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Ascari – A New Hope!
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away ….
Ooops, wrong story. J Anyway, given that the racing season is about to start, I thought it was about time to give you all an update as to what this year has in stall. The reason that I haven’t done this sooner is that, as always with racing, just when you think you have everything sorted, something changes…
The very good news is that I’m confirmed as a driver with Gigawave Motorsport (see www.gigawavemotorsport.co.uk for smiley picture as proof!) What that means is that I finally have a long-term plan in place which will see me train towards Le Mans in 2009 or 2010 and the FIA World GT Championships in 2010! The team has an incredible line up of people to tap into (including a certain Nigel Stepney…), so the emphasis is fully on me to make the most of this fantastic opportunity and learn as much as I can.
This season was due to have seen me competing in the brand new GT2 Aston Martin Vantage – the only one running in the FIA GT Championship. Whilst winning the GT2 championship in our first year would have been a tall order against the competition (to put it mildly), it would have been a great part of the personal development plan. Unfortunately, however, the car has taken longer to develop than originally planned and the team has decided to hold off running it for now. Testing and possibly even a race may yet happen later in the year – watch this space.
So, against that background we have decided to go back to GT3 to keep the racing reflexes sharp and I will be joined again by the very quick Andy Thompson. Determined to prove that the Ascari KZ1R is a great car, we are going to give it another shot – this season run by Alan Docking Racing under the Team Berlanga banner. Our first test of the season last week at Nogaro in France went very smoothly and we were all pleased with the times posted. The team showed that their experience from the world of Formula 3 and A1 GP provides a fantastic insight into how to set up a race car and we made some good steps forward. All in all, we are very excited about the potential for this year and hope to have a more successful run at the title.
The race calendar therefore currently consists of the full FIA GT3 2008 championship:
- April 20th – Silverstone, England
- May 18th – Monza, Italy
- July 6th – Oschersleben, Germany
- September 14th – Brno, Czech Republic
- October 5th – Nogaro, France
- November 15th – Dubai, UAE
I also hope to put in an appearance at both the Spa 24hr and Britcar 24hr races as well. Note that the season opener at Silverstone is just two weekends away – everyone is welcome to come and cheer!
Finally, Sam has now taken over control of my website, so check out the new look and keep an eye out for regular updates throughout the year.
Thanks for your support
Martin
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2008 Season Review 
