What's the news?
Aston Martin has joined forces with Masters Historic Racing (one of the world's leading historic race event organisers and promoters) to create a new programme that it is calling Aston Martin Heritage Racing (AMHR).
The company's commitment to any form of historic motorsport will, from now on, come under the banner of AMHR, with activities such as supplying Aston Martin road cars as official pace and course cars for Masters Historic Racing part of the programme.
Other series that will fall under the jurisdiction of AMHR are: the Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legends series, being a competition for Le Mans and ALMS prototypes and GTs from the period 1995-2012; the Aston Martin Heritage Racing Festival Series, which will host two race events in 2019 and three race weekends in both 2020 and 2021, all of which are for Aston Martin Racing's back catalogue of GT1, GT2, GT3, GT4 and GTE machines (the Lola-Aston LMP1 and the latest Vantage GTE, GT3 and GT4 excepted), as well as special series cars like the Vulcan or the Vantage GT8 that competed in the Nürburgring 'N24'; and the Aston Martin Heritage Racing Track Experience, which allows road and track sessions in new Aston Martin road cars, as part of race weekend packages.
Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Lagonda president and group CEO, said of AMHR: "The creation of Aston Martin Heritage Racing draws together our various historic motorsport activities and provides a platform from which we will continue to extend the scope of our presence in the vibrant and hugely popular international historic racing scene. Our official automotive partnership with Masters Historic Racing sees our Vantage and Rapide AMR models serving as official Safety Cars and Course Cars, while our title sponsorship of the Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legends Series supports a spectacular grid of iconic modern classic machines that once competed in some of the world's greatest endurance races."
Ron Maydon, founder and president of Masters Historic Racing, added: "It's a tremendous endorsement of historic racing's popularity that such a prestigious brand as Aston Martin has chosen to partner Masters Historic Racing (MHR). Few car companies have a better fit with historic racing, thanks to a thread of motorsport success tracing right back to the company's origins more than a century ago. Much like Aston Martin, MHR likes to innovate and evolve, and so I'm especially proud that Aston Martin is title partner of the Masters Endurance Legends Series, which has pioneered the concept of modern historic racing with dazzling grids of prototype and GT racing cars that were eligible to compete at Le Mans and other top-level endurance races between 1995 and 2012. With this period encompassing some of Aston Martin Racing's greatest 21st century successes it will be an absolute pleasure to see some of these iconic machines once again do battle with their period adversaries."
Anything else?
If you'd like more information on AMHR's activities and calendar, contact [email protected].