Aston Martin Racing Festival Race Makes Le Mans Return

•Sky F1TM commentator Martin Brundle and Sir Chris Hoy head star-filled line-up

•Aston Martin Vulcan makes competition debut at La Sarthe

Friday 18 May, Banbury: The hugely popular Michelin Aston Martin Racing Festival will return to Le Mans on 16 June, 2018 with a packed 38-car entry and a star-filled line-up that includes Sky F1TM commentator and former Le Mans winner Martin Brundle and his co-driver, the multiple Olympic gold medal winner, Sir Chris Hoy.

The 45-minute race takes place on the same day as the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the full circuit at La Sarthe, and will be filled with cars from all corners of the Aston Martin universe. And, for the first time ever, will include two of the awe-inspiring 7-litre, V12-powered Aston Martin Vulcans – entered by the newly-opened AMR Performance Centre, based at the Nürburgring in Germany.

'I'd never miss a chance to race on the full Le Mans circuit, I love that track,' said Brundle, whose Vantage GT4 will also be entered by the AMR Performance Centre. 'This will be particularly special partnering Sir Chris Hoy in a beautiful Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Chris is a good friend and handy on the pedals in every respect.

'The competition looks strong so I'll be seeking plenty of advice from my son Alex who also races an iconic Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 around Europe.'

The race will feature a wide variety of Aston Martin machinery, including a number of examples of the company's most successful racing car – the V12 Vantage GT3 – entered by, among others Jetstream Motorsport, TF Sport and Young Driver AMR, whose car will be driven by team owner Jan Struve and Aston Martin Racing Managing Director John Gaw. There are also older Vantage GT1s, GT2s and even the 2016 FIA-World Endurance Championship-winning #95 Danetrain V8 Vantage GTE driven by Marco Sørensen's brother Lasse on the entry list.

Aston Martin Racing's Head of Customer Racing Huw Tasker said: 'I am very excited to welcome our AMR customers to Le Mans. What GT driver doesn't aspire to be a part of the biggest racing event in motorsport? So to be able to make this happen for our customers is very special. We have AMR cars of all varieties, from different eras, showcasing the pedigree of the cars which AMR has designed, developed and raced over many years.

'We are also very grateful to Michelin for their support with this event, which following on from their renewed technical partnership of our FIA WEC race programmes underpins a vital relationship that we intend to build on moving forward.'

Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer, summed up: 'Having taken part in this event in 2015, I can say first-hand it will be a tremendous experience. Moreover, this is a wonderful celebration of all that Aston Martin Racing has achieved since we returned to the sport as a manufacturer. To be able to display so many different iconic Aston Martin racing cars, as well as the stunning Vulcan, in front of 250,000 fans is a testament to the durability of our brand.'

The race will take place on 16 June, at 1015 CET. For more information follow AMR­_Official, via the hashtag #AstonMartinFestival on Twitter, or via media.astonmartin.com.

Provisional Entry List:

GT3 #32 22GT Racing - Tom Alexander/Adrian Willmott

GT3 #3 Aston Martin Racing - Ross Gunn

GT3 #77 Backbox Racing & R Motorsport - Alexander Lienau

GT3 #47 Jetstream Motorsport - Graham Davison

GT3 MB Racing - Mike Brown/Paul Cripps

GT3 #11 TF Sport - Mark Farmer

GT3 #59 Young Driver AMR - Jan Struve/John Gaw

GT4 #9 22GT Racing - Dean Gibbs/Richard Marsh

GT4 #88 22GT Racing - Martin Buckland

GT4 #61 Academy Motorsport - JM Littman/Rik Breukers

GT4 #62 Academy Motorsport - Fiona James

GT4 #63 Academy Motorsport - Steven Davison/Steve Phillips

GT4 #4 Aston Martin Belgium - Arnold Herreman

GT4 #19 Aston Martin Belgium - Jean-Paul Herreman

GT4 #97 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Jurgen Kroner/Wolfgang Schuhbauer

GT4 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Andrew Palmer/Peter Cate

GT4 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Jamie Chadwick/Paul Hollywood

GT4 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Martin Brundle/Chris Hoy

GT4 #1 Beechdean AMR - Andrew Howard/David Richards

GT4 #10 EDF Motorsports - Malcolm Sandford

GT4 #44 Generation AMR Super Racing - James Holder/Matthew George

GT4 #33 R-Motorsport - Joshua Reynolds/Markus Lungstrass

GT4 #69 Speedworks Motorsport - Piers Johnson

GT4 #7 Street Art Racing - Jean Marc Bourdouch/Albert Bloem

GT4 #60 Stratton Motorsport - Robin Marriott

GT4 #71 Stratton Motorsport - David Tinn

GT4 #66 Stratton Motor Co / TRG - Jeff Huber

GT4 #68 Team BRIT - Warren McKinlay/Jamie Falvey

GT4 #91 Weathertech Stephen - Archer/Felix Archer

GT4 #57 Whitebridge AMR - Chris Murphy/Barry McMahon

GT4 #15 Whitebridge AMR - Bonamy Grimes

Vulcan #8 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Akinari Miura/Toro Nakano

Vulcan #6 Aston Martin Performance Centre - Gleb Stepanov/Stephen Tomkins

GT2 Motohistorics - Shaun Lynn

GT1 #94 Sporting and Historic Cars - Nikolas Ditting

GT1 #100 Sporting and Historic Cars - Dieter Roschmann/Dominik Roschmann

GTE #95 Young Driver AMR - Benny Simonsen/Lasse Sorensen

INV Aston Passion - Vincent Bialostotski/Bernard Pascal

Photo credit: Aston Martin
posted on conceptcarz.com

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