Both Prosport Racing Astons safely home in the NLS ahead of next weekends N24 Qualifiers
Running just a week ahead of the N24 Qualifier double header weekend, the #37 AMR Vantage GT3 entry of father and Son, Maxine and Guido Dumarey were joined by Swedish racer Markus Lonnroth were they were able to complete todays four-hour race third within their SP9 Am class.
The sister #175 AMR Vantage GT4 car of Gustav Bard and Patrick Skoog also di enough to be classified as P6 within their SP10 Am class albeit two laps down to their class winners.
Photo credit – Eric Metzner
Chasing that illusive top class win as well as class wins again this weekend at the Nurburgring 24
Aston Martin continues its long and successful association with the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend as the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 goes for overall glory in the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring with partner teams Walkenhorst Motorsport, PROsport and Dörr Motorsport.
Just days after Vantage finished fourth with the Heart of Racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGT3 class, the legendary German venue hosts the second of three consecutive world-renowned ‘twice around the clock’ endurance races, with Aston Martin chasing a second-straight overall victory at the Crowdstrike 24 hours of Spa just a week later.
Nine Vantages, of GT3 and GT4 specifications, will carry the hopes of the British sportscar manufacturer at the 15.8-mile circuit, known throughout motorsport as the ‘Green Hell’. Renowned for pushing machinery to its limit over its hundreds of bumps, crests and blind curves, the Nordschleife punishes even the smallest errors thanks to the track’s unique microclimate, narrow, tree-lined straights and huge entry of almost 150 cars.
Aston Martin has enjoyed a winning tradition at the Nürburgring for more than 60 years. Sir Stirling Moss recorded a hat-trick of 1000km victories with Aston Martin in the 1950s, including the 1959 edition that helped to secure the World Sports Car championship crown. That was in the same year that Aston Martin’s DBR1 claimed its famous overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Since returning to sportscar racing in the mid-2000s, Aston Martin has been an ever-present at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, whether through works-entered cars or with its most trusted partner teams. From 2006, through each iteration of Vantage, the Wings have claimed 10 class victories and more than 25 podium finishes.
Aston Martin has once again partnered with an ultra-successful team – Walkenhorst Motorsport – as it strives to become the first British manufacturer to win the race outright. The German outfit, which won the 2018 Spa 24 hours and the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, will run three Vantage GT3s, which share the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury performance brand’s most focused sportscar, and which are built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, in the SP9 Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes.
The #34 SP9 Pro-class Vantage features an all-star line-up of Aston Martin works drivers, who boast seven overall or class wins from Europe’s three premier 24-hour races between them. Renowned Nordschleife specialist David Pittard (GBR) took victory in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2023 and is joined by another overall winner of the race; two-time FIA WEC GT champion Nicki Thiim (DEN), who triumphed in 2013. The Dane’s Spa 24 hours-winning team-mate from 2024, Mattia Drudi, (ITA) makes his event debut and is the only Aston Martin driver taking on the Le Mans-Nürburgring-Spa treble. Completing the line-up is 2018 Spa 24 hours winner Christian Krognes (NOR), the overall champion in the Nordschleife-based Nürburgring Langstrecken Series (NLS) in 2012 and lap record-holder on the track’s NLS layout.
Another Vantage GT3 tackles the SP9 Pro-Am class with Oliver Söderström (SWE) partnered by Anders Buchardt (NOR), who scored a class podium at the recent Qualifying Races for the event, and Nico Hantke (DEU). Krognes is an additional named driver in the #35 Vantage, meaning he will be on double duty.
Walkenhorst’s #30 Vantage, which will contest the SP9 Am category, features four Nurburgring 24 Hours class winners behind the wheel. Team founder Henry Walkenhorst (DEU) and Jörg Breuer (DEU) – the latter scoring his first category victory in 1993 – share with Stefan Aust (DEU) and US-born Christian Bollrath (DEU). Walkenhorst will also field a Vantage GT4 in the SP10 category. The drivers will be Aris Balanian (BEL), Hermann Vortkamp (DEU), Jean-Christophe David (FRA) and Josh Hansen (USA).
PROSport Racing have entered three cars in three different classes for this weekend’s event, including a Vantage GT3 in SP9 Pro-Am car that is anchored by two-time GT World Challenge Europe Silver Cup Champion and two-time Nürburgring 24 Hours overall podium finisher Nico Bastian (DEU). Sharing the #37 entry with him are multiple class winner Marek Böckmann (DEU) and Steven Palette (FRA), a category victor on his only previous appearance in 2012.
The team’s Vantage #175 GT4, which has been a multiple podium-finisher in the NLS this year, will be driven in the SP10 class by Yannik Himmels (DEU) and Michel Albers (DEU), who were part of the line-up than won the category in both of the recent Qualifying Races, plus Nurburgring 24 Hours class winner Jörg Viebahn (DEU) and Benjamin Hites (CHL), the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Silver champion.
A third entry, the #140 Vantage GT4, will contest the SP8T category and will be raced by regular NLS podium finishers, the father-and-son duo Guido and Maxime Dumarey (BEL) – the latter finishing third in SP9 Pro-Am last year in a Vantage GT3 – plus Raphael Rennhofer (AUT) and Marcel Marchewicz (DEU).
Dörr Motorsport, who claimed the most recent class win for Vantage at the 2022 race, have added two Vantage GT4s in SP10. The #169 car features Peter Posavac (DEU) and Michael Funke (DEU) while Sven Schädler (DEU) and Frank Weishar (DEU) will be in #179. Further drivers for both cars will be announced before the event gets underway.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “For fans of endurance racing, 2025 is a particularly special year as three of the world’s most prestigious 24-hour races, at Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Spa, are held on successive weekends. Aston Martin has a special connection with each of the three events, with the Vantage platform placing our partner teams as contenders in each. The Nürburgring 24 Hours has a unique atmosphere and the sheer challenge of its 15.7-mile track, bordered by its unforgiving barriers – not to mention the size of the entry list – are just two factors that make winning here such a huge challenge. Vantage has been ultra-competitive in both GT3 and GT4 series this year so naturally our target is to see our partner teams challenge for victory. Aston Martin is globally-renowned but proud of its roots, and to potentially become the first British manufacturer to win this race outright is an important landmark to chase. In Walkenhorst Motorsport, PROsport Racing and Dörr Motorsport we have three partner teams who know how to succeed on-track and we wait to see what they can achieve.”
Aston Martin made its Nürburgring 24 Hours debut in 2006, with an almost standard V8 Vantage that provided the springboard for the ultra-successful GT4 version. Since then, the marque has enjoyed notable class successes, including victory in the SP9T class in 2018, when Maxime Martin (BEL), Thiim, Darren Turner (GBR) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) finished fourth overall, having led into the final hours amid heavy rain in the last competitive outing for the V12 Vantage GT3. The result stands as the marque’s best finish in the race.
In recent years the Vantage GT4 has flourished. The previous generation won the SP8T class in 2019 with Jamie Chadwick (GBR), Alex Brundle (GBR) and Peter Cate (GBR). In 2020, Garage 59 finished third in the same class with an upgraded GT8R driven by works driver Jonny Adam (GBR), Alexander West (SWE), Chris Goodwin (GBR) and Turner.
The most recent class win for the brand came in 2022, when Dörr Motorsport clinched a one-two victory in SP8T on its Aston Martin debut with a Vantage GT4. The team also finished third in SP10 behind the second-placed PROsport Vantage GT4, the best result yet for the Nürburgring-based team.
First qualifying for the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring begins on Thursday, 19 June at 1300 local time (1200 BST) with the race beginning at 1600 (1500) on Saturday.
Source material - AMR
Six Aston Martin crews involved in this weekends N24 Qualifiers
One hundred and nine mixed class cars and crews will line up at the Nurburgring Nordschleife for this weekend’s N24 Qualifiers with six Aston Martin Racing powered GT3 or GT4 crews amongst them.
Just four weeks splits this weekend before the main event of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring where both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing teams will represent the AMR brand with their respective GT3 and GT4 entries.
Many of these drivers have already been involved with the full season NLS Series entries for either team but this weekend’s two, four-hour races over both Saturday and Sunday will see many of these teams run a split driver line up for their full season NLS obligations as well as a change in class for one such crew this weekend. Expected crews within the N24 itself will differ again with possibly up to five drivers per entry.
Today’s published entry list sees the Walkenhorst team enter three GT3 cars within the SP9 class as well a one Vantage GT4 within the SP10 class whilst the locally based Prosport Racing team field two such Vantage GT4’s within that class.
#30 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 (SP9) – Henry Walkenhorst / Jorgg Breuer
#34 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 (SP9) – Christian Krognes / David Pittard
#35 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 (SP9) – Oliver Soderstrom / Chrisitian Bollrath
#37 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 (SP9) – Steven Palette / Marek Bockmann / Nico Bastian
#74 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT4 (SP10) – Aris Balanian / Joshua Hansen
#175 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 (SP10) – Yannik Himmels / Michel Albers / Jorg Viebahn
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
GT Masters and GT world Challenge Asia Japan Cup to battle the airwaves against LM Test Day news
First over in Japan, there will be the opening round of the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup from Sugo as a carry on from what was started towards the end of lockdown when the series looked to help their Japanese race teams by limiting the need to travel outside of the country when they could do just as well from within the Japanese racing arena.
This weekend sees just fourteen GT3 and GT4 powered crews take part within the two-hour long races with the full season D’Station Racing Vantage GT3 team again represented – albeit with a Le Mans necessary adjustment.
With team boss Satoshi Hoshino this weekend and next on Le Mans 24 Hour duties within his team over in France, their #47 Vantage GT3 car (usually driven by Hoshino and Team Manager, Tomonobu Fujii) will this weekend be driven by last years Super Taikyu runners Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama within their appropriately classed Am entry.
Well versed of course to their national circuits and somewhat experienced with the Vantage GT3 having piloted one last season, this weekend’s two races will again be - eventful!!
Then, way back over in Holland will see the German ADAC GT Masters Series run their second round of the season from renowned coastal circuit of Zandvoort.
Sadly, featuring another entry list of just sixteen cars, the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 cars from the Walkenhorst Motorsport team have been cleaned up and prepared for their new crews having been on race duty last weekend at the fog shorted ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nordschliefe.
No changes to report within either car as Mike David Ortmann and Denis Bulatov return in their black liveried #34 car whilst Nico Hantke and Chandler Hull also return within their brighter liveried #35 car.
Both crews will be looking to improve having finished no higher than seventh in either race.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Disappointment in Germany for the safest of reasons
Having seen a vast range of climatic conditions over testing and qualifying sessions earlier in the proceedings, something that only the Green Hell could ever muster, the wet and then warmth of the race weekend resulted with the predictable fog cloud descending across the valleys overnight which negated any possibility of further racing.
With over one hundred and twenty mixed class race cars with an incredible nine Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars taking the start on Saturday afternoon, the race would not reach midnight of the opening night before the conditions had deteriorated sufficiently enough for Race Control to call a temporary halt to the proceedings.
During that seven and a bit hours of racing, the circuit had already taken a chunk out of the AMR powered effort as the full Pro #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport effort of David Pittard, Nicki Thiim, Christian Krognes and Jakub Giermaziak had suffered a puncture early on the opening lap as well as the #176 SP8T classed Dorr Motorsport entry of Arno Klasen, Eric Ullstrom, Rocco Lorenzo and Jorg Viebahn also faltering within the first couple of hours.
The older 16A generation #17 Vantage GT3 from the locally based Prosport Racing team was another early casualty with technical issues as Hugo Sasse fortunately made his SP9 N24 debut before the gremlins struck that would halt his and co-drivers Nico Bastian, Ben Green and Marek Bockmann’s 2024 ambitions.
Cycling through the predictable periods of localised yellow flags, without the possibility of any Safety car and wave arounds to catch up upon laps lost, the race was eventually halted just before midnight local time with the hope of an early morning resumption.
Those announcements sadly came and went as the fog persisted to a point where the cars did reassemble upon the grid and followed the pace car around for a few laps but by then, the race had already been lost to the weather and the race was surrendered early to the conditions.
Being the most sensible and safest decision that race organisers could have ever made, the real losers (rather than the eventually declared race ‘winners’) was of the sport – the event, the teams and drivers as well as the massive quarter of a million attending fan base and the tens of thousands more watching from around the world who lost out on the full spectacle that is the Nurburgring 24.
But then – they don’t refer to it as the Green Hell for nothing and that’s why we love it so much. There were at least some awesome images coming out from the various track session and race that did take place though!!
Roll on 2025
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Nine Aston Martin Racing powered crews about to take on the Nurburgring Nordschleife for 24 hours
The British ultra-luxury sportscar manufacturer has enjoyed a winning tradition at the Nürburgring for more than 60 years. Indeed, iconic Grand Prix legends Tony Brooks (GBR), Sir Stirling Moss (GBR) and Sir Jack Brabham (AUS) all contributed to a hat-trick of 1000km victories for Aston Martin in the late 1950s, including the 1959 edition that helped to secure the World Sportscar Championship crown for the brand. That triumph took place in the same year Aston Martin’s DBR1 claimed its famous overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 92nd running of which will be held next month, on 15-16 June, in France.
Since returning to sportscar racing in the mid-2000s, Aston Martin has been ever-present at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, whether through works-entered GT cars or with its most trusted partner teams. And from 2006 onwards and each previous iteration of Vantage, Aston Martin has claimed no less than 10 class victories and more than 25 podium finishes.
Just as it did in 2022, when Vantage led the Nürburgring 24 Hours for several hours into the night, Aston Martin has partnered with an ultra-successful team – this time Walkenhorst Motorsport – as it strives to become the first British manufacturer to win the race outright. The German outfit, which won the 2018 24 Hours of Spa and the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, will run three Vantage GT3s in the SP9 PRO, PRO-AM and AM classes.
The #34 SP9 PRO Vantage GT3 will feature works driver and reigning Nürburgring 24 Hours winner David Pittard (GBR), a renowned Nordschleife specialist, alongside Aston Martin stalwart and two-time FIA World Endurance GT champion Nicki Thiim (DEN). These two will be joined by Christian Krognes (NOR) and Kuba Giermaziak (POL).
PROsport Racing has also entered a previous generation Vantage GT3 in the SP9 PRO-AM class featuring Nico Bastian (DEU), Marek Böckmann (DEU), Hugo Sasse (DEU) and Ben Green (GBR), as well as two Vantage GT4s in the SP10 class and another in the SP8T category. Dörr Motorsport, who won the SP8T class in 2022, will run a single Vantage GT4 in the class again, and another in SP10.
Aston Martin made its Nürburgring 24 Hours debut in 2006, with an almost standard V8 Vantage that provided the springboard for the ultra-successful GT4 version. Since then, the marque has enjoyed many notable class successes including victory in the SP9T class in 2018, when Maxime Martin (BEL), Thiim, Darren Turner (GBR) and Marco Sørensen (DEN) finished fourth overall, having led overall into the final hours amid heavy rain in the last competitive outing for the V12 Vantage GT3. This result still stands as the marque’s best finish in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
In recent years the Vantage GT4 has flourished. The previous generation (seven of which are entered in the 2024 race) won the SP8T class in 2019 with Jamie Chadwick (GBR), Alex Brundle (GBR) and Peter Cate (GBR). In 2020, Garage 59 finished third in the same class with an upgraded GT8R driven by works driver Jonny Adam (GBR), Alexander West (SWE), Chris Goodwin (GBR) and Turner.
The most recent class win for the brand came in 2022, when Dörr Motorsport clinched a one-two victory in SP8T on its Aston Martin debut with the Vantage GT4. The team also finished third in SP10 behind the second-placed PROsport Vantage GT4, the best result yet for the Nürburgring-based team.
There are now 25 examples of Aston Martin’s spectacular new Vantage GT3 challenger contesting more than 10 significant GT series, including the FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Fanatec GT World Challenge series in Europe, Asia and US, as well as the Japanese Super GT Championship. That figure is expected to grow to at least 35 by the end of its first season of competition.
The new Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which descends from a succession of multiple world championship-winning predecessors shares the mechanical architecture of the new ultra-luxury Vantage road car, was unveiled in February this year. Built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, the Vantage GT3 features all-new nose-to-tail aerodynamics, comprehensively revised suspension and state-of-the-art electronics, endowing this latest-generation Aston Martin GT racer with world-beating potential.
First qualifying for the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring begins on Thursday, 30 May at 1300 local time (1200 BST) with the race beginning at 1600 (1500) on Saturday.
One 24Hr test done as another 24hr event beckons next week
Yesterday and today saw both teams field six out of the combined seven car entry into this year’s Spa 24 for its mandatory Prologue test days that saw track conditions turn typically Spa-like going from anywhere from between blazing sunshine to something just short of snowing!!
The local Comtoyou Racing team ‘suffered’ the most as both their #11 and 12 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 cars each suffered a heavy encounter with the circuit barrier system – in the wet at Eau Rouge for the #12 car and then slightly further along at Les Combes for the #11 car.
Thankfully and most importantly, each driver was otherwise OK although both cars did place an unwanted drain on precious spare parts within the team whilst the Walkenhorst team now contemplate what is coming up next week back home in Germany.
None of the six Astons that ran this week at Spa Francorchamps ‘troubled’ the timing screen but generally, that isn’t their style as testing is testing whereas racing is the real deal.
What we have been left with are some striking photos of some beautiful cars around a picture postcard racetrack. It will be something very similar next weekend as well as up to NINE AMR Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars enter the N24!!
Photo credits – GTWCE
Ten Aston Martin Racing Vantages at N24 Qualifiers this weekend
Scrolling through the entry list highlights an incredible TEN AMR powered crews – all spread across the available SP9 (GT3), SP8T (enhanced GT4’s) and SP10 for true GT4’s.
So quickly after the opening double header rounds of the feeding NLS Series last weekend, the entry list details another one hundred and forty plus crews lining up for this weekend’s events with the Aston Martin Racing powered crews confirmed as:-
#17 Pro Prosport Racing SP9 Pro – Nico Bastian/Marek Bockmann/Yelmer Buurmann
#34 Walkenhorst Motorsport SP9 Pro – Christian Krognes/Jakub Giermaziak/David Pittard/Nicki Thiim
#35 Walkenhorst Motorsport SP9 Pro-Am – Chandler Hull/Benjamin Mazatis/Patrick Assenheimer
#36 Walkenhorst Motorsport SP9 Pro-Am – Henry Walkenhorst/Stefan Aust/Christian Bollrath
#69 Dorr Motorsport SP9 Pro-Am – Phil Dorr/Ben Dorr
#169 Dorr Motorsport SP8T – Frank Weishar/Sven Schadler
#175 Prosport Racing SP10 – Jasmin Preisig/Joerg Viebahn
#176 Prosport Racing SP10 – Harry Rice/Pengcheng Ye
#176 Prosport Racing SP10 – Gustav Bard/Partick Skoog/Lorenzo Rocco
#269 Dorr Motorsport SP8T – Phillipe Charlaix/Aaron Wenisch
Saturday will feature Qualifying for their first four-hour race before likewise on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / social media
Walkenhorst Motorsport join forces with Aston Martin Racing for new multi-year multi-car deal
We are still reeling from what appears to be a most casually of thrown motorsport hand grenades earlier today that sees a long-standing German OEM race team realign themselves with Aston Martin Racing for a new multi-year Partner team deal.
Having been closely affiliated to the BMW brand for many years and having competed with the new all-conquering BMW M4 in both GT3 and GT4 format this season, the team from Melle (east of Hanover) have become the first team to swap across to the new evolved iteration of the AMR Vantage GT3 that is due to be ready in time for the 2024 season.
Operating at the highest level of motorsport, Walkenhorst will become AMR’s latest Partner Team allowing full access to works engineers and drivers as they embark upon a new multi-year contract with the manufacturer listing competitive ambitions with familiar series such as the GT World Challenge Europe Series, Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie and the two infamous twenty-four-hour races that both series are renowned for just for few. This will include a full Pro entry into each of these series alongside two other (undefined) class entries as part of a three-car effort.
With the AMR Vantage GT3 Evo development car having just completed a multi-day Goodyear tyre test at Monteblanco in Spain, it is highly probably (although not confirmed within today’s news) that the team have sampled the new Aston Martin somewhere at its many test locations prior to signing the deal.
When someone at AMR suggested to us earlier this year at Spa ELMS that if we thought 2023 was busy – think again for 2024, news like this today certainly put some meat onto those bones as teams like Walkenhorst are never prized away the staple provides lightly.
“The close partnership with AMR gives us the certainty that we can count on technical excellence and experience in the coming years. This not only strengthens our racing performance, but also consolidates our position as a successful operational team for our partners and customers. We will certainly be well prepared for the coming season and are very much looking forward to working with AMR” said Niclas Königbauer (Managing Director | Walkenhorst Motorsport).
The future really is bright in 2024.
Photo credit - Walkenhorst
All systems go for the ADAC TotalEnergies N24 starting later today
Six Aston Martin Racing powered crews have returned to the “Green Hell’ for another attempt at class honours with the British marque being represented this time by the two German teams of Prosport Racing and Doer Motorsports.
Fielding a mixture of AMR Vantage GT3 and GT4 based machinery together with a diverse range of N24 race experience between them, these six cars will be piloted by crews will all face the prospect of at least one member of their crew running in this first twenty-four-hour event around the circuit.
Competing within the SP9 Pro-Am class for the two Vantage GT3 crews, yesterdays Qualifying saw the #28 Prosport entry secure the inter team bragging rights and will be starting in P6 in class whilst the #69 Doer car will start two places back in P8.
Within the GT4 class, the #67 Doer car claimed pole position within the SP10 class, the #79 Prosport car in P10, the #68 Doer car P15 and the #78 Prosport car competing the class in P16.
Like any 24-hour race, Qualifying is one thing – the race is something completing different with skill and performance always lagging behind that of “Lady Luck”.
We wish them all well and everyone a great, safe race!
The race will be stream live via https://www.24h-rennen.de/live/
Game on!!
Photo credits – Frozenspeed / E Metzner
