Donington Park in the British GT Championship this weekend was never quite the old #doningtondecider that it has become renowned for in recent rounds as this weekend was just the penultimate round to the season, but class championships were still there to be won.

With Qualifying having been ran yesterday, the #007 Beechdean Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn had had a challenging time against their peers to secure their P7 overall/ P5 in Pro-Am starting position but all four Vantage GT4 crews had benefitted from the disqualification of the three Ginetta cars for their ride height technical infringement.

 

That elevated the #27 Grange Racing AMR of Dan Lavery and Darren Turner up to the head of the AMR pack in their P2 overall start with the #21 MK Racing AMR of Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins just behind. The #97 GBR Stratton AMR of John Hartsorne and a season debuting appearance of Jordan Collard next P7 in class with the #40 Townsend entry of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler just behind them in eighth out of a combined grid size of just twenty-three cars.

Just before the start of this penultimate two-hour race, Mother Nature threw in her curved ball with a short but torrential downpour, particularly around the second half of the lap that forced many to opt for the full wet tyre over that of the slick as a choice of being between a rock and a hard place considering the track conditions.

 

Miraculously, the opening laps were without major incident or accident beyond that of the expected first few corners panel bashing between cars as Howard retained his starting position but both Lavery and Orton dropped a couple of places upon that opening lap. The first spinner wasn’t too far away as the Ferrari GT3 dropped a wheel off the track but was fortunately able to recover itself to the track without the need of further intervention.

Ten minutes in and the wet shod cars were already looking for the wetter sections of the track as a distinctive dry line was rapidly forming as the rain had now long since passed as the GT3 leaders were soon upon the heels of the GT4 class. The first significant incident on track came at the half hour mark when the delayed Ferrari founds itself in the way of the leading GT3 cars who were also lapping other GT4 cars which saw both the Ferrari and a Lamborghini spinning off into the gravel after the Lambo had hist the Ferrari into a spin. Again – both cars were able to recover themselves onto track without race interrupting intervention.

 

The #27 car of Lavery was an early pit visitor to change from wets and onto slicks, still just half-way through his opening hour-long stint as the transition between wets or slicks being quickest on the rapidly drying track had been reached as the slick runners were now six seconds per lap quicker. The #007 and #40 AMR’s of Howard and Townsend had similar ideas too.

Just ahead of the start to the pit window, the first (and thankfully only significant) incident took place at the hairpin when the GT3 Pro-Am Championship leading McLaren lost the back end of his car going into the braking zone to then turn and knock into the pole setting BMW GT3 to take both cars out of the race. What followed was an equally scary moment for Howard who spun around at the same position to thankfully pass the #77 McLaren by through the gravel. No contact made and Howard was able to rejoin and complete his stint before handing over to Gunn whilst fifth overall – P3 in class.

 

That allowed the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews to complete their compulsory stops where their faster drivers would now be aboard. Lavery had done his stuff as he handed over to AMR factory driver Turner whilst importantly holding onto their Pro-Am class lead thanks to their early change from wets. On the flip side, the #21 MK Racing AMR crew would see their silver class championship aspirations take a knock as Orton was served with a drive through penalty for speeding in pit lane during their stop – who was liable for that was inconsequential.

After the GT4 stops, the race action on track kind of died down a bit as gaps became insurmountable on track but errors on track still came with a consequence as the #42 Pro-Am contending Ginetta was first given a DTP of their own for track limits before having to visit pit lane again with unknown issues – that all fell in favour of the #27 crew and their championship hopes.

 

Going into the final minutes of the race, the #007 Beechdean was still looking good for another podium finish in class at least as they would come home fourth overall – P3 in class whilst the GT4 field would see two of the four cars finish in similar positions.

Whilst the #27 crew would win the Pro-Am class and clinch the class championship win as a result of the issues with the #42 car, the #40 AMR of Townsend/Wheeler would finish P3 within GT4 Pro-Am but a post-race check would see the car disqualified from the results for a technical infringement where the #97 GBR Stratton car of Hartshorne and Collard would benefit.

 

The final race of the season will be from Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time and will be where the final championship titles will be decided.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

 

 

 

The Heart of Racing team produced their best collective qualifying performance to date within last night’s FIA World Endurance Championship Hyperpole session as the Circuit of the Americas.

Running again their two full season Aston Martin Valkyrie’s and two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s, their performances within the events earlier Free Practice sessions were at least partly recognised going through the two qualifying rounds for both the #007 and #009 Valkyries whilst both the #23 and #27 AMR Vantage powered crews improved upon their steady progress through Free Practice 1,2 and 3 to look out the front row of the LMGT3 grid.

 

Despite their early pace, it was sadly just the #007 car of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble who made it through qualifying and into Hyperpole after the #009 car of Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas strangely lost over 1.2 seconds of pace between Free Practice and Qualifying. Going into the final top ten shoot out for pole, Tincknell was narrowly edged out of a P3 slot at the death for them to claim a P4 slot for today’s race.

In LMGT3, Gray Newell managed to overcome his persistent breach of track limits during Free Practice to rally to an overall lap time that crept him and his #23 car into the top ten and managed to stay there during the closing minutes of the session to claim his next passage into Hyperpole whilst the #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichoin and Mattia Drudi were more comfortably positioned five places higher up.

 

Into LMGT3 Hyperpole and this time it was the turn of Eduardo Barrichello in the #23 and Robichon within the #27 cars to do their stuff and two quick ‘banker’ laps were all it took for the Brazilian to outgun his Canadian stable mate to claim his second pole position of his FIA WEC career with a lap time just 0.12 of a second quicker to put himself, Newell and birthday boy Jonny Adam at the head of the pack.

Obviously, a single lap pace of qualifying compared to another arduous six-hour race around CoTA are two different things for all concerned.

Photo credits – DPPI

Qualifying was completed a couple of hours ago ahead of tomorrow’s penultimate round of the British GT Championship but between then and us getting home, everything has changed as the three (faster) Ginetta’s have all been disqualified from their sessions on a technical infringement.

Having had a few hours of track time on Thursday to get in some early laps during private testing, the lower-than-normal grid of twenty-seven GT3 and GT4 cars were back in business this morning for the first of two one-hour sessions (Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying) before this afternoons all important individual qualifying runs.

 

The Grange Racing by FSR were reporting how their new BoP for the event had been challenging for them as they had to deal with additional ballast amongst others things although the #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of Dan Lavery and Darren Turner were always up at the sharper end of the timing screen despite these apparent hardships.

The #97 GBR Stratton Motorsport were welcoming back their new young gun in Jordan Collard to join their full season entrant John Hartshorne for these remain two rounds of the season. He laps on Thursday were his first competitive laps within any race car for about four years he said over the circuit commentary.

 

The #21 MK Racing AMR Vantage GT4 Silver pairing of Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton gave their team an early headache after an off-track excursion during todays morning session had damaged the front splitter without another seemingly being available at the circuit. Despite this, the necessary repairs were made and that didn’t seem to affect the pairing too much over the remaining sessions.

The #40 Townsend Motorsport AMR of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler appeared to have an uneventful morning – although the pairing were slowest by the end of both sessions. That was a similar tail for the #007 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn who also finished their morning runs at the lower end of the GT3 class.

 

Despite the skies clouding over a bit more over lunch, the sun was back out in force in time for the four qualifying sessions where each driver per car was required to set a time with the aggregate of such setting their position upon the grid for tomorrows two-hour race and with qualifying having been run on track at least, the performances of all five Aston Martins had seen them left within their respective midfield.

Then comes the announcement of problems with all three Ginetta’s. Whilst the #007 Beechdean GT3 is unaffected by this and will start from P7 on the grid, the four Vantage GT4 crews all move up three places with the #27 Grange Racing car now grabbing GT4 Pro-Am pole position again for another front row start in GT4 with the #21 MK Racing crew just behind in third. The #97 GBR Stratton pips their more established rivals within the #40 Townsend car with each starting P7 and P8 overall within GT4 respectively.

 

But of course, two hours around Donington Park usually turns all of the above upon its head at least once or twice during the race so the race result is still a blank canvas.

 

 

 

 

With nearly one hundred multi-classed cars competing within two ACO rules series next weekend gives the destination of Silverstone as a mighty fine choice if you’re looking for something worthwhile to watch at not so bad a price.

The European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup Series are just part of next weekend’s racing line up as the two European series battle out their penultimate rounds of the season with forty-seven LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3’s featuring within the ELMS event and further LMP3 and GT3 based cars within the LMC event.

 

Last time out within both series at Spa Francorchamps just three weeks ago we saw driver changes enforced up several of the four Aston Martin Racing powered team entries as both diary clashes and changes in personal circumstances too effect – as well as the effects of current motor racing pressures.

Within the ELMS, the #59 Racing Spirit of Lemans AMR Vantage LMGT3 had seen both Clement Mateu step away from the remainder of his envisaged 2026 racing programme with co-driver, Valentin Hasse-Clot also suffering from a diary clash with his ever-increasing IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship commitments leaving just Marius Fossard holding the fort.

 

In stepped both Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson to co drive the #59 car with Fossard in Belgian but having claimed class pole position, an unseen error/incident towards the end of McIntosh’s stint that saw the car nose-dived into the tire wall. Whilst the car was recovered to the circuit (relatively undamaged) the time and laps lost during that recover meant that their race was all but done as they eventually finished last in class and a lap down.

This time around for Silverstone, both Hasse-Clot and Fossard are back in the saddle and will be partnered by fellow Frenchman Francois Herieu – another bronze graded driver already well versed with the pressures of ACO rules racing within the FIA World Endurance Championship.

 

Then, within the Le Mans Cup Series we welcome back the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT3 of Philipp Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot alongside the #11 Code Racing Development AMR of Pascal Huteau and Viny Beltramelli as well as the #91 Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR of Claude Bovet and Tom Canning.

Again, Hasse-Clot was absent from this race in Spa as his place was taken by Fossard who, alongside Sager protected their championship lead by coming home fourth in class whilst the two debuting drivers within the #11 Code Racing developments entry claimed a much-deserved P3 podium finish at the first time of asking. The #91 crews run of bad luck within the series sadly continued as an apparent brake issue/fire forced Canning to stop on track whilst then running in a podium contending position for yet another DNF upon the timing and scoring screen.

 

Hopefully, all that incident and accident is now firmly behind then as the ELMS entry look forward to another four-hour race on Sunday with the LMC grid starting their penultimate two-hour race on Saturday.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

After something like an eight-week summer break, just thirteen cars of the original grid size of sixteen cars of the ADAC GT Masters Series will head to the grid of the Salzburgring this weekend for the penultimate round of the season.

Fortunately to be within one of those runners will be the #39 full season entry of the Comtoyou Racing team and their silver/silver pairing of Jamie Day and Baudouin Detout. Last time out the Brit and Luxembourger secured their first GT3 race win togther and in the series with a near lights to flag performance from the pairing and team after Day had claimed pole position earlier in the weekend.

 

With this being Detout’s debut season within the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 having stepped up from the Vantage GT4 at the end of last season, life within the AADAC series has been tough but with four races still to come this season they duo still sit a respectable P8 within the overall championship table.

As with any series, consistency is key and at least the pairing have secured a points scoring finish at the end of the previous eight races so far but with the points deficit to the present leaders already being too great to cover, the remainder of the season will remain that of a development curve for all.

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

 

It’s time for the British GT Championship to start ramping up the temperatures within all of its available classes as this weekend sees the penultimate round of the season from Donington Park. Not quite the infamous #doningtondecider this time around but again, results from this two-hour race will prove pivotable for some going into the final round from Brands Hatch later this month.

One thing the teams and crew will not be missing this time around will be the recent repressive heat of summer of late with more seasonable temperatures and track conditions now expected for this weekend.

 

Today’s provisional entry list confirms all of the usual full season Aston Martin Racing powered entries but this time with a caveat over the #97 GBR Stratton Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 crew as (at the moment) just John Hartshorne is being listed. Last time out at Snetterton, it was Jonny Adam who filled the gap in lieu of Ronan Pearson who we understand to have come across some budgetary issues but this time around – Adam is already committed to his Heart of Racing duties within the FIA World Endurance Championship in America.

Looking back two weeks to those two races in Norfolk, it was a perfect performance from the #27 Grange Racing with FSR Vantage GT4 team of Dan Lavery and Darren Turner as they scooped two class wins for their efforts to lead their Pro-Am class and be in close contention with the GT4 Drivers overall championship as well.

 

For the #21 MK Racing Vantage GT4 duo of Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins, consistency again proved its worth as a class P2 finish in race one and then a P3 class finish in race two sees them retain a now slender lead within the GT4 Overall Drivers standing as well as maintain the same points difference to their closest rivals within both their GT4 Silver class and GT4 Teams championship stakes.

The #40 Townsend Racing by Fox Motorsport AMR crew of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler celebrated something of a better performance in the heat of Norfolk after a P6 Pro-Am finish in race one was backed up with a deserved P3 podium finish in race two to now be just a handful of points behind Hartshorne. A double P5 finish for him in both races sees him lose a bit of ground to his rivals with the top three crews more than thirteen points ahead.

 

Finally in GT3, we have recently seen the confirmation from Beechdean AMR’s boss Andrew Howard of his intention to step back from high level competitive racing at the end of the season as he and co-driver Ross Gunn look to notch up another class championship win for themselves by the end of the Brands Hatch finale.

A P4 finish in race one but dropping valuable points through errors in race two saw the pairing having to make do with a P3 result in that race sees the #007 crew drop twenty-five points to the new GT3 Pro-Am class leaders as well as dropping to fifth within the Overall championship so for this crew – a decent result at Donington Park will be key to their final race campaign but the team will have an additional ten second stop at their designated driver change in lieu of their podium finish last time out. The #27 and #21 Vantage GT4 crews will also have an additional fifteen seconds of stop time added for Donington for the same reason.

 

Track action will begin on Thursday with private testing before Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying and combined Qualifying on Saturday before the start to this penultimate two hour affair starting at 13:30hrs local on Sunday.

An interesting announcement from both the Comtoyou Racing and Code Racing Development teams earlier this evening confirming a new joint venture to joins resources and opportunities with the creation of the Comtoyou Junior Team by Code in time for the 2027 season.

With both teams already well established within the GT3 field, this new venture would establish another ladder system through the two Aston Martin Racing powered teams with particular emphasis being placed upon the competitive GT4 market competing within the likes of the GT4 European Series, FFSA GT4, ADAC GT4 Germany Series and alike.

 

The project looks set to be based around two new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s with a third car initially earmarked for testing only – all featuring the colour scheme of the green and yellow Comtoyou Racing team.

With no definite plans or commitments before confirmed within the announcement, 2027 should be another interesting season for both squads.

Photo credits - Teams

The SRO lead GT3 Revival Series completed last weekend’s racing line up as their seventeen strong grid raced out their two fifty-minute races that made up their penultimate round of the season from the Nurburgring.

Despite multiple examples running within previous rounds, there was this time only one V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 competing – this one the Spiderman liveried Britec Motorsport prepared #16 car of Afshin Fatemi.

Qualifying for race one saw the German based surgeon start from P11 on the grid and a couple of quick places were made up upon the opening lap before the race quickly settled into something of a rhythm ahead of the compulsory pit stop window at the halfway point.

 

 

Circulating P9 overall going into the window saw this solo driver have to get out of the car, shut the door before returning to the vehicle to simulate the driver change process as otherwise no fuel and no tyre changes were permitted.

Returning to the track, the #16 was fortunate not to come off worse than it did when it crossed spilt fluid from an earlier contact between others that forced the AMR to take a much wider line on the run-off area around turn 2 before returning to the circuit. There, Fatemi found himself just off the Am class podium going into the final minutes before eventually fading at the end to finish P8 overall / P5 in class.

 

Race two on Sunday morning was initially clean with the first few opening corners before some got carried away up ahead which saw cars spinning and others making for the grass in avoidance to culminate with one stuck in the gravel.

Fortunately staying clear of any Safety Car intervention, the opening lap saw Fatemi maintain his place relative to his start in P11 as the gaps gradually spread and the race again settled. Just ahead of the pit stop window, rain threatened parts of the circuit but fortunately did not amount to much – or at least nothing that affected the racing still going on.

Just after the stops, a Safety Car was called for a car stranded at the final corner after an innocuous spin where they couldn’t get going again and that saw the #16 car circulating in tenth overall. Getting back to green gave a final ten-minute dash to the flag but the #16 was unable to progress any further for Fatemi to eventually finish P10 overall / P7 in class.

 

The final round of the season will be from Barcelona in a month’s time.

Photo credits - Series

Rebel Rock Racing’s visit to Road America was a very short one this weekend as their #71 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 was involved within a multi-car incident at the kink only minutes into the resumption of racing after a previous full course yellow.

Racing as the fifth round of the season, the Frank DePew and Robin Liddell driven #71 entry was one of a twenty-four car entry for the return to racing after a long summer break for the SRO America ran series.

 

Still competing within their first (not quite full season) of running with the Vantage GT3 after their step up from GT4 and across from the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series, the crew had qualified their car P22 overall and P15 within their Pro-Am class going into Sunday’s three-hour race.

Unfortunately, the opening minutes were blighted with two full course yellows – the first for a single vehicle contacting the concrete wall on the opening lap. The second came on the second racing lap of the restart when another solo car made heavier frontal contact with another part of the outer wall bringing out a further and more prolonged Safety Car intervention for the clean-up operation.

 

Losing nearly ten minutes to the first and a further fifteen minutes for the second, racing laps were something of a rarity with the race clock already having elapsed nearly thirty minutes. The real damage came on the green flag lap to the second safety car period when a spinning Porsche was collected by a further three cars within the dust that was kicked up at the Kink.

One of those cars was the #71 Aston Martin of DePew who came round the kink to be met by of just cloud kicked up by the first spinning Porsche and then by others in their attempts to miss the car. We understand that all the affected drivers were able to exit their vehicles unaided but no further details as to the extent of damage to the car was available – other than it was a race ending incident for all concerned.

 

The next round of the season will be from Barber Motorsport Park in a months’ time.

Photo credits – Halston Pitman

 

 

The #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mattia Drudi gave it their best shot at this weekend’s penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series but even their maximum points wasn’t enough to take the championship battle into the final round.

Racing as one of three AMR powered entries at this weekend’s visit to the Nurburgring alongside the two similar powered entries from the Walkenhorst Motorsport team, the #007 already needed something of a minor miracle over the #48 Mercedes powered crew in order to take the fight to the final round in Portimao in mid-October.

 

Despite some very wet practice sessions on Saturday, the three qualifying sessions were at least run on an albeit green but more importantly a dry track. At the end of this morning’s runs, the #007 had claimed another pole position for their efforts whilst the #34 Pro class Walkenhorst effort of Jamie Day, Christian Krognes and Henrique Chaves could do no better than P14 overall – P10 in class.

The two silver classed entries of the #21 Comtoyou Racing entries of Oliver Soderstrom, Sebastian Baud and Kobe Pauwels hadn’t fared as well as previous rounds as they would start P28 overall /P5 in class whilst their rival #35 Walkenhorst entry of Mateo Vilagomez, Gaspard Simon and Ethan Ischer were further back in P44 overall/P13 in class. With the omission of the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR this time around, that left the #11 Comtoyou Racing car of Marcelo Tomasoni, Aaron Muss and a guesting Sergio Sette Camara the final car of the quintet as they again qualified their bronze class entry P11 in class towards the rear of the pack.

Getting underway for this three-hour race saw Sorensen having to battle hard for the opening laps in order to maintain his position at the head of the race whilst those within the mid to rear of the pack had to put up with three cars being spun around in front of them as they all hit turn one for the first time. Whilst the #007 was at the head of the pack, the remaining for Vantage GT3’s were all within the second half of the pack.

Forty-five minutes in and the leaders were lapping the tail end bronze entries for the first time as Day remained P16 overall within his #34 car as thoughts started to look towards the first of the two expected stops but just ahead of the first hour – a car within the gravel brought out the first FCY.

 

During the stops, Sorensen handed over to Drudi with the championship challenging #48 car still doing what they needed in order to secure the overall championship a round early with all the other runners following suite as and when they arrived at pit in.

Strating the second hour, the #007 again lead the field with the #34 car still P14 overall but with Krognes now at the wheel as the #21 Comtoyou was also making progress before the Safety Car was called out again after two cars tangled and ended within the gravel. Whilst the race did briefly get back going, a slowing car on track eventually brought that inevitable contact from another bringing out another FCY.

 

Going into the final hour, the #007 lost initial ground to those around it as Thiim took the helm and going into the final half hour was running down in fourth as Chaves now in the Walkenhorst also struggled for pace and dropped places relative to where he inherited the car. Going into the final ten minutes of the race, however, Thiim was then up to third overall before a final lap passing of the leading Porsche (who had already been pinged for exceeding maximum drive time and hence would be penalised) saw the #007 pass for the lead again to complete a near lights to flag win for the Belgian team again.

Unfortunately for all, the #48 Mercedes also finished fourth on track to claim the overall Drivers Championship title before the long trip down to Portugal.

 

The #34 Walkenhorst crew eventually finished P16 overall / P11 in class with its sister #35 car P41 overall / P10 in silver. The #21 Comtoyou AMR did rally in the second half of the race to finish P24 overall / P5 in class whilst the #11 bronze class crew ended up with their best result to date P45 overall / P10 in class.

The final round of the season will be from Portimao 16-18th October 2026.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Racers Edge Motorsport team competed their return to the GT4 America Series at the weekend and whilst many positives were learned by the team and their debuting driver, an unfortunate incident within the rain-soaked adventures of race two saw their continued presence within the Safety Car procession take an early end.

Stepping across from the GT America Series where the team had until this point prepared their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo for Jason Bell, a new Pro-Am piloted dynamic within the sister series later emerged for young gun Christian Bach alongside the more established racer Billy Johnson.

 

For Bach, this weekend’s fifth round meeting of the series was from Road America – a wide circuit that challenged the driver but also gave scope for recovery from many potential mistakes on track as all went according to plan within the dry build up to the races.

Bach qualified his #54 car P24 overall (P12 in class) ahead of Friday’s one hour race and whilst the youngster was not able to build up upon his starting position too much by the time of the midpoint pit stop window, the challenges from Johnson was later able for them to claim an inaugural top ten finish in class (P9) and P16 overall.

 

Race two on Saturday was, however, a completely different affair with heavy rain now falling at the circuit just ahead of the warmup lap. Starting from behind the Safety Car, it was Johnson’s turn to take the take (mainly against the many Pros of each Pro-Am line up) but once released to green flag running, the race was soon back in speed under its first of many and prolonged Full Course Yellows.

Again getting back up to speed, a high-speed incident involving two cars in the midfield saw them both leave the circuit at high speed as one either lost their brakes or hit oil upon the already wet surface sending them both off into the gravel and tyre walls. Fortunately, both drivers were otherwise OK but for the #54 car – damage to the front quarter had already been sustained.

 

Eventually pitting close to that pit stop window, the team elected not to repair the damage and send Bach as the race looked set to remain behind the Safety Car for some time and the risk of further damage remained high.

We believe that the team and crew will be seeing out the remainder of the 2026 season, so their next round will be from Barber Motorsport Park in four weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Halston Pitman / Team