Belfast-born Charlie Eastwood signed off from his five-year stint role as a factory driver for Aston Martin Racing on Sunday October 12th. 28-year-old Eastwood posted a series of images on social media as he thanked the Banbury-based squad for his time as a works driver.
Eastwood concluded his time as an Aston Martin Racing factory driver at the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain where he partnered Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Dinan in the #25 ORT by TF Vantage AMR. The trio drove a strong race before and were on course for a podium before the car was retired in the final 30 minutes.
“My time with Aston Martin Racing has come to an end,” said Eastwood. “My first ever endurance race was in an Aston Martin GT3 back at the start of 2018. 14 months on, after winning the Spa 24hr, I was honoured to sign a factory contract which has lasted until now.
“I will be forever grateful to everyone at AMR for taking me so early in my endurance career and giving me the chance to race in WEC and of course fulfilling a childhood dream of winning the Le Mans 24hr
“Bahrain was not how I wanted it to end but looking through the photos for this post reminded me of all the great achievements over the past 5 years. Thank you.”
Driving alongside Jonny Adam and Salih Yoluç in the #90 TF Sports Aston Martin Vantage AMR, Eastwood won the LMGTE AM class at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. He finished second in the GTE AM class at the 2023 running of the French classic partnered by Al Harthy and Dinan.
In 2019 Eastwood won the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Pro-Am Drivers title with Yoluc and Al Harthy.
After concluding his time with Aston Martin, Eastwood will have little time to rest as he will be back in action at the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series where he rejoins Dinan and Yoluc in the DKR Engineering Gibson-powered ORECA 07. Eastwood is no stranger to prototype machinery, having finished third in the 2023 European Le Mans Series alongside Yoluç and Louis Delétraz.
