Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage returns to action in the world’s two most prestigious sportscar series – the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) and the North American-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – this weekend, with four of AMR’s key partner teams all competing.
Reigning FIA WEC LMGTE Am class champion TF Sport and fellow Aston Martin Racing partner teams NorthWest AMR and D’station Racing contest the 6 Hours of Portimão event on Sunday with a trio of Aston Martin Vantage GTEs. The Vantage GTE is the 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. Aston Martin’s triple 24 Hours of Le Mans class-winning race car is aiming for its first podium at Portimão on its final visit to the Portuguese track before the class switches to GT3 machinery from 2024.
All three AMR teams displayed good form in the season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring (USA) last month, with the #23 ORT by TF Vantage GTE driven by Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan (USA) works star Charlie Eastwood (IRL) qualifying a highly-competitive third in class. Paul Dalla Lana (CAN) and his NorthWest AMR team showed great race pace alongside FIA WEC GTE Pro world champion Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Axcil Jefferies (ZWE) while Japanese team D'station Racing’s owner Satoshi Hoshino (JPN) and regular co-driver Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) gelled quickly with rookie Casper Stevenson (GBR). But with misfortune preventing all three crews from capitalising on their potential, they are keen to kick-start their seasons on WEC’s return to Europe.
Vantage began the extended 2023 FIA WEC season with two GT world titles from the past three campaigns, but faces a packed 14-car field featuring tough competition, particularly as the LMGTE Am class now constitutes the only GT competition within the WEC. Moreover, the season is longer this year thanks to the addition of the Portimão event, which is swiftly followed by the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) race on 29 April. The centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA) takes place on 10-11 June, followed by the 6 Hours of Monza (ITA) on 9 July, the 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN) on 10 September and the traditional 8-Hour finale taking place in Bahrain on 4 November.
In all its variants (GTE, GT3 and GT4), Vantage is phenomenally successful, and is currently the reigning Rolex 24 at Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner as well as defending champion in the GT Am class of both the FIA WEC and IMSA.
Indeed, the Heart of Racing team heads into the third round of the IMSA series, the 100-minute Grand Prix of Long Beach on the world famous Californian street circuit, in searingly hot form. The team followed up its GTD class victory and strong GTD Pro class showing at the Rolex 24 with two fantastic, if unrewarded, race performances in the Sebring 12 Hours.
It means that works driver and reigning LMGTE Am world champion Marco Sørensen (DEN) starts his first IMSA Sprint race, alongside reigning champion Roman De Angelis (CAN), full of confidence in the #27 Vantage and determined to retain the season’s positive early momentum. Works driver Ross Gunn (GBR) and Alex Riberas (ESP) meanwhile, are looking to return the kind of performance that gave them their first win in the GTD Pro class at the same event last season.
Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “While Sebring was tough on all our teams, the pace of Vantage - particularly in the IMSA race - was reassuring. Portimão is a more conventional venue and perhaps offers our WEC teams a more solid foundation with which to build a strong weekend upon. On the other side of the Atlantic, Vantage has a proven pedigree around the streets of Long Beach. Everywhere we have been this season, the Heart of Racing team has shown why it is the reigning IMSA GTD champion and there is no reason to expect anything but more of the same from the first Sprint race of the season.”
Official practice for the 6 Hours of Portimão begins on Friday, 14 April, at 1030 CET, with the race beginning at noon on Sunday. Follow details of the event via the official WEC website and App. The Grand Prix Prix of Long Beach begins with free practice at 0900 PDT on Friday with the race starting at 1405 on Saturday. Go to the IMSA website for details of how to follow the race.
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Nissan Formula E Team secured race victory in the final event of the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Oliver Rowland putting in a masterful drive in the season-ending Round 16 at the London E-Prix.
The new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH has hit the track for the first time, as Aston Martin with The Heart of Racing begins a comprehensive testing programme ahead of the British ultra-luxury sportscar brand’s bid to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright next year and for the first time since 1959.
The new Hypercar, developed by Aston Martin Performance Technologies and works team The Heart of Racing, completed a shakedown and initial evaluation testing in the UK this week, The car was driven by Aston Martin High Performance development driver Darren Turner (GBR), The Heart of Racing’s Mario Farnbacher (DEU) and Harry Tincknell (GBR), who won the LMGTE class of the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin.
Aston Martin with The Heart of Racing will now commence a full development schedule to prepare the car ahead of FIA homologation in the autumn and its competitive debut in early 2025. The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is the first racing car to be built to Hypercar regulations to contest both the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] and the US-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] simultaneously.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is unique in the top Hypercar class of global endurance motorsport in that it is the only one among its contemporaries to derive its roots from an existing production-based extreme performance car – Aston Martin Valkyrie, the ultimate hypercar. Works team The Heart of Racing will enter two Valkyrie AMR-LMH contenders in WEC and a single car in IMSA in 2025.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Valkyrie AMR-LMH sets its own standard as a thoroughbred endurance competition car. It is a pure, leading edge racing machine, and while it is very early in the testing cycle, from what we have witnessed so far, we are satisfied that it is achieving the targets and criteria we have set out for it to accomplish.”
The last day of the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed was nothing short of spectacular. Over the five-day event, hundreds of vehicles, ranging from turn-of-the-century machines to modern hypercars, took on the iconic 1.16-mile hill climb. This year, the top 10 fastest cars showcased a thrilling mix of vintage Formula One racers and cutting-edge sports cars. Some were veterans of the hill climb, while others made their debut in style. Let's dive into the details of the 10 fastest cars at this year's event.
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