After last week’s news of the Dorr Motorsport team with family drivers swapping over to the Aston Martin Racing brand in the ADAC GT4 Germany Series for this season, today has seen further good news for the brand as Gentleman racer David Holloway confirms his return to the UK GT Cup Championship, this time a brand-new AMR Vantage GT4 and now with a former GT Cup Champion alongside.

Never a stranger to that national Championship having raced in it many times before with co-driver Piers Johnson in their Century Motorsport prepared Ginetta G55 GT4, the Aston Martin Lagonda connoisseur of its road cars first came our attention in early 2019 when the pair first declared an entry into that year's Championship from the Autosport Show with one of AMR's latest GT4 creations.

For one reason or another and despites its original mid-season delivery date for the car, that intention sadly never materialised but the duo did see out the 2019 GT Cup season aboard one of Optimum Motorsport’s AMR Vantage GT4’s under the watchful eye of Ross Gunn as a practice for their bigger event that was to follow for him at the end of the year.

Venturing over to the Gulf 12hr for what is his biggest racing event so far, Holloway joined up with (now) British GT racer David Whitmore and Michael Dinan (2020 GT4 America Champion) as the trio raced a GT4 in an elongated race for the first time.

Holloways 2020 campaign was just another of many that were affected by the COVID-19 situation worldwide as the businessman took the time out on his racing to concentrate on his business matters.

Today, he confirms his return to the AMR brand, this time for a full season entry into the GT Cup Championship alongside co-driver and 2018 GTH Class Champion Adam Hatfield in a car that will again prepared by those he knows best at Century Motorsport.

Hatfield spent the best part of two seasons with Chris Murphy and his Whitebridge Motorsport team and their normally aspirated Vantage GT4's before switching to a BMW M3 GT4 most recently in the British GT Championship with Century Motorsport

The multi-race format, seven round GT Cup calendar starts at Donington Park in mid April and includes a supporting role at the GT World Challenge Europe event at Brands Hatch later in May.

This team will join the Feathers Motorsport team who have already declared a new AMR Vantage GT4 entry into the GT Cup Championship with drivers James Guess and Darren Turner.

Photo credits - Gulf 12hr / A Hatfield / Century Motorsport

 

Christoph Esser’s PROsport Racing team is promising another diverse year of motor racing in 2021 with a busy season of European (and perhaps international) racing coming up for both their existing client base as well as new, but familiar faces in their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 race cars.

First up for them in 2021 will be the 24H Series 24hrs of Dubai. Having already dispatched their sea container with all their necessary equipment earlier this month, long term customer Rodrique Gillian and ‘in-house’ driver coach Nico Verdonck will again form the basis of their Creventic series attack starting at Dubai in mid-January before moving onto further rounds at Spa and Portimao before potentially venturing on to the 12hrs of Sebring that is scheduled for mid-November.

 

Sadly for us but it appears that the Flying Lizard – Michael Dinan – Aston Martin Racing trilogy appears to be at an end already as the Sonoma based team today offers ‘For Sale’ both of the AMR Vantage GT4’s that Michael Dinan and Robby Foley competed in this season.

Having tested and raced an example of the new 2019 specification of AMR GT4 with Optimum Motorsport at the Gulf 12Hrs just short of a year ago now, Dinan quickly secured two new such chassis ahead of his return to the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Series to compete in both the solo raced Sprint class as well as the race partnered Sprint X class (alongside Foley) and all under the stewardship of the Flying Lizard Motorsport team.

Today’s post’s do not disclose just with what or where Dinan will be racing in 2021 but one thing for sure is that he will now not be defending his GT4 America Sprint and Sprint X crowns confirmed earlier this year. 

These two Aston Martin’s – available as a pair or individually come with an extensive spares package and (for the successful bidder) can also expect the unparalleled help of those at CSJ Motorsport should they so choose in either the main SRO or IMSA Championships in 2021.

All enquiries are invited at tommy@lizardms.com

Photo credits - GT4 America

Refreshingly nothing to do with the world's ongoing medical issues sees the O'Brien family offer for sale the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 that young Connor raced along with Jack Butel in last years British GT Championship.

Although originally re-signed with the Optimum Motorsport team for the 2020 season, their change to the McLaren chassis lead to O'Brien switching to the 2019 British GT GT3 and GT4 Championship winning team TF Sport where he now joins up with Patrick Kibble - hence the sale.

Full listing details can be found at https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/112674/aston-martin-vantage-gt4-2019---chassis-005

The race may not have gone exactly their way over at the Gulf 12hrs from Abu Dhabi last year but Optimum Motorsport have just come away with a full season GT4 campaign for their efforts abroad after one of their Gulf 12hr customer's signs with the team in GT Cup.

No stranger to the Championship with their Ginetta G55 GT4 of old sees businessman David Holloway and his long time co driver Piers Johnson this week sign with Shaun Goff's Wakefield based squad for a full GT Cup, GTH class campaign aboard the teams #15 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

First tried by the pairing at the final round of the 2019 GT Cup Series at Snetterton last year, Holloway then committed to the bespoke Gulf 12hr with Optimum alongside other the cars other customer drivers Michael Dinan and David Whitmore.


Such was the positive experience with both the car and team at the event that American racer Dinan has already gone on to confirm a switch to the AMR marque for his 2020 racing endeavours over in the States in the SRO's GT4 America Series before this weeks announcement from the team and Holloway for their full season GT Cup entry.

GT Cup 2020 will consist of seven rounds, each with three races apiece starting at Donington Park in mid April.

It was something of a bruising encounter for the two new Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 cars of Generation AMR and Optimum Motorsport as they were the sole representative's of the marque at this weekends Gulf 12Hr from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi.

Coming back for another stab at the GT4 crown having won their in 2017 were the crew of the #44 David Appleby Engineering prepared car of James Holder, Matt George and Steve Tandy whereas the #15 Optimum car fielding a trio of drivers new to one another in GT Cup racer David Holloway, BMW tin-top racer Dave Whitmore, both supported by GT4 America racer Michael Dinan all of whom were hoping to learn and develop from the experience rather than having any fighting chance of a podium position considering the strength of the small but perfectly formed GT4 grid.


The difference in abilities between cars was clear after Qualifying when their combined times placed the #44 car P3 for Saturday's Part 1 starting grid whilst the #15 car was another 1.5 seconds slower with a P29 start.

With the customary numbers of clashes between the faster GT3 and the slower GT4 machinery during the opening hours, both teams managed to survive the first six hours of racing conducted in full daylight conditions before the grid headed for a short interlude to resume their final six hours into the night a couple of hours later.


The #44 car was best placed just 36 seconds behind the class leading Balfe McLaren 570s in P4 with the inexperienced #15 crew was still proving their worth being just a lap down in P5.

Drama however would come to both teams in the second half of the race - firstly for the #44 car which would suffer sizeable front end impact damage on the formation lap for the race restart where Holder would collect the race leading Balfe car in front as the grid jostled for the green flag.

Initially coming straight into pit lane for repairs to what first appeared to be a loose bonnet, Holder was sent off again to continue his opening stint before their temporary repairs failed and ripped the unsecured bonnet from its mountings.


Pulling into the garage with coolant pouring from the radiators, a missing bonnet and damage to the roofline - that would ultimately put pay to their 2019 challenge although the team worked hard to get the car out again (with a little help from Optimum with parts)  for just a few more laps before the day was eventually called.

Things wouldn't go much better for Holloway (then in the #15 car) at the same time as the #44 car was having its issues with its bonnet as an over ambitious move from the all women crewed Iron Lynx Ferrari GT3 would result in the bronze driver having nowhere to go in avoidance of the Ferrari's actions that collected wheels with the AMR breaking its rear wheel linkage on the spot, putting the #83 Ferrari car out of the race.

Racing on adrenalin and sheer excitement for the event, the crew of the #15 car would eventually take the chequered flag P5 in class - seven laps behind the class winning Balfe car but finish they did with a smile.


For Mssrs. Holder, George and Tandy - they will be seen again at a race track somewhere in Europe next season whether it be in an AMR GT4 or a historic LMP1 car. For the drivers of the #15 Optimum car however, the Gulf 12hr was all about working out what their next racing steps would be - whether to step up to GT4 as a class for Whitmore or whether to upgrade to an AMR for their ongoing GT4 ambitions wherever they may be for both Holloway and Dinan.


Only time will tell on the latter points but we can be assured that a good time was had by all despite the racing outcome.

Photo credits - Optimum / Gulf 12

Whilst the Aston Martin Racing factory teams were busy showing the world what competitive GT racing is all about, the latest member to the #teamAMR family was quietly going about their 'winter business', claiming their first race win at the first time of asking.

Regular competitors within what is now SRO sanctioned GT World Challenge GT4 America Series, California based Rearden Racing have added a brand new AMR Vantage GT4 to their arsenal of GT4 machinery for one of their racing regulars, Jeff Burton to 'have a go with' in this series official winter invitational.


Racing under the watchful eye of those at CSJ Motorsport (AMR's strategic partners in the USA and who brokered this deal with the team) from The Thermal Club in California, the Rearden Racing driver first claimed pole and then ran a lights to flag victory in the first of two races this weekend in his new #19 car.

Three rounds of this invitation only event have been specifically designed for the Bronze rated drivers to race amongst equals and get the valuable track experience that would hopefully take them up into a full GT4 America commitment. This weekends event will be followed by another double header in mid January before being rounded off in early February.


We have already heard of the increased interest with the new AMR hardware within the American markets and with another series competitor racing with another AMR Vantage GT4 over in the Gulf 12hr with Optimum Motorsport, maybe that will lead to a few more sales for CSJ Motorsport as the American series' look to kick off their 2020 campaigns early next year.


The final race of this weekends meeting took place later today and it appears that Burton did the double with two race wins on his first AMR race weekend!!.

Photo credits - Rearden / GT4 America

Whilst the 'big boys' go about their business over in the WEC in Bahrain, the Pro-Am runners aboard the two Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 runners have certainly been enjoying themselves as they prepare themselves for tomorrow's start of the Gulf 12Hours from Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

Last time entered winners of the then GTX class , Generation AMR SuperRacing have returned to the scene of their 2017 class win with one of James Holders David Appleby Engineering prepared AMR Vantage GT4's alongside Matt George and Steve Tandy.


They have been joined by one of Optimum Motorsports own AMR Vantage GT4's for a new trio of amateur ranked customer drivers as each work to determine whether or not they buy such a chassis of their own for their own respective race programmes or indeed elevate their racing career up to that of GT4.

Whilst David Holloway has raced this car at the last round of the GT Cup Series with Optimum, this weekends race is the first aboard an AMR for both American SRO GT4 America racer Michael Dinan and BMW tiptop graduate David Whitmore.

Starting with private testing on Wednesday, the Optimum trio have come on leaps and bounds under the watchful eye of teams race engineer guru Bas Leinders to be collectively able to pick themselves up from the rear of the GT4 field to that of mid table and periodic fastest drivers in class.


Having all run through three Free Practice sessions after a compulsory night session, each driver faced their own Qualifying session in order to determine their aggregate time that would be used to define their starting position.

Whitmore would be out first alongside Tandy in Q1 and it was the enthusiastic BMW driver who stole top AMR honours over the historic prototype driver to claim a P4 over Tandy's P5 in Class. Next out was Dinan who would take on Holder for the American to claim P1 over holders P5 before (and finally) George was out and up against Holloway in Q3 where the Q2 honours were reversed between the two AMR's.


That all equated into an aggregate lap time of 2:23:378 for the #44 Generation AMR crew which was good enough for a P3 start in class half a second behind the class leading SVC Mercedes GT4 whilst the #15 Optimum car finished with an overall time of 2:24:737 for a P6 starting position just over two seconds back from the class leader.


09:30Hrs local tomorrow sees the start of the first half of the Gulf 12Hr race before a short interlude with the start of the second half beginning at 17:30hrs local. The thirty one runners are split between seven classes and prototypes, GT, GT3 and GT4 classes to make for the hallmarks of another great race - racing from day to night around a picturesque backdrop of a marina circuit.

Photo credits - Gulf 12hr / Generation AMR / Optimum

With their car already hopefully deposited safely somewhere around the paddock area of the Yas Marina race track in Abu Dhabi, Wakefield based Optimum Motorsport have today confirmed their driver line up that will take on this years Gulf 12Hr in one of their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's.

Having debuted with both the team and car at the final round of the Bute GT Cup Championship at Snetterton in late October sees leadership consultancy executive David Holloway return for another, this time extended venture out in his new race car of choice with two new team mates.


Having tested with the team back and the car at Donington Park earlier this year sees accomplished BMW M3 Cup and BMW M4 Club Enduro racer David Whitmore take that monumental leap up from tiptops to GT4 racing for the first time as he follows his dream to race in the British GT Championship.

He will be joined by an experienced GT4 from the new SRO GT4 America Sprint and Sprint X Series in the form of Flying Lizards driver Michael Dinan. The New Yorkers last two race seasons have been made up of GT4 racing in what was the old Pirelli World Challenge Series in an Audi R8 GT4 in 2018 as well as a Porsche Cayman in Sprint X in the new SRO rules series this year where he and his Pro driver claimed three podium finishes.


Track action will begin for the thirty five entered cars on Thursday evening with the first three hour Free Practice before three further but shorter Free Practice sessions on Friday before Qualifying.

The first 6 hours of racing begins at 09:30hrs local on Saturday morning before a short interlude in the afternoon before the second half of the race is raced out to an aggregated conclusion starting at 17:30hrs local.


The Optimum AMR GT4 is of course joined by the Generation AMR SuperRacing Vantage GT4 of drivers Matt George, James Holder and Steve Tandy.

Photo credits - Flying Lizards / Generation AMR

Ever puzzled what to buy your motorsport fan friend as a Christmas present, then look no further than the opening pages of Racecarsdirect.com and you will soon come up with an idea to two.

Firstly, we have Barcelona based Team Virage offering one of their two recent Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 acquisitions up for sale. Having taken possession of two such cars mid way into 2019, the team had hoped to enter both cars with long standing team customers in regional series including the SRO sanctioned GT4 South Europe Series.


From what we have seen, they have only managed to enter both cars for just one round with the main stay customers (Freddie Hunt and CO Jones as reported last week) now looking towards the teams other platform of motor racing in LMP3 so this car is now presumably surplus to their requirements.

Full details of their listing can be found HERE


The next new offering took us a little by purpose and lies in the form of the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 as used this season by Ollie Wilkinson in both the British GT Championship and GT Open Series.

Operated out of the Optimum Motorsport workshop, Wilkinson went on to clinch the British GT GT3 Silver Cup prize will co driver Bradley Ellis whilst securing podium finishes, including an overall race win whilst under the tutorage of AMR factory drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam.


There is obviously a story yet to be confirmed behind the reason for this sale - we are certainly not going to pretend to know what it is all about but we do understand that matters may become a little clearer before the end of the year by which time we expect to have had an announcement from Wilkinson.

Full details of this Christmas cracker can be found HERE

Photo credits - Team Virage

Having finished the final race of the 2019 British GT Championship at Donington Park back in September under a cloud of an unfortunate DNF, its great to see Conner O'Brien today announce his intentions to return to the Championship, again with Optimum Motorsport and one of their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4's to see out 'unfinished business' in the GT4 Championship.

Having been partnered with another GT4 debutant in Jack Butel aboard what was then a brand new and unquantified new AMR race car, the young pair of Silver Cup drivers went onto finish P12 in the Silver Cup class having endured a 'difficult' second half of the season in the Championship despite a confidence boosting, podium finishing run out in the GT Open Cup at Silverstone with AMR young gun Charlie Eastwood.


With entries for the 2020 British GT Championship opening at the start of October, we have heard how entry numbers are already approaching the reduced 2020 headcount but todays announcement sees O'Brien join a line up now confirmed in just six other cars so far. The remainder of the entries submitted to the SRO are (as we understand it) simply provisional slots made by the team in the anticipation of further customer interest moving forward before the close of entries early next year.

Commenting on todays news, O'Brien said “I enjoyed last year a great deal and while the start was tricky with the new car, we made great gains as the season progressed. It was superb to have the fantastic support from Aston Martin Racing and the Academy was so helpful. We showed what we could do in qualifying at both Spa and Donington, so we take the year of experience into the coming season with the aim of regular podium finishes.” Welcoming back the long standing Optimum Motorsport customer for another season with the Wakefield based team, team boss Sahun Goff added “We’re delighted to be returning to the British GT Championship with two GT4s. We have a proven championship winning record in this series and we are now entering our third season as an Aston Martin customer team. It is now a proven winning package; so, we head into the series expecting to be challenging for the title. Connor has developed with us, first in Ginettas and is now making great strides in this championship. I’m sure 2020 will see a strong campaign from him.”

Whilst the #620 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage from Swiss based team R-Motorsport was the sole AMR representative at last years event, it sadly now appears that there will now be no AMR customer team representation at this weekends 24H Series 2019 season finale from the Circuit of The Americas despite some early intentions.

We know that Shaun Goff at Optimum Motorsport had originally pencilled in for one of his AMR Vantage GT4's to be available and had indeed tested with numerous potential drivers before finally electing not to travel to the States in favour of the Gulf 12Hr next month instead citing obvious commercial reasons why.

That leaves us AMR fans with just a small handful of familiar names to support as they compete this weekend in the split 24 hour race format from Austin in Texas.


Whilst Kris Wilson (more familiar to us at Automatic Racing in their Michelin Pilot Challenge AMR Vantage entry) now competes in the #433 Winward Racing Mercedes GT4, most of the recognisable names feature in the Stuart Hall lead #107 Cupra TCR car of Chris Kemp, David Tinn and Tom Black  - all regulars within the Aston Martin Owners Clubs Championship as well as British GT and other series.

Its a pity about no Aston's but its good luck to these guys none the less!

Photo Credits - 24H Series

Last weekend saw the FIA Motorsport Games 2019 take place at the Autodromo de Vallelunga near Rome in Italy as a replacement to last years Nations Cup which Salih Yoluc and Ayhancan Guven won at the first time of asking in their Ram Racing prepared Mercedes AMG GT3. Unfortunately for the spectacle that was the event, track action was marred and dramatically limited by some heavy and persistent rain storms that hung over the city for the entire weekend.

Swapping this year to one of Tom Ferrier's Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3, the Turkish drivers looked like a safe bet against some of the other teams who had come together specifically for this event with no prior knowledge and experience of either themselves, car nor the team. Joining the AMR family for this event (and who were also one of these 'newbie' teams was that of the Optimum Motorsport entry for Team Kuwait in their AMR Vantage GT3 for Khaled At Mudhaf and Zaid Ashkanani.


A drive through the Rome city centre by some of the race cars involved across the four road car formulae looked spectacular to witness although not always good for the race car as, not designed for this constant starting and topping of urban traffic flow cooked more than one clutch in the GT Cup Class.

Then the rains came......................... albeit at first throughout the Friday night Opening Ceremony where the cars and drivers were introduced to the crowds and waiting TV audience, that was not necessarily a problem - but then it hit the track action of the weekend!!


With the event featuring Qualifying for two one hour feeder races on both Saturday and Sunday which themselves would be used to determine the starting line up for the 'main' one hour race on Sunday afternoon, even they became quick victims to the weather as Race Control limited running as the track quickly became washed out ahead of the first race on Saturday.

With a point per finishing position up for grabs and this time the lowest total from the first two races winning Race 3's pole position, things began very badly for the two AMR runners as the Kuwaiti car of Al Mudhaf was tapped into a spin at turn three of the very first lap that resulted in race ending, heavy frontal damage to the #007 car - the culprit, Team Belgium would loose their podium position at the end as a result.


Whilst that was all being recovered under the Safety Car, the rains returned with torrential downpours  and despite Team Turkey's P2 starting slot, Yoluc began to fall back as the track got wetter with the whole grid on slicks!

Fifteen minutes in and a move from Team Portugal on the #1 car of Yoluc was drifted out wide, just enough for the Portuguese Audi to hit the wet grass of the infield and majestically spin out to hit the barrier on the outside of the circuit - they would retire from the race because of that and Yoluc would be served a post race time penalty for causing a collision.


As the rainfall intensified and the number of track casualties increased Race 1 would be red flagged at the half way stage to (a) allow the debris field to be cleared and (b) wait for better weather. Over twenty minutes would be lost and Race Control would mandate the required driver change in pit lane before the restart but not compel the remaining runners to fit wets as well as a late addition of last track time to the race clock! Wets would have lasted eight minutes but not over twenty minutes!!

Originally restarting on wets from P3, the track quickly began to dry soon making slicks the preferred rubber of choice with the nett result of the #1 car tumbling down as the wets overheated themselves. Team Turkey would eventually finish P13 against Team Kuwaits DNF - not a good start!!


Race 2 on Saturday wasn't much better either - it started behind the Safety Car and had a red flag of its own as once again the heavens opened and the track became another washout.

Thankfully, Optimum had worked their magic (with a little help from TF Sport) to rebuild their damaged Vantage GT3 for Ashkanani to get his first racing laps in of the event (although both cars had started from towards the rear of the grid after weather related issues in Q2) but sadly for all they were all behind the Safety Car before the race was red flagged after ten minutes of following the leader.


Another hour lost waiting for a window of opportunity and it was off racing again with 30 minutes now left on the clock - again Race Control had mandated the driver change whilst the race was under suspension . Despite some early glimmers of hope in the restart when Yoluc moved up to P9 from his P13 position at the break, late contact with the Team China car was see him hobbled before the end where Team Turkey claimed P16 and Team Kuwait P17.

Those results meant that both AMR teams had lowly starting positions for the final race of the Motorsport games with Team Turkey and Team Kuwait starting P16 and P19 respectively for the start of a race the was actually almost dry at the time - although more rain was expected not before too long.


Originally starting on wets, both cars soon decided that that was the wrong choice and soon pitted to swap to slicks which was great for a handful of laps before the rains returned again. Up until then, things were going well for Ashkanani in the #007 car as he drove the stint of his life and elevated his position as high as P5 and within visual range of the race leading Japanese Lamborghini.

Within minutes of the rain starting to fall, cars began to fall off the track again as all slowed hoping that the pit window would open and saving them all a second stop. By the time all (and the all sickly did) stop Race Control put the Safety Car back out on track with still twenty four minutes remaining. The race did go back to Green for about a lap before another stranded car from teh restart forced further Safety Car intervention and effectively the end of the race and the event which finished behind the Safety Car.


Disappointing for all concerned but Mother Nature is someone who not even the FI and SRO can influence. Team Turkey would finish the event in P12 - a massive disappointment for the defending champions who really did nothing wrong except battle the elements to the best of their abilities and do what they thought the Regulations expected of them. For Team Kuwait and their pair of drivers who had never driven an AMR Vantage GT3 until the first Free Practice session of the event, the can hold their heads high with their overall P14 finish and fastest driver of the day for Ashkanani.


Next up for TF Sport is of course in Shanghai and the next round of the World Endurance Championship for Yoluc, driver coach Charlie Eastwood and works driver Jonny Adam!

Photo credits - Motorsport Games / TF Sport / Optimum