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!”

 

 

The Michelin Le Mans Cup suddenly became even more interesting than it usually is today as they announced their multi-classed entry list for 2026 which this time sees THREE Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s entered within their six-round season.

Last year we had just the Code Racing Development team fly the flag for the brand and for the first half the season at least, they were very much in contention at the head of the class before sadly falling away during the final two rounds.

 

 

Again bearing the #11 number, this year sees the French based team join forces with Antoine Leclerc with a bronze ranked driver yet to be determined whilst the new for 2026 #10 Racing Spirit of Leman entry will also carry a familiar surname around the door as British GT Silver-Am Champion Tom Wood deservedly moves back into the European racing arena. The #91 Blackthorn AMR entry will again see team boss Claude Bovet compete within the series as they continue this weekend with their Asian Le Mans Series commitments.

These three entries help to make up the ten GT3 entries within the class as well as the thirty-five LMP3 cars that will compete amongst their two classes making up for a very healthy forty-five car entry.

 

 

The Le Mans Cup season will get officially underway on the 8th March with the pre-season Prologue test from Barcelona before quickly moving into the first race of the year at the Catalunya circuit that weekend. In the meantime, there obviously needs to be three further drivers announced within the teams but already, the season is looking very interesting indeed.

Don’t forget that the series (in support of the European Le Mans Series) will again be attending Silverstone this September as the penultimate round of the season.

Townsend Racing Powered by Fox Motorsport are the latest Aston Martin Racing powered team to announce their GT4 commitments into this season’s British GT Championship.

Leading North America’s most prized sportscar race with only minutes remaining, Magnus Racing and the No. 44 Virtual Energy Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO took an incredible runner-up finish at this year’s 2026 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking the checkered flag after one of the most highlighted end-of-race battles in race history. While the closing 30 minutes would populate highlight reels worldwide, the result also served as the team’s fifth podium at Daytona, and most notably marked the team’s return to form.

“How fortunate are we to be disappointed in second,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “We’d be lying to say the last few minutes weren’t disappointing, but ultimately, we’re happy to be on the podium knowing the team performed so well. To be leading with such a strong car, and only minutes remaining, is a testament to how everyone executed. The drivers performed well, the crew was faultless, the car was fast, and the strategy put us in the right place at the end. It’s great to see everyone rewarded for such hard work getting to here. I can’t thank our fans, and of course incredible partners at Virtual Energy, for all of their support through this.”

 

 

In typical Rolex 24 fashion, this year’s twice-around-the-clock classic featured no shortage of trials and tribulations.

With team owner John Potter taking the green flag, a flawless opening two hours would demonstrate John’s pace in combination with his experience, passing multiple cars while putting a premium on maintaining a clean car. As his double-stint continued, John’s pace would take the car to the top-10 by time he stepped out.

Unfortunately, an ill-timed caution period two hours into the race would send the team one lap down, however an equally well-time caution period would allow the team to get the lead lap back just 45 minutes later. Knowing how critical a clean car would be for the end of the race, the next eight hours would be an effectively smooth process, with Potter, Spencer Pumpelly, Madison Snow, and Nicki Thiim all taking their turns to simply manage their time.

 

 

As the night progressed, however, the coastal community of Daytona Beach would be engulfed in a long period of dense fog, forcing the field to run under caution for over six hours. Running through the night and into the morning at safety car speeds, the team shifted from enduring through the night to focusing on performance for the next day, knowing that when the green flag fell it would become a seven-hour sprint race.

Once racing resumed, the intensity of the race would ramp up significantly. Fighting his way into the top five, Spencer Pumpelly took opening honors to place the car in a strong position for the races closing hours. Unfortunately, strong contact from behind by a lap-down Ferrari would send him spinning in the bus stop, luckily with minimal damage but a frustrating loss of track position.

 

 

Swapping to Nicki Thiim under the six-hour mark, the pace of the car began to show, with Nicki making his way through the field and sending a clear message on the car’s pace.

The next three hours would rotate from Thiim to Madison Snow, with the usual ebb-and-flow of track position and offsetting sequences placing the car a little further back, however a timely caution just under the three-hour mark would set the stage for a wild finish.

With Nicki back in the car to the finish, it was a hard-fought restart that would dramatically change the tone of the race. Taking the green flag in fifth, an unreal and impossible-to-describe series of passes through the first six turns would vault the team to first, and with it a strong feeling that victory was a real possibility. As the race evolved to the final 90 minutes, the car would drop back to second briefly due to offsetting strategies with another Aston Martin, but ultimately the strategy and pace of the No. 44 would prevail, and the team continued to lead after the final round of pit stops.

 

 

With no pit stops remaining and no concerns on needing to save to the end, all focus was simply on getting to the finish, with the team now leading with a palpable sense of excitement.

However, with only minutes remaining, the No. 57 AMG Mercedes arrived with a surprisingly strong pace that had not existed prior. Taking an opportunity in prototype traffic to take the lead, the Mercedes succeeded but with the Aston giving strong chase to take victory back.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, the battle for the race lead came to a head. Following a strong exit in the famed bus stop chicane, Nicki would make a run past the Mercedes down the front straight, only for the Mercedes to make a dangerous block at the Magnus No. 44 at over 170 MPH, making contact and allowing the No. 57 to maintain the lead. It was a move largely considered illegal by both fans and industry insiders alike, but despite a protest from the team, no real penalty was issued to the Mercedes.

 

 

With not enough time to make another move, the team would settle for a runner-up finish, which given a difficult 2025 season, will ultimately be seen as a positive.

It was the third runner-up finish in five years at Daytona, and a strong sign of the team’s potential moving forward.

Also worth noting, the team’s tradition of pitside webstreaming continued, with their 24-hour stream of all pitside communications and strategic discussions being put on YouTube for all to see, garnering over 6,000 viewers in the process.

For Spencer Pumpelly, adding yet another podium to his roster of success at Daytona was a welcome one.

 

 

“I can’t thank everyone on this team enough for their hard work,” stated Pumpelly. “The level of competition in IMSA is so high in the current era, and we put ourselves in a position to win at the end. It came from everyone executing perfectly, and I couldn’t be prouder of where we are as a group.”

For Madison Snow in his team debut, a solid performance capped off an enjoyable event.

“It was great to be part of this team,” stated Snow. “I’ve known so many people here for most of my career, so even if it was my first race it didn’t feel that way. The car was incredibly fast, and the results speak for the quality of the crew. It was an honor to be here and I look forward to how the rest of the season continues.”

Finally, for Nicki Thiim, a combination of joy and heartbreak would summarize his event.

 

 

“I wanted to take this team to victory more than I can describe,” stated Thiim. “They did an incredible job preparing the car and putting us in a position to fight. I don’t know what else to say. The video and public reaction says everything I need to say, it just means we’ll come back that much harder next year.”

Having committed to select endurance events throughout the season, the next event for Magnus Racing will be announced soon, with the team opting to simply enjoy the moment for the time being.

Source material and photo credits – Magnus Racing

 

 

Daytona was not the only racetrack witnessing an Aston Martin Racing powered podium at the weekend as the rain in Portugal certainly continued to fall over the racetrack at Estoril as the GT4 Winter Series soldiered on with their second of a five round series there at the weekend.

Sometimes having to scrub test sessions on the grounds of safety, the grid of the Winter Series are certainly becoming accustomed to the art of wet weather racing and that was no different within their small but perfectly formed twelve car grid.

 

 

Both the Araujo Competicao and Mucke Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4’s were eventually known to be on track featuring no driver change within the #700 Thilo Goos/Mattis Pluschkell Mucke car whilst Bruno Periera this time stepped in for Goncalo Araujo alongside that of Frederico Peters in their new #007 Vantage GT4.

Again running a three-race format – an individual twenty-five-minute sprint race for each driver before ending the weekend with an hour long, pit stop punctuated endurance race saw the Mucke crew improve upon their results from the opening round at Portimao the week before with a P2 Club class result in race one for Goos followed by two class wins in races two and three.

 

 

There were also improvements for the Araujo team as Pereira secured an opening class win before Peters came home P5 in race two before ending the weekend with an overall P4 finish – P2 in their Pro-Am class.

The series now moves back to Portimao for a non-championship six hour race at that circuit in two weeks’ time before finding their way to Valencia over the 14/15th February.

Photo credits – Gedlich Racing