ASTON FACTORY DRIVER TH I I MST AYSATTFS PORT
Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim will remain in the British GT championship this year, resuming his partnership with Mark Farmer at TF Sport that yielded two victories and third in the standings in 2018.
As the best-placed returning pairing – 2018 champion Jonny Adam has a new co-driver in Graham Davidson and runner-up Phil Keen will have GT3 newcomer Adam Balon – Thiim and Farmer will be expected to launch a strong title challenge, having finished 19.5 points adrift of Adam and Flick Haigh after a costly DNF at Spa.
There remains a question mark over Thiim’s participation in the first of British GT’S two visits to Donington Park on June 22/23, as it clashes with the Nurburgring 24 Hours which the Dane won in 2013 and has contested for Aston Martin in each of the last three years. But Thiim told MN that for now his focus is on making up for last year’s disappointment.
“Last year was the first year for me over there and I had never been to most of the tracks, so it was completely new for me, but this year I know the tracks and know which buttons to push and not to push to get the best out of Mark, so I’m definitely looking forward to it,” he said.
“There’s always room for improvement, I can see Mark is really busy driving here and there, that’s typical of him, he’s a very hungry guy. He has days where he is over-motivated and days where you have to pump him up, so this season we go in with a good base.”
Thiim expects the new Vantage GT3 to be a considerable step forward for Am drivers over the old V12 model, which bowed out after seven years of service with a fourth drivers’ crown.
“It’s a new era, the new GT3 car is incredible in all areas and I think it will suit the tracks pretty well,” he said. “Especially for people like Mark, it’s going to be a big step forward because you get better feedback from the car which will help the Am drivers.”
Meanwhile, British GT stalwart Barwell Motorsports confirmed its return to the Silver Cup ranks of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, with the returning Sandy Mitchell joined by Jordan Witt and Lamborghini Super Trofeo graduate James Pull.