A four-hour double header around the Nurburgring Nordschleife is the beckoning call for well over one hundred multi-classed crews this weekend as the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie ramps up the temperature towards the end of its 2026 season.

Rounds eight and nine of the season will witness one hundred and thirty-six crews take to the track on for Saturday’s four-hour race whilst a more modest in comparison one hundred and twenty- one cars and crews will do likewise for Sunday’s four-hour race.

 

Within that number we do welcome back the ‘mostly’ full season entries from both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing Aston Martin Racing powered teams as well as an AMR Vantage GT4 powered crew for the first time in a while.

The #35 Walkenhorst SP9 Pro-Am entry of Christian Krognes, Mateo Villagomez and Dennis Fetzer are back together again looking to avenge their DNF last time out within the six-hour NLS 7 event after they had secured both overall pole position and a P3 finish in class at the round before that.

 

Within the #37 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 entry, it will again be the father and son pairing of Maxime and Guido Dumarey after they also struggled in NLS 7 but also secured a P3 finish within their SP9 Am class before that.

The only change to the norm this weekend is the inclusion of the #175 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 entry for the first time since the 24Hrs which will run a split crew across the weekend. For Saturday it will be both Robb Holland and Jacques Derenne whilst on Sunday it will be Derenne and Jean-Luc Behets – competing within the SP10 class on both dates.

Photo credits – Teams / Eric Metzner

Aside from the GT Open Series and the NLS Series racing in Germany this weekend, the DTM and ADAC GT4 Germany Series are also back in business this weekend as each compete at the Sachsenring for their respective penultimate round to their seasons.

The mainstay DTM Series will be running their seventh round of an eight-round season with two more races over the course of the weekend for what will be a twenty-two-car entry. Both the #007 and #008 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entries for Nicki Thiim and Nicolas Baert respectively are again part of that entry as the Dane chases down that points deficit to now two drivers who now stand above him at the top of the table.

 

Going into this round, Thiim is twenty points behind Thomas Preining in second and just a further point behind Marco Engel who continues to lead the class after four single point finishes over the last four races have seen his once points advantage now overtaken after his podium (and race) winning streak was thwarted by catastrophic BoP penalties.

An early outscoring performance for Thiim at the 3.67km circuit in the east of the country will be a must if a last event battle for the overall title remains on the cards.

 

Joining them, will be the nineteen cars of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series with the #4 Cosy Racing by ESM Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo also again within their midst as drivers Jan Philipp Springobb and Philipp Gogollok also chase down a (smaller) points deficit.

Presently sitting second within the overall driver’s championship table, the pairing have just six points to make up to the present leaders with also four races still to come this season making nothing has been won by anyone just yet.

 

Last time out at the Nurburgring a month ago, a dominating performance in both qualifying sessions saw their mainly black liveried car start from pole position on both occasions to then bring home a race win in race one and a P4 finish in race two.

For them, it’s very much “game on!”

Photo credits – Teams / ADAC

 

 

It’s another busy race weekend for Jonny Adam this weekend as he flies back from his latest, podium winning round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Austin, Texas with the Heart of Racing team to continue out to Germany for the sixth round of the International GT Open Series.

Competing this time around at Hockenheim, Adam will this time be back within the Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered alongside his co-driver Charles Bateman around the Hockenheim circuit.

 

This time around, the #97 Blackthorn entry is the sole Aston Martin Racing representative as the #14 Good Speed Racing AMR appear to be giving this one a miss having completed within all the rounds up until now with varying degrees of success.

Success has also been intermittent for the #97 crew as Bateman has shared the #97 with three other drivers according to Adam’s or Henrique Chaves international commitments but that hasn’t left him out in being able to visit the class podium once or twice so far.

 

This weekend sees a seventy-minute race being ran on Saturday with a further sixty-minute race on Sunday – both with a mandatory pitstop and driver change window and with one driver qualifying the car per day.

Competing again within the Pro-Am class, Bateman presently sits second within his Drivers Championship just five points off the class lead with still five races to come over the final three races of the year (including this weekend’s).

Photo credits - Series

The Comtoyou Racing team rounded off a very productive racing weekend for Aston Martin Racing and its Partner teams when the #39 Vantage GT3 entry finally found podium success within the ADAC GT Masters Series.

Racing at the Salzburgring in Austria last weekend as the penultimate round of the German Series, drivers Baudouin Detout and Jamie Day had to overcome early adversity during Saturdays opening eighty minute long race after a start line contact for Day suffered them a puncture and damage which initially put them down to the rear of the pack after Day’s P5 qualifying position.

After the necessary repairs, both Day and then Detout completed something of a miracle recovery drive to eventually finish tenth overall out of the grid size of just thirteen cars.

Sunday, however, was more fruitful for the team and their driver’s first ever visit to the Austrian circuit after Detout placed their car nineth on the grid for the second race although they did have to do it all the hard way again.

 

Starting normally, the #39 car had to visit the penalty box for an early transgression which saw them fall to the rear of the pack on only the second lap. Progress through the ranks they did for Day to eventually cross the finish line third overall.

Too little too late as far as the championship is concerned as the pairing move up to sixth with just two races at Hockenheim still to come.

Photo credits – Team / social media

 

 

The Heart of Racing team extended their best collective performance within the FIA World Endurance Championship from Hyperpole and into the race itself yesterday as both blue Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 powered crews finished on the class podium but with one of their Hypercar entries only just missing out on similar.

Saturday had already seen the #27 secure pole position for Sundays six-hour race at the Circuit of the Americas, just ahead of its #23 sister car for the first ever front row lockout in the championship whilst the #007 Valkyrie had claimed its best Hyperpole finish to date with a P4 starting position.

 

All of that work could have been literally washed away at the start of this fifth round of the season as the heavens opened around parts of the Texan circuit just as the cars were going to the grid. Race Control fortunately became wise to the developing situation, allowing the grid to procession around the circuit at a Safety Car enforced speed that helped to dissipate the water, allowing the race to kick off as designed in its two-by-two formation just a few laps later.

Whilst the was some side-to-side door bashing going on, especially within the opening few laps and sometimes with blue Aston upon blue Aston, all successfully made it around the circuit for the first time except for two minor spins.

 

With pole setter Gray Newell initially losing several places at the start, we presume that wise calming words over the radio from his co-drivers of Jonny Adam and Edurdo Barrichello helped the young American to calm his nerves and to pick himself up again from where he had left off in qualifying as tehir sister #27 car of Ian James jockeyed for the class lead up front.

Within the Hypercar class, the hard tyred #007 of Harry Tincknell and Ton Gamble were still able to get away and still ran better than the medium tyre shod #009 sister car of Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas for much of the opening half of the race as (especially) the #007 race position continued to be just outside of the top five for much of the time.

 

Soon it was minimum drive time done for both Newell and James as they handed over to their silver co-drivers in Barrichello and Zacharie Robichon respectively for the middle section of the race – something that was interrupted with a somewhat prolonged Virtual Safety Car / Safety Car period whilst various issues with the circuit were sorted. When the racing did finally resume, the #007 was holding P3 overall, #009 P9 in hypercar with the #27 still at the front of the LMGT3 class but with the #23 now in hot pursuit in fourth.

Whilst most of the drivers were reporting back high tyre degradation issues with their respective Michelin and Goodyear tyres (as expected), nothing really hampered the cars for too long as the two drivers cycled through their stints within both Valkyries whilst both Vantage LMGT3 crews still had three of them in each to utilise.

 

Eventually in LMGT3, the #27 began to pull clear of its closest rivals as the race headed into its final hour for Mattia Drudi to take the chequered flag for their first race win of the season by a comfortable five second gap but with the #23 car of Adam just another couple of seconds back again to round off an American 1-3 for the team.

There was also smiles around the performance of the #007 Valkyrie as Tincknell and Gamble gambled a bit with both strategy and race craft to finally come home P4 overall for the cars best ever finish within the FIA WEC. The #009 car finished P13.

 

As the cars now head towards Japan and the next round of the season from Fuji Speedway at the end of September, those results see Adam and Newell move up to 6th in the Drivers’ Championship with the #27 crew up to 9th – all still within easy reach of the existing leaders with still three rounds to go.

Photo Credits – Team / DPPI

 

 

 

 

 

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