The world’s two most prestigious sportscar series – the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) and the North American-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – are back in action this weekend as Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage seeks a victorious start to the second half of 2023.
Some of Aston Martin Racing’s key partner teams, the Heart of Racing (HoR), TF Sport and D’station Racing will compete on both sides of the Atlantic as the WEC recommences post-24 Hours of Le Mans at Monza (Italy), and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport), in Canada.
On a run of two consecutive WEC podiums, including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month, reigning FIA WEC LMGTE Am class champions TF Sport and drivers Ahmad Al Harthy (OMN) and Michael Dinan (USA), supported by works driver Charlie Eastwood (IRL), head to the 6 Hours of Monza on Sunday seeking to give the Aston Martin Vantage GTE its first win of the season and its first WEC class victory at the cathedral of speed.
Monza represents a critical point in the championship as TF Sport looks to build momentum into its world title defense. Having finished in second place in the past two rounds at Spa-Francorchamps and Le Mans, a strong result is imperative with only the 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN) on 10 September and the traditional 8-Hour finale in Bahrain on 4 November still to take place.
Aston Martin Racing partner team D’station Racing has also enjoyed its best WEC result to date at Monza, finishing third on the circuit’s championship debut in 2021. Satoshi Hoshino (JPN), Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) and Casper Stevenson (GBR) aim to achieve similar, or better, on the WEC’s last visit to the venue before switching to Imola in 2024.
HoR meanwhile has always planned to focus its efforts on Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with the 160-minute race at Mosport falling on the same weekend as Round 5 of the WEC. This means that NorthWest AMR’s vacant entry, which was taken by HoR at Spa and Le Mans, will remain dormant for the Italian race before being pressed back into action in Fuji.
The Seattle-based team, which won the Rolex 24 at Daytona to kick off the season, is keen to recover its GTD points lead with reigning champion Roman De Angelis (CAN) – on home soil – and co-driver LMGTE Am world champion Marco Sørensen (DEN) in the #27 Vantage GT3. The car won its class at the same event last season. Works driver Ross Gunn (GBR) and Alex Riberas (ESP) meanwhile have shown race-winning pace all season and are seeking to finally clinch the victory that has eluded them so far in 2023.
The Vantage GTE and GT3 are prototype versions of the British-built race car derived from Aston Martin’s critically-acclaimed ultra-luxury sportscar and share 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.
Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “This weekend is pivotal for our partner teams on both sides of the Atlantic. TF Sport has built up momentum in recent WEC rounds and a win now feels tantalisingly close at a circuit Vantage has always gone well on. D’station Racing deserves a strong result to match all the hard work the team has put in and Monza presents a great opportunity for this. In IMSA, the Heart of Racing has repeatedly proven it can be a force with Vantage and we can expect more of the same from the team at Mosport this weekend. Both HoR Aston Martins were on the podium at this event last year, and the team is proving to be just as competitive in 2023.”
Official practice for the 6 Hours of Monza begins on Friday, 6 July, at 1130 CET, with the race beginning at 1230 on Sunday. Follow details of the event via the official WEC website and App. Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship begins with free practice at 1450 local time on Friday with the race starting at 1205 on Sunday. Go to the IMSA website for details of how to follow the race.
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Nissan Formula E Team is excited to announce a four-year global partnership with Petromin Corporation, a leading mobility solutions provider in the Middle East. The partnership will be primarily focused on the company’s EV charging subsidiary, Electromin, as the business looks ahead to a wider adoption of electric mobility in the region.
The Mercedes-AMG ONE has been the fastest production car on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife since October 2022 and has been unrivalled ever since. The only rival is the ONE itself. Now Mercedes AMG brand ambassador and DTM driver Maro Engel has once again significantly improved the lap time he set. With an officially measured and notarised time of 6:29.090 minutes for the 20.832-kilometre track, the hypercar with Formula 1™ technology beat its own record for production vehicles by over five seconds. This makes the Mercedes AMG ONE the first road car to beat the magic mark of 6:30 minutes. It is also the only series hybrid hypercar to date to have taken on the world's most demanding racetrack and is the undisputed leader in the super-sports-car class. In order to achieve the lofty goals they had set for themselves, meticulous preparation was necessary. In addition, the track conditions had to be ideal in order to beat the 6:30 minute target. On September 23, 2024, at 6:56 p.m., on his third timed lap, Maro Engel achieved the new record. With temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius (air) and 20 degrees Celsius (asphalt), the legendary Nordschleife was dry throughout and offered perfect grip.
Like Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on their Formula 1™ race weekends, Maro Engel also had to make the best possible use of the hybrid drive's electrical energy. This is particularly challenging, especially with a track length of more than 20 kilometres. Therefore, it is immensely important to use the right sections of the track to recuperate during braking phases and thus store energy in the batteries again.
To do this, Maro Engel utilised the AMG ONE's four-stage Energy Flow Control (EFC) system and in some cases deliberately took his foot off the accelerator a little earlier than he normally would. In technical jargon, this is known as “lift and coast”. Preliminary tests in the driving simulator in Affalterbach and on the Nordschleife itself provided the necessary insights, which the team and driver were able to optimally implement for the record lap. In accordance with the specifications of Nürburgring 1927 GmbH & Co KG, the vehicle was tested and documented by TÜV Rheinland to ensure that it was in standard condition. A notary confirmed that the record drive had been carried out correctly.
The new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 heads into this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) finale – the Petit Le Mans 10-hour race at Road Atlanta – deep in the hunt for its first major title.
The new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 has enjoyed a stellar debut season of international competition. The car recorded a historic victory in the centenary edition of the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa in June, a first for the British ultraluxury sportscar brand in the modern GT era. It also achieved Aston Martin’s first ever Autobacs Super GT class victory in Japan in the same month. As well as this, Vantage has clinched class wins in the FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA, the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series and ADAC GT Masters through the summer.
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