D’station to Make GTE-Am Debut with TF Sport

Japanese Aston Martin squad D’station Racing will make its FIA World Endurance Championship debut with a program run by 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner TF Sport.

Tomonobu Fujii, who drove for D’station in Super GT last year, and team owner Satoshi Hoshino will pilot the No. 777 Aston Martin Vantage GTE during the 2021 season.

The full lineup will be finalized later on with the confirmation of a Silver-rated driver.

D’station established a partnership with Aston Martin in 2019 and has fielded the British marque’s GT3 car in Super GT, Super Taikyu and the Asian Le Mans Series since then.

Hoshino has made sporadic WEC appearances in recent years driving Porsche 911 RSRs run by Proton Competition, but this year will herald his first season-long commitment.

It will also mark the first 24 Hours of Le Mans for D’station, which was on the reserve list for last year’s edition but did not take up an entry when other teams dropped out.

“I am very excited to announce our entry for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Fujii, who is also D’Station Racing’s managing director.

“Being able to compete in the FIA WEC has been a major goal for D’station Racing since its inauguration.

“As this project comes to fruition, I recall all the preparation we went through with Aston Martin, AMR, and Tom Ferrier from TF Sport. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for their ongoing support.”

TF Sport will expand to running two Aston Martins in the WEC next season after managing single-car entries in the previous two campaigns. 

The announcement of D’station Racing’s GTE-Am program with the British team comes a few hours after TF Sport confirmed that it will be running a Vantage for Ben Keating.

“We are very happy to welcome D’station Racing to WEC,” said TF Sport team owner Tom Ferrier.

“As a fellow partner team of AMR, we know them well and I hope that by us joining forces with them for 2021 in WEC, we will deliver a long and successful relationship for many years to come.”

In addition to its WEC program, D’station is also signed up for the four-round Asian Le Mans Series in February with an Aston Martin Racing-supported Vantage GT3.

TF Sport, which has registered two cars of its own for Asian LMS, won’t be involved in that D’station entry with the new partnership only focusing on the WEC and Le Mans.