Another crazy edition of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup now ‘safely’ in the books after yesterday’ s three hour near demolition derby left many cars in literal tatters but (more importantly) nobody injured around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza,

It was always going to be another fast and furious second round the season having started the year out at an equally fast Paul Ricard circuit in France just a few weeks back, but the ultra-fast and more traditional circuit layout of the Italian circuit would also have the probability of certainly a turn one, lap one incident for the fifty-seven-car entry.

 

The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of last time out race winners Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Drudi were always one crew to keep an eye out for last weekend but their performance around the circuit in previous sessions and into Qualifying left them a down on the fourth row ahead of yesterday afternoons start.

Their participation within the race however was strictly limited to the distance between the start line and the entry into the first chicane as multi-car contact saw the #007 sent onto the grass before collecting an already spun out and damaged car, destroying the front end before the race has truly started.

 

That first corner incident alone accounted for the loss of half a dozen cars including the first three cars on the grid but that sadly did not tone down the driving characteristics within some driver crews as a similar incident at the same location towards the end of the race took out some other cars competing for race or class wins at the time.

The #11 Comtoyou Racing bronze classed entry for Kyle Marcelli, AJ Muss and Marcelo Tomasoni were also seen to be in the wars after rear end contact into the Variante Ascari that saw them run through the gravel to impact rearward into the tyre wall sustaining them significant damage in the process too. Albeit able to limp back to the pits under the Full Course Yellow, the damage had already been done to their race in more ways than one.

 

There was hope seeing the two Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 crews as their names peaked towards the head of the timing screens with little over an hour of the race to go but sadly, their pit stop strategy still owed them a minimum timed stop apiece that obviously dropped them back down the order again. The #34 Pro entry of Christian Krognes, Jamie Day and Henrique Chaves could do no better than P8 in class despite the best efforts of the Portuguese racer during his stint within the chaotic final hour whilst the #35 silver entry of Mateo Villagomez, Ethan Ischer and Gaspard Simon also finished P8 in class.

The reward of racing success at least went to the #56 Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR bronze classed entry of Giacomo Petrobelli, Jonny Adam and Lorcan Hanafin who managed to stay out of trouble on track – thanks in part to their low qualifying position second last on the grid at the start to finally come through eventually P9 overall and second in class. That was however thanks in part to one class rival being taken out of the race at the second big incident at turn one.

 

Many teams now face a fierce battle to repair or replace their GT3 rolling stock in time for the Spa 24 – the next round of the Endurance Cup stakes at the Belgian circuit at the end of the month.

Photo credits _ Teams / Series / social media

 

 

It was to be a disappointing second round of the GT4 European Series for the Racing Spirit of Leman team at Monza after a late race one crash for one of their two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews saw them miss out upon another potential class podium as well as failing to take the start to Sundays second race.

This year, the Swiss based team are the sole AMR powered team competing within the European Series fielding both a silver and Pro-Am class entry. Whilst the team’s #74 silver class car remained driven by both Pedro Garcia and Clement Seyler, their #72 Pro-Am entry had changed since the opening round from Paul Ricard a few weeks ago where now Florent Grizaud was now being partnered by team returnee Kevin Kullmann.

 

All went well during the two Free Practice and Qualifying sessions where Garcia would claim a third row start ahead of race one on Saturday evening whilst Kullmann secured a P25 overall start (P9 in class) having not been in a race car much this year.

All was going well during that first one long opener right up until Seyler attempted to gain what would have been a podium contending position down the opening straight and into the first chicane, but his car unexpectedly snapped hard left before nose diving heavily into the armco barrier taking another car with it.

 

Causing immediate race ending damage to themselves, that would be compounded for them by the team being unable to repair the car in time for Sundays finale making the Monza event a double zero achievement for the crew.

That left just the racing efforts of the #72 Pro-Am pairing which in itself was still a massive struggle for the AMR Vantage compared to the platforms around them where the best that they could do was P12 in class for race one and P14 after an equally eventful race two.

 

The crews go again at the end of the month from the equally fast and furious Spa Francorchamps circuit.

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

As the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup make their way Monza for their second round of the season this weekend, so do the forty-four expected entries within the supporting GT4 European Series for another of their (usually) action packed double headers.

Up in numbers slightly from their opening races to the season from Paul Ricard, France six weeks or so ago – unfortunately we will still only have the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered entries from the Racing Spirit of Leman team and their silver and Pro-Am classed entries.

 

One familiar name and one new name were aboard each of those cars last time out and it is expected to be the same for this weekend as Florent Grizaud was about pair up with Louka Desgranges again aboard their #72 Pro-Am entry but his position has now been taken by Kevin Kullmann whilst Clement Seyler again pairs up with Pedro Garcia aboard their #74 silver entry.

The Paul Ricard circuit saw the Vantage GT4 Evo and their unfamiliar crews outpaced by most of the platforms that they was competing against with an unsurprising result in race one result saw the saw the two cars finish down their respective orders.

 

Race two was more encouraging after Grizaud qualified his car fourth in class whilst Seyler went some better to start from the front row of the grid in second. Whilst the pace of the #74 car allowed them to secure their first podium finish of the season in second, the #72 car did fall away at the end enough to give both drivers and team food for thought.

This weekend will see the usual two one-hour races across Saturday and Sunday with track action starting on Thursday with private testing before Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday before two qualifying runs plus race one of Saturday.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

Destination the Temple of Speed (Monza) this weekend for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with its expected fifty-seven car entry, with the six full season Aston Martin Racing powered contingent amongst them.

This is just the second round of the 2026 season having kicked off their five-round series at the six-hour racing visit to Paul Ricard back in early April.

That round witnessed an impressive start and come-back during the race for the #007 Comtoyou Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen who started from the front row of the grid but had to come back from behind to secure an overall race win at the death.

 

There was also a celebratory performance from the #21 Comtoyou Racing AMR of Kobe Pauwels, Oliver Soderstrom and Sebastian Baud who had to make do with a third-place finish in their silver class having secured the class pole position earlier in qualifying.

They were the AMR powered highs of the opening round – sadly countered by the early demise of the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Pro entry after Jamie Day suffered a heavy off during an earlier session that prevented him and his co-drivers Christian Krognes and Henrique Chaves from taking any further part.

 

Each of these teams will field another crew each in the form of the #11 Comtoyou Racing entry for Kyle Marcelli/AJ Muss/Marcelo Tomasoni within their bronze class entry alongside that of the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport entry for Mateo Vilagomez/Ethan Ischer/Gaspard Simon and their silver classed entry.

The six will of course be completed with the presence of the #56 Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR of Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Lorcan Hanafin who replaces the unfortunate Tom Wood who impressed so well in France.

Track activity will begin on Thursday with the Bronze Driver Test before moving onto another private test on Friday before Free Practice one and two on Saturday. An early start to Sunday will see the three individual qualifying runs before the green flag to this three-hour race being waved off at 15:30hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

It was an encouraging start to the GT4 European Series for the Racing Spirit of Leman team as they fielded the only two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 cars in this weekend’s opening round from Paul Ricard.

This time running in both the Silver and Pro-Am classes, it was the #74 silver class entry of Pedro Garcia and Clement Seyler who came off best with a pair of P2 class podium finishes at the end of both hour-long races at the circuit today.

 

The sister #72 Pro-Am entered car of Florent Grizaud and GT debutant Louka Desgranges still did themselves proud with a pair of finishes within the thirty-eight strong grid taking a P11 and P12 finish respectively over the two races.

The series will now move onto Monza at the end of May.

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

With almost one entry per number of years that the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa has been running sees seventy-five GT3 crews prepare to do battle again with this extended round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup from the Spa Francorchamps circuit on Belgium.

Operating as the third round of that series after opening races at both Paul Ricard in mid-April and more recently from Monza at the beginning of June, six Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews again form significant parts of the Pro, Gold and Silver class line ups with entries from the Walkenhorst Motorsport, Comtoyou Racing and Verstappen.com (2Seas Motorsport teams) this weekend.

The Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team continue there long string of back-to-back race weekend’s this weekend as they make a relatively short hop over the border ahead of the next round of the DTM Series from Zandvoort.

Having been in Monza last weekend for the then second round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series, there they suffered two separate incidences where one of their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo’s was serious damaged – one for Antoine Potty in Free Practice and another for Kobe Pauwel at the start of Sunday’s race.

 

The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series can quite often be a cruel mistress for some competing within her midst and Sunday’s second round of the 2025 season from the ‘Temple of Speed’ was certainly no different.

Six Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews were originally listed amongst the fifty-nine strong entry but the competitive action from the #270 Comtoyou Racing crew of Antoine Potty, Jessica Hawkins and Alexandre Leroy didn’t go beyond that of Saturday’s Free Practice session after Potty crashed heavily at Ascari. Although taken to hospital for precautionary overnight observation, that crew’s event was over before it had really begun.

 

The hectic back-to-back race weekends of the 2025 continue at an unabated pace this weekend for the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Racing teams as both travel to the Temple of Speed for the latest round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

 

The weekend just gone motor racing affairs was slightly less than what was originally expected as the sole Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew within the endurance side of the Italian GT Series wasn’t involved with their seasonal finale from Monza.

We had expected the #5 L&A Infinity AMR entry of William Alatalo, Matteo Di Guisto and Jorge Lorenzo to make their final appearance together after both Alatalo and du Giusto secured podium success during the final round of the Sprint Series at the Temple of Speed just a few weeks ago.

 

There was also podium winning success for an Aston Martin Racing powered team within the final round of the Italian GT Championship Sprint Cup as the L&A Infinity enjoyed further success at Monza.

Rounding of another sprint season of four rounds at the Temple of Speed, the #5 L&A Infinity crew of William Alatalo and Matteo Di Giusto narrowly missed upon their first double of the season as the team and crew were penalised within both of the weekend’s races for a driver change non-compliance that added nearly five seconds to their final race time for each race plus a further five second penalty after race one.