R-Motorsport

R-Motorsport is a Swiss motor racing team founded in 2015. The team race Aston Martins as they are affiliated with the dealership in Sankt Gallen; the only one in Switzerland.[1]

R-Motorsport

Founded	2015
Base	Niederwil bei Gossau, Sankt Gallen
Team principal(s)	Florian Kamelger
Current series	GT World Challenge Europe GT4 European Series
Former series	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Current drivers	GT3 Tom Blomqvist Oliver Caldwell Ricky Collard Jake Dennis Luca Ghiotto Max Hofer Daniel Juncadella Marvin Kirchhöfer James Pull Hugo de Sadeleer GT4 George Gamble Sebastian Perez

History

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in November before the partnership eventually split.[8][9] With both entities owning vehicle IP, Aston Martin was withdrawn from the DTM ahead of 2020 and all four cars were sold to a Hong Kong buyer.[10][11] The team continued their GT program in conjunction with their DTM entry,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 practice.[13] Dennis, Scott Dixon and Rick Kelly finished the race 16th outright, two laps down.[14]

Results

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

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Series results

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

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	Ret^3	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

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

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.

External links

Official website