The Comtoyou Racing team suffered something of a reality check at the weekend after their pair of Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s suffered both misfortune on and off the track that put their double race winning exploits of last time a distant memory within the DTM Series.

Racing this time at Oschersleben within the fifth round of the German based series, the #007 car of Nicki Thiim and the #008 car of Nicolas Baert were hoping to continue the fine form that the Dane enjoyed last time out at the Norisring despite their cars being affected by the expected increase in Balance of performance base weight.

 

Early sessions lead to the obvious prediction coming true of nether car being competitive amongst its class of eighteen other runners as both drivers eventually qualified at the tail of the pack going into Saturday’s opening hour long, pit stop punctuated race.

Despite the hot and dry conditions, Baert would again be saddled with another puncture which the team this time elected not to repair and send him on his way but rather wait until race two on Sunday. Thiim, meanwhile, would do what Thiim does and push to the end where he would eventually recoup a P12 finish for at least a few championship points to add to his tally.

 

Race two would be affected by another bizarre situation on the wrong tyres being fitted to the wrong wheels (i.e. fronts onto rears and vice versa) which again left both cars this time at the very back of the grid.

Missing the rain that affected the ADAC GT4 Germany race, it was another frenetic start to the race as Thiim quickly moved up the order ahead of the pit window. Baert’s own misfortunes within the series would continue just after as his car suffered suspension failure, but he and his crew did at least earn themselves the fastest pit stop time for their efforts.

 

Thiim would eventually finish P13 at the end of race two together with the fastest lap of the race to again secure a handful of valuable championship points as the series moves onto the Nurburgring next time out in mid-August.

Photo credits - DTM

 

Good times finally came the way of the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing powered team this weekend as their silver graded crew finally made it through to a podium finish early today to take an overall race win within the ADAC GT Masters Series.

Racing this time from the Nurburgring, the #39 AMR Vantage GT3 of Jamie Day and Baudoin Detout benefitted from this weekend’s adjustment in Balance of performance for the turbo charged Vantage to take full benefit of that fact within Sunday’s hour-long race although opportunities were lost within Saturday’s race.

 

With Detout qualifying the car tenth out of the sixteen strong grid for the hour-long race yesterday, the Luxembourger was penalised not only for his false starting position (for which he received a visit to the penalty lane) but also had the effects of that exaggerated with being spun out at turn one for only the second time around.

From that point, and despite the support of DTM racer Nicki Thiim being within the camp this weekend, there was no return for the AMR pairing throughout the hour -long race and they had to make do with another P12 finish.

 

Sunday was, however, a completely new day and Day literally made the most of his qualifying run by securing his first pole position within the series this year.

Also taking the start to race two of the weekend, Day managed to maintain his race lead throughout his half-hour stint before he eventually handed over to Detout with a gap to second place of no more than two seconds. This time, a faultless stint from Detout saw the #39 car running unchallenged at the head of the grid whilst those from second to fourth were left to squabble over the remaining podium places.

 

At the end, the #39 Comtoyou Racing AMR team took their best results of the ADAC GT Masters Series so far with a fine lights to flag race win – Aston Martin Racings first in the series since 2012!!

Photo credits – ADAC / Social media

Having skipped a beat last weekend with both the DTM and ADAC GT4 Germany Series from the Norisring last weekend, the ADAC GT Masters Series is this weekend back in action with their two races of their fourth round of the season from the Nurburgring.

With just sixteen GT3 powered entries again being listed, it will again be the #39 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 car of Baudouin Detout and Jamie Gray taking our attention.

 

The team will presumably be on fine form this weekend after helping Nicki Thiim transfer his pair of pole setting times in DTM to take two overall race wins last weekend around the improvised street circuit layout of the Norisring in downtown Nuremburg.

The season so far has been a progressive and predictably difficult one as Day helps Detout step up to top-flight GT3 racing for the first time after the Frenchman started GT racing for the first time in GT4.

 

Last time out at the Lausitzring back in mid-June, the pairing secured both a P9 and P6 overall finish at the end of each hour long – pit stop punctuated races so they will no doubt be looking for more this time around.

Photo credits - ADAC / Team

 

 

For the final two Aston Martin Racing powered racers competing in Europe last weekend, it was sadly for them a case of what might have been had their not been pegged back in terms of performance from the start.

Yes, we’re back to that sordid tale of Balance of Performance again which is the primary reason that neither the #90 E2P Racing AMR Vantage GT3 did very well from the start of the 24H Series to the Nurburgring nor did the #4 Cosy Racing by ESM AMR Vantage GT4 as they battled out only their second round of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series from the Norisring.

 

For the Spanish based E2p Racing team, that was the tale being painted upon their social media channels today after their poor showing P9 in class finish to the six plus six-hour debut race for the series from the German circuit. Their matters were made exacerbated by the premature ending of Saturdays six-hour opener due to barrier damage after a high speed off for one of their competitors (thankfully uninjured as a result) and also being needlessly turned around by another car coming up the inside from a country mile away.

 

The team will now concentrate upon the fifth and final round of the European season from their home track of Barcelona towards the end of September.

Then over in Germany, the Cosy Racing with ESM had similar issues as a 30kg base weight increase to their car severely affected their chances around a circuit already not to the benefit of their AMR Vantage GT4 platform.

 

With drivers Jan Philipp Springob and Philipp Gogllock behind the wheel again, these were two very abled drivers who would have wrung the last once of power out of the car but had to make do with a P8 result in race one on Saturday. Then, and despite a reduction in that BoP change to just 20kg in race two – that only allowed the #4 crew to post a P5 result as they now look towards their third round of the season from Oschersleben at the end of month.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

 

 

 

 

The Creventic lead 24H Series makes its way to Germany this weekend for their first visit to the Grand Prix circuit of the Nurburgring for the latest round of their split twelve-hour encounters with their multi-classed grids.

Having visited Italy, Belgium and France already, this round will be the penultimate round of their European Series with another season that will culminate in Spain later in September.

Thirty cars so far figure upon the entry list the #90 E2P Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Pablo Burguera, Oliver Campos and Antonio Sainero again running solo for the marque.

 

Their last race at Paul Ricard in early June was the best result to date for the Spanish based team after they claimed a P3 finish within their Am class. Track action begins on Wednesday with private testing before Qualifying on Friday and the usual split format race over both Saturday and Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

 

 

 

Last weekend’s 24H Series visit to Paul Ricard in southern France thankfully finally gave the Spanish based E2P Racing Aston Martin Racing powered team something to celebrate after their #90 crew secured an Am class podium finish.

Competing within another of the Creventic series six plus six-hour endurance races spread across the two days had been a prospect that may not have necessarily suited the AMR Vantage GT3 crew of Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos but the twelve-hour race came to prove different.

 

Hitting the track for the first time earlier last week, the #90 crew would eventually take the start to Saturdays opening half form P14 overall / P7 in class out of the collective grid size of thirty-two cars to end the day just one lap down to the overall leader P6 overall and P4 in class.

Once racing had got back under way around the mistral circuit on Sunday morning, the #90 crew were able to hang on to claim their first class podium finish of the season to finish P8 overall and P3 within their Am class.

The next round will be from the Nurburgring in Germany in early July.

Photo credits - Series

 

 

Today saw the first track action of a two-day Prologue Test at the Spa Francorchamps circuit ahead of next months 78thCrowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa with fifty-nine of the expected seventy car entry taking part within today’s opening two sessions.

Whilst we thought that the seven Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries and crews were fairly locked in before now, there have been a few more changes within a couple of these cars with six of the seven in attendance today.

For the German based Walkenhorst Motorsport team, it’s a busy week for them having just cleared up from their podium winning achievements at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

 

The #35 silver classed Vantage GT3 of Mateo Vilagomez, Ethan Ischer, Gaspard Simon and Maxime Robin was in attendance today at Spa but their #34 Pro class entry of Henrique Chaves, Christian Krognes and Jamie Day was not – or at least did not get any measurable laps in.

The Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 crew was in attendance but their driver line up within their #56 car for both the Prologue and the Spa 24 has changed again slightly as Tom Wood loses his seat to Romain Leroux for both events alongside Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Lorcan Hanafin.

The remaining Aston Martins in attendance were from the locally based Comtoyou Racing team as they fielded the other four cars across the Pro, Silver and Bronze classes.

 

Podium winners at Nordschleife Nicki Thiim and Mattia Drudi (then in a Walkenhorst prepared AMR of course) swap over to the Comtoyou prepared #7 Pro entry alongside that of Marco Sorenson. The #11 bronze entry of Marcelo Tomasoni, AJ Muss and Kyle Marcelli has been boosted with fourth man Felice Jelmini whilst their #21 silver entry of Oliver Soderstrom, Kobe Pauwels and Sebastian Baud also has fourth man Arthur Dorison confirmed.

That leaves the all-Belgian car and crew of Nicolas Baert, Xavier Knauf, Sarah Bovey and Gergory Servais within the recently announced #700 Pro-Am Cup entry.

Photo credits – Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After three more Qualifying sessions around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the starting grid ahead of tomorrow’s start of the 2026 ADAC Ravenol N24 has finally been determined.

Despite running higher up the order in earlier sessions, the best that any of the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 and one Vantage GT4 powered runners was just outside of the top ten within the combined total grid of one hundred and sixty-one cars.

 

With the three Walkenhorst Motorsport and one Prosport Racing crews already having faced some very challenging but very typical track conditions, it was unsurprisingly the #34 Walkenhorst car of Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim, Christian Krognes and Felipe Fernandez Laser who will be started farthest forward after they secured a P11 start at the end of today’s earlier top 12 Q3 session.

The sister #35 Walkenhorst AMR of Mateo Villagomez, Dennis Fetzer, Stafan Aust and a double dutying Laser were next quickest as they finished the qualifying process with a P23 with the third and final Walkenhorst entry of Henry Walkenhorst, Anders Buchardt, Nico Hantke and Mex Jansen P32 overall.

 

The #39 Am classed Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Guido Dumarey, Tobias Wahl, Markus Lonnroth and Christian Konnerth P43 overall.

There is a further AMR Vantage crew competing at the event this weekend, this time within the SP10 class as the Dorr Motorsport team manage of their cars for their client crew of Peter Sander, Heiko Hahn, Roland Waschkau and Philippe Charlaix within their #169 car. They will start 106th overall.

 

Whilst the racing will always be good, the weather over the Eiffel circuit remains the biggest threat with low cloud cover as well as low temperatures expected to exacerbate the expected rain over both Saturday and Sunday.

The race will be waved off at 15:00hrs local on Saturday.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

It’s time to gear ourselves up ahead of the first of the three major twenty-four-hour racing events in Europe as the ADAC Ravenol N24 looks to get going this week featuring another incredible entry list of one hundred and sixty-one mixed class GT and tin-top racers this weekend around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife.

 

Again featuring itself as the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge as a ‘side show’ to the racing event in itself, we will be looking to the front of the grid – within the SP9 class to be specific where we will be welcoming four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews to its midst.

 

Like many of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie events before it, all four AMR powered entries will be from both the Prosport Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams as they enter their older and newer examples of the Vantage platform within the class.

Those crews are confirmed as follows:-

#34 Walkenhorst Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 Evo – Nicki Thiim/Chirstian Krognes/ Matia Drudi/Felipe Fernandez Laser

#35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Vantage GT3 Evo – Mateo Villagomez/Felipe Fernandez Laser/Dennis Fetner/Stefan Aust

 

As the German based team continue to go about their pre-season testing business around Europe, the Walkenhorst Motorsport team have been the first Aston Martin Racing powered team to confirm their participation within this year’s ADAC Ravenol Nurburgring 24 Hour.

Having already confirmed a multi- AMR Vantage GT3 participation within the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cups Series, the team today confirmed a two-car entry into this year’s event in both the SP9 and SP9 Pro-Am classes.

 

It’s the second half-way around the world flight weekend for Jamie Day as he again trades one green Aston Martin Racing powered team within the GT World Challenge Europe Series for a similar coloured one down-under in Australia as he and the Volante Rosso team prepare to do battle at The Bend this weekend.

Round five of a six round season sees Day pair up with Liam Talbot for only the second time this season having been sent to replace Declan Fraser aboard the #1 Volante Rosso AMR Vantage GT3 Pro-Am entry from the previous round at Sandown at the end of July. The mixed-race conditions on the day and with most things being new to the squad allowed them to convert a P8 overall finish in race one of the weekend into an overall race win on Sunday.

 

A double Pro-Am class win at the Nurburgring this weekend was enough for the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 pairing of Stanislav Safronov and Alexandre Vaintrub to leapfrog into the lead of the class as the GT4 European Series heads to Barcelona for the conclusion of their season next month.

A wet introduction into the race weekend was thankfully replaced with a clear and dry (albeit delayed for earlier kerb damage around the circuit) hour long race into Saturday evening after the #7 car had claimed its first overall pole position of the year.

Alongside them in the thirty-eight strong entry was the #39 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Clement Seyler who also secured pole in the silver class sentry that he shares with Baudouin Detout whist each sister car was further back in P9 for the #5 Mirage Racing car of Roberto Faria and Ruben Del Sarte and P23 for the #74 RSLM entry of David Kullmann and Will Orton.

For the latter crew, however, their race weekend abruptly ended between turns 1 and 2 as Kullmann was an apparent victim of secondary contact (maybe from the Ford Mustang that also stopped at the same position on track) to end their day early with front quarter damage whilst Orton’s best qualifying performance for race 2 in P4 never materialised thanks to a late electrical problem before the cars even assembled on the grid.

The #5 Mirage AMR of Faria would also be in the wars before they had even crossed the control line to start the race as the Brazilian jinxed out of line early to try and pass the overall championship leading Audi, only to make contact with the #3 car – effectively putting them both out of the race.

For the other two cars, by the end of the another highly eventful GT4 European Series the #7 Mirage held onto their Pro-Am class win finishing sixth overall whilst the #39 RSLM crew would have their best finish of the year finishing just off the overall (and class) podium in fourth.

Sunday’s finale was another strange bag of fortunes or misfortunes within the series as (already said) the #74 RSLM AMR failed to make the race again whilst the other three crews had to start from the midst of the pack with the #5 Mirage car being the best of the three starting from P10.

Not without its own incidents and accidents again, the start to the race was at least a much cleaner affair with the remaining participants allowed to settle down into their own rhythm. However, it was again only the #7 car that pushed through for any class recognition by the end as they left it late to make the final pass on track to take their second class win of the day down in P11 overall whilst the remaining silver class crews finished P12 for the #39 car and P14 in silver for the #5 crew.

Safronov and Vaintrub now take a slender 8 points margin into the final races of the season in Barcelona in mid-October.

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media

 

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