It was something of an unfortunate whimper to end the year with as the SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival Series saw out its inaugural race season earlier today from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, as just over a handful of cars took the chequered flag at the end of the final forty-minute race of the year.

Seeing the early entry lists to this new series swell from the low thirties for the opening round of the at Paul Ricard to nearly fifty cars at the round from the Spa Classic next time around, this weekend’s entry list did mention a respectable eighteen cars for this finale but even some of those didn’t arrive.

 

Within those who did turn up was the Fanta Racing By Code Classic with their former #62 R-Motorsport V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for Pascal Huteau as well as the #16 Britec Motorsport supported #16 V12 AMR Vantage GT3 of Dr Afshin Fatemi.

There was much excitement around the running of race one on Saturday just as an impending rainstorm reached the circuit with the cars already upon the grid, but they did at least get off behind the Safety Car with the #62 Aston leading the way from pole position. Many laps later with doing battle with the #20 Ford GT, a brief interlude was had by all as all served their compulsory stop.

 

Coming out again, however, had witnessed the rain intensify to a point where it was now flooding the circuit and the #20 Ford already in the grave at turn one, the red flag was shown on the grounds of safety. With the rain continuing, that would prove to be the end of all racing at the circuit for the day with the #62 car given the race win on countback.

Race two on Sunday was at least at a circuit filled this time with clear blue skies and warming sunshine but sadly at a cost with only ten of yesterday’s fifteen cars running took the start on Sunday. The #62 car was one such car missing but the #16 car was at least there having missed both qualifying rounds and the first race with technical issues.

Making up for lost ground, Fatemi soon elevated himself up the order to run as high as P4 overall by the start of the pit window. Having made its scheduled stop, all was looking good for the #16 car until about six minutes before the end when Fatemi was pulled to pull off track at turn 2 with an apparent continuation of his technical issues of earlier to another unfortunate DNF to end the year with.

Hopefully, all will have seen just what this series is all about with the possibilities of a diverse grid, driving abilities and a wide range of circuits being visited through the season and just maybe, the grid sizes can be maintained throughout the year in 2027.

Photo credits – Series / social media

 

 

The new for 2026 SRO GT3 Revival Series will be another European based series sadly coming to an end this weekend as they thrash out their final two races of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain.

Designed specifically for those who continue to own the more venerable examples of SRO GT3 class of race car, now well out of homologation for the GT3 based series of today where the series has never really struggled for a client base over this first season although numbers have fluctuated as you would expect.

 

This weekend’s finale in Spain will see another eighteen-car strong entry for these two final fifty-minute races with now just one of the three available class championship titles still up for grabs.

Have seen more within the earlier rounds, Barcelona will see just two V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s take part – one from the Britec Motorsport team again as German based Doctor Afschin Fatemi races (what’s expected to be) his Spiderman liveried Vantage again with the former R-Motorsport Vantage GT3 of Franz Wunderlich and Pascal Huteau again behind the wheel of the #62 Fanta Racing Legend by Code Classic entry.

 

 

Within the Gen 2 Am Drivers Championship, Heiko Neumann will run almost unopposed this weekend as the former championship leading Team TRG Aston Martin Racing car of Jonathon Mitchell is again not in attendance. Huteau/Wunderlich and Fatemi presently stand P7 and P8 in class but already too far away to make any difference even if one or the other won both races.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

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

Sadly, there is just the one V12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entry due to compete within this weekend’s penultimate round of the new for 2026 SRO GT3 Revival Series from the Nurburgring, Germany.

Having already competed at venues like Paul Ricard, at the Spa Classic and most recently at the Le Mans Classic what will then be two months ago, this solo Aston Martin will still be one of seventeen GT3 classics that will be pushed around the circuit by their owners/drivers like they have stolen them, just because they are older won’t make them any slower than what they were in period.

 

Whilst we have been used to a good handful of AMR powered cars up until now, it will be just Afshin Fatemi and his #16 Spiderman liveried machine who will be flying the flag this weekend amongst their two fifty-minute races that will be run over both Saturday and Sunday.

Some of the classes are apparently up for grabs this weekend before the series is due to sign off its first competitive year at Barcelona in early October.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

Whilst the current Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 was running riot within the DTM Series with Nicki Thiim behind the wheel, some older examples were having similar fun and games at the Le Mans Classic as the SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival Series ran its next two races of the season around the full Circuit de La Sarthe.

Also commemorating the twenty-year anniversary of the platform, the race did also welcome in some forerunners to that class with some well-known names behind the wheel too as Barwell Motorsport also fielding their Aston Martin DBRS9 for the likes of Stephane Ratel of the SRO itself.

 

Featuring two fifty-minute races around the circuit, the #6 Barwell DBRS9 secured a pair of class podium finishes as Ratel and co-driver Robert Hissom finished second within the AM1 class in both races to the Ford GT Matech.

Within the other AM2 class, the V12 AMR Vantage GT3 of Jonathon Mitchell came away with the best Aston Martin powered performance scooping P3 at the end of race one and a class win in race two.

 

 

Dr Afshin Fatemi and his Spiderman liveried #16 car also enjoyed a good run out as he returned with an improving P8 and P5 results respectively whilst both Janos Santa and Franz Wunderlich/Pascal Huteau each suffered misfortune as Santa had a DNF in race one and a P10 in race two whilst the #62 former R-Motorsport driven pairing only managed a couple of laps per race.

Photo credits – Series / teams

 

 

If you fancy something a little more ‘old school’ then this weekend’s Le Mans Classic will certainly be up your street with a whole host of venerable Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered machine featuring within the extensive entry lists.

Obviously competing around the same circuit layout as the more widely acclaimed 24 Hours of Le Mans doe, track action will begin on Friday before two days of races within races for the entry list that covers a significant period of sportscar racing.

 

There will be competing the #007, #008 and #009 Aston Martin Lola DBR1-2 prototypes that date back to the 2008-9 era with the factory team as well as Aston Martin Racing DBR9, Vantage GTE’s and GT3’s as the SRO GT3 Revival Series also get track time for their new series this time round.

What is there not to like about that!?

 

 

 

 

There were only four Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3’s entered into this weekend’s second round of the SRO GT3 Revival Series from the Spa Classic in the end but three of the four put on show to claim further race silverware for their efforts.

Jonathon Mitchell and his Scott Sport prepared #007 former TRG-AMR runner was again the man to beat as he came away with the race win on track after a red flagged shortened race into the night on Saturday only for a post race BoP based time penalty dropped him down the order before taking a class win at the end of Sunday’s fifty-minute finale.

 

Race one was shaping up into an exciting clash between the #007 car and the #4 GDM Motorsport prepared car of Guido Dumarey into the evening right up until another car suffered a high speed off at Blanchemont which was first covered by a Safety Car before the race was eventually pulled at the halfway mark. Fortunately, the driver involved was later reported as being otherwise OK

The #62 former R-Motorsport AMR of Franz Wunderlich and Pascal Huteau would claim P18 overall/P5 in class whilst the solo driven #16 Britec Motorsport car of Afshin Fatemi would finish his first race within the series P20 overall/P11 in class.

 

Sundays finale was this time run earlier in the day under full sunshine around the Spa Francorchamps circuit. This time the #007 and #4 Aston Martins had been knocked off the front row in earlier qualifying so there was much to do for the four V12 powered Prodrive machines.

Numerous Safety Car interventions sadly marred the race, taking significant time off the available race clock but that was still enough time in the final minutes for Mitchell to bag another class win (albeit in third overall) with the #62 Fanta Racing AMR also claiming P6 overall/P2 in class finish.

 

Next stop for the series will be from the Le Mans Classic in early July.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

After five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 runners within the opening round to the new SRO supported GT3 Revival Series, there will be another mix of another five V12 Vantage GT3’s at this weekend’s second round to the series from the Spa Classic.

Whilst all of this is obviously great news for any lover of the old V12 Aston Martin engine, the biggest problem that we have is actually identifying which car will be presented by each team moving forward.

What we do know is that Jonathon Mitchell will be back with his #007 former Team TRG-AMR GT3 that he raced to a double P2 podium finish last time out at Paul Ricard back in early April after which he enjoyed similar racing success at the recent Donington Festival.

 

 

The #16 Britec Motorsport of Afshin Fatemi is again listed like he was for the opening round but failed to part in any of the proceedings.

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

 

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

Franz Wunderlich and (maybe) Pascal Huteau will be back with their #62 former R-Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 that also raced in the south of France first time out with just Wunderlich behind the wheel. He was also at Spa Francorchamps two weeks ago as he peddled is former TF Sport AMR Vantage GTE in the FIA WEC support race there.

Rounding off the indicated five car entry is that of the #82 ERA Motorsport entry for Christian Abrecht and Kyle Tilley. This one we really don’t know about other than it could be a platform recently sold by the RoFGO Collection a few months ago, but we will have to wait and see.

 

All being well, there should be two forty-minute races over the course of the race weekend for the forty-six car entry.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

It was a rewarding race weekend for a former The Racers Group Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 and its new owner as they competed within the new SRO sanctioned GT3 Revival meeting at Paul Ricard at the weekend.

Assisting the Peter Auto historic racing organising with this GT3 only event, the entry list for this inaugural event swelled to thirty cars on paper although race day did see a couple of cars drop by the wayside.

 

What we did see were four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s, previously owned and raced by others when such V12 powered beasts were allowed to roam where driver Jonathon Mitchell put his former TRG-AMR through its paces to go fastest in Free Practice before securing two overall podium finishes as the end of the two forty-minute races.

There were also entries running the former Salih Yoluc TF Sport ran GT3, a former R-Motorsport car as well as one that has only ever been raced by its present owner.

 

Unfortunately, the photographs made available are not of a high quality despite the number of quality photographers at the circuit to shoot both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and GT4 European Series.

Maybe next time as the series now moves onto the Spa Classic at the end of May.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

 

 

Up to five gloriously sounding Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3’s could be pounding the Mistral Straight of Le Castellet next weekend as the newly SRO coveted GT3 Revival Series gets under way at Paul Racard in support of two other mainstream SRO series.