Partner team D’station Racing AMR to compete in Super GT 300 class
Drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Joāo Paulo Oliveira to be joined by Darren Turner for Fuji 500-mile race
Vantage GT3 entry signals Aston Martin return to Japan’s top GT series
Friday 15 February, Gaydon: Aston Martin has agreed an important new long-term partnership with the D’station Racing AMR team, signalling a high-profile return to the Japanese Super GT Championship for the British luxury sportscar manufacturer in 2019.
The agreement, which features the highest level of partner support from Aston Martin Racing, includes a one-car programme in the Super GT 300 class (comprised mainly of customer and works-supported GT3 machinery) using the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
The #7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will be driven by series multiple race-winners Tomonobu Fujii (J) and Joāo Paulo Oliveira (BR), who between them have more than 25 years of experience in Japanese GT racing. They will be supported by works driver and three-time Le Mans 24 Hours class-winner Darren Turner (GB) in the 500-mile round at Fuji Speedway on 4 August.
D’station, run by the successful KTR motorsport preparation company based near Fuji Speedway, is entering its third year of competition in Japanese Super GT and by aligning with Aston Martin intends to secure its first victory in the category and compete for the GT 300 class title. The Vantage GT3, the first Aston Martin to compete in Japan’s top GT series since 2012, will run in a predominantly dark green livery featuring the British manufacturers’ AMR Performance sub-brand and the team’s tyre partner Yokohama.
Tomonobu Fujii said: “I’ve had a long and successful association with Aston Martin at various stages of my career at home and abroad and scored my podium finish in the 2013 Dubai 24 Hours in a V12 Vantage GT3. I am proud and honoured to be the first Japanese driver to race the new Vantage GT3 in the Japanese Super GT championship. The team has been growing in competitiveness since entering the category in 2017, and I firmly believe that joining forces with Aston Martin is the final step on our quest to be successful.”
President of D'station Racing AMR Satoshi Hoshino said: “We are very proud to race with Aston Martin in the Japanese Super GT championship. As a team we believe the Vantage GT3 can lead us to great success and we are excited to be playing a part in the new Vantage racing story from the beginning of its career.”
President of Aston Martin Racing, David King added: “We are delighted to welcome D’station Racing to Aston Martin and to include it within our essential group of race partner teams that will compete with the new Vantage GT3 internationally. We’re very proud of the fact that an Aston Martin is once again racing in such a prestigious and important series as Japanese Super GT, and it is further evidence of our expanding motorsport and customer racing activities around the world. It will also help to further the message of our growing AMR Performance brand of Aston Martin road cars and services, and we see Japan as a very important market for this.”
