Aston Martin Vantage claims first Sebring win, 50th FIA World Endurance victory

MANILA: The Aston Martin Racing (AMR) Vantage claimed a GTE-Am class one-two finish and a maiden Sebring success at the opening round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in a weather-shortened 1000 Miles of Sebring on March 18. 

The NorthWest AMR Vantage GTE, driven by team owner and 2017 world champion Paul Dalla Lana, works driver Nicki Thiim, and David Pittard (GBR) ran at the front for most of the eight-hour race until local weather warnings forced a red flag and an early halt to the Sebring race.

This meant the #98 crew claimed its first FIA WEC win with the turbocharged V8-powered Vantage. Meanwhile, last year’s GTE Am Championship runners-up TF Sport, in another Vantage, finished second.

The result marked a superb WEC return for Thiim, who is back in the series fulltime for the first time since clinching the GTE Pro title in 2020, while for Dalla Lana it marked a 17th career win, moving him to third in the all-time WEC class wins list. For Pittard it was the perfect debut on the world stage as Aston Martin scored a 50th class win in FIA WEC competition.

AMR’s three FIA WEC partner teams, D’station Racing, NorthWest AMR, and TF Sport all returned to Sebring having shown promising speed during the previous weekend’s official Prologue event at the Florida circuit.

Ben Keating put the #33 TF Sport Vantage GTE he shares with works driver Marco Sørensen, and Florian Latorre on the GTE category pole position. 

D’station Racing impressively made it three Vantage GTEs inside the top six as its trio of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii, and Charlie Fagg. 

After the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the 12 Hours of Sebring was staged and more AMR teams competed.

In the GTD and GTD pro classes Magnus Racing finished sixth, while Heart of Racing qualified fourth but had to retire due to vehicle issues. Another AMR GTD team finished in 15th place. 

The FIA WEC series now moves on to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on May 7. 

Photos from Aston Martin

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