Rounding off our racing excitement for the weekend will be the (sadly) sole Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crew competing within the second round of the French national FFSA-GT4 Series from Dijon.

Having done so well together as a package last season, David Levy and Jodie Sloss again fly the AMR powered flag together with the French based Mirage Racing team ahead of this weekend’s two one-hour races.

 

At the traditional seasonal opener from Nogaro, the #5 powered crew enjoyed two quick trips to the podium after they secured themselves both a P2 and P3 Pro-Am class finish for their efforts.

This weekend sees a repeat of that two-race format over the weekend with track action starting on Thursday with private testing.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

Another diverse and undoubtedly colourful grid of nearly thirty cars will take the start to the opening round of the Iberian Supercars Series this weekend from Portimao as the series again features another healthy input of entries from the Aston Martin Racing powered family.

In another mixture of consistency but with a dousing of new, this weekend’s powered entry list sees six AMR Vantage GT4 powered crews enter this weekend’s two one-hour races with the reigning Pro class champion Mathieu Martins back for some more with the Racar Motorsport team.

 

For this season, however, he will be joined by Anton Morsing with their #28 Racar Pro class entry alongside that of his former teammate last season (Roberto Faria) now pairing up with Joel Bergstrom within the #722 Gianfranco Motorsport prepared car.

They, in turn will be joined in class by the new for 2026 AMR powered entry of Henrique Oliveria and Louis Leveau within the #52 Monterios Competicoes AMR entry.

 

The NGT team make the switch this season to GT4 having secured one of the former Araujo Competicao Aston Martins for drivers Fernando Soares and Miguel Ferrareira whilst Am class champion Ruben Vaquinhas also returns with both a new team and co-driver in the RV7 Team with Mico Mineiro respectively. Another new pairing of Vasco Oliveira and Ivan Velasco complete the AMR powered line up with their #28 Racar Motorsport Bronze entry.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

Its back to Spa Francorchamps again this weekend for some as the International GT Open Series arrives at the Belgian for its second round of an eight-round season and the running of its now establish single 500km race.

Within the published thirty-two car entry we again see both the #14 Good Speed Racing team and the #91 Blackthorn AMR teams with their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo cars that they will race within their respective Am and Pro-Am classes.

 

Last time out in Portimao, the #97 Blackthorn AMR car featured full season driver Charles Bateman alongside Henrique Chaves. That was primarily due to Jonny Adam being otherwise detained within the World Endurance Championship, but the Scot had completed that obligation again last weekend so he should be good to go this weekend with Bateman.

The Portimao round back in mid-April started with the more traditional two race format where the Polish Good Speed Racing team competed in their first races with their new Aston Martin to earn drivers Piotr Wira and (Tomas Magdziarz who wasn’t actually driving that weekend) a P4 finish in class after the feature race on Saturday before a P3 podium finish in Sunday’s race. The #91 Blackthorn also grabbed P4 in class on Saturday before elevating that to a class win on Sunday.

 

The race starts at 12:25hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

This weekend’s second round of the GT Cup Championship from Snetterton will this time feature two Aston Martin Racing powered crews ahead of their two sprint and two pit stop punctuated races around the 300-circuit layout.

GT4 Challenge and British GT names from the past sees both Richard Taffinder and Tim Eakin reunite as a racing pairing as well as rejoining forces with what is now the GBR Stratton Motorsport team as they will complete within one of the teams AMR Vantage GT4’s.

 

Also making racing comeback is Paul Whight who will be bring his ex Villois Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT2 into the championship within their permitted GTO class.

This weekend will again see two twenty-five-minute sprint races and two fifty-minute pit stop races.

Photo credit – GBR Stratton (GT4)

 

 

 

It’s time to gear ourselves up ahead of the first of the three major twenty-four-hour racing events in Europe as the ADAC Ravenol N24 looks to get going this week featuring another incredible entry list of one hundred and sixty-one mixed class GT and tin-top racers this weekend around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife.

 

Again featuring itself as the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge as a ‘side show’ to the racing event in itself, we will be looking to the front of the grid – within the SP9 class to be specific where we will be welcoming four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews to its midst.

 

Like many of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie events before it, all four AMR powered entries will be from both the Prosport Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams as they enter their older and newer examples of the Vantage platform within the class.

Those crews are confirmed as follows:-

#34 Walkenhorst Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 Evo – Nicki Thiim/Chirstian Krognes/ Matia Drudi/Felipe Fernandez Laser

#35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Vantage GT3 Evo – Mateo Villagomez/Felipe Fernandez Laser/Dennis Fetner/Stefan Aust

 

The Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar built a strong foundation from which to mount its 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans campaign next month, having finished fourth in the Total Energies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps at the weekend – its best result to date in the FIA World Endurance Championship

On its tenth appearance in WEC since making its debut in Qatar last year, the stunning British hypercar – in the hands of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell – crossed the line a mere five seconds behind the winner in a frantic and chaotic race that provided a grandstand finish, showcasing some of the best action that endurance motorsport has to offer.

The #007 Valkyrie, prepared and operated by the works Aston Martin The Heart of Racing Team, brought itself into contention with two hours of the race to go, following clever strategic decisions and some spectacular overtaking by Tincknell. A timely Safety Car also allowed the team to top up with fuel and align its strategy with its rivals.

Tincknell delivered two brilliant passes in one lap, to go from tenth to eighth, and then when two more Safety Car periods occurred in the final hour, Gamble found himself in a five-car fight for second place. At the final restart he was lucky to avoid a spinning Alpine at Eau Rouge and then overtook a Toyota for fourth place in the last five minutes of the race in a breathless dash to the flag.

Gamble and Tincknell might have been joined in the points by the sister #009 Valkyrie driven by Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas, had it not suffered misfortune that caused the final Safety Car period. Both drivers ran strongly in the top ten and the duo were in prime position to capitalise on their rapid pace on soft tyres at the penultimate restart. But Riberas was given no option but to take to the grass on the high-speed Kemmel Straight as he attempted to pass the fifth placed car. The resulting spin forced him to retire from the race; an unjust reward for a brilliant performance.

 

The final result was not just Valkyrie’s best performance in WEC, it marked the #007 crew’s strongest race since the beginning of the programme and was the second consecutive points finish for the British duo. It means that Aston Martin holds fourth in the Hypercar Manufacturers’ Championship, with Gamble and Tincknell ninth in the Drivers’ standings.

The team’s #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 also claimed a second in class finish at the end of the six-hour race after a highly competitive performance from the Heart of Racing Team and drivers Ian James, Zach Robichon and works driver Mattia Drudi.

 

The result re-ignited the team’s championship challenge, and made up for the disappointment of the opening round in Imola, where the crew retired from the race while in contention for another potential strong points finish. James started on the front row of the class grid, having made it through to the Hyperpole session, which Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona poleman Robichon then used to convert into second place on the grid. James, who is also the team’s principal, ran in that position early in the race as he double stinted to complete his driver time.

James eventually handed the car over to Robichon in sixth, following contact from a hypercar, but with only superficial damage, Zach moved the car back into a solid fourth place.

 

When the race was reset by a series of late-race Safety Car periods, it set the stage

for a classic charge from Drudi who fought hard to get into the podium positions, finishing third on the road which was converted to second when the leader was given a five-second penalty for a pitlane infringement. “To finish second was fantastic,” said James. “I did my part and Zach and Mattia did a wonderful job in the car, and the team was perfect all day long. To get to stand back on the podium is great too.”

WEC now moves on to its Blue Riband event, the 94th running of the world’s biggest motor race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 13-14 June.

Source Material - AMR

 

  

Three SRO related race series completed this weekend’s racing action as far as Aston Martin Racing powered teams and crews were going by as the GT World Challenge Australia’s duo of races preceded the GT World Challenge America and GT America races over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

Down under, the Volante Rosso GT3 team fielded another co-driver for their young prodigy Alex Gardner as Ben Porter was welcomed back to the team a couple of years after they first ran their Vantage GT3 togther in 2024.

 

This time at The Bend Motorsport Park in the second round of the season and running within the Trophy Class of just three runners, the #14 crew were able to convert their two P2 starts in class to a P3 and P2 finish at the end of each one-hour race.

Then, over at the Sebring International Speedway, the Rebel Rock Racing AMR Vantage GT3 crew of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell were out in only their second round of the season after having debuted themselves and the Vantage GT3 Evo last time out at the Circuit of the Americas.

 

Like CoTA, the #71 pairing were able to calm the bumps of the former airfield circuit to deliver another full three-hour race performance in the Floridian heat to convert their P18 start to finish P17 overall – P12 within Pro-Am. Another progressive result for them.

The weekend also saw the race return of former double GT America GT4 Champion Jason Bell who has reunited with the Racers Edge Motorsport team to see out the series with their new for 2026 AMR Vantage GT4 Evo.

 

Taking just the two Free Practice sessions to get back up to speed, Bell went on to claim both GT4 race wins over the weekend as well as being the fastest none GT3 based entry as well.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

Another incredible round of the FIA World Endurance Championship came our way yesterday from Spa Francorchamps, Belgium as the four Heart of Racing Aston Martin powered crews went about their usual competitive game plan which this time earned one crew podium success but at the cost of broken hearts for another.

 

Unlike the preceding two days of track preparation, the early afternoon start to yesterday’s six-hour race came under glorious blue skies and warming sunshine as the thirty-five cars within the Hypercar and LMGT3 gathered on the grid in front of another sizeable crowd.

 

Qualifying the day before had seen both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars reach the Hyperpole session for the first time as good pace during Free Practice had put decent qualifying positions very much on the cards with the #009 car of Marco Sorenson/Alex Riberas just out doing the #007 car of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble in P6 and P7 respectively.

Within LMGT3, the experience within the #27 AMR Vantage car of Ian James/Zacharie Robichon/Mattia Drudi again proved pivotable as they secured a P2 start after their class Hyperpole session whilst Gray Newell still did well in his first WEC visit to the circuit to qualify P13 in a car that he shares with Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello.

 

The race final got underway after two warm up laps behind the Safety Car with all the entries surviving the initial bumping around the opening laps as race pace was quickly determined by those cars at the front in class but whilst initially losing a small number of places each, all four cars were looking good.

An early Safety Car for a car off in the gravel reset the pack after just twenty minutes but once the race got back underway, the next biggest challenge for those on track was when the hypercar recaught and made their way through the LMGTs tail enders which saw a car from each class make through the gravel for an untidy show of driving skills from those concerned.

 

Whilst Newell had kept his copybook clean as far as track limits were concerned in Qualifying, he was unfortunately racking them in during his first two hours aboard the #23 car, something that would cost him and his team-mates two additional visit to the pit lane in penalties.

At the halfway point, all bronze and silver ranked drivers had now had at least one stint apiece within their respective GT car whilst all four hypercar drivers were still holding a mid-table position whilst not favouring still the medium tyre. Further Full Course Yellow calls for debris and later a collision between a leading hypercar and an LMGT3 at Les Combes – something which lead to something of another prolonged delay to the race.

 

Two hours still remained as there seemed to be a distinct downturn in ambient temperature at the top of the circuit, but the #27 Vantage crew had come back through the field to third in class, but the two green hypercars were still importantly where they both started in sixth and seventh.

Disaster would however strike down the #009 car of Riberas as, at another Safety Car restart and whilst attempting to overtake the Alpine onto the Kemmel Straight, that wheels left the track surface and for the Valkyrie to spin, crossing the track before hitting the outside wall with sufficient force to smash the front quarter of the car putting the #009 into immediate retirement.

 

Another Safety Car clean-up operation left just twenty-five minutes with Gamble getting the final stint to the flag aboard the #007. Drudi was still aboard his #27 car, and he was still pushing for an improved class podium position – then in third but a time penalty for then leader would move them up one at the end.

As the chequered flag fell, the race pace of the #007 had just fallen away towards the end despite being on the ‘better for them’ softs as they finished their season best in fourth with the #27 Vantage LMGT3 crew also getting their first podium of the year – second in class. The #23 Vantage LMGT3 would complete their first WEC race together as a driving trio in P13 as eyes now move to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

 

Two days of race preparation are now on the bag for the thirty-five FIA World Endurance Championship squads ahead of tomorrow’s six hours of Spa Francorchamps with the Aston Martin powered crews also showing some of their best performances to date.

Thursdays two Free Practice sessions were ran upon what was then a very green track after persistent rain through the early part of the week but whilst both the #23 and #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews did struggle for pace in the morning session, the season debuting crew of Gray Newell, Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello surprised all by being quickest in class at the end of the day.

 

There were also very encouraging performances from both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar crews of Harry Tinknell/Tom Gamble aboard the #007 and Alex Riberas/Marco Sorenson aboard the #009 after the #009 finished P2 overall in the more challenging conditions of Thursday morning and then fifth quickest in the afternoon whilst the #007 was also within the top ten in both.

Fridays final Free Practice 3 session was ran in the best track conditions yet as warming air and clearer skies finally moved above the Spa circuit which this time allowed the #007 Valkyrie to show its pace with a third fastest time in class (#009 strangely at its lowest position this weekend in twelfth) whilst the two Vantage GT3 crews finished the session 6thand 15th in favour of the more experienced crew of Ian James, Mattia Drudi and Zacharie Robichon after a multiple Full Course Yellow interrupted session.

 

That left just Qualifying and possibly Hyperpole left for all to do and it was the LMGT3 class out again first for their fifteen minute session and whilst Newell would closely follow James around for the first couple of laps, the experience gap between them soon became evident as James secured the #27 car a position within the next Hyperpole session but Newell had to make do with (a still mightily impressive) P13.

A further twelve-minute session for (this time around) the #27 cars silver graded driver in Robichon saw the Canadian push to the end to split the two Lexus cars to grab a front row start in P2 for his efforts.

 

The Hypercar class cars were out next with both Tincknell and Sorenson continuing their cars fine run of form in Belgium to get both cars through to Hyperpole for the first time ever albeit from a last lap dash for the #009. Despite pushing the performance envelope in the final session were the #009 car was near the fastest car on track at the time, both crews were eventually pushed back down the order (mainly thanks to the compulsory use of the Michelin medium tyre in Hyperpole)to still claim a project best performance in the series in P6 and P7 for the #009 and #007 respectively.

Saturday’s six-hour race will still be another challenge altogether for all four Heart of Racing crews as it will of course be race pace which will ultimately dictate just where each car will be in class as the chequered flag falls at 20:00hrs local.

 

 

Just as we were about to give up all hope of another Aston Martin Racing team (beyond that of the Rebel Rock Racing team who are racing within the GT World Challenge America Series) of competing within the SRO America trilogy of series that year – the Racers Edge team have today come to the rescue.

 

Having been obviously been trying to secure an appropriately funded driver(s) to race their new AMR Vantage GT4 Evo within either of the eligible GT America or GT4 America series for some months now, a very familiar face has finally taken them up upon their offer.

 

The team have just confirmed that former GT America GT4 Champion Jason Bell will make a return to the marque, series and team for this weekend’s series visit to Sebring after he stepped away from everything at the end of last year.

 

Having struggled with the AMR Vantage GT3 within the series over the last two years, the Vantage GT4 platform will be a more comfortable return to the track for the former double champion.

 

Photo credit - Team

 

 

This weekend sees the running of the second round of the GT World Challenge Australia Series from The Bend Motorsport Park near Adelaide where the sole running Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered team enjoys another driver re-alignment.

At the opening round to the 2026 season that was raced at Phillip Island back in late March, the #14 Volante Rosso AMR Vantage GT3 was then raced by both Alex Gardner alongside Lee Stibbs where the Trophy Classed duo secured P2 and P1 finishes at the end of those two one-hour races.

 

For this weekend’s two races, Gardner will again be joined by Ben Porter who debuted the teams then new (17A version) AMR Vantage GT3 together at the Queensland round of the series back in early August 2024.

“I’m really looking forward to coming back to rejoin Volante Rosso in the Aston Martin at The Bend,” Porter said. “It was great to be part of the team’s very first event with the Aston back in 2024, and since then, they have brought that package a long way. The car is sorted, the team knows it really well, and there’s no reason why we can’t be in a position to fight for a good result”.

The provisional entry list now confirms the #14 car just one of sixteen entries - three within their Trophy class.

 

 

Having finally debuted within the GT World Challenge America Series last time out at the second round of the season from the Circuit of the Americas three weeks ago, the #71 Rebel Rock Racing is again back in business this weekend as the series visits the Sebring International Raceway.

Having skipped the season opener from Sonoma in favour of getting back up to speed after the winter break within their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4, the team’s first full racing experience within the SRO series in Texas proved itself to be a productive one.

 

With drivers Frank DePew and Robin Liddell more familiar with running a two-hour race with their Vantage GT4, the GT World Challenge series new three-hour race format was something else that the Pro-Am pairing had to get used to as well as the bigger and faster race platform.

Out of the twenty-two runners last time out, DePew would qualify their #71 car P20 overall before taking most of the racing seat time before delivering the car back to the team in one-piece P17 overall.

 

This weekend’s visit to the Floridian circuit infamous for its bumps will be the same format as last time with one three-hour race to prepare for on Saturday. This weekend sees twenty-one provisional runners ahead of the scheduled race start at 17:00hrs local on Saturday evening.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The four cars of the Heart of Racing team will soon be making the relatively short hop over the English Channel before making their way down to Spa Francorchamps in time for this weekend’s second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

After the earlier postponement of the Qatar opener due to geo-political tensions and conflict within The Gulf, the opening round and proceeding Prologue test were hastily moved to Imola, Italy for a more conventional six-hour race.

 

It will be another six hour race this weekend that will again beckon the Hypercar and LMGT3 based classes this time around but will also be the team’s final racing opportunity to fine tune their racing package before the 24 Hours of Le Mans that will take place just a month later.

Imola saw a year of continuity within the Heart of Racing’s Hypercar package as Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble reunited within the green #007 car whilst Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen were again together within the sister #009 car.

 

It was a similar trait across the garage to the team’s #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 as Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Matia Drudi also team up for a second season togther but their #23 Vantage LMGT3 was an all-new affair for 2026.

Last time in Italy saw Gray Newell make his FIA WEC debut alongside the more seasoned campaigner of Le Mans winner Jonny Adam. They were supposed to have been joined by Eduardo Barrichello, but he was on important IMSA duty for the team over in Long Beach, California so his seat was taken by AMR Drivers Academy winner Kobe Pauwels as he also debuted upon the world stage.

 

Despite the last-minute collation of driving talent, that young crew still managed to deliver a P9 in class finish at the end of that race as did the #007 Hypercar crew of Tincknell and Gamble.

An earlier in the race weekend off for the #009 car saw the team having to build another car from scratch utilising the spare tub but as a result, the #009 car was never quite on the pace from that point forward as they eventually came home P14. The #27 car would also suffer from technical issues later into the race that resulted in Drudi having to pit from P8 in class with ninety minutes still remaining.

 

Since then, all four cars would have had a full strip down and rebuild in time for this weekend’s coming round with the AMR Vantage LMGT3’s being seen stretching their legs prior to transiting down to Spa over the weekend. The two Valkyrie’s enjoyed similar at Silverstone earlier in the week.

Thursday will see the FIA WEC expected grid of thirty-five cars for the first time with Free Practice 1 and 2 before Free Practice 3 and class Qualifying on Friday with the start to this race being waved off at 14:00hrs local on Saturday.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI Media / social media

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing claimed enough points at the end of their second round to the Japanese Super GT Series earlier today to retain (an albeit slender) lead within their GT300 class.

Racing today at their ‘home’ circuit of Fujii Speedway, the #777 crew of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg were facing the prospect of running this weekend’s three-hour race (as opposed to a more traditional 300km race) with maximum success ballast after their lights to flag class win at the end of the opening round from Okayama.

 

Reporting back during Free Practice and Qualifying issues of tyre degradation and a lowered level of performance (with the BoP ballast weight having its desired effect), the crew were having to find compromises to make up for that.

Having Qualified in eleventh within their class set of twenty-eight other entries, it was a warm start to the day as Fujii again did the opening stint to the race before handing over to Fagg in P9th before he too elevated their track position in class up to seventh at the end of his run.

 

With the success ballast and a new fuel flow restrictor being imposed onto their stops, the #777 crew still managed to come home In seventh for nine more valuable championship points to secure their class lead as the series now has an elongated wait through the period of the now postponed visit to Sepang before its next round of the season, again from Fuji Speedway in early August.

Photo credits – D’Station Racing