To come first - first you must finish, and the #7 car was never too far from the front of the action to be able to grab that racing opportunity with both hands whilst the #34 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn, David Pittard and Henrique Chaves was also in contention for a podium finish before a late race penalty dropped them down the order.

Since then, we have just had the last round of the Sprint Cup Series from Hockenheim where the old saga of Balance of Performance again reared its head over last weekend when the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin’s all received positive BoP adjustments ahead of each race which finally saw the team’s Pro car finally climb the order to where we expected it to be at amongst the multi-class grid.

Hopefully, that is all over for this weekend as seven Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s from both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams help to make up the fifty strong grid for this weekend’s three-hour race.

To confirm driver line ups within those seven cars –

#7 Comtoyou (Pro) – Drudi/Thiim/Sorenson

#11 Comtoyou (Bronze) – Job Van Uitert/John De Wilde/Kobe Pauwels

#12 Comtoyou (Silver) – Esteban Muth/Nicolas Baert/Sebastian Ogaard

#21 Comtoyou (Silver) – Charles Clark/Matisse Lismont/San Dejonghe

#34 Walkenhorst (Pro) – David Pittard/Ross Gunn/Henrique Chaves

#35 Walkenhorst (Silver) – Maxime Robin/Romain Leroux/Lorcan Hanafin

#36 Walkenhorst (Bronze) – Mex Jensen/Tim Creswick/Ben Green

From an Endurance Cup perspective, the #7 Comtoyou crew presently lead the Driver’s Championship thanks to their points haul from Spa which saw them score at each of the 6/12/24hr marks of the race whilst the #34 Walkenhorst crew sit back in joint P9.

Within the Silver class, the #21 Comtoyou squad sit at the head of the three AMR crews in P8 with the #35 Walkenhorst crew in P12 whilst in the bronze class, the #11 Comtoyou crew head the pair of AMR entries in P5 whilst the #36 Walkenhorst are down in P13.

Track action begins tomorrow with private testing before more formal affairs of Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday morning. Qualifying itself will be on Sunday morning ahead of a race start at 15:00hrs local.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

Often difficult to get confirmation of driver crews out of the WRL system, their provisional entry list does show two possible Vantage GT4/GT8R entries from the 89X Motorsport team as well as single cars apiece from both the Automatic Racing and Team Speed Syndicate teams.

We have seen all these entries before over this season and last as the #909 Automatic Racing car will again be likely to be populated by those close to their Stoner Car Care IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge entry within their older gen car.

The two 89X cars (#89 and #289) were sourced by the team from New Zealand over last winter where the team earned themselves a P3 finish last time out at Charlotte whilst the #68 Team Speed AMR entry is to the former Ari Balogh Vantage GT4.

Track action begins on Friday with a four-hour Qualifying/testing session before the first of the races which kicks off at 09:00am local on Saturday.

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Previously more familiar with the Radical, Porsche GT and single seater formulae, the New South Wales team embark upon a new direction into the topflight national SRO Series in time for their next round from Queensland Raceway in early August. The team hope to give the car a quick shakedown test as early at this Friday 

Imported still in its 16A format, the car is due to be upgraded to the new 2024 evolutionary format as soon as parts land at their workshop as that, together with confirmation of their expected Pro-Am line up will be made later.

This car doubles the AMR powered line up within the series as Mike Bailey’s older generation V12 Vantage GT3 presently competes within its trophy class.

“To join Aston Martin Racing as a Partner Team is the most exciting thing we’ve done in our time in GT racing,” said Papadopoulos. 

“The Vantage GT3 is everything you want in a racing car. Not only has AMR done a fantastic job with everything they’ve added to make it a great race car, but they’ve started from a pretty sensational road car!

“Aston Martin is as serious about racing performance as we are, so it’s been a great fit for us, and they’ve really welcomed us into the fold from a car ownership and technical perspective.

“I think it’s fair to say every race fan has missed seeing an Aston Martin in the outright fight in Australia, so we couldn't be more proud to be the team taking Aston Martin back to the topflight here” said Chris Papadopoulos, Director Volante Rosso Motorsport with the announcement of their AMR Partner team status.

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Having missed the last two sprint races of the Championship around the Snetterton 300 circuit in Norfolk through ‘prior commitment’, the #97 crew of Howard and Jessica Hawkins also had a very brief racing experience of the Spa Francorchamps round having been taken out of the proceedings at the first corner.

For this weekend, Howard will again be under the dutiful tutelage of Darren Turner for the two sprint - two pit stop punctuated races.

The other news comes from within the Forsetti Motorsport camp and the #9 AMR Vantage GT4 car of Mikey Porter and Matthew Higgins reunite again having missed the previous round after their decision to compete within the GT4 European Series at Spa instead, the weekend after their British GT round.

The teams #10 car, however, is again not populated by either Jody Sloss or Rianna O’Meara-Hunt - we know that Sloss would be tied up again with her F1 duties over in Belgium, but we’re not sure about O’Meara-Hunt.

Their places will be taken by one of their #47 British GT racers in Will Orton (this time) who will share the car with team debutant and Fiesta racer Sam Nesser.

The race format to the weekend will see a return to their usual two sprint – two pit stop punctuated rounds per day preceded by Qualifying each day. Having missed the last round, the #9 crew have now lost their overall points lead but do still retain the GTH Class lead from their #10 car stablemates.

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Citing that ugly phrase again of Balance of Performance, the team issued a statement saying that they felt that their Vantage GT3 was otherwise being impaired in its performance via inconsistencies within the SRO governing bodies BOP process. Despite having sought further clarification, both in the USA and in Europe, the team felt that they had no other option but to withdraw their #48 car for the weekend’s second race on Sunday having finished P9 overall after a rain affected race 1.

Whilst we are certainly advocating that we have any idea what exactly was going on there at VIR, but something certainly was globally as the four AMR Vantage GT3 crews competing within the sister GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Series at Hockenheim had their BoP reportedly adjusted before EACH of their two races at the weekend. Either way, this kind of action is bad for the sport as a whole!

Within the GT America Series, there was a short lived and well-earned hooray for the #2 Flying Lizard AMR Vantage GT3 of Jason Bell who, having also stepped up to GT3 level having retaken the GT America GT4 crown again last season, finally stepped upon the SRO3 podium at the weekend. Despite much of the opening race being controlled by the Safety Car in the deluge that hit the circuit just as the cars were forming on the grid, Bell did what was needed (as well as lucking in with other cars misfortunes) to claim his and the cars first SRO America podium finish in that class/series.

That was sadly the highlight of the five AMR entries within that series over the two races as once the track had dried, all five then struggled for pace finishing no higher than P4 in class having competed so closely in the preceding rounds.

It was the same for the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews racing within the GT4 America Series as P5 for the Gray Newell/Roman De Angelis combo in Pro-Am was the best that any could do as even the newly reclassified #26 Silver Heart of Racing entry of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier struggled within race one for a P6 in class finish with a further DNF after contact in race 2.

Hopefully, these issues can be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned ahead of their next round from Road America in late August.

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Long term Aston Martin Racing test, development and racing driver Darren Turner was again at hand to conduct yet another race car development from the factory alongside that of Heart of Racing IMSA driver Mario Farnbacher with the return of Harry Tincknell to the British marque.

Speaking with Heart of Racing’s Ian James at the Spa round of the WEC earlier this year, he was confident then of a third quarter debut for the new race car directly attributed from the extreme Valkyrie AMR Pro production road car – the only car within the topflight IMSA GTP and WEC LMH classes that can claim that.

“The first runs for the Valkyrie AMR-LMH have been an immensely proud moment in the programme. The birth of this project has been a couple of years in the making, so to get it to the track and to see it going around in the flesh, feels momentous for The Heart of Racing. We’re looking forward to the journey ahead – it’s a steep hill to climb for everyone involved in this project.

We are at the pinnacle of sportscar racing, the competitors are formidable, and they have been doing it a long time. Some of them have endless resources. We know we are going up against the best, so we intend to represent Aston Martin at the same level. I believe, from what we have seen so far, and with the DNA of where this car came from, I think we have the right tools to be able to do this successfully” said James after last weeks test runs.

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Valkyrie AMR-LMH sets its own standard as a thoroughbred endurance competition car. It is a pure, leading edge racing machine, and while it is very early in the testing cycle, from what we have witnessed so far, we are satisfied that it is achieving the targets and criteria we have set out for it to accomplish.”

The race-optimised carbon-fibre chassis Valkyrie AMR-LMH uses a modified, lean-burning version of the sensational Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine, which in standard form revs to 11,000rpm and develops over 1000bhp. The power unit is enhanced and adapted to meet the performance window of the Hypercar class and developed to withstand the rigours of top-level long-distance competition and comes with a sound note to die for within current motor racing.

Another interesting fact the follows on from the inclusion of the Valkyrie within the Aston Martin/Aston Martin Racing 2025 programme sees them compete at the highest levels right through from F1, GTP/LMH through to LMGT3, GT3 and GT4 series.

The future is looking bright already in 2025.

Photo credits – Aston Martin / Heart of Racing

Again fielding a fourth car across the three available classes, it was the new #21 Gold Cup crew of David Pittard and Matisse Lismont car who headed the AMR quartet over the #7 Pro car of Matteo Drudi and Nicolas Baert, #11 Gold Cup runners James Jakes and newcomer Razvan Umbrarescu brought up the rear with revised driver line up of #12 Silver cup entry of Dante Rappange and Lorens Lecertua.

Despite the newly imposed loss of car weight and additional boost, none of the Aston’s were able to correct the expected qualifying position within the opening half of the race despite the likes of Pittard starting the #21 car and race one quickly descended into one that Comtoyou Racing will forget as the #7 Pro car eventually finished P17 overall and the #21 car P21 overall, P5 in Gold Cup.

Sunday saw the Vantage GT3 offered further weight loss and performance enhancement ahead of Q2 and that saw the #7 Pro climb the timing screen to claim sixth overall on the grid although both gold cars were still down at the wrong end of the table (no higher than P21) and with the #12 car setting no time at all.

With track temperatures remaining high, it was a better opening half race experience for the #7 car as Drudi quickly made the most of the errors of others to move up to P4 by the time the pit window opened.

Umbrarescu’s return to the series would however be a short-lived affair in race 2 as a spin into turn one just before the pit window put the #12 cars endeavours at an end as he brought out a FCY.

Service over and Baert’s retained the #7 P4 position whilst Pittard was now aboard the #21 car and had moved up to P15 overall – third in class although that would soon change as the rear window popped out of place after contact from the Audi behind into T1, hindering the cars aero-dynamics and forcing the AMR factory driver to eventually pit.

By the end, the #7 Pro car eventually finished P6 overall after a five second post race time penalty was applied for track limits - a more representative pace that what race 1 would have suggested despite Baert being hounded all the way around. The #12 silver cup car did not recover from their Q2 issues to finish at the rear and with both the #21 and #11 cars being non finishers. Certainly room for thought within each car ahead of the next round at Magny Cours at the tail end of August.

Next stop for the Comtoyou Racing team however is just next weekend as Endurance Cup series resumes from the Nurburgring.

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Last time out for the series at Spa Francorchamps saw the whole range of results with some literally crashing out of the proceedings even before the weekend’s first race but with others taking class podium finishes within the opening hour-long race.

Results from the three rounds so far this season sees the #72 GPA Racing AMR entry of Kevin Jimenez and Florent Grizaud hold second place within their class – albeit a point distant one to the leading crew fifty points ahead but there are certainly still plenty of remaining point available per remaining three rounds to change that.

Then within the Pro-Am class, the #7 Mirage Racing AMR of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub hold a slender nine-point lead over their nearest rival within their 2024 Vantage GT4 Evo whilst in the silver class, it is the #99 Prosport Racing entry of Hugo Sasse and Raphael Rennhofer who the top Aston Martin powered position in fifth but again with their older 17A generation of car but with a huge sixty-six points in arrears.

There are no expected changes to these full season entries driver wise, but the guesting Forsetti Motorsport entry of the Spa round is not here (as expected) having been something of a toe in the water exercise for Mikey Porter after the British GT round in Belgium the weekend before the Spa GT4 European round.

Ruben Del Sarte/ Josh Miller #5 Mirage Racing, Roberto Faria/Baudouin Detout #39 Racing Spirit of Leman, Jamie Day/Mattio Villagomez #82 and David Pullman/Alexandre Machado #74 Racing Spirit of Leman and Fabio Rauer/Henrik Still #100 Prosport Racing complete the AMR powered line ups.

Private testing has already taken place at the former home to the German F1 Grand Prix with the #7 Mirage crew again setting the pace for the AMR powered contingent in P12 -half a second off the pace setting Pro-Am Audi.

Whilst the weather at the circuit has been hot and dry today, higher temperatures and rain in still in the forecast for later into Saturday and Sunday – just to keep things interesting for Qualifying on Saturday ahead of race 1 later in the day and race 2 on Sunday.

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Despite a front row start for the Pro class #007 car of Mattia Drudi and Nicolas Baert at the opening race of the season at Brands Hatch, that car sadly failed to finish the race with the #12 Silver Cup entry of Dante Rappange and Charles Clark the best of the three Astons down in P20 ahead of the tail end Charlie of the #21 Gold Cup entry of James Jakes and Matisse Lismont. Race two was an improvement as all three cars improved upon those performances.

Next time out in Italy it was much of the same but with the revised #12 Silver Cup entry of Lorens Lecertua and Dante Rappange finishing as high as P19 overall and P4 in class.

This weekend’s events at the Hockenheimring in Germany will see no change to the two drivers crews that competed at Misano as the three Aston Martin Racing crews will be joined by a further thirty GT3 crews for this weekend’s two one-hour races.

#21 is a Gold entry for Matisse Lismont and David Pittard

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