The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) fires back into action this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2023 season, as three of Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage GTE return to Fuji Speedway; traditionally a happy hunting ground for the famous Wings in the Far-East.
Aston Martin Racing partner teams D’station Racing, Heart of Racing (competing under the NorthWest AMR entry) and reigning LMGTE Am class champions TF Sport are all entered in this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji, as Vantage seeks to record its first win in its final season of WEC competition.
Fuji has frequently been a scene of glory for the British ultra-luxury sportscar manufacturer since the former grand prix venue was introduced to WEC in 2012. In total, Aston Martin has recorded seven WEC class victories in Japan, including double-class wins in 2013 and 2019. It is also the venue where the current generation Vantage GTE recorded its first pole position, in 2018.
Since then, there have been two more pole positions that were converted into lights-to-flag victories – including last year, when TF Sport’s Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sørensen consolidated their championship lead with the Vantage GTE’s most recent WEC class win (and it’s third in Japan).
TF Sport, and its drivers Ahmad Al Harthy (OMN) and Michael Dinan (USA), supported by works driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL), heads to the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sunday having inched closer to victory through this season. The team has been a front-runner almost everywhere in 2023, and two podiums in the last three races mean its embroiled in a fierce fight for the runner-up spot in the championship, sitting just two points off second place.
D’station Racing, which enjoys technical support from TF Sport, returns to home soil determined to repeat its podium glory of 2023. The team’s headquarters is based less than 10 miles from Fuji, and Satoshi Hoshino (JPN), team manager Tomonubu Fujii and young British rising star Casper Stevenson are seeking to use the local support to boost their chances of a third WEC podium finish for the team.
The Heart of Racing [HoR] returns to WEC for the first time since Le Mans with its regular line-up of team principal Ian James (GBR), IMSA race-winner Alex Riberas (ESP) and Daniel Mancinelli (ITA), as it makes its Japanese racing debut. Having taken over the #98 NorthWest AMR entry vacated when Paul Dalla Lana retired from the sport prior to Spa, the US-based team has learned fast in WEC. It’s finished both races it has contested and recorded a strong sixth place in the eventful weather-afflicted 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The Vantage GTE is a prototype version of the British-built race car derived from Aston Martin’s critically-acclaimed ultra-luxury sportscar and shares the same aluminium body-frame and a specially-tuned version of the four-litre V8 turbo-charged production engine. In all its variants (GTE, GT3 and GT4), Vantage is phenomenally successful, and is currently the reigning Rolex 24 at Daytona and a three-times 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, as well as defending champion in the GT Am class of both the FIA WEC and IMSA. The Vantage GTE, introduced in 2018, has recorded 12 victories at WEC level and has won two world championship titles.
Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “We are delighted to see three Aston Martin Vantage GTEs contesting the 6 Hours of Fuji, a venue Aston Martin has traditionally enjoyed competitive form at over the years. TF Sport has been in the mix all season, and it feels like only a matter of time before the team is rewarded with a victory. D’station Racing is always strong on home soil, and we’re excited to see what Heart of Racing can achieve on the team’s first visit to Fuji. There are only two races left for this iteration of the wonderful Vantage GTE, which has proved so successful, and yet we see no signs of it fading in competitiveness and we are hoping that it can bow out on the high its pedigree deserves.”
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Formula E and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) have today revealed the next generation of race car, the new all-electric GEN3 Evo, capable of 0-60mph in 1.82s.
Leveraging a roster of innovative technical upgrades, the GEN3 Evo unveiled at H.S.H Prince Albert II’s Private Car Collection will debut in Season 11 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship where some of the world’s greatest manufacturers and drivers race wheel-to-wheel in iconic locations around the globe.
Developed by specialists from Formula E and the FIA, the latest GEN3 Evo edition marks a significant leap in electric racing technology, with acceleration 0-60mph 30% faster than a current F1 car, and 36% faster than the GEN3 car.
Capable of accelerating nearly a full second faster than its predecessor – the GEN3 – that was the world’s first race car designed for street racing, it sets an even higher standard in performance, sustainability, and efficiency. The GEN3 Evo serves as a formidable ambassador for the future of motorsport, embodying cutting-edge advancements and a commitment to environmental responsibility.
On Saturday, April 27th, Abu Dhabi will host a groundbreaking event, welcoming 10,000 spectators to witness the inaugural ASPIRE Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) at the iconic Yas Marina Circuit. This brand-new autonomous racing competition marks a significant milestone in motorsport history, billed as the largest league of its kind globally.
Eight teams will compete: Code19 Racing (one of the first independent autonomous racing entity from the USA), Constructor University (based in Germany and Switzerland), Fly Eagle (representing Beijing Institute of Technology from China and Khalifa University from the UAE), HUMDA Lab (a member of the Széchenyi István University Group from Hungary), KINETIZ (a collaboration between Singapore Nanyang Technological University and Kintsugi based in the UAE), PoliMOVE (representing Politecnico di Milano from Italy), UNIMORE (also from Italy - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), and Technical University of Munich - TUM (from Germany), vying for a substantial prize purse of US$ 2.25 million.
Aston Martin’s new Vantage GT3 continues its hunt for glory in the world’s two most prestigious endurance racing series, as the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] resume this weekend.
The WEC begins its European leg on Sunday with the 6 Hours of Imola (ITA), and an inaugural visit to one of the continent’s best-known circuits, before heading to Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) on 11 May, and then the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 15-16 June. Meanwhile IMSA heads to the world famous Long Beach street track for its first sprint race (100 minutes) of the season. A second-place finish in the brand-new LMGT3 class for the Heart of Racing (HoR), and third for D’station Racing, made Aston Martin the only one of the nine GT manufacturers present to score a WEC double podium finish at the season-opening 1812km of Qatar in March. It means both teams arrive in Italy in strong form.
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