R-Motorsport was a Swiss motor racing team founded in 2015. The team raced Aston Martins as they are affiliated with the dealership in Sankt Gallen; the only one in Switzerland.[1]
| Founded | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Base | Niederwil bei Gossau, Sankt Gallen |
| Team principal(s) | Florian Kamelger |
| Former series | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters GT World Challenge Europe GT4 European Series Intercontinental GT Challenge |
History edit
Founded in late 2015, R-Motorsport would spend its formative years as part of a tie-up with parent company AF Racing AG and Red Bull Advanced Technologies working on the Aston Martin Valkyrie before entering the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2018.[2] The team found success quickly, winning just their second race at Silverstone with Jake Dennis, Nicki Thiim and Matthieu Vaxivière – aiding the trio to 13th in the championship.[3] The team then went on to represent the Aston Martin marque at the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour, and in the last race for the V12 Vantage scored a shock pole position and second placing.[4]
HWA Racelab would then coax the Swiss squad into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters to replace their outgoing Mercedes-Benz association for 2019.[5] The Vantage DTM broke cover just days before their pre-season team test in Jerez having been built in less than 100 days due to time constraints.[6] Despite Paul di Resta's third-place in the first qualifying session at the Hockenheimring, all four cars struggled with copious mechanical problems. Daniel Juncadella scored the team's best result of sixth at the first race in Nuremberg, with Di Resta on course for a surprise win at Brands Hatch before he was falsely penalised for jumping the start.[7] R-Motorsport and HWA – the engine builder for the program – would point the blame at each other for the poor season, withdrawing from the DTM's joint race with Super GT at Fuji Speedway in November before the partnership eventually split.[8][9] With both entities owning vehicle IP, Aston Martin was withdrawn from the DTM ahead of 2020 and all four cars were sold to a Hong Kong buyer.[10][11] The team continued their GT program in conjunction with their DTM entry, with Dennis, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Alex Lynn scoring a podium in the team's last race of the year.[12]
2020 began with a two-car assault on the Bathurst 12 Hour, but only one car started the race after Kirchhöfer flipped the #62 car in qualifying.[13] Dennis, Scott Dixon and Rick Kelly finished the race 16th outright, two laps down.[14]
Results edit
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GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Series results edit
| Year | Car | No. | Drivers | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | T.C. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 | 62 |  Alex Brundle
|
P | MNZ 9 |
SIL 5 |
LEC 38 |
9th | 40 | ||||
 Marvin Kirchhöfer
|
SPA6 17 |
SPA12 17 |
SPA24 35 |
BAR 19 | |||||||||
 Maxime Martin
| |||||||||||||
 Dominik Baumann
|
|||||||||||||
| 76 | Jake Dennis
|
P | MNZ Ret |
SIL 1 |
LEC 31 |
SPA6 13 |
SPA12 11 |
SPA24 9 |
BAR 40 | ||||
 Nicki Thiim
| |||||||||||||
 Matthieu Vaxivière
| |||||||||||||
| 2019 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 | 62 | Maxime Martin
|
P | MNZ 37 |
SIL 17 |
LEC 10 |
SPA6 64 |
SPA12 64 |
SPA24 Ret |
BAR 17 |
7th | 39 |
| Matt Parry
| |||||||||||||
| Matthieu Vaxivière
| |||||||||||||
| 76 | Nicki Thiim
|
P | MNZ 19 |
SIL DNS |
|||||||||
| Jake Dennis
|
LEC 4 |
SPA6 5 |
SPA12 25 |
SPA24 19 |
BAR 2 | ||||||||
| Marvin Kirchhöfer
| |||||||||||||
| Alex Lynn
|
|||||||||||||
| 762 | Ricky Collard
|
S | SPA6 68 |
SPA12 68 |
SPA24 Ret |
||||||||
| Ferdinand Habsburg
|
|||||||||||||
 Hugo de Sadeleer
|
|||||||||||||
 Aaro Vainio
|
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results edit
| Year | Entrant | Car | No. | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | T.C. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOC1
|
ZOL
|
 MIS
|
NRM
|
 ASS
|
BRH
|
LAU
|
NÜR
|
HOC2
|
||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | R-Motorsport I
|
Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 3 | Paul di Resta
|
Ret3 | 7 | 8 | DNS | 16 | Ret | 12 | Ret | 14 | 8 | 14† | 14 | 13 | Ret | 12 | DNS | 7 | DNS | 8th | 38 |
| 76 | Jake Dennis
|
11 | 11 | Ret | 6 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 12 | Ret | Ret | 9 | 11 | Ret | Ret | 14 | 11 | 8 | |||||
| R-Motorsport II
|
23 |  Daniel Juncadella
|
9 | 16† | Ret | Ret | 13 | 14 | 6 | 10 | Ret | 7 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | Ret | Ret | 9th | 26 | ||
| 62 | Ferdinand von Habsburg
|
Ret | 12 | 9 | Ret | 14 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 15† | 11 | 15 | Ret | 11 | 15 | DNS | 11 | |||||
3 – One point for 3rd in qualifying.
† – Did not finish, but was classified having completed 90% of the race distance.
Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results edit
| Year | Car# | Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 62 | Jake Dennis Marvin Kirchhöfer Matthieu Vaxivière
|
Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 | APP | 312 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 760 | Andreas Bänziger Florian Kamelger Peter Leemhuis Matt Parry
|
GT3 Pro-Am | 168 | DNF | DNF | ||
| 2020 | 62 | Oliver Caldwell Luca Ghiotto Marvin Kirchhöfer
|
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 | GT3 Pro | 0 | WD | WD |
| 76 | Jake Dennis Scott Dixon Rick Kelly
|
GT3 Pro | 308 | 16th | 10th |
References edit
- ^ "R-Motorsport – Motor racing at Aston Martin St. Gallen". Aston Martin Sankt Gallen. 1 March 2016.
- ^ "Brundle, Dennis join new R-Motorsport Blancpain effort". Motorsport.com. 1 December 2017.
- ^ "R-Motorsport Retains Silverstone Win". Sportscar365. 9 July 2018.
- ^ "R-Motorsport Deliver Best Ever Aston Martin Result At Bathurst". Jake Dennis. 3 February 2019.
- ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin to replace Mercedes in the DTM". Autosport. 11 October 2018.
- ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin DTM car breaks cover". Motorsport.com. 5 March 2019.
- ^ "Di Resta adamant he didn't jump Brands Hatch start". Motorsport.com. 11 August 2019.
- ^ "R-Motorsport pulls out of DTM/Super GT joint race". Motorsport.com. 15 September 2019.
- ^ "R-Motorsport confirms split with DTM partner HWA". Motorsport.com. 24 October 2019.
- ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin squad withdraws from DTM after one season". Autosport. 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Aston Martin rules out HWA running Vantages in DTM". Motorsport.com. 30 January 2020.
- ^ "The Weekend Roundup: Barcelona". Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 2 October 2019.
- ^ "Bathurst 12 Hour: terrifying crash for Kirchhoefer". Motorsport.tv on YouTube. 1 February 2020.
- ^ "Bentley takes comprehensive win in Bathurst 12 Hour". Speedcafe. 2 February 2020.