Aston Martins Spa 24 title defence begins

Aston Martin targets another slice of glorious motor racing history this weekend when it returns to the world’s biggest GT3-only race, the Crowdstrike 24 hours of Spa, seeking to become the first British manufacturer to record back-to-back wins in the prestigious Belgian race.

The current Vantage GT3 model achieved its maiden twice round-the-clock victory on the challenging 4.4-mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit last year and caused a sensation as Comtoyou Racing scored an overall victory; the second for Aston Martin and the first since 1948. It also marked Aston Martin’s first overall triumph in the GT3 era of the event.

For this weekend’s 78th-running of the Spa 24 Hours, a record eight examples of the Vantage GT3, which shares its mechanical architecture with the ultra-luxury performance brand’s most focused sportscar, and is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, will hunt for the manufacturer’s third outright victory as well as a plethora of class wins.

The Spa event is the third round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. It is the third major international sportscar race to feature Aston Martin in June; the FIA World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) 24 Hours of Le Mans and the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring having taken place across the past two successive weekends, creating an ultra-intensive schedule for competitors.

With 99,500 spectators attending last year’s 100th anniversary running and even more anticipated this weekend for a race that features 77 entries, the Spa 24 hours is one of the key events on the global endurance racing calendar. The event begins with a traditional parade along public roads from the Ardennes Forest circuit to the nearby town of Spa. Then builds through two days of practice on the daunting track that features some of the most challenging corners on planet earth, such as Eau Rouge/Raidillon, Blanchimont and Pouhon. The race, which takes place through Saturday and Sunday, is also renowned for frequently being affected by the circuit’s unique microclimate.

Aston Martin’s relationship with the Spa 24 hours is a long and successful one; beginning in 1936 with a one-two finish in the upto 1.5-litre class for a pair of Aston Martin Ulsters and building to an outright victory in 1948 for St John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson aboard a DB1.

Following many decades as a race for touring cars, Spa re-adopted GT racing regulations in 2001; paving the way for the Aston Martin name to return to the event in 2005. Vantage claimed a maiden win in the GT4 class in 2010 and its GT3 version added two further GT3 Pro-Am category successes in 2017 and ’19 before the latest iteration scored that memorable victory 12 months ago.

Comtoyou Racing, which recorded the magnificent win in 2024 returns with the same works driver line-up of former FIA WEC GT champions Marco Sørensen, Nicki Thiim and 2023 GT World Challenge Sprint Cup title-winner Mattia Drudi. The trio, and their #007 Vantage GT3, return with their sights set on becoming the first driver line-up to win the race in successive years since 1980. For Drudi, the event marks the third 24-race in as many weekends, having taken the GT pole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with The Heart of Racing before taking on the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring with Walkenhorst Motorsport last weekend.

Racing the sister #11 Comtoyou Racing Vantage in the Pro-Am class is a multi-national roster including Frederic Jousset - GT3 winner at last year’s Road to Le Mans round of the Le Mans Cup, Portuguese rally star Bernardo Sousa – already an FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 podium finisher in his first year of circuit racing – last year’s European Le Mans Series (ELMS) overall runner-up Sebastian Alvarez (MEX) and current ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am points leader Sergio Sette Camara (BRA).

Comtoyou’s Silver class Vantage features 2025 AMR Academy winner Jamie Day alongside regular co-driver Kobe Pauwels – a class winner at last year’s Zolder 24 Hours – Nicolas Baert, the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Gold Cup champion and Xavier Maassen, a race winner in the FIA GT1 World Championship and Le Mans class podium-finisher.

The team’s bronze-class entry will have a pair of Belgian drivers, Antoine Potty - a multiple race winner in the GT4 European Series - and Alexandre Leroy, who took a double-podium in the GT2 European Series support event last year, plus Aston Martin Aramco Formula One® Team Driver Ambassador Jessica Hawkins at the wheel. All three will be making their Spa 24 hours debuts.

Walkenhorst Motorsport is another Aston Martin partner team racing this weekend to have won the Spa 24 hours overall. The #34 Pro-class car will have a trio of Aston Martin works drivers behind the wheel. Christian Krognes, who was part of the German team’s 2018 race-winning-line-up, is joined by David Pittard for the second time in a week after the pair shared a Walkenhorst Vantage at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Henrique Chaves, the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Pro-Am champion, completes the line-up.

The #35 Silver Cup car will be driven by a trio of event debutants. Reigning GT4 France Silver champion Mateo Villagomez and former AMR Academy winner Romain Leroux – who won the same title in 2021 – will share with impressive GT3 newcomer Oliver Söderström.

New-for-2025 AMR partner team Verstappen.com Racing have made a superb start to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance season and head the Gold Cup class thanks to a category win at Paul Ricard and second place at Monza. Team regulars Harry King, Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen will be joined in the Vantage, which is prepared by UK-based 2Seas Motorsport.

Beechdean Motorsport, the 2013 Spa polesitter, completes the Vantage line-up as the British outfit returns to the race for the first time since 2022. Two-time British GT champion and current Silver-Am series points leader Andrew Howard shares the #100 entry with a pair of Aston Martin works drivers; former British GT4 champion Ross Gunn and 2023 Le Mans Cup GT3 title-winner Valentin Hasse Clot, plus Anthony McIntosh, fresh from a podium finish in the Michelin Le Mans Cup’s showpiece ‘Road to Le Mans’ event at La Sarthe less than two weeks ago.

Adam Carter, Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “Winning last year’s Crowdstrike 24 hours of Spa at the first attempt with the new Vantage GT3 was an incredible achievement for all involved and further added to Aston Martin’s impressive list of accolades in endurance racing. Returning this week with the possibility to create history and become the first British brand to win it back-to-back is a tantalising prospect. The GT3-only nature of the race and the fact that the 77-car entry list is overflowing with high-quality cars and drivers makes this an incredibly difficult challenge, but last year’s event was a proper endurance race in the truest sense of the idea and Vantage was equal to the test. In Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport we have two partner teams who have won this event before and can use all that experience to help them this weekend. Verstappen.com Racing and Beechdean are already class winners in 2025 with Vantage, so we have all the ingredients in place to challenge for success in multiple classes.”

Source material - AMR