TRG-ASTON MARTIN RACING HEADS TO THE SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN WITH NEW ADDITION TO THE 007 TEAM

REIGNING GTLM CHAMPION KUNO WITTMER TO DRIVE ALONGSIDE CHRISTINA NIELSEN

 

 

Petaluma, CA (June 24th, 2015) … Back from France and ready to get back behind the wheel, Christina Nielsen and the entire TRG-AMR 007 team are headed to Watkins Glen, New York for the next round of IMSA TUDOR United Sportscar Championship and Patron North American Endurance Cup competition. Currently 2nd in the IMSA TUDOR Championship, Nielsen and the 007 team have been incredibly competitive all season so far, reeling in a number of pole positions, fast laps, and podium finishes. This round of competition marks the 3rd round of the NAEC, the final long race before the season-ending Petit Le Mans.


With the weekend being split between IMSA at the Glen and Pirelli World Challenge at Road America, Nielsen and TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler made the decision to bring in some extra firepower for this event, in the form of 2014 IMSA TUDOR GTLM Champion and 2015 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona winner Kuno Wittmer. Wittmer, a Dodge factory driver for over the past five years, has been racing since 1998 when he first competed in the Jim Russell International Competition.

TRG has a long and successful lineage at the Glen, posting the only ever 1-2 finish campaigning Daytona Prototypes in 2005, as well as having a total of two additional GT class wins in the Six Hour race, 2 wins in the fall GT race and two wins in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge races held here. TRG Motorsports also competed at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series three years in a row, fighting head-to-head with the best of the best in NASCAR’s top-tier of competition. While historically impressive, the team knows it has a big challenge with the incredibly competitive GTD class and this demanding circuit.

TRG-AMR Team Driver, Kuno Wittmer:

“I am very pleased to be joining the TRG-AMR squad in their Aston Martin GTD car, and also blessed to be back in a GT car in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. They have shown great pace over the year and the team is always among the sharpest in the paddock. Being teamed up with Christina will be a first for me, but tracking her progress over the year we definitely have a shot at the victory. She stands out as a true performer and is a quick learner. To be quick and successful at Watkins Glen is never an easy task. The track has a lot of history to it and it is for sure one of my favorites. I believe the Aston will favor many parts of the circuit as it will be very important to lock down our qualify and race set-ups early in the practice days. Given it is a six hour event, many things can happen! Our goal is stay clean, keep the pace, and we will be there in the end. I have all the faith in my teammate and the TRG-AMR team. Another plan to cover this weekend will be to try and win this difficult race, scoring more points in the Tequila Patron North-American Endurance cup. I know Christina is sitting well in the rankings, a win here will help lift her even further.”
TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler:

“We’re really excited to have Kuno on board with us for this race (and maybe some more) – he’s a great driver with a lot of good history in front-engine, rear-wheel drive cars with tons of horsepower. He brings with him some incredible pedigree and I know the team will put a car on the track that he can compete up front with. We all had a really good time at Le Mans – Christina drove extremely well and continued to learn how the GT3 performs on really high-speed, flowing tracks like Le Mans and Watkins Glen. The Glen is a very very challenging track and I am looking forward to seeing how Christina and Kuno perform this weekend. We have an incredible history of success at this track and we are coming here for one purpose – To Win.”

Aston Martin reveals hardcore Vantage GT3 special edition



Over the past 22 years, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has become one of the premier classic car events in the world. It's a place where incredibly rare vehicles are dusted off and are actually driven up the estate's famous hill. In addition to all of the wonderful things on display there this year, Aston Martin is giving the public a look at two of the brand's rarest current models – the Vantage GT12 (pictured above) and Lagonda Taraf.

Goodwood is actually the first time the Vantage GT12 will be displayed on British soil, and all 100 units of it are already sold out. Aston originally debuted the stripped-out, 592-horsepower, V12 coupe at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show as the Vantage GT3, but a legal dispute with Porsche over the name forced the switch to the current moniker. Rather than just a static display, Aston CEO Andy Palmer has also decided to drive a GT12 up the hill.

If race-inspired, limited-edition coupes somehow aren't your thing, Aston Martin is also putting the Lagonda Taraf on display. Once exclusively available in the Middle East, the 200 examples of the carbon-fiber sedan are now for sale only by invitation, and this outing at Goodwood actually marks its global, public debut, outside of a major auto show. Each one is assembled by hand at the same dedicated facility responsible for vehicles like the One-77.

Beyond the company's latest and most limited production models, visitors to Goodwood also have the opportunity to watch the hillclimb by the #97 Vantage GTE racer from Le Mans with a mind-bending livery. Rarities like the CC100 are going to be making runs, as well. As usual, if you can make it the UK, this sounds like a must-see event.

Buckler to Take the Wheel at Circuit de la Sarthe

TRG-Aston Martin Racing and LaSalle Solutions Head to Le Mans Festival Race with Strong 8 Car Lineup Media/Press Click Here for Plain Text/Folder of Images Le Mans, France (June 9th, 2015) ... TRG-AMR is heading to France for the Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Festival Race with an impressive 8 car lineup of GT4’s and GT3’s and a terrific group of drivers. Team Owner Kevin Buckler will be returning to the circuit that he knows so well and piloting one of the Teams V-12 Vantage GT3’s along with Co-Driver and fellow racer Robert Nimkoff. Team Partner LaSalle Solutions, primary sponsor/partner of the California-based team’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona effort earlier this year, has stepped up to the plate again. This time, in the form of a fun and unique partnership around the team and Le Mans Champion and TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler’s No. 81 LaSalle Solutions V12 Vantage GT3 and the return to Le Mans. LaSalle Solutions, Solutions Group President, Steven Robb couldn’t make the trip across the pond as LaSalle has committed a huge presence at the Cisco Live tradeshow in San Diego on the same weekend, but has committed a Steven Robb Bobble-Head as Steven’s stunt-double and stand-in, spending the week with the team and riding through all the practice sessions and the race event with a view afforded to very few people — strapped to the dashboard! The team of course will build a fun and festive social media campaign around the partnership and stream the info back to LaSalle’s big convention in San Diego, Cisco Live. LaSalle Solutions, Solutions Group President, Steven Robb: “It’s great to partner again with Kevin and the entire TRG-AMR team. They’ve been a true partner in helping accomplish what we have all set out to do with our marketing program late last year. It’s been a lot of fun attending their events, working together to accomplish our business goals, aligning our teams, and generally just having a great time working with everyone. It’s a rewarding feeling when you walk by and see that one of your employees has set one of the LaSalle Aston Martin Racing cars as their computer screen background - makes me realize that we’re all on the same team, all pulling for the same goal - winning! Thanks Kevin, for letting me help you on this next part of the journey - sorry I couldn’t be there myself, but you have my bobble-head! I am looking forward to seeing that little guy going down the Mulsanne straight at 190 mph!” TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler: “It’s really an honor to be heading back to Le Mans with Steven and LaSalle Solutions on the car. Le Mans in 2002 was around the time it all really started to “Click” for TRG and myself as a driver and team owner. We had just won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and were headed over to Le Mans as the true underdog - in the truest sense of the word. In fact, We were a little one-car team with no experience at Le Mans, very limited parts and spares, and going up against the factory themselves, as well as multiple teams with strong factory ties and years of experience there. But we were calculated and committed and relentless and we made a little history on that day - and a lot like Steven and LaSalle - we never say “Can’t”. It is a real honor to be working with Aston Martin Racing at their big “Festival” event and also to be driving again. I asked my friend, partner and fellow racer Robert Nimkoff, to be my co-driver and I hope we can hold the team flag high. I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel again and to also sharing such a memorable experience with my other teammates. Hats off to everyone at TRG-AMR for putting together this amazing effort and sending an 80,000 lb semi-trailer loaded with parts and equipment and 8 racecars to France---not to mention the logistics of all of the drivers and guests. One thing's for sure---we are going to have a fantastic time and check everyone’s “Bucket List” on this one. Stay tuned for some fun on our social media channels with Stevens Bobble Head. He and LaSalle are fantastic partners and he has a wicked sense of humor so here we go!! After this, it’s right back to work as we continue our fight in the Pirelli World Challenge and IMSA TUDOR Championships - stay tuned!”

TRG-Aston Martin Racing Heads to Le Mans Festival Race with Eight Aston Martin Racing Cars and Solid Driver Line-Up

Aston Martin the Honored Marque of Historic Festival Event in Le Mans

Media/Press Click Here for Plain Text/Folder of Images Le Mans, France (June 8th, 2015) ... As the race and podium filled month of May passes into the rearview mirror, TRG-AMR stands ready to continue making history, this time in the form of an eight-car entry in the 2015 Le Mans Festival Race with Aston Martin as the honored marque. This marks one of the largest endeavors in history for the Sonoma County-based team, which includes shipping one of their primary race transporters and eight Aston Martin Racing cars across the Atlantic via both sea-freight and air-transport, as well as logistics for over 60 crew, guests, and other personnel. While a massive undertaking from the outside looking in, this is a relatively routine operation for the team which has run large, successful, multi-car operations for nearly 20 years, including an eight year run at the 24 hours of Daytona with five or more cars competing each year and posting 4 victories and 13 podiums there. This is also the team’s first official return to Le Mans where it last competed in 2002-2004 with a major GT victory in 2002. This marks the second time in four years that Aston Martin has been selected as the honored marque for the Le Mans Festival Race, the last being in 2012 during the marques 99th year of operation. This year Aston was again selected, both for the heritage of the brand at Le Mans, as well as having one of the largest stables of contemporary and functioning racing machines and being able to field a full grid of potent racecars with a full compliment of international drivers. This speaks volumes, not only the history and heritage of Aston Martin, but also of the reliability, quality, and popularity of their racing machines both past and present around the globe. Numerous types of Aston Martin Racing machines are entered to compete, everything from the 2006 Le Mans winning DBR9 to the V12 powered prototype along with nearly 30 V8 Vantage GT4 and GT3 machines, as well. Aside from the iconic and storied history of Aston Martin as the honored marque, also racing this year are some very notable names from around the sportscar racing world including 10 TRG-AMR Team Drivers including Christina Nielsen, Derek DeBoer, Alex Welch, Rob Nimkoff, Ben Keating, Jeff Huber, Greg Milzcik, Bob Bramlage, Fred Schulte and Kevin Buckler.

Christina Nielsen, a full-season IMSA TUDOR and Pirelli World Challenge TRG-AMR Team Driver, currently second in the TUDOR championship points, is driving the No. 82 V12 Vantage GT3, following in the footsteps of her father Lars Erik Nielsen, who drove for the team in the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans. Nielsen is currently in second place of the 2015 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Series, with podium finishes at the historic 12 Hours of Sebring and the recent race at Detroit’s Belle Isle. TRG-AMR partner and driver Jeff Huber will be making his first trip to Le Mans, having honed his skill in everything from open wheel to stock cars readying for the big event. Jeff’s day job as a senior executive at Google takes up most of his time, though racing fast cars has been taking a more prominent role lately, with Jeff running a partial season in the GT4 Challenge of North America, as well as multiple track and testing days. 2014 GT4 Challenge Competitor Greg Milzcik will be making his debut at Le Mans. Although new to the circuit, Milzcik is familiar with the GT4 having competed in every round of the North American Championship in 2014 and finishing as the Series Runner-Up. A former aerospace industry executive, Greg knows what it takes to compete at the top of his game, showing great promise as a GT racing driver. TRG-AMR Rolex 24 at Daytona competitor and Pirelli World Challenge driver Derek DeBoer will be sharing the No. 83 entry with Bob Bramlage, SVRA and SCCA longtime driver. Derek ran this year’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona with the team, helping bring the car home in a strong top-10 finishing position. Previously a professional wakeboarder, Derek is no stranger to intense competition and the drive to win. Bob has driven almost everything with wheels over the years, competing in a variety of historic and vintage sportscar classes throughout the years, including a Top-5 Finish at the SCCA National Runoffs in 2010, and competing against AMR Factory Driver Pedro Lamy in a 24 Hour Karting endurance race in Portugal.

Pirelli World Challenge standout and longtime GT Driver Alex Welch is in the No. 86 V8 Vantage GT4, having recently tested with the team at Sonoma Raceway and visited the nearby team's headquarters. Alex has driven everything from Porsche GT3 Cup cars to Audi R8 GT cars and Lamborghini GT3 machines - now it’s time for Aston Martin! TRG-AMR team driver Fred Schulte is a longtime HSR competitor and friend of the team and has worked diligently in preparation for this big event. His need for speed originated as a US Air Force pilot where he flew jets for a number of years before transitioning to much slower but equally challenging motor racing. TUDOR driver (and fellow competitor) Ben Keating will be piloting the No. 87 V8 Vantage GT4. Keating, a former TRG Porsche driver, is back with the team at this event but is also driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year with his Riley Viper GT car, campaigning a strong, independent effort during his first outing at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Rounding out the team line-up will be TRG-AMR CEO and former Le Mans GT Champion (2002),Kevin Buckler and his Co-Driver, East Coast racing standout and Daytona 24 Competitor and TRG-AMR partner Robert Nimkoff.  Buckler and Nimkoff will be driving the No. 81 LaSalle Solutions V12 Vantage GT3 and should make a competitive team in this car and class, both having driven The Festival previously in 2012. Nimkoff has strong GT and international competition having recently competed in the Dubai 24 and winning the grueling 13 hour endurance race at Virginia International Raceway. The No. 81 is rather significant in the team’s history, as it has adorned the number plates of all three TRG entries at Le Mans (2002, 2003, 2004), with the number panels from each of these cars proudly on display at the Sonoma County headquarters. More information on all of our Team Drivers can be found here.

TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler: “It’s really an honor to be heading back to Le Mans with this amazing group of drivers and race cars. This is going to bring back a lot of nice memories for me, but more importantly creating some great new ones together with our friends. The logistics of putting all of this in place have been just crazy and I cannot believe we are actually here. Everybody back at the offices has been so supportive, working late into the night and everybody on the competition side has just been fantastic, as usual. But this week, here at Le Mans, the real stars are our drivers and I am so proud and happy to be here with nine of my fellow racing drivers and friends to share this amazing experience together! Every one of them have all worked so hard to get here and it all came together. We start with a track orientation on Tuesday and then a big welcome dinner for the drivers and the guests at our private Château and then to scrutineering on Wednesday followed by our first practice. We are booked from morning till night with on-track and off-track activities and this is going to be a week to remember for everybody. We are looking forward to delivering an amazing experience for everybody and I could not be more proud of the entire group. Here we go!”

The Aston Martin Art Car is Headed to Le Mans

Aston Martin Racing has unveiled a 24 Hours of Le Mans art car designed by artist Tobias Rehberger. The unique creation gives the Gulf #97 Vantage GTE the illusion of movement and speed, even when static.

Rehberger is renowned for his abstract art and optical effects that distort perception and has received numerous international prizes and awards, including the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Aston Martin Racing invited him to design a livery that would work with the Gulf Vantage GTE’s lines and colours in a way never attempted before.

Thirty years after the first art car ran in the 24-hour race, Rehberger set out to create a design that uses geometric shapes and patterns to give the car, when sitting still, the impression of motion.

The German artist, who will attend Saturday’s race as a guest of Aston Martin Racing, explained: “My design for the Aston Martin art car is rooted in my interest in distorted perception and related phenomena like auto moving patterns, optical effects, camouflage and visual confusion, which I have addressed in many works before. In this case, the design is based on a geometric optical effect pattern. Comparable to a fast object, a steady fixation on a point of the pattern is impossible.”

 
The artwork was commissioned by the owner of car #97 who has long-admired the work of Rehberger. He was interested to see how he could manipulate the appearance of the race car, which is based on Aston Martin’s Vantage road car.

The driver of the car, Darren Turner was impressed with the results: “Personally, I think art cars are fantastic,” commented Turner. “This design really pushes the boundaries of what’s been done before and challenges how we can use patterns and colors in racecar liveries – I love it!”

The design, which will be seen on the side of the #97 Vantage GTE in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be unveiled at the official race scrutineering in the town center on June 8. The 24 Hours of Le Mans starts on Saturday, June 13 at 3 pm in France.

 

ASTON MARTIN LE MANS FESTIVAL TO BOAST BUMPER GRID

This year’s Michelin Aston Martin Le Mans Festival will provide more than 250,000 motorsport fans with the chance to see more Aston Martin Racing cars race side-by-side on the Circuit de la Sarthe than ever before. The 45-minute event, which takes place on the full 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit on the same day as the start of the 24-hour race, will allow fans to hear the scream of the Aston Martin DBR1-2, the roar of the Le Mans-winning DBR9, and enjoy battles in the GTE, GT3 and GT4 classes.

Aston Martin Racing Customer Programs Manager Andrew Williamson said,  “There are very few manufacturers that can fill a grid with such a wide range of race cars – from LMP1 to GT4s. “Aston Martin Racing has been designing and building class-winning cars for the past 11 years and seeing so many of them here in one place reminds us of how successful each model has been.”

Highlights of the field include the race-inspired Aston Martin Vantage GT12 driven by company CEO Dr Andy Palmer, while the festival race will also be the first outing for Beechdean AMR’s new Vantage GTE with team-owner Andrew Howard taking the wheel. Roald Goethe will bring two cars from his famous ROFGO Collection, the DBR1-2 and the iconic DBR9, and Young Driver team-owner Jan Struve has entered their V12 Zagato and Vantage GT2.

Paul White and Tom Onslow-Cole will drive their Bilstein-liveried Vantage GT3 – the same car that led Nürburgring 24 Hours for ten hours in 2013 – while celebrity baker turned racing driver Paul Hollywood will race a Vantage GT4, alongside Aston Martin Racing’s CEO David Richards, to fulfill his lifelong dream of racing at Le Mans.

Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer said, “This Festival race is a superb celebration of Aston Martin Racing’s achievements over the last decade. Seeing so many of our iconic sports cars in action in one place is sure to provide the Le Mans crowds – many of whom are confirmed fans of our brand – with a memory to treasure.”

Aston Martin Racing’s Le Mans Festival race is sponsored by Michelin, further cementing the relationship between the two brands.

“It’s great to have Michelin as our title sponsor,” said Andrew Williamson. “Our relationship with the brand is going from strength-to-strength. Our five Vantage GTEs will compete on their tyres in the main race and now Aston Martin’s Vulcan and Vantage GT12 track-inspired cars will also be equipped with Michelin tires, designed and engineered from years of experience in endurance racing.

“These relationships are essential to our success. We are here celebrating eleven years of Aston Martin Racing and some of our partners, such as our fuel tank supplier ATL, have been with us since day one.”

The Michelin Aston Martin Le Mans Festival starts at 11.15 on Saturday 13 June and the race will be shown on Motors TV towards the end of July (time TBC). 

Provisional Entry List:

GT2 #16 Alpha Classics Racing - Hiroyuki Akane / Andrew Jarman
GT2 #7 Beechdean AMR - Andrew Howard
GT2 #98 Gulf Racing for ROFGO - Roald Goethe
GT3 #2 Beechdean AMR - Phil Drybrugh
GT3 #21 Strata 21 - Paul White / Tom Onslow Cole
GT3 #81 TRG AMR - Kevin Buckler
GT3 #82 TRG AMR - Christina Nielsen
GT3 #11 22 GT Racing - Mark Farmer
GT3 #32 22 GT Racing - Tom Alexander
GT4 #41 Academy Motorsport - Will Moore
GT4 #42 Academy Motorsport - Matt Nicoll-Jones
GT4 #4 Aston Martin Belgium - Arnold Herreman
GT4 #19 Aston Martin Belgium - Jean-Paul Herreman
GT4 #48 Alfab AMR Eric Behrens - Daniel Roos
GT4 #43 Aston Martin Lagonda – Marek Reichman / Nina Vetterli-Treml
GT4 #44 Aston Martin Lagonda – Wolfgang Schuhbauer / Liam Talbot
GT4 #76 Aston Martin St Gallen - Andreas Baenziger
GT4 #1 Beechdean AMR - Paul Hollywood / David Richards
GT4 #47 JWB Motorsports - Kieran Griffin / Paul Dehadray
GT4 #25 Speedworks - Ron Johnson
GT4 #55 Stratton Motorsport - Dominique Bastien
GT4 #56 Stratton Motorsport - Peter Montague / Zak Mercer
GT4 #57 Stratton Motorsport - Pierre Mantello
GT4 #58 Stratton Motorsport - Robin Marriott
GT4 #59 Stratton Motorsport - David Tinn
GT4 #83 TRG AMR - Derek DeBoer / Bob Bramlage
GT4 #88 TRG AMR - Greg Milzcik
GT4 #84 TRG AMR - Jeff Huber
GT4 #85 TRG AMR - Fred Schulte
GT4 #86 TRG AMR - Alex Welch
GT4 #87 TRG AMR - Ben Keating
GT4 #24 Vantage Racing - Tom Black
GT4 #91 Vantage Racing - Chris Kemp
GT4 #12 22 GT Racing - Mika Brown / Chris Brown
INV – GT12 #6 Aston Martin Lagonda – Andy Palmer / Jason Harper
INV – LMP1 #9 Gulf Racing for ROFGO - Stuart Hall
INV – GT1 #95 Young Driver AMR - Jan Struve
INV – Zagato #59 Young Driver AMR - Jac Nellmann

 

TRG-AMR and Christina Nielsen Earn A Pair of Podiums in Detroit

A pair of top-three finishes helped cap an incredibly strong performance by Danish sports car standout Christina Nielsen and her teammate, Australian driver James Davison this past weekend at Belle Isle. The duo have been dominant all season long thus far, leading races at Daytona and Laguna. They now finished on the second step of the podium for the second time this year, as done previously at the historic 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year. This places Nielsen and Davison firmly in P2 of the IMSA TUDOR GTD Championship hunt, as well as near the top of the standings in the Patron North American Endurance Cup.

The 100-minute IMSA TUDOR race was full of great racing and an exciting ending around the 2.35 mile circuit. With the tight corners and unforgiving concrete barriers, the race saw incredible passes, drag-race style showdowns on the straights and remarkable racing between the three classes and 23 race cars dicing it up on the track. Nielsen and her co-driver James Davison spent much of the race battling it out for hard-earned positions, ultimately finishing a strong P2.

The pair lost the chance at victory following a full-course caution near the end of the race in which race control did not allow enough time for the GTD field to regroup during a yellow flag procedure. This oversight unfortunately allowed the #23 Porsche to be essentially handed the win. Christina and James brought the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 home in second position, matching their best performance this season at the storied 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year, but not realizing the full potential of either driver or machine.

Unfortunately, following the completion of the IMSA TUDOR race and during a torrential downpour, TRG-AMR Team Driver James Davison was just crossing the start/finish line when the car started to hydroplane. While this should have been limited to just an unfortunate post-race mishap on the slippery surface, the gravity of the situation increased exponentially when a safety truck responding to an earlier incident in Turn 1 parked itself on the track (only local yellow was used) directly in the path of the oncoming Davison. More than five cars were eventually included in the pile-up at the end of the front straight, with two of the safety workers being taken to medical, one of them seriously injured and later hospitalized. The team and all of our crew, drivers, partners, sponsors, and fans wish the injured safety worker a healthy and speedy recovery.

TRG-AMR Team Driver Christina Nielsen also brought home a strong P3 finish in Pirelli World Challenge Race #1 on Saturday, after a strong qualifying session the day prior by the Danish sports car sensation. Having never previously driven this 14-turn temporary street circuit, Nielsen was reliant upon simulator training time along with plenty of video and data analysis to get her up to speed. The second Pirelli World Challenge race was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions and safety concerns.