Garage 59 Confirms Return to Full Series, Sprint Cup

Garage 59 has confirmed its return to the full Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS series with a program taking in both the Sprint and Endurance Cups.

As reported by Sportscar365 in December, the British squad will field Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in both championships in a bid for overall GTWC Europe silverware.

Its last dual-series campaign came in 2016 when it won the Endurance Cup title with McLaren and finished second in the combined drivers’ standings through Rob Bell.

This season Garage 59 will expand its retained Silver Cup and Pro-Am Aston Martin Endurance Cup entries over into Sprint Cup.

Reigning Endurance Pro-Am champions and team co-owners Alexander West and Chris Goodwin return to the Garage 59 driving setup, with Aston Martin factory ace Jonny Adam also involved once again.

Adam and West will team up for the Sprint Cup series, with Goodwin coming on board for the long-distance rounds including the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

“I am super excited to be joining Garage 59 again and this time competing in the full GT World Challenge Europe Championship,” said 24 hours of Le Mans class winner Adam.

“It was great fun racing with both Alex and Chris in 2020 and it was brilliant to see them win the Endurance Pro-Am title.

“This year we aim to win more races and, as a Pro-Am crew, over both championships put together a challenge for some more championship success for the team in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3.”

In Silver Cup, Garage 59 will enter the Sprint series with two new signings in Nicolai Kjaergaard and Tuomas Tujula.

Kjaergaard was a Bentley Academy Driver last year and drove for Team Parker Racing in Endurance Cup, while Tujula is a reigning Italian GT Sprint champion.

Tujula’s co-driver for that Italian GT campaign with Vincenzo Sospiri Racing was Yuki Nemoto, who recently drove a Garage 59 Aston in the Asian Le Mans Series.

Kjaergaard will also contest the Endurance Cup, sharing the wheel with defending Silver Cup drivers’ champion Alex MacDowall and Valentin Hasse-Clot.

MacDowall joins Garage 59 from Lamborghini outfit Barwell Motorsport, which has elected not to defend its title in favor of a focus on a Pro-Am effort in Sprint and Endurance.

MacDowall previously drove Aston Martin GTE machinery in the FIA World Endurance Championship, while Hasse-Clot is the reigning GT4 European Series champion and the most recent graduate from Aston Martin’s Driver Academy program.