Disaster struck the Team New Zealand racing team at the 12Hours of Bathurst earlier today when a Free Practice accident saw their #7 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 incur significant rear end damage after contact with the outside wall.

Having already circulated around the Mount Panorama circuit without incident for the Graham Dowsett, Romain Leroux and Chris Van Der Drift driven car, the #7 crew were the fastest GT4 classed crew sitting a respectable P33 out of the thirty-five strong runners after the first session available to them.

 

To end the day of track action was the second bronze driver only session of the day where Dowsett would again run solo with his like graded peers and for his twelve laps completed, was still the fastest of the two GT4 entries.

However, disaster struck the gentleman driver as #21 Herberth Porsche came through into Sulman Park where the line of the Aston Martin was disturbed and the car drifted out onto the marbles to back heavily into the concrete retaining wall. Not as visually spectacular as the R-Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 at the same corner a few years ago, Dowsett was able to remove himself from his race car unaided and without injury.

 

 

No great surprises when it comes to the livery designs for the two Aston Martin Racing powered cars entered into this weekend’s 12Hrs of Bathurst as both the Team New Zealand and Volante Rosso teams posted very familiar looking photos of their cars today.

After preparations at the circuit earlier, yesterday saw the annual pilgrimage from the circuit to the town of Bathurst for all the cars entered into this year’s event, something that also makes up the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

 

A third consecutive race weekend with the Gedlich Racing Series sees them moves along the coast to the Spanish circuit of Valencia for this weekend’s third round of their GT4 Winter Series.

Whilst the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries that ran in last weekend’s non-championship round of Portimao have moved on, we are back to the (so far) two AMR Vantage GT4 entries that will compete within the aptly named GT4 Winter Series again.

 

 

The Japanese based D’Station Racing team confirmed some good news today as well as detailing a shift from their usual positions for their domestic racing programme this season.

Firstly, the good news was that of their Aston Martin Racing powered return to the topflight Super GT Series with drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg pairing up again for their third season togther aboard their #777 entry.

 

There were steady but encouraging results from both the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews at the end of another weather affected GT Winter Series event and their stand-alone 6Hrs of Portimao.

Just the two AMR powered entries over the originally indicated three cars saw the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team go ‘head-to-head’ with their Spanish stablemates from the E2P Racing team. Competing amongst another diverse grid of sixteen other GT3, Cup and GT4 entries, their objectives where different but the scope of the exercise for both crews was simply get back into the racing mode ahead of the start of their intended series this summer.

 

What a difference a day made for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 team at the final race weekend of the Asian Le Mans Series from Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

Having made the relative short trip up the coastline from the Dubai Autodrome that hosted rounds three and four of the 2025-26 season, the sole Aston Martin Racing crew were already out of the GT Class championship contention despite their opening race P3 podium at the opening race in Sepang in December.

 

 

Having suffered from the penalties arrived at through the constant breach of track limits in Dubai, it was presumably hoped that the lesson would have been learned before the Giacomo Petrobelli, Jonny Adam and Kobe Pauwels driven car arrived at Yas Marina.

Things were certainly looking up for the #56 crew as Petrobelli delivered a pair of P3 Qualifying positions as the Vantage GT3 looked more comfortable around the 5.2km circuit – made the easier after another inter-race Balance of Performance change for the Aston.

 

Mother Nature has continued to throw something of a curved ball to the multi-classed contingent at this weekend’s GT Winter Series non-championship round and its six hours of Portimao.

Early indications had three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews as being listed within the provisional entry list but unsurprisingly, the #21 Comtoyou Racing entry that didn’t have any drivers listed against it on Thursday has failed to materialise but that didn’t mean that their other #007 entry was short of a few drivers either.

 

 

Recording that drivers Aaron Muss, Oliver Soderstrom and Baudouin Detout as drivers entering the event, that didn’t keep away Kyle Marcelli from getting in some early European circuit laps ahead of his debut within the GT world Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season that starts later in April as well, with Detout also confirming a GT3 based season with the Belgian based team within something yet to be announced.

Joining them at the circuit, although in no need for any advanced private testing are the Spanish based E2P Racing team and their #90 AMR Vantage GT3 that we expect their drivers of Pablo Burgueira, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos to compete with within the 24H Series again this season.

 

In other Aston Martin Racing powered team related news comes confirmation of another successful national GT4 class champion moving up to the European theatre of GT3 racing as well as another taking the step up to GT racing for the first time.

Today news saw the inaugural SRO Academy winner Gaspard Simon take the plunge with his FFSA GT4 winnings to take the significant step up into the GT World Challenge Europe with the German based Walkenhorst Motorsport team.

 

 

Being listed as competing at Brands Hatch, Misano, Magny-Cours, Zandvoort and finally at Barcelona are clear signs that the youngster will be competing within the Sprint Cup Series with an as-yet unidentified co-driver.

Whilst we had already heard from the Comtoyou Racing team and their GT World Challenge Europe aspirations within both the Endurance and Sprint Cup Series, this is the first news to come out of the German powerhouse who also entered both series last season.

 

 

The other news came earlier this week with the Italian based Gino Motorsport team confirming an AMR Vantage GT4 entry within the new GTC European Challenge Series which will be another series racing both GT4 and TCR based cars together.

Having raced within the Italian XGT4 Series last season, this is the first customer package announcement to come from the team as they confirm Brazilian racer Tiago Pinto within one of the older Vantage GT4’s after he only started racing last season.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

The completed entry list ahead of next weekend’s 12 Hours of Bathurst has finally been confirmed by the race organisers with the two Aston Martin Racing powered runners finally being revealed in full as part of the thirty-five-car line up.

The ‘locally’ based Team NZ squad were one of the first to announce their commitment to the 2026 event as Graham Dowsett strives to make big improvements within his racing efforts alongside that of his driver coach Romain Leroux having spent the last two seasons or so competing within the Thailand Super Series.

They will be joined within the teams Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 by Chris Van Der Drift for this iconic event – which will also serve as the opening round to the Inter-Continental GT Challenge (which neither AMR powered team will part of) over the 14th and 15th February.

 

 

The Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team are certainly putting an early stamp onto their 2026 racing commitments as they today confirm a two car Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entry into the German DTM Series.

Having earlier announced an expanded Vantage GT3 entry into both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cup Series, today’s new sees their DTM 2026 ambitions take a massive step forward as their driver line up now includes factory driver Nicki Thiim within their midst.

 

 

Taking tentative debut steps within the series last season with their young drivers Nicolas Baert and Gilles Magnus, today’s news also confirms that the son of the team owner (Baert) will also be returning to the series where he acknowledges that “We made huge progress in 2025,” said the 24-year-old. “DTM is a tough arena to race in, but this year we go in with the advantage of knowing the car, the circuits, the tyres and the championship. This combined with Nicki's experience, which I'm sure I can learn from, gives us all the elements to make big steps forward in 2026.”

For the Dane, he lists this as something of a dream come true, “It's no secret that I have wanted to race in DTM all my life, because when I was a kid, it was the centre of my universe when my father raced in it,” said Thiim, who already has a DTM victory to his name, at the Norisring in 2024. “I've already achieved that ambition, but when the DTM moved to an-all GT3 platform, I've wanted to represent Aston Martin in the series. So, this is another dream come true for me.

 

 

This season will be another eight event – two races per event format for the solo driven cars with the season starting at the Red Bull Ring in Austria towards the end of April.

Photo credits – AMR / social media

 

The first Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s to hit the tracks of the GT Winter Series do just that this weekend as the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team enter potentially two crews as well as another from the Spanish based E2P Racing team for this weekend’s 6Hours of Portimao.

Standing as a non-Championship event to that of the usual five round winter series, this weekend’s Portimao event will see up to twenty crews take part across its available GT3, GT2, Cup 2, Cup 3 and GT4 classes.

 

 

The provisional entry list published today sees the #007 Comtoyou Racing entry for drivers Oliver Soderstrom, Aaron Muss and Baudouin Detout alongside their #21 car entry which (as yet) does not have any drivers listed.

The #90 E2P Racing team enter a driver up better known for their exploits within the 24H Series European Series in team boss Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos.

 

 

Within the mainstream GT Winter Series calendar, we have only seen two AMR Vantage GT4 powered crews compete within their two opening events so far, but this is not the first time the Comtoyou Racing team has used at least part of the GT Winter Series as part of the summer programme build up.

Track action will begin on Thursday before individual qualifying on Saturday and the start to the main race at 11:00hrs (local) on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

Unfortunately, not too much to cheer about for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing crew at the weekend after they battled out the middle two races of the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series from the Dubai Autodrome.

Having moved across from Sepang with the opening two races of the season where the Giacomo Ptrobelli, Kobe Pauwels and Jonny Adam driven car had secured an opening race P3 class podium as well as a P13 class finish for their efforts, last weekend’s events had started with a significant weight reduction for the AMR Vantage GT3 as part of a wider BoP “rebalance” in class.

 

 

However, with all the other GT class manufacturers also received BoP changes as well so there was never to be any significant benefit on track for the sole Aston Martin runner after it lost further ground on track to its rivals over the course of the two four-hour races that would make up rounds 3 and 4 of the series.

Race one on Saturday saw the Italian take the start form his P9 Qualifying position but despite some early progresses up to as high as P5 in class, the Aston was clearing struggling for pace with the teams race progress further compounded by two drive through penalties for the Italian for his repeated breach of track limits during his opening double stint.

 

Six weeks or so since the opening races to their 2025/26 season kicked off in Sepang, the Asian Le Mans Series is back at the racetrack again this weekend for another race double header for its mixed grid of LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars at the Dubai Autodrome.

Still sporting another combined grid of forty-six cars and crews, we will see just the single Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn stable part within this weekend’s two four-hour races with their driver line up of Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Kobe Pauwels aboard their #56 entry with the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR again being selective in their appearances.

 

 

Last time out at Sepang the #56 crew took a first race podium after their P3 finish in class whilst the #89 EBM car finished in seventh before in race two, both cars finished one lap off the pace in P13 and P14 respectively.

Track action has already begun in Dubai with the first private test session where the #56 appears to be quick out of the box, finishing third in the timing order just 0.211 of a second off the lead pace.

 

 

In Sepang, there were three adjustments to the official Balance of Performance regime within the GT Class and there have been two versions of that document ahead of the Dubai weekend already as the Vantage GT3 first lost 10kg off its declared base weight before losing a further 5kg in its first amendment. All the other platforms within the class have seen similar weight reduction or increases.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

Team Green will be back with a vengeance in 2026 as the Belgian based team sets out another a six-car combined entry within both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup Series.

More regularly known as the Comtoyou Racing team, today’s announcement sees one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry across each of the Endurance Cup’s Pro, Silver and Bronze classes whilst also fielding three similar cars within the sister Sprint Cup Series within the same classes.

 

 

We also welcome back a number of familiar faces within team for 2026 with Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Drudi again leading the charge within their #007 Pro entry in Endurance Cup alongside Kobe Pauwels, Oliver Soderstrom and Sebastian Baud within their #21 Silver classed entry.

Their #11 Bronze Cup entry is a trio of new faces as Canadian Kyle Marcelli returns to the Aston Martin badge alongside American AJ Muss and Brazilian racer Marcelo Tomasoni.

 

Then within the Sprint Cup – it will be both Pauwels and Thiim pairing up together within the #007 Pro class entry as well as Soderstrom and Arthur Dorison within the #21 Silver class entry. The third #11 Bronze class entry sees Tomasoni complete a double stint alongside Italian racer Felice Jelmini.

Jean‑Michel Baert, the team owner, begins his third year of partnership with Aston Martin with the same optimism: “We have further strengthened our ties with our partner Aston Martin for this third year of collaboration, and we are delighted about it. I sincerely hope that we will be able to demonstrate the true value of our package and fight on equal terms with our competitors. Our car, our line‑ups, and our team are a real rocket. We’re among the best, and we fully intend to prove it again this year, just as we always have when given the opportunity. Based on our latest discussions with all involved parties, I am very confident heading into this new season, and I deeply hope that this year we will succeed in combining the professionalism and passion that drive us all! A huge congratulations already to our ‘back‑office’ team, who did an outstanding job during the winter break, and thank you to our loyal clients who once again place their trust in us for this new season! See you on the podiums and above all, see you in our paddocks. As you know, we love sharing this common passion: motorsport!”