Jager's 'Do I Really Need This One?' 2023 Additions

Not as good looking as their previous 488 of course  , but a fine addition.  The Weathertech people have poured plenty of money into the sport over the year, which is OK in my book.

That doesn't look too shabby either

The Weathertec 963 will be a nice pairing with your 911 when it eventually arrives.

This model has appeared here on the forum a few times, so there perhaps isn’t a lot for me to add.

Ben Keating is a third-generation car dealer who owns and operates 28 car dealerships across Texas, USA under the umbrella of The Keating Auto Group in the USA (selling 50,000 cars annually and generating about $3 billion in annual revenue). When he’s not running his business, Keating is one of the most talented amateur drivers in endurance racing who has a strong track record across a variety of machinery at Le Mans.

Keating enjoyed a fleeting taste of success at Le Mans in 2019, winning the GTE AM class, until his Ford GT was disqualified post race after the fuel tank was found to be 0.1 litre oversized. The irregularity was blamed on a late Balance of Performance change, but despite this Keating accepted the decision and never appealed the disqualification.

After switching to a Porsche in 2020, Keating partnered with Tom Ferrier’s TF Sport Aston Martin team for 2021. The team went on to secure 2nd in place in GTE Am, giving Keating his best result to date, improving on his 3rd place finish with a Ferrari F488 in 2018.

In 2022, Keating again partnered with TF Sport in the same Aston Martin Vantage. This time, the Aston Martin was given a reversed version of its red over pale blue 2021 livery. Keating was partnered with Marco Sorensen, a factory Aston Martin driver with seven previous starts at Le Mans, and Henrique Chaves, a Portuguese native and Le Mans rookie.

Despite the talent, the #33 Aston Martin could only qualify a lowly 19th in class, putting them 58th on the grid of 62 entries. However, their race pace was much stronger, with Marco Sorensen gaining 10 places in the first hour. By the end of the sixth hour, the Aston Martin was up to 5th in class and 41st position overall.



By half distance, the #33 Aston Martin was running 38th and was chasing the class leading #79 WeatherTech Porsche. They were then able to reel in the Porsche in the 14th hour to take the GTE Am class lead. Two spins for the #79 Porsche late in the race gave the #33 Aston Martin a bit of a buffer, and they lead all the way to the chequered flag with a margin of 45 seconds over the Porsche to finish 34th overall, giving Ben Keating his first ever Le Mans class win to make up for the 2019 disappointing. Surprisingly it was also Marco Sorensen first class win.





Car : 2022 #33 Aston Martin Vantage GTE
Team : TF Sport
Drivers : Ben Keating (USA)/ Marco Sorensen (DNK)/ Henrique Chaves (PRT)
Qualifying : 57th
Result : 34th (1st in GTE Am)
Model : Spark (S8647)

That’s a very nice looking model!

I will echo, a great looking car/model.