Double ADAC GT4 champion Mike David Ortmann has become the latest aspiring GT racer to graduate top of the class in the Aston Martin Racing (AMR) Driver Academy.
The 24-year-old from Berlin, Germany, joins a growing list of Aston Martin star graduates that includes IMSA GTD Pro race winner Ross Gunn, 2022 IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis, works driver and reigning Le Mans Cup champion Valentin Hasse Clot, former British GT4 champion Tom Canning and most recently Romain Leroux.
Ortmann, who has reigned supreme in Germany’s leading GT4 category with his PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage for the past two seasons, stood out among more than 20 candidates through 2023 and excelled in all aspects of the Academy process. The German, who dovetailed his GT4 class activities with stints in the Vantage GT3 in the Nürburging Langstrecken Series on the fearsome Nordschleife, plans to race in Europe with the new Vantage GT3 in 2024.
Ortmann said of his AMR Driver Academy graduation: “It is an honour for me win the AMR Driver Academy in 2023. This last year has been an amazing journey and I’m so thankful for all the support and opportunities I’ve had. I can’t wait to get the 2024 season started with the new Vantage GT3. I plan to work even harder to make another step forward, both in terms of my skillsets and my career goals.”
The AMR Driver Academy is an annual initiative designed to fast-track talent from within its thriving partner team network and is another way for Aston Martin to contribute back to motorsport by investing in and honing future talent.
A unique and unrivalled platform for learning and development with an established manufacturer, this essential initiative is fine-tuned every year and improved to effectively coach drivers in the early stages of their careers. Competitors aged between 17 and 26 with Vantage GT3 and GT4 race programmes in recognised championships are eligible. The prize on offer for the successful graduate includes financial support towards their 2024 race programme, as well as assistance and guidance from the factory, tailored to their season plans. Further evaluation of the most outstanding candidates may also include a test in a Vantage GT3 at the end of the 2024 season.
The candidates benefit from an exclusive seminar that includes media training, simulator training and bespoke guidance on physical preparation and nutrition. AMR in-house commercial staff will provide key marketing and sponsorship advice and there is a factory-based engineering workshop to further the candidates’ understanding of how to competitively set-up Vantage.
The judging panel, which includes three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD class champion Darren Turner (GB), four-times British GT champion Jonny Adam, former Academy winner and works driver Valentin Hasse Clot, AMR Head of Performance Gus Beteli and Head of AMR Partner Racing Huw Tasker, will evaluate each drivers’ ability to manage the strategic, teamwork, commercial and public relations aspects of their role. Finally, the outstanding candidate will demonstrate the most potential to develop their talent for the future.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “We are delighted to see Mike David graduate. Since he began racing Vantage back in 2021, he has consistently produced outstanding results and has shown all the qualities and characteristics that made his predecessors stand-out as AMR Driver Academy graduates – we expect that to continue through 2024. As a mechanism for assessing and identifying outstanding talent within our partner ranks, the AMR Driver Academy is an essential tool and one we value highly.”
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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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