R-Motorsport Confirms Aston Lineups, Partial IGTC Season

R-Motorsport has laid out its plans for the 2020 motorsport season, including its GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS driver lineups and a partial-season effort in the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

As previously confirmed, the Swiss outfit will run three Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in both the GTWC Europe Endurance and Sprint championships.

The team had already announced its driving roster and one Silver class crew before Friday’s announcement, although crucially its Pro driver combinations were not known.

Jake Dennis and Daniel Juncadella, who drove for R-Motorsport in last year’s DTM series, will share one of the Pro cars in Endurance Cup with Ricky Collard.

The other Pro car will be driven by new signings Tom Blomqvist and Luca Ghiotto, as well as team regular Marvin Kirchhoefer.

R-Motorsport will also have a Silver Cup presence in the Endurance series with Hugo de Sadeleer, Max Hofer and James Pull, as already announced.

In Sprint Cup, former BMW works driver Blomqvist and Formula 2 front-runner Ghiotto are in one Pro car, while Kirchhoefer and de Sadeleer will share the other.

The Silver Cup car for the shorter, two-driver races will be piloted by the all-British pairing of Collard and Pull.

Partial IGTC Campaign Confirmed

R-Motorsport has also announced that it will contest two of the remaining four Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli races this year.

Having already entered two cars into the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour last month, the team also plans to return to the Total 24 Hours of Spa and the Kyalami 9 Hour.

This marks the same three-race IGTC program that R-Motorsport tackled in 2019.

It finished second in last year’s Bathurst season-opener, before registering a 19th-place finish at Spa and a 10th-place result at Kyalami.

Exact details of R-Motorsport’s part-season IGTC program, including car numbers and driver lineups, have yet to be determined.

Aston Martin has confirmed itself as a points-paying manufacturer this year and is set to be represented at all five rounds by the Garage 59 team.

Arden to Take on Expanded GT3 Role

It has also been announced that decorated single-seater outfit Arden Motorsport will assume a greater role in the operation of R-Motorsport’s GT3 program this year.

Arden and fellow British race team JOTA have co-operated on the project since 2018 but it now appears that the former is set to become more heavily involved.

R-Motorsport is “integrating a part of Arden into its GT3 operations” for the upcoming season, although precise details of this move are not clear.

A spokesperson for R-Motorsport confirmed to Sportscar365 that JOTA will continue to be involved in the program, while it’s understood its level of involvement will not be reduced from last season.

Arden team principal Garry Horner said: “We are delighted to become an integral part of R-Motorsport and look forward to working together with the R-Universe brand.”

Further to its GT3 program, R-Motorsport will also make its debut in the GT4 European Series.

No word has been given on the status of the company’s single-make championship for Aston Martin Vantage machinery that was announced last September.