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R-Motorsport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Switzerland R-Motorsport
Founded2015
BaseNiederwil bei Gossau, Sankt Gallen
Team principal(s)Florian Kamelger
Former seriesDeutsche Tourenwagen Masters
GT World Challenge Europe
GT4 European Series
Intercontinental GT Challenge

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]

History

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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in November before the partnership eventually split.[8][9] With both entities owning vehicle IP, Aston Martin was withdrawn from the DTM ahead of 2020 and all four cars were sold to a Hong Kong buyer.[10][11] The team continued their GT program in conjunction with their DTM entry,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

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Jake Dennis driving the Aston Martin Vantage DTM at the Hockenheimring in 2019.

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Series results

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Year Car No. Drivers Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 T.C. Points
2018 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 62 United Kingdom Alex Brundle P MNZ
9
SIL
5
LEC
38
9th 40
Germany Marvin Kirchhöfer SPA6
17
SPA12
17
SPA24
35
BAR
19
Belgium Maxime Martin
Austria Dominik Baumann
76 United Kingdom Jake Dennis P MNZ
Ret
SIL
1
LEC
31
SPA6
13
SPA12
11
SPA24
9
BAR
40
Denmark Nicki Thiim
France Matthieu Vaxivière
2019 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 62 Belgium Maxime Martin P MNZ
37
SIL
17
LEC
10
SPA6
64
SPA12
64
SPA24
Ret
BAR
17
7th 39
United Kingdom Matt Parry
France Matthieu Vaxivière
76 Denmark Nicki Thiim P MNZ
19
SIL
DNS
United Kingdom Jake Dennis LEC
4
SPA6
5
SPA12
25
SPA24
19
BAR
2
Germany Marvin Kirchhöfer
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
762 United Kingdom Ricky Collard S SPA6
68
SPA12
68
SPA24
Ret
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
Switzerland Hugo de Sadeleer
Finland Aaro Vainio

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

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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
Germany HOC1 Belgium ZOL Italy MIS Germany NRM Netherlands ASS United Kingdom BRH Germany LAU Germany NÜR Germany HOC2
2019 Switzerland R-Motorsport I Aston Martin Vantage DTM 3 United Kingdom Paul di Resta Ret3 7 8 DNS 16 Ret 12 Ret 14 8 14† 14 13 Ret 12 DNS 7 DNS 8th 38
76 United Kingdom Jake Dennis 11 11 Ret 6 15 13 9 12 12 Ret Ret 9 11 Ret Ret 14 11 8
Switzerland R-Motorsport II 23 Spain Daniel Juncadella 9 16† Ret Ret 13 14 6 10 Ret 7 10 8 12 12 10 12 Ret Ret 9th 26
62 Austria 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 United Kingdom Jake Dennis
Germany Marvin Kirchhöfer
France Matthieu Vaxivière
Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 APP 312 2nd 2nd
760 Switzerland Andreas Bänziger
Austria Florian Kamelger
Australia Peter Leemhuis
United Kingdom Matt Parry
GT3 Pro-Am 168 DNF DNF
2020 62 United Kingdom Oliver Caldwell
Italy Luca Ghiotto
Germany Marvin Kirchhöfer
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 GT3 Pro 0 WD WD
76 United Kingdom Jake Dennis
New Zealand Scott Dixon
Australia Rick Kelly
GT3 Pro 308 16th 10th

References

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  1. ^ "R-Motorsport – Motor racing at Aston Martin St. Gallen". Aston Martin Sankt Gallen. 1 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Brundle, Dennis join new R-Motorsport Blancpain effort". Motorsport.com. 1 December 2017.
  3. ^ "R-Motorsport Retains Silverstone Win". Sportscar365. 9 July 2018.
  4. ^ "R-Motorsport Deliver Best Ever Aston Martin Result At Bathurst". Jake Dennis. 3 February 2019.
  5. ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin to replace Mercedes in the DTM". Autosport. 11 October 2018.
  6. ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin DTM car breaks cover". Motorsport.com. 5 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Di Resta adamant he didn't jump Brands Hatch start". Motorsport.com. 11 August 2019.
  8. ^ "R-Motorsport pulls out of DTM/Super GT joint race". Motorsport.com. 15 September 2019.
  9. ^ "R-Motorsport confirms split with DTM partner HWA". Motorsport.com. 24 October 2019.
  10. ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin squad withdraws from DTM after one season". Autosport. 24 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Aston Martin rules out HWA running Vantages in DTM". Motorsport.com. 30 January 2020.
  12. ^ "The Weekend Roundup: Barcelona". Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 2 October 2019.
  13. ^ "Bathurst 12 Hour: terrifying crash for Kirchhoefer". Motorsport.tv on YouTube. 1 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Bentley takes comprehensive win in Bathurst 12 Hour". Speedcafe. 2 February 2020.
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Official website