AMR, Bamboo Join Forces for Vantage GTE Attack

Photo: Drew Gibson/AMR

Bamboo Engineering has joined forces with Aston Martin Racing to field a Vantage V8 in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, as part of the British squad’s four-car factory assault.

AMR, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, announced Friday the driver lineups for the globe-trotting championship, with two cars each in GTE-Pro and GTE-Am.

After narrowly missing out on the title last year, Darren Turner and Stefan Muecke will again share the wheel of the No. 97 Vantage. The second GTE-Pro entry, meanwhile will be run in association with the Silverstone-based Bamboo squad for drivers Fernando Rees, Alex MacDowall and Darryl O’Young.

Both 2012 FIA WEC GTE-Am champion Rees and WTCC driver MacDowall will be making their AMR debuts in the No. 99 entry. Rees is coming off a three-year stint with Larbre Competition, which has elected not to return to the series with its Corvette C6.R.

Bamboo, meanwhile, will make its long-awaited sports car debut following an ill-fated attempt to enter the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2011. The team recently withdrew from WTCC competition, which has seen 23-year-old MacDowall move to its new Aston effort. 

James Nash, Bamboo’s other 2013 WTCC driver, signed Thursday with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT for the Blancpain Endurance Series.

AMR’s all-Danish Young Driver Aston returns to  GTE-Am, with 2013 LMP2 runner-up David Heinemeier Hansson joining last year’s drivers Kristian Poulsen for the entire season. Nicki Thiim will be the third driver for the season-opener in Silverstone and Le Mans only due to other commitments, with Christoffer Nygaard filling the gap for the remaining six rounds.

The fourth Vantage, also for GTE-Am, will see Paul Dalla Lana at the wheel, with the Canadian’s co-drivers still to be confirmed.

Bruno Senna, who was part of the team’s full-season roster last year, has been confirmed in a fifth factory entered Vantage for the 24 Hours of Le Mans only, while the status of Richie Stanaway, who impressed in the FIA WEC last year, is yet to be defined.

The British manufacturer is fresh off a two-day test at Portimao, which saw a total of 16 Vantages take part, including its array of customer cars in GT3 and GT4.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John