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

 

 

The #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mattia Drudi gave it their best shot at this weekend’s penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series but even their maximum points wasn’t enough to take the championship battle into the final round.

Racing as one of three AMR powered entries at this weekend’s visit to the Nurburgring alongside the two similar powered entries from the Walkenhorst Motorsport team, the #007 already needed something of a minor miracle over the #48 Mercedes powered crew in order to take the fight to the final round in Portimao in mid-October.

 

Despite some very wet practice sessions on Saturday, the three qualifying sessions were at least run on an albeit green but more importantly a dry track. At the end of this morning’s runs, the #007 had claimed another pole position for their efforts whilst the #34 Pro class Walkenhorst effort of Jamie Day, Christian Krognes and Henrique Chaves could do no better than P14 overall – P10 in class.

The two silver classed entries of the #21 Comtoyou Racing entries of Oliver Soderstrom, Sebastian Baud and Kobe Pauwels hadn’t fared as well as previous rounds as they would start P28 overall /P5 in class whilst their rival #35 Walkenhorst entry of Mateo Vilagomez, Gaspard Simon and Ethan Ischer were further back in P44 overall/P13 in class. With the omission of the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR this time around, that left the #11 Comtoyou Racing car of Marcelo Tomasoni, Aaron Muss and a guesting Sergio Sette Camara the final car of the quintet as they again qualified their bronze class entry P11 in class towards the rear of the pack.

Getting underway for this three-hour race saw Sorensen having to battle hard for the opening laps in order to maintain his position at the head of the race whilst those within the mid to rear of the pack had to put up with three cars being spun around in front of them as they all hit turn one for the first time. Whilst the #007 was at the head of the pack, the remaining for Vantage GT3’s were all within the second half of the pack.

Forty-five minutes in and the leaders were lapping the tail end bronze entries for the first time as Day remained P16 overall within his #34 car as thoughts started to look towards the first of the two expected stops but just ahead of the first hour – a car within the gravel brought out the first FCY.

 

During the stops, Sorensen handed over to Drudi with the championship challenging #48 car still doing what they needed in order to secure the overall championship a round early with all the other runners following suite as and when they arrived at pit in.

Strating the second hour, the #007 again lead the field with the #34 car still P14 overall but with Krognes now at the wheel as the #21 Comtoyou was also making progress before the Safety Car was called out again after two cars tangled and ended within the gravel. Whilst the race did briefly get back going, a slowing car on track eventually brought that inevitable contact from another bringing out another FCY.

 

Going into the final hour, the #007 lost initial ground to those around it as Thiim took the helm and going into the final half hour was running down in fourth as Chaves now in the Walkenhorst also struggled for pace and dropped places relative to where he inherited the car. Going into the final ten minutes of the race, however, Thiim was then up to third overall before a final lap passing of the leading Porsche (who had already been pinged for exceeding maximum drive time and hence would be penalised) saw the #007 pass for the lead again to complete a near lights to flag win for the Belgian team again.

Unfortunately for all, the #48 Mercedes also finished fourth on track to claim the overall Drivers Championship title before the long trip down to Portugal.

 

The #34 Walkenhorst crew eventually finished P16 overall / P11 in class with its sister #35 car P41 overall / P10 in silver. The #21 Comtoyou AMR did rally in the second half of the race to finish P24 overall / P5 in class whilst the #11 bronze class crew ended up with their best result to date P45 overall / P10 in class.

The final round of the season will be from Portimao 16-18th October 2026.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend’s main racing event as far as Aston Martin Racing powered crews are concerned will be the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Series from the Nurburgring, Germany.

Amongst the fifty-five entries listed will be just the five AMR Vantage GT3 runners from either the Comtoyou Racing or Walkenhorst Motorsport teams after the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn team confirmed their absence from the event a few weeks ago.

 

With endurance rounds now signed off for Paul Ricard, Monza and the Spa 24- it just leaves both this weekend’s visit to Germany and the seasonal finale from Portimao to see out yet another season.

Championship wise, the #7 Comtoyou Racing Pro class entry for Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Drudi still stand as AMR’s best contenders as they sit second within the overall championship table, but they would need something of a minor miracle to overcome the forty-one points deficit to the leading Mercedes-AMG powered crew. With just two normal format races remaining, there will be just a maximum of fifty points available to them to achieve that feat.

 

 

The other Pro classed Aston Martin from the Walkenhorst team for drivers Christian Krognes, Jamie Day and Henrique Chaves have endured something of a nightmare season so far which has even seen them miss the opening round due to a practice session accident. Since then, the #34 crew have accrued just seven points.

Within the silver class, both the #21 Comtoyou Racing entry for drivers Kobe Pauwels, Oliver Soderstrom and Sebastian Baud find themselves just outside of the top ten in eleventh on a tally so far of twenty-eight points whilst the #35 Walkenhorst car of Mateo Villagomez, Ethan Ischer and Gaspard Simon find themselves further back in P23 with just five points.

 

The #11 bronze class entry from the Comtoyou Racing team for drivers AJ Muss and Marcelo Tomasoni sees the crew approach the end of what has become already a very turbulent debut within the series with bad luck usually outweighing driver mistakes. For this round Kyle Marcelli will also be replaced by Brazilian racer Sergio Sette Camara.

Track action will begin on Friday with both private testing and the bronze driver test sessions before Free Practice 1 and 2 on Saturday before individual qualifying and the start of this three hour race on Sunday at 15:00hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

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

 

The DTM completes our weekend build up reports as the German series moves onto the Nurburgring as their twenty-one-car field race out the two sprint races that will make up the sixth round of the season.

Within that number, there will of course be the two Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s of both Nicki Thiim and Nicolas Baert after the Dane lost his championship lead last time out at Oschersleben as his success ballast and Balance of performance adjustment for that round took full effect.

 

Having gone from pole to win in both of the two races at the Norisring in order to take the overall championship lead, the #007 car of Thiim was then hit with the maximum success ballast which then saw him battling hard for the scraps, picking up just one additional point for fastest lap in race two. Thiim now stands twenty-one points behind the now leading Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 of Marco Engel.

As for Baert’s championship run – well, that couldn’t really get any worse for the Belgian racer as he was again saddled with another two DNF’s at Oschersleben albeit with the credit of his crew winning fastest stop in race two.

Photo credits – ADAC / Team / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ADAC GT4 Germany Series is back in business again this weekend coming as the series moves onto the Nurburgring for its fourth round of the season.

The #4 Cosy Racing by ESM Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crew of Jan Philipp Springob and Philipp Gogollok will be looking to maintain that recent string of form found last time out at Oschersleben.

 

There the crew capitalised up Springob’ pole position in race one to win overall before they converted Gogollok’s P3 start in race two into another podium finish in third to now secure third place within both the overall and Junior Drivers Championship’s going into this round.

It appears that the #4 car will also benefit from a drop in its declared Balance of Performance minimum weight of last time out (which ran as high as an additional 40kg over the cars minimum base weight at the start of the season at Oschersleben) to run with just 20kg for this weekend.

 

Whilst the entry list for the Nurburgring has yet to be confirmed, we do expect it to again run with the nineteen runners that it has so far this season, but there is always the prospect of a guest entry or two.

The race format will also be the same with Q1 and Race 1 on Saturday before Q2 and Race 2 on Sunday – both races being an hour long with a compulsory pitstop window in the middle.

Photo credits - ADAC

 

 

 

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