VANTAGEGT4RETURN FORBEECHDEANAMR
Beechdean AMR will return to the GT4 ranks of the British GT Championship next year in a renewed two-car assault across the GT3 and GT4 classes with Aston Martin.
GT4 Pro-am runners-up Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher will switch from the RJN Nissan 370Z to join Andrew Howard’s Beechdean set-up in the new Vantage GT4, while Howard will be paired with Aston Martin factory driver Marco Sorensen in a Vantage GT3.
Beechdean AMR claimed back-to-back GT4 titles with Silver pairings Ross Wylie/jake Giddings and Ross Gunn/ Jamie Chadwick in 2014 and ’15, but Howard believes the input of experienced sportscar hand Plowman will be invaluable as the team learns the new car, which replaces the outgoing V8 Vantage.
“Martin has worked at the highest level, his attitude is brilliant and I’m very excited to be working with him, I’ve talked to him on-and-off now for the last 18 months,” Howard told MN.
“We said we would only run a second car if we could be competitive and Kelvin is a very exciting Bronze, he’s got some great pace in him, which gives the team an option of having two cracks at it rather than putting all its eggs in one basket.
“Winning the championship as we’ve often proved is about consistency and bringing the car home and we have got a proven pairing who are coming into a team that is used to operating at the level they want to operate at.”
Two-time champion Howard was the only Aston driver not to win a race in the final year for the V12 Vantage alongside Darren Turner this season, but in teaming up with Sorensen – who claimed four fastest laps from the nine races – Howard is optimistic that he can draw level with Jonny Adam, whose third title made him the most successful driver in British GT history.
“I’ve known Marco a long time and I feel very comfortable about racing with him,” said Howard.
“Jonny is ahead of me now, I’ve got to get my act together, there’s a bit of competition there. It’s going to be no easy thing, it should be competitive. There is no pressure and I think that’s what probably makes us more dangerous than anybody.”
Having stepped back from the European Le Mans Series to a British Gt-only schedule this year and leaving his post as sporting director at Wycombe Wanderers Football Club, Howard added that “the aim is to do a lot more racing than I’ve done this year” and will announce further plans in the coming weeks.