Within that group we will be seeing back the two full season entries from Heart of Racing team as they continue their debut season with their single Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP entry for which this time, Alex Riberas will be joining in with the #23 powered fun alongside season regulars Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis.

Last time out at Indianapolis, the cars consistent improvement took a sudden back step with a disappointing for them P11 finish having struggled for performance within that circuits tight infield circuit, but the open expanse of this 2.5-mile circuit will hopefully let the full power of the cars V12 normally aspirated engine power its way up the order again before the late-night chequered flag on Saturday.

The team’s #27 GTD crew will, however, be certainly going out looking for at least a podium to help Casper Stevenson to the overall drivers crown after he slipped to second overall within their driver’s championship after an equally frustrating and uncharacteristically low P11 finish in class at Indianapolis. It will be the same driver line up as last time out with Tom Gamble again joining his countryman alongside Canadian Zacharie Robichon within the #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD

Also back after their own more than disappointing technical enforced retirement last time out at Indy (yes, that race really was a bad one for all Aston Martin powered crews involved) is the #19 Van Der Steur Racing AMR Vantage GTD entry for Rory Van Der Steur (if fit from his apparent recent mountain bike accident), Valentin Hasse-Clot and Anthony McIntosh.

Their race at Indy faltered from the off as Van Der Steur was sidelined with injury, was replaced by Eduardo Barrichello only for their car to fail on them still in the early stages of that six-hour race. We wait to see just who will be driving the car which has been out testing with the crew this week.

Finally, we will get to see the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD again this season as John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly are joined this time around by the extremely capable GT4 racer in Jan Heylen – someone who is presently leading the supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge Series GS title battle going into their own final race this weekend at Road Atlanta.

Track action for the Weathertech crews will begin next Thursday with Free Practice 1 and 2 before qualifying on Friday ahead of the green flag to the season finale just after midday on Saturday 11th October.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

For the #7 and #8 Comtoyou Racing entries of Gilles Magnus and Nicolas Baert, the introduction into the ultra-competitive nature of the DTM Series has been a very steep learning curve for both the drivers and team as they stepped up to the series for the first time this year onto top of all their other racing commitments this season.

Whilst the year certainly did not start off well for either car, more recent performances (and indeed the series releasing the Vantage GT3 a bit more in terms of available Balance of Performance) has seen more encouraging signs that has lead the team to already commitment to the series for next season.

A P3 qualifying performance from Magnus ahead of race one at the Red Bull Ring last time and another earlier on at the Nurburgring togther with a P7 result in the second race of that round have been the team’s best results to date, so doing better than that at Hockenheim will be a true driving force to finish the year upon something of a high.

Within the ADAC GT4 Germany Series, it’s been something of a disappointing season for the two full season Prosport Racing entries of Anton Abee and Marek Bockmann aboard their #17 car and former series champion Hugo Sasse alongside Roman Fellner-Feldegg in their #19 car as consistency certainly departed them this season.

Still as equally competitive as the series always has been, the two older 16A variants of the Aston Martin have struggled against new machinery from other OEM’s, something that was quickly highlighted with the return mid-season of the Eastside Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 Evo of Jan Philipp Springob and Storm Gjerdrum.

Their #4 car quickly impressed at their series introduction at the Nurburgring where they qualified for their first race in third and finished sixth whilst both Prosport crews have also enjoyed pole positions (like the #4 crew went on to have) both have only gone on to only follow that up in later races/rounds with more lowly finishes.

With nothing more than pride to race for for the Prosport crews (and the ESM crew still be listed as a non-points scoring guest entry), the pressure will be off around the fast and furious Hockenheimring this weekend for their final two, hour long races.



Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

We also welcome back a second Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 crew (like they did for the Silverstone 500 with team boss Claude Bovet and Charles Bateman) but this time around we welcome a new face in Darren Leung pairing up with Nick Yellowly within the team’s #6 car.

Only a few weeks ago did we see social media shots of the BMW racer Leung taking a team Vantage GT3 out for a spin under the watchful eye of David Pittard.

But back to the present and its game on for both the #7 Blackthorn AMR crew of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam as well as the #97 Beechdean AMR crew of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood as both crews chase down that still illusive Overall and Silver-Am drivers championships respectively by the end of Sunday’s race.

The #7 crew presently sit in second place within the overall GT3 Drivers Championship, twenty-eight and a half points behind the leading 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 crew of Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss but with thirty-seven and a half points still up for grabs for Sunday’s race winner – anything can (and usually does) happen over the course of the weekend. It is a very similar story between these two crews within the GT3 Pro-Am Drivers Championship too.

Then in the Silver-Am class – the #97 Beechdean crew presently lead the way from the Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX racer of Jonny Ip but their lead of just fourteen points could be easily overridden and surpassed by the #86 crew if the #97 crew failed to be classified. Being just the two entries within the class the whole season, so far neither crew has failed to score (first or second in class points obviously) so the #97 crew would still need to be classified as a finisher within the race to secure the title.

Private testing this Thursday begins the track action for the combined grid of twenty-six cars before the start to more formally timed sessions on Saturday morning with Free Practice before Pre-Qualifying at midday. The afternoon will then be filled with the four qualifying sessions (one per driver) before everything will settle down again before race start at 13:15hrs on Sunday.

Luckily enough, we will have one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crew within each class as the French based Mirage Racing team again prepare cars for both Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub in their #7 Pro-Am entry and David Levy and Jodie Sloss in their #5 Am classed entry.

Championship wise – the #7 Pro-Am crew lead the way in class going into these final two races of the year as they hold onto a slender eight-point lead but with fifty championship points still available. Within the Am class, the #5 crew are already too far back in the table to have any championship possibilities but a good final round could easily see them move further up the table to move ahead of those former AMR runners from the GPA Racing team in Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez.

Track action begins on Friday with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying before individual qualifying and Race one on Saturday before the season finale later on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

There was further success for the #191 Prosport Racing Vantage GT4 entry of Marek Bockmann and Raphael Rennhofer who scored a P2 result within their SP8T class with the latter driver also on driving duty within the team’s #175 SP10 class entry of Benjamin Hites and Jorg Viebahn but that car had to be abandoned trackside close to the halfway stage with a puncture.

The final Prosport Racing entry for Maxime and Guido Dumarey finished sixth in class in their #140 entry.

The final round of the NLS season will be in two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

However, the racing gods had other ideas as the Aston was plagued with technical problems and/or race ending accident damage that had left the team with little to show for their four previous round effort going into this final 24Hour round.

With fellow Spaniard Javier Morcillo joining the team again for this final round, hopes were high as the car and crew achieved a P8 overall – P3 in GT3 Am class starting position in qualifying ahead of the noon on Saturday start.

Both technical issues and matters arising from contact soon dropped the #90 car down of the lead lap within the first couple of hours making for a race of catchup from then on in. Despite the massively cooler conditions around the Circuit de Catalunya overnight, the #90 car was still running P18 overall / P5 in class at the halfway stage – albeit twenty laps down to the then leading crew.

Eventually making it through to noon on Sunday, the #90 crew eventually crossed the finish line for the final time this season P12 overall and P4 in class although their gap to eventual race winners had increased to twenty-seven laps.

What happens next season with the team is yet to be seen with Creventic again starting 2026 off with their Middle East Series visit to both Yas Marina for the six hour and Dubai for the twenty four before reverting back to their European Series that again kicks off at Mugello, Italy in mid-March.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

“While finishing sixth in the 6 Hours of Fuji is a commendable result, given the fact the programme is still so young, the highly competitive performance delivered by the Aston Martin THOR Team, Valkyrie, and both the drivers, was hugely encouraging,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance, Adam Carter.

“Just as in the Lone Star Le Mans at The Circuit of The Americas earlier in the month, Valkyrie was able to race near the front of the field. And in Fuji it demonstrated enough pace to make it a genuine podium contender. Had we not witnessed such an eventful race, I don’t believe it is unrealistic to think we could have claimed one of the top positions in the race. That is a huge testament to the team and another example of the positive momentum we are building within the programme.”

Never out of the top five in all three free practice sessions, three-time GT world champion Sørensen qualified fastest for Saturday’s prestigious Hyperpole session before ultimately securing a place on the inside of the second row of the grid for Sunday’s race.

The Dane was tasked with starting what proved to be a chaotic race neutralised no less than six times because of lengthy full course yellow periods. The #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie ran a comfortable third initially, shadowing the leaders with pace in hand until the first of those FCYs. He then dropped to the back of the Hypercar Class pack with a drive-through penalty, before unleashing a breathtaking charge to rise again through the order.

Riberas was faced with a similar task as frequent FCYs put the Valkyrie out of track position through no fault of the team, but the Spaniard delivered an exceptional performance to calmly navigate all the drama and climb as high as fourth.

When Sørensen returned to the car for his final stint, he was often the fastest driver/car combination on track, but a final stop to take on four fresh tyres while those around him settled for two, ultimately put a maiden podium tantalisingly out of reach as he raced past the #7 Toyota and the 6 Hours of São Paulo-winning Cadillac to finish sixth.

“When you look back to Qatar at the start of the season a result like this would have seemed like a dream,” said Aston Martin THOR Team principal Ian James. “Now we’re a little frustrated not to have achieved a podium finish. We have become more and more competitive and we will keep pushing. We are racing against the best sportscar teams in the world and we can hold our heads high after that performance.”

The result meant that Sørensen and Riberas became the first Aston Martin drivers to claim world championship points in WEC’s top class. It was the second points finish for the team, which scored two points for finishing 12th in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

“That was one crazy race,” said Sørensen. “There was so much going on, with so many FCYs and Safety Cars, it made the race very difficult to manage in a lot of areas. I think we did the most we could in the circumstances. We made a few mistakes, but in the end, we had good pace and it kind of feels like we were fast enough to be on the podium. I think the pace we showed today, where we were fighting right at the front, just showed how far the whole programme has come since Qatar. I’m sure that we’re going to keep building on this, as we have all season and we will try again in Bahrain.”

Riberas added: “This does feel a little bittersweet, as crazy as it sounds. Firstly, huge congratulations to the team. To say we are not completely happy to have finished sixth, when you think back to where we were at the beginning of the programme, is definitely a very good sign. But today was one of those races where everything was just so unpredictable, when all we needed was just a clean run to have a shot at the podium!”

Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and THOR, the competition version blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per regulations.

The final round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place in Bahrain, on Saturday, 8 November.

UPDATE - A late post race penalty for another competitor sees them given a post race time penalty in lieu of a drive through penalty and that now lifts the #009 car up to P5 in class.

Source material – Aston Martin

The #007 Valkyrie ended free practice fastest of all, in the hands of Harry Tincknell, raising hopes of a pole shot, after both cars shone throughout Friday’s two 90-minute training sessions. Then in qualifying, three-time FIA WEC GT champion Sørensen delivered a breathtaking lap to break into the Hyperpole session as the fastest qualifier. The Dane delivered two highly competitive laps in the Hyperpole session (a 10-minute shoot-out for the top ten qualifiers) which placed him third overall; his 1m28.705s lap was ultimately just 0.030s shy of a front position for Round 7 of the 2025 WEC season.

“The first objective was to get into Hyperpole,” said Sørensen. “Then when we did that I was like, ‘I really want pole’. So, when we ended up only third, I was a little bit disappointed! Now if we can get everything in the right place for the race, put together the right strategy, make the right tyre choices, we should be on for a good result.

“Everything has been getting progressively better for the last three races, and we’ve taken some good steps forward. Now we are find ourselves in the real fight and we’re not having to look for crazy amounts of time to get to the front. If you look at where we were in Qatar and compare it to where we are now, it’s amazing, and that’s down to how hard the team is working and how much the car is improving. I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.”

Aston Martin Head of Endurance, Adam Carter, added: “While we must remember this is only qualifying, and that we still have a six-hour race to complete tomorrow, this remains a stand-out moment for the programme. Valkyrie has made steady but significant progress through its debut season and qualifying third in Fuji demonstrates its growing potential in an ultra-competitive Hypercar Class. To be less than a tenth away from the front row, and show impressive pace through the weekend so far, is an achievement within itself when you consider how young the programme is. Now we most double-down and focus on maximising the opportunity we have in front of us in the race.”

Valkyrie’s sporting momentum has grown step-by-step since its encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans (in June) debut, where both Valkyrie hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue, finishing 12th and 14th, and the Aston Martin THOR Team registered the cars’, and Aston Martin’s first Manufacturer’s World Championship points in the Hypercar Class. The car also starred in the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas earlier in the month, where the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar, ran as high as fourth position long into the rain-affected race in Austin, TX.

Valkyrie is the first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ (LMH) to be produced by Aston Martin. Raced by the works Aston Martin THOR Team, Valkyrie is the only car in WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar and made its global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February. 

Aston Martin Vantage will start its 100th FIA World Endurance Championship race from pole position after Racing Spirit of Léman clinched its second LMGT3 class top spot in three races with drivers Eduardo Barrichello and Anthony McIntosh. The achievement marked the tenth-class pole at the Japanese venue for Vantage, the British performance brand’s most successful racing car.

McIntosh makes his second WEC start in Fuji, having also taken pole position with Barrichello in São Paulo, Brazil, back in July before racing on to clinch the team’s first WEC podium with works driver Valentin Hasse Clot. The American qualified the car eighth in Fuji, safely getting through to Hyperpole on his debut appearance at a Japanese venue. Barrichello, also on his first visit to the circuit, then delivered two outstanding qualifying laps to ensure that the #10 Vantage GT3 took the third pole position for the latest iteration of the car.

“Tony did a mega job to put us through into Hyperpole, and I was happy to put in a strong lap as well,” said Barrichello. “We’ve been a little down on straight-line speed, so we had to be smart in the Hyperpole session. The #27 crew were kind enough to work with us and give us a tow, two laps for them and two laps for us. It works perfectly with two Aston Martins in the top four! Tomorrow, I think we have a strong car, Tony has been great, I’ve done my part and Val always delivers, so I’m confident we can fight for a strong result.”

The #27 Heart of Racing Vantage also made it through to Hyperpole after team principal Ian James qualified the blue Aston Martin fifth. Team-mate Zacharie Robichon then ensured that the crew which is completed by works driver Mattia Drudi will begin the 100th WEC race from fourth on the LMGT3 grid.

Through five iterations, spanning 12 and a half seasons, the glorious Vantage has claimed 53 GT class victories – the second highest of any manufacturer. It has won races in every WEC class it has contested (LMGTE Pro, LMGTE Am and LMGT3), and with every version of Vantage that Aston Martin has introduced. Responsible for 11 world championship titles, and five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins in the WEC era, Vantage has also claimed 69 class pole positions.

Vantage’s record at Fuji is no less impressive; with seven class victories derived from 16 podium appearances – two of which were double-class wins – as well as ten class pole positions. On only three occasions has the Fuji WEC podium not featured a Vantage driver crew.

Source material - Aston Martin

Despite a great start to the eight-round season with their (then) new car, recent results have seen the #73 car’s chances slip within both the sprint and endurance drivers championships.

Koukola sits fifth within his GT4 Sprint Drivers Championship but with two races still remaining, up to fifty points on offer and only nine crews listed for the event, that situation could obviously improve somewhat being just 12.5 points behind the present leader.

Within the GT4 Endurance Championship, Janik finds himself in a similar position (as Koukola did not participate within all endurance rounds with him so on a differing points tally but with just one race to go does not have the scope to bridge the 27.5 points deficit to the present leaders after the previous round at Brno.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

They will be joined by three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from the locally based Prosport Racing team although their SP10 entered crews are slightly different this time around.

The full NLS season #140 Vantage GT8R entry of Maxime and Guido Dumarey remains constant within their SP8T class although they will be hoping for better racing fortune this time around after their P4 in class and a DNF last time out in the double header.

The teams #175 SP10 entry will this time involve Benjamin Hites and Jorg Viebahn again but this time alongside Raphael Rennhofer whilst the #191 entry will be their two ADAC GT4 Germany Series top guns in Marek Bockmann and Hugo Sasse.

As usual, there will be private testing at the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit on Friday before both Qualifying and the race on Saturday – weather permitting now of course.



Photo credits – Teams Series / social media

Within this weekend’s race, however, we will be seeing just the #90 E2P Racing entry from the Aston Matin Racing stable as the Spanish based team will be looking for something to finally cheer about after their transition to the V8 Vantage GT3 has seen more failures to finish either through their own technical failures or via the assistance from others on track.

Last time out at Paul Ricard in early July saw the #90 car of Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos secure their best and only finish in the series to date with a P7 overall and P2 within their GT3 Am Class for their efforts.

This weekend’s twenty-four-hour event will see that crew bolstered with another driver in the form of fellow Spaniard Javier Morcillo within the car.

Private testing will begin on track tomorrow before the start of the qualifying process later on Friday before the start of the twice around the clock race from midday on Saturday.

Photo credit – Team / Series / social media

“Aston Martin is honoured to be participating in the 100th WEC race,’ said Adam Carter, Head of Endurance Motorsport. “Since the beginning, Aston Martin understood the value and the power of a global endurance campaign and WEC has been an essential part our race programme since its introduction. When you look at what WEC has grown into, with its depth of manufacturers, diversity of technical regulations and the exceptional standard of organisation and promotion, it is a huge testament to all those who work tirelessly to bring the championship to bear. We congratulate everyone involved in the series for this outstanding milestone and we firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

“For Aston Martin, this is also an important race. 100 consecutive events over 13 years of competition is a clear demonstration of our commitment to endurance racing – a value that can be traced all the way back to the very beginnings of the brand. To have recorded more than 50 class victories in that time, and to have achieved such a consistently high level of success speaks to the rich sporting pedigree we have worked so hard to achieve and maintain. With Valkyrie we aim to take the next step on that journey and strive to race at the front of the field and contest for outright victories in this prestigious and exceptional championship.”

Valkyrie’s sporting momentum continues to grow after a highly promising Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas earlier in the month. In only the fifth race of its trail-blazing debut WEC season, the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar, ran as high as fourth position long into the rain-affected race in Austin, TX. Moreover, Alex Riberas (ESP) qualified the #009 Valkyrie into the prestigious Hyperpole session for the second time and placed it eighth on the grid for the six-hour event – its highest starting position so far in the world championship.

This follows an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans where both Valkyrie Hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue, finishing 12th and 14th, and the Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team registered the cars’, and Aston Martin’s first Manufacturer’s World Championship points in the Hypercar Class.

The Aston Martin THOR Team will keep to its two regular WEC Valkyrie line-ups for the the 6 Hours of Fuji, with the #007 driven by Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell and the #009 by Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen.

Aston Martin’s most successful sportscar of all time, the Vantage, celebrates 100 races in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well this weekend’s in the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Through five iterations, spanning 12 and a half seasons, the glorious Vantage has claimed 53 GT class victories – the second highest of any manufacturer. It has won races in every WEC class it has contested (LMGTE Pro, LMGTE Am and LMGT3), and with every version of Vantage that Aston Martin has introduced. Responsible for 11 world championship titles, and five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins in the WEC era, Vantage has also claimed 68 class pole positions, and of all its drivers Pedro Lamy still holds the record as the most successful GT driver in WEC with 19 victories; all with Vantage.

The most successful GTE Am (2012-2022) car of all-time, Vantage recorded 33 wins and 29 pole positions before the class was retired to make way for the current LMGT3 category which embarks on its 15th race this weekend.

Vantage’s record at Fuji is no less impressive; with seven class victories derived from 16 podium appearances – two of which were double-class wins – as well as nine class pole positions. On only three occasions has the Fuji WEC podium not featured a Vantage driver crew.

This year, for the 100th WEC race, two partner teams, The Heart of Racing [THOR] and Racing Spirit of Léman uphold Vantage’s honour at Fuji. Team principal Ian James returns this year as a regular class frontrunner, alongside Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi looking to break the team’s 2025 podium duck with the #27 Vantage.

RSL recalls Anthony MacIntosh who starred on his WEC debut in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo alongside Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #10 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The trio achieved the team’s first WEC podium finish in LMGT3, after Barrichello raced to a dramatic third place in the closing stages; with MacIntosh and the Brazilian having worked together to claim the class pole on the previous day.

“Vantage has a proud and glorious history in WEC, which celebrates its 100th start this weekend at Fuji,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter. “I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate that than one or both of our partner teams achieving a podium finish this weekend. Both teams, crews and, of course, cars have certainly proven they have the potential.”

Source material - AMR