Making up for lost ground regarding last weekend’s racing results, especially around the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered arena – it was unfortunately a disappointing weekend for those AMR powered competitors within both the Iberian Supercars Espana Series and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series.

The former competing down in Jarama for the second round of that series after the opening round roan concurrently with the races then of the Iberian Supercars Series but with a reduced AMR powered entry list of just three cars amongst the twenty-three strong GT4 entry.

 

Race one couldn’t have gone a lot worse really as both the #28 Racar Motorsport entry for Vasco Oliveira and Ivan Velasco and the #52 Monterios Competicoes AMR of Henrique Oliveira and Louis Leveau each failed to finish with the remaining #77 Racar Motorsport of Mathieu Martins and Anton Morsing having to make do with a distant P17 result overall, P9 in class.

Race two did get slightly better for at least one AMR runner as the #28 car turned their earlier misfortune around to secure a P12 overall / P2 in the GT4 Bronze class finish whilst the #77 car was this time a non-finisher with the #52 car down in P17 overall/P7 in GT4 Pro.

 

It was a similar story within last weekend’s four-hour round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge which ran at Mid-Ohio as the fourth round of that IMSA series and as the second elongated round to that of the usual two-hour race.

Hopes were high going into this round for the four AMR Vantage GT4 powered runners with the #66 Van Der Steur crew of Trenton Estep and Allen Patten securing a second row start in third after the rain affected preceding track sessions.

 

As the race got underway, an unsighted spin by a Porsche up front sadly claimed the #4 Medusa Motorsport AMR of Hunter Yeaney/Athan Sterling and Jacob Loomis as the #4 car slammed heavily into the Porsche as that faced the racing traffic on only the opening lap. Despite being able to limp back to pit lane, the loss of a front wheel and suspension linkages sadly put paid to their efforts for the day.

There were also early issues for the #14 Circle H Racing AMR of David Hampton/Thomas Merril and Martin Sarukhanyan as they also disappeared behind the pit wall during this opening caution – to return some fifteen minutes later but to run off the pace before finally coming to a halt on track thirty minutes before the end.

 

The #26 Heart of Racing AMR of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir were also looking racey as they quickly elevated themselves from their P18 overall starting position to run strongly within the top ten for much of the race. Unfortunately for them, late braking issues within the car would eventually drop them down to P12 overall whilst the #66 Van Der Steur had to make do with a P9 result for their efforts.

 

Overall, they were many disappointed people within the AMR powered camps at the end of last weekend.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

Fairly timely as the third round of the season sees the third driver line up reshuffle of the year for the Volante Rosso Aston Martin Racing powered team within the GT World Challenge Australia Series.

This weekend racing at Queensland Raceway sees the #14 AMR Vantage GT3 powered team throughout a solo driver in Cameron Rees for their Trophy classed entry this time around.

 

Last time out at The Bend Motorsport Park, the time ran a revised line up of both Alex Gardner and Ben Porter together for the first time where that duo secured a podium double with a P3 and P2 finishes in class across the two one-hour races.

It will be the same race format again this weekend where Rees will be competing within an entry list of fifteen multi-classed entries where he will be making his national debut within the series

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

 

Last weekend’s 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard in southern France thankfully finally gave the Spanish based E2P Racing Aston Martin Racing powered team something to celebrate after their #90 crew secured an Am class podium finish.

Competing within another of the Creventic series six plus six-hour endurance races spread across the two days had been a prospect that may not have necessarily suited the AMR Vantage GT3 crew of Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos but the twelve-hour race came to prove different.

 

Hitting the track for the first time earlier last week, the #90 crew would eventually take the start to Saturdays opening half form P14 overall / P7 in class out of the collective grid size of thirty-two cars to end the day just one lap down to the overall leader P6 overall and P4 in class.

Once racing had got back under way around the mistral circuit on Sunday morning, the #90 crew were able to hang on to claim their first class podium finish of the season to finish P8 overall and P3 within their Am class.

The next round will be from the Nurburgring in Germany in early July.

Photo credits - Series

 

It was a near perfect return to the International GT Open Series for the Polish based Good Speed Racing Aston Martin Racing powered team as their Am class driver line secured a pair of podium visits at the end of last weekend two races from Misano.

First time at the Italian circuit for the European based GT3 series also saw a return to the more usual diary format of a seventy-minute race on Saturday paired with a sixty-minute race on Sunday – each punctuated with a mid-race pit stop and driver change.

 

Racing under near perfect conditions, the #14 Good Speed Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Piotr Wira and Tomas Magdziarz went from the qualifying position of P24 overall / P6 in class to end the first day of racing on the class podium P17 overall and P3 in class.

Swapping around the starting driver for Sunday’s slightly shorter race saw the pairing start P20 overall / P4 in class to eventually finish P14 overall and first in class, mainly thanks to a time penalty being applied to the class leading car at the time and despite their own plus five second penalty for undercutting their mandatory pit stop time by that amount earlier in the race.

 

After the five races ran so far this season, the #14 crew now sit fourth in class – ten points behind the class leaders but with plenty of races still to come - next stop, the Hungaroring in early July.

Photos credits - Series

 

Two seemingly very productive test sessions yesterday and three hundred and forty-nine laps between them around the Circuit de La Sarthe saw both the Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 and Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar powered crews circulate at the top of the timing screens in class, with one being the fastest overall at the end of the day.

Two three-hour sessions either side of lunch was what was on offer for the sixty-two entries with it being just another attendance at the FIA World Endurance Championship showcase event most but also a new experience for others including Gary Newell within the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3.

 

He apparently sailed through his minimum lap requirement during the morning session to allow the team to concentrate upon other matters within the car with Newell and co-drivers Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello eventually finishing the day ninth fastest overall in class.

The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage LMGT3 entry of Clement Mateau, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marius Fossard gave indication of early intent with the all-French crew finishing the morning session second fastest overall but despite being faster in the afternoon session, finished the day twelfth fastest overall in class.

 

The #23 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 crew of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi played something of a ‘dark horse’ game within both sessions, never really threatening the leadership in class but just getting the job done ahead of the track sessions that will really count next week. They finished the day fifteenth fastest in class.

The two Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar classed entries certainly made their intentions known as first the #009 of Alex Riberas, Marco Sorenson and Roman De Angelis hunted down the top spot within the morning session before ultimately finishing fourth fastest in the morning whilst the #007 of Harry Tincknell, Ross Gunn and Tom Gamble went some better at the end of the day.

 

A best lap time of 3:26:293 saw Gunn grab the fastest lap time of the day to secure the top place at the Official test despite the crew losing out on five minutes of the afternoon session (stop plus hold penalty) after Gamble was adjoined to have flouted track limits on a repeated basis.

Whilst it is certainly not quite time to count any chickens before the 24 Hours of Le Mans main event has even begun, but the feat in itself is still a very worthy achievement for a race car programme only just entering its second year.

 

Whilst the drivers will now get a couple of days off from driving, the crews will now be busy stripping down their cars before rebuilding them in time for the pit stop challenge on Tuesday and Free Practice one on Wednesday.

Photo credits – AMR / DPPI Images / social media

 

 

Track action has already begun in today’s single official test day before next weekend’s 24 Hour of Le Mans but yesterday also saw some cars on the roads of downtown Le Mans for the recently established car procession.

Gray Newell and Harry Tincknell both got the ‘nod’ this time around to take out their Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar and Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 respectively this time around to represent the Heart of Racing team.

 

Not to be confused with the annual drivers parade that will take place later on Friday, this was the chance for fans to see a selection of cars being raced within this event and the FIA World Endurance Championship to run freely upon what are usually public roads within the city centre.

 

With that bit of fun now over, all the crews now have what’s left of this morning’s three-hour session and another after lunch to get their ship in order ahead of the more formally timed sessions later next week.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

It’s another case of just one of each for Aston Martin Racing as they support another Vantage GT3 and Vantage GT4 into next weekend’s GT World Challenge America and GT America Series visits to Road Atlanta.

Featuring as their fourth rounds to the 2026 season already, it will again be the #71 Rebel Rock Racing team supporting the headlining GT World Challenge America Series with another three-hour race whilst the Racers Edge Motorsport team field their GT4 entry into the solo driver GT America Series for only the second time this season.

 

Frank DePew alongside Robin Liddell again populate the distinctly green #71 car after the Pro-Am pairing showed remarkable resolve and improvement since stepping up to the SRO series in GT3 from the second round of the season.

 

 

 

An expanded fifty-eight car entry will be preparing themselves for next week’s inaugural three-hour round of the Road to Le Mans race from the Circuit de La Sarthe with now four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered runners within its midst.

Not really any surprise their when the full entry list was confirmed by the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series earlier this week as the full season Racing Spirit of Leman, Code Racing Development and Blackthorn AMR runners are this time joined by a second car from the British based team.

Two rounds already in the bag for the usually European Le Mans Series support package after races in both Barcelona and at Paul Ricard, but instead of previous years two one-hour long races, the race organisers have this time elected to take the event more into the endurance arena at the home of endurance racing after all and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

The four Aston Martins will be part of an eighteen strong GT3 class with the balance of entries split between the two available LMP3 classes as the first track action for this event will start early on Wednesday morning ahead of a 10am (local) start to the race on Friday.

 

No driver changes are forecasted for the three full season entries as Valentin Hasse-Clot again pairs up with Philipp Sager in their #10 RSLM entry with qualifying hotshot Sebastian Moreno again with Ethan Ischer aboard their #11 CRD car whilst Tom Canning and Claude Bovet pair up within the #91 Blackthorn. They will be joined by their sister #90 Blackthorn entry for drivers Kobe Pauwels and Charles Bateman.

After two podium finishes to date, including a race win in Spain, the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman crew continue to lead the GT3 Drivers Championship by twelve points.

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media

 

 

The first day opening ceremony ahead of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans is now safely in the bag as just over half the expected sixty-two car entry passed through the Le Pesage process within the Place de La Republique in downtown Le Mans earlier today.

 

With the remainder of the field to have their time in front of both the scrutineers and expectant crowd in the square over the course of tomorrow, all five Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered crews from both the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams faced that opportunity earlier today.

 

Whilst the cars were in the town, there were also checks being made within each of the teams garages with their refuelling rigs before one Aston Martin Valkyrie and one Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 then get a thrash around the old town of Le Mans and Saturday afternoons town centre procession.

 

That noise and motion will then lead into the two three-hour track sessions of the official test within which the teams will cycle through their respective test and build up programme as well as getting the likes of LM24 debutant Gray Newell in getting in his minimum laps ahead of the more formally timed and sanctioned track sessions next week.

 

With BoP now a closely guarded secret from the public arena within the FIA World Endurance Championship and that of the twenty-four hour being solely different from the mainstream WEC season anyway, it probably will not be until Qualifying and Hyperpole where we will find out just where either Aston Martin platform sits within their respective classes.

Photo credits – Teams / DPPI Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two further solo Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews will complete this weekend’s race programme as far we are concerned as one competes within the third round of each of the 24H Series and International GT Open.

Paul Ricard in southern France is the venue for the Creventic ran 24H Series with the #90 E2P Racing AMR Vantage GT3 Evo of Pablo Burgera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos again running within the Am class.

 

2026 has been another one of those character building starts to the season for the Spanish based team after a distant finish eight laps down after the season opener at Mugello towards the end of March before rallying to a P3 in class podium finish last time out at Spa Francorchamps a month later.

This weekend will see another thirty-two strong multi-classed entry take to the circuit for this six + six-hour race across Saturday and Sunday with private testing already having started at the circuit today. Free Practice and class Qualifying will then fill up the diary tomorrow before the first race leg is waved off at 11:45Hrs local on Saturday with the concluding leg due to be waved off at 11:30hrs local on Sunday.

 

They will be joined by the Polish based Good Speed Racing team who will be representing the brand within this weekend’s third round of the International GT Open Series at Misano, Italy.

It’s also back to the usual race format this time around of one 70-minute race on Saturday with an hour-long finale on Sunday after the series ran a three-hour race format last time out at Spa Francorchamps.

 

This time around, we do not see the Blackthorn AMR powered crew as (we are guessing) that their application to run within next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans would have committed them to this weekend’s Official Test Day in France but as we now know, they didn’t quite make it to the top of the reserve list.

At the Spa round, the #14 Good Speed Racing AMR crew of Piotr Wira and Tomas Magdziarz did earn themselves a P5 finish in class – so there is still much to race for the Am classed crew this time around.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

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  A smaller entourage of twenty-three GT4 powered crews of the Supercars Espana Series will make their way to Jarama in time for this weekend’s second round of the 2026 season having started at Portimao three weeks ago.
  
  Not the overarching Iberian Supercars Series this time around will be the primary cause for the reduced numbers from the and that has also been reflected with the number of Aston Martin Racing powered entries from the six at Portimao to just three this time around.

  
  

  

   

  At Portimao, the #722 Gianfranco Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 entry of Roberto Faria and Joel Bergstrom had a total disaster after a fire aboard their car during an earlier session saw them not take any further part in the season’s two opening races. We understand that the team also lease the car from the Racing Spirit of Leman team and seeing that one of their cars was all but written off in the opening race of the GT4 European Series last weekend at Monza, the team and crew have this time elected to run in a Toyota.
  
  That leaves both the #28 and #77 Racar Motorsport entries for drivers Vasco Oliveira/Ivan Velasco in GT4 Bronze as well as Mathieu Martins/Anton Morsing within their #77 GT4 Pro class entry.

  
  

  

   

  The #52 Monteiros Competicoes AMR of Henrique Oliveira/Louis Leveau who will also be competing in GT4 Pro.
  
  Out of those three AMR powered runners, only the #28 crew enjoyed racing success with a P1 and P2 in class finish within that weekend’s two fifty-minute-long races.
  
  Photo credits – Series / social media

   

   

 

Those looking for some GT4 powered action this weekend should look no further than the next round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series who will be undertaking a four-hour marathon around the small but perfectly formed Mid-Ohio circuit.

Five weeks since the last round of the series at the Weathertech Laguna Seca circuit in California, its back towards the eastern seaboard of the country as thirty GS (GT4) and sixteen TCR based cars and crews prepare for this weekends fourth round of the season with its second endurance round.

 

The provisional entry list sees four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews amongst the GS class with returning entries from the Medusa, Circle H, Heart of Racing and Van Der Steur Motorsport teams.

Being twice the usual two-hour race, all bar one of these four AMR teams have elected (so far) to run with a three-driver squad with most of the extras being familiar names from the four-hour season opening at Daytona way back in late January.

 

The two young guns within the #4 Medusa Motorsport AMR sees Jacob Loomis join that of AMR Drivers Academy participants Hunter Yeaney and Athan Sterling whilst Martin Sarukhanyan rejoins Thomas Merrill and David Hampton aboard their #14 Circle H Racing AMR entry.

Mike David Ortmann gets his next run out with both Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir within their #26 Heart of Racing entry with Allen Patten and Trenton Estep presently run as just a pairing within their #66 Van Der Steur Racing car.

 

Track action starts this Friday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Saturday before a near midday wave off to the four-hour race on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

The trucks have already rolled, and the teams are now on site preparing themselves for what will be an elongated stay at the Circuit de La Sarthe in time for this weekend’s official test day ahead of next week’s FIA World Endurance Championship round and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In this somewhat disjointed season after the postponement of the scripted opening round to the year in Qatar back in late March, next weekend’s event will be the third round to the 2026 season having opened at Imola in mid-April before moving onto to Spa Francorchamps last month for its second six-hour race of the year.

 

 

As has become something of a norm, all the attending teams and indeed crews (if new to the 24-hour event) must attend the official test day at the circuit during which all ‘novice’ drivers must complete a minimum number of laps (as well as a simulator session in Paris) before they will be allowed to race.

For the two Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars – that will not be an issue to them as all six drivers have raced that car at the circuit last year as have many of the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews from both the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman crews.

 

The four Heart of Racing entries remain the only four full season entrants from the British brand with the #59 RSLM crew only there by invitation from their European Le Mans Series endeavours this season as it appears that the second reserve from the Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR team has been unsuccessful in their quest this season.

A total of sixty two Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 crews should be in attendance this weekend for the test day on Sunday where there will be two three-hour sessions available to then within which all teams must do whatever is necessary to prepare them and their crews for next week’s opening sessions for the 24hour.

Photo credits - Teams / social media