly Fong driver coach Pun during the GTSSC season, and he was another driver who raced against the three Aston’s back in 2015!
Race one on Saturday afternoon is due to run over eight laps of the 3.8-mile street circuit with a further twelve lap race on Sunday.
Photo credits – Craft Bamboo / Uno Racing / China GT
Thursday, November 11, 2021 |
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David Pun comes back with his Aston Martin for latest round of GTSSC at Shanghai
The Shanghai International Circuit welcomes back the GT Super Sprint Challenge Series this weekend for what is their fifth round of their extended 2021 season as well as one of Uno Racing’s Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3’s for driver David Pun.
Having started the series with a class podium at the first round of the series way back in July, a further enforced break in motor racing events in China saw the teams wait until September when the team returned with two AMR Vantage GT3’s and a Vantage GT4 for the second round in Shanghai.
Since then, the team has skipped a round (for unknown reasons) before coming back at Uno Racing’s home track of Zhuhai – not in there AMR’s but with a pair of Audi R8’s!!
That transpired to be because of a testing incident with one of the cars prior to that round that left one car unrepairable in time for the race weekend with drivers Pun and Riokonig swapping over to two available Audi’s with Team X Works. At that round, the driver crews picked up an overall race win for Pun in Race 1 with a P3 for Riokonig before swapping fortunes in Race 2 with a P2 and P1 race win respectively later that weekend.
For this weekend’s fifth round, we understand from the team that still only one Aston Martin remains in a serviceable condition and will be raced by Evisu fashion boss David Pun whilst teammate Riokonig competes again in the Audi.
Photo Credits – Uno Racing.
Thursday, November 04, 2021 |
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Multiple podiums for Uno Racing as the Chinese GTSSC gets back to business
A challenging Saturday for the 3 drivers and the team, still all very new to the new Aston Martin Racing GT3 and GT4 cars with the unpredictable weather making this challenge even more difficult with everyone within the team still working on getting an ideal balance for their cars.
Despite being a brand-new team with brand new cars and new drivers to the cars, none were afraid of trying to further develop the setup and even with the growing challenges of the unpredictable weather for Sunday.
As predicted by the weather forecast, rain indeed arrived with Race 1starting behind safety car. It was a still a chaotic start with many cars spinning and running off the track and within those challenging conditions and having started in 8th position overall, Riokonig quickly climbed through the grid and successfully took the lead of the race by lap 2.
After an exciting race, Riokonig in Car 71 crossed the finish line as the overall winner, a fantastic feat for his debut in the series, and also the first winner trophy for the AMR Vantage GT3.
Pun aboard the #91 car also had a good race and finished the race overall 6th place and 4th in class, having started in the middle of the grid on 11th position.
Thomas in the GT4 race car, performed a very stable and consistent race whilst facing breath-taking moments in some very tricky track conditions, not only passing cars which were losing control and spinning, but also battling with three other competitors and succeeding in fighting for 2nd position, all making an amazing debut racing for him.
Thomas in the GT4 race car, performed a very stable and consistent race whilst facing breath-taking moments in some very tricky track conditions, not only passing cars which were losing control and spinning, but also battling with three other competitors and succeeding in fighting for 2nd position, all making an amazing debut racing for him.
As Sunday afternoon approached, the unpredictability of the weather was still making all the teams struggling to set race strategy and choice of tires. In the end, on wet conditions and intermittent showers, Race 2 also started under the safety car. Riokonig’s Car 71, having started on pole, was able to defend his position for xxx laps before he made the first mistake in the tricky conditions in T12 and losing the lead.
Pun's #91 started from 6th in the grid, had a good afternoon with exciting battles and overtakes in Race2. At one point was even able to take the lead of the race but failed to hold it due to the changing track conditions, having in the end crossed the finish line in 2nd place overall and a 1st in AM+ class. For each of the races, each GT3 driver received a trophy in Race 1 and Race 2, just like the plan they joked about earlier on the week.
Thomas in the GT4, in fact never have driven a race car on wet tyres, was a challenging task, lost a position during Race 2, but never gave up. He still fought well to defend his 3rd position in class. As a rookie in AMR GT4, this is a very positive and satisfiying result for both the team and the driver.
Next GTSSC round, 1st of October ai Zhuzhou International Circuit.
Source material - Uno Racing
Sunday, September 12, 2021 |
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AMR Asia crew team up with Stoner Car Care Aston Martin at IMSA's visit to Laguna Seca
The Stoner Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team heads to next weekend’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 with an exciting new line up, starring two young stalwarts of the Aston Martin Asia program who have sterling pedigrees both on and off the racetrack.
Weiron Tan and Anderson Tanoto will make their Michelin Pilot Challenge series debut in the two-hour endurance race, behind the wheel of the iconic No. 99 Invisible Glass Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
Both Tan and Tanoto come to the Stoner Car Care team with extensive racing experience – and significant off-track accomplishments.
Tan, 26, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, began his career in karting then progressed up the junior open wheel ranks, finishing second in the 2013 Formula Renault series and fourth in the 2015 Indy Pro 2000 Championship, driving for Andretti Autosport.
He made the move to sports car racing in 2017, contesting races in the Asian Le Mans Series, the Blancpain GT Series Asia and the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Tan is also a co-founder of Motorsport Services AMR Asia Ltd, the official Aston Martin racing representative and exclusive distributor in Asia.
Tanoto, 32, from Jakarta, Indonesia, began his racing career in 2018 with a victory in the six-race Asian Audi R8 LMS Cup. He has also competed in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, but he is most well-known as the managing director of Royal Golden Eagle, a group of resource-based manufacturing companies in Indonesia. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Tanoto Foundation, a philanthropic organization involved in poverty alleviation through education and empowerment. Tanoto is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School.
The two drivers met in 2018 when Tanoto first started in the Audi Cup Asia. Tan was the series driver coach and the pair were building a relationship when the pandemic hit. Neither driver has raced in the past year and a half but when the idea hit to come to the States, Tan knew who to contact.
“We made a miracle happen in a short amount of time,” said Tan. “We are so lucky to be working with (Automatic Racing team manager) David Russell as we get ready to join the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It’s wonderful to be back in a seat and to race alongside Anderson. I’m still involved in motorsports with the Aston Martin distributorship, but it’s good to get back in the car.”
Both drivers look forward to competing at the fabled WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The track’s 2.238-mile, 11-turn configuration challenges drivers, but no corner is as famous as the legendary Corkscrew, with its 18 percent drop (from entry of The Corkscrew, which is Turn 8, to the exit of Turn 9 the elevation change is 109 feet, or just over 10 stories) – especially behind the wheel of one of the series’ iconic liveries.
“WeatherTech Raceway is one of my all-time favorites,” said Tan. “Having driven there back in 2015, I know the circuit very well. Anderson has done some open track days, but we’ll get him some laps next weekend, and I can help get him up to speed quickly. And it’s fantastic to be racing under the Stoner Car Care colors – the Invisible Glass livery is instantly recognizable and I’m so glad to have them onboard. I know we’ll have a great weekend and I hope we’ll be competing for a podium finish.”
Russell eagerly anticipates introducing the two drivers to the team, the racetrack and the Michelin Pilot Challenge.
“It’s fun running guys who are part of the Aston Martin community,” said Russell. “They’ve been shut down in Asia for a while and they’d been looking for somewhere to run with Aston Martin – and what better place than WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca? We’ve had some really good conversations with both of them, they’re really tuned in, and I know they’ll be good. There won’t be any pressure, it will take them both a while to figure it out, even though Weiron has been there before. It’s a learning curve with the track and the car but they’re diligent guys, they’re smart guys, I have no doubt they’ll both be up to speed quickly.”
The WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 takes the green flag at 7:40 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, September 11.
Source material - Stoner Car Care
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 |
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