Congratulations to Belgian Racer Kobe Pauwels who today was announced as the latest winner of the coveted Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy for 2025.

Following in the footsteps of a long line of eight other accomplished racers including that of his 2025 teammate (Jamie Day) who last year secured the same prize in a year saw both Pauwels and Day compete within both the SRO GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Cup Series with the Comtoyou Racing AMR team.

 

Missed their true potential was the verdict given from the two drivers after the Volante Rosso Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew failed to capitalise upon their speed as the GT World Challenge Australis Series visited Queensland at the weekend.

Having promised so much at the opening round of the season from Phillip Island only to struggle last time out at Sydney Motorsport Park, the #1 car of Liam Talbot and Declan Fraser looked back at this weekend’s two races that looked to be going back in the right direction after race one only to fall foul with technical issues and driver errors during the second.

 

It was podium finishes all round for the Racar Motorsport team as their three crews got the success that they deserved in this weekend’s second round of the Iberian Supercars Series from Jarama.

Although three of four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews entered amongst the thirty-three strong, multi-classed field, it was sadly not the same for the NGT Classic entered GTX car of Miguel Ferreira after his freshly re-liveried #700 car failed to finish within Sunday’s opener and for it not to appear within the second race of the weekend.

 

A somewhat reduced Aston Martin Racing powered entry of just four Vantage GT4 crews will take to the track of Jarama in central Spain this weekend for what will be the second round of the Iberian Supercars Series.

Having kicked off their 2025 season with a capacity grid in Portimao back in early April where we saw up to nine Aston Martins compete within the GT4/GTC based series, this weekend’s provisional entry list sees those four Aston’s compete within a thirty-three strong field.

Fourteen crews return for this weekend’s third round of the GT World Challenge Australia Series as Queensland Raceway this time plays host to the SRO series.

Having had something of a great start to the season, the Volante Rosso Aston Martin Racing team of Liam Talbot and Declan Fraser has something of a reality check last time out as the series raced both a night and day race from Sydney Motorsport Park.

Having scored a near maximum twenty-eight points at the season opener from Phillip Island, SMP only delivered the #1 AMR Vantage GT3 crew with just seven points over the two, hour long races which has dropped them down to fourth in their Pro-Am class.

Since then, Fraser has just been named within this year’s Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy process which will see him get both remote and personal driver coaching assistance which will hopefully see the #1 car elevate itself within the championship by the end of the weekend and at the halfway stage to the season.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

Aston Martin Racing’s Drivers Academy class of 2025 has finally been confirmed today with another intake of twenty-three upwardly mobile young drivers taking to the register in hope of that final prize pathway.

Eleven years in the making has seen Aston Martin Racing encourage and reward a whole plethora of young driver talent starting with Ross Gunn back in 2014 to most recently Jamie Day last season.

This year’s intake sees a broader range of GT4 and GT3 based drivers within this year’s global series and features for the first time one from Australia and sees some from previous years too.

 

No surprises with the Aston Martin Racing powered entries for the second round of the French FFSA GT4 Series this weekend with two Mirage Racing Vantage GT4 Evo entries confirmed for Dijon-Prenois.

It was a similar case for the opening round of the season from Nogaro that saw the previous announced Pro-Am #7 entry of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandr Vaintrub return for another attempt at their class alongside the later announced #5 Am pairing of David Levy and Jodie Sloss.

 

It was something near a triumphant return for the two Aston Martin Racing powered crews at this weekend’s opening round of the GT Cup Championship from Donington Park.

Welcoming back both the #82 Feathers Motorsport and the #95 Oselli Motorsport Aston Martin Racing powered teams with their new look driver pairings saw both sets of crews score well within their respective classes over this weekend’s two sprint and one endurance races.

 

Aston Martin Racing’s works line-up of champion drivers now includes Norwegian Christian Krognes from 2025 onwards. The 2018 Spa 24 Hours winner will contest the GT World Challenge Europe in the Endurance Cup, alongside new works teammates David Pittard and Henrique Chaves, in Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Pro class #34 Vantage GT3 Evo.

Krognes, 34, whose pedigree includes the overall Nordschleife-based Nürburgring Langstrecken Series (NLS) title in 2012, is the official GT3 lap record holder on the fearsome circuit’s NLS layout since 2022. A long-serving driver for Walkenhorst Motorsport, he will also participate in the team’s SP9 Pro class assault on the Nürburgring 24 Hours in June.

“Christian’s performances over the years at the Nürburgring have ensured he has long been someone we’ve kept an eye on, and when the opportunity arose for us to bring him into the AMR family officially, it seemed like an obvious decision to make,” said Aston Martin Racing Director of Performance Gus Beteli. “He is super-fast, gives precise and consistent feedback, works well in a team environment and is a safe pair of hands behind the wheel; all key attributes when competing in the highest levels of endurance racing.”

Krognes, who since switching from karts to car racing has built his career mainly around Nürburgring-based endurance events, described becoming part of the AMR works driver line-up as the “realisation of dream”.

“Joining Aston Martin was always a childhood dream for me,” said Krognes. “Now I’m looking forward to taking on the challenges ahead with my great teammates at Walkenhorst Motorsport behind the wheel of the spectacular Aston Martin Vantage GT3. I’ve always admired the brand’s heritage and I’m very proud to represent such an iconic manufacturer. I also want to take this opportunity to thank AMR for putting its faith in me as well as all the people who have supported me so far on this journey. I can’t wait for the season to start.”

Krognes joins arguably the strongest ever AMR works line-up, one full to the brim with stellar talent. Former FIA World Endurance Championship GT champions Marco Sørensen and Thiim both return with multiple programmes, while Spa 24 Hours winner Mattia Drudi will compete in WEC, GTWC Europe and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. 

 

Untimely sickness thwarted the Earl Bamber Motorsport’s second race attack at the 24H Series Middle East Trophy at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi at the weekend, forcing a late driver change onto the Asian based team.

Again, fielding their #77 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo for drivers Setiawan Santoso and brothers Mukong and Tanart Sathienthirakul after their series debut together just the weekend before at the Dubai 24, overnight sickness between Qualifying and race day for Thai TCR Asia racer Mukong meant that a late replacement had to be called in.

 

Congratulations to Jamie Day for today being confirmed at the latest winner of the coveted Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy for 2024 after his championship winning exploits in both the British GT Championship and the GT4 Winter Series with the Forsetti Motorsport team.

Building on previous successes within an Aston Martin over the two previous season’s, Day claimed early seasonal success last year as the Norfolk based Forsetti team entered the upward coming GT4 Winter Series (alongside Mikey Porter) where they enjoyed near dominant performances to take the Spanish/Portuguese based series before his main attentions within both the British GT Championship and GT4 European Series had even started.

 

Nineteen cars spread across four available classes will compete at this weekend’s opening salvo of the GT Cup Championship from Donington Park.

Three entries within the topflight GTO class, two within GT3, four within GTC with another nine GT4 based cars making up the more favourable GTH class with two of those being Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s run by the Forsetti Motorsport team.

 

Congratulations to German based driver Mike David Ortmann for today being confirmed as the 2023 Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy winner.

Following a long line of AMR achievers, Ortmann enjoyed another successful 2023 race programme that saw him successfully defend his ADAC GT4 Germany Series Championship alongside co-driver Hugo Sasse as well as stepping up to the GT3 class within the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie, both with Prosport Racing prepared AMR machinery.

 

Whilst their Customer and Partner teams find themselves very much within the winter off season in terms of track action, it has been far from the case again for the factory Aston Martin Racing team as they pounded the miles in over in Spain this week.

Towards the southern tip of Spain had the latest Goodyear tyre test take place around the private Circuito Monteblanco where the yet to be homologated Vantage GT3 ‘Evo’ joined many of the World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series runners taking part within this twenty-four-hour continuous running session.

 

This week gave us the briefest of introductions to Aston Martin Racing’s latest Partner team about to hit the racetracks of Europe with their new Vantage GT3

Lazarus Corse AMR (nee Team Lazarus), an Italian based team well established within the GT3 ranks of Europe with their previous exploits in many a series with their former Lamborghini and Bentley machinery – now this time, they hope to continue with that fine form with their latest British stead.

 

With the European GT racing season long since over and us having shamelessly forgotten all about this again, it appears that the 2022 Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy process is now also coming towards its natural conclusion with a collective GT3 test in Barcelona today.

Utilising the services of the locally based Bullitt Racing team and their AMR Vantage GT3 had a number of driver candidates step up from their Vantage GT4 programmes of this year for a GT3 test around the Circuit de Catalunya, all under the watchful eye of AMR factory, Bullitt Racing driver and former Academy winner Valentin Hasse-Clot.

 

History was made but sadly not repeated as the R-Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crew of Josh Miller and Jamie Day took their first race GT4 race win with the Norfolk based team today at the latest round of the British GT Championship from Snetterton.

Having swapped from single seaters and tin tops over the winter, this fourth round was only their fifth and sixth GT4 race together, with a team from near Swaffham who had also bridged across from the TOCA package of Ginetta racing at the turn of the year.