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

Two determined races from the Cosy Racing by ESM Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered team saw them get their championship aspirations back on track after the ADAC GT4 Germany Series visit to Oschersleben at the weekend.

 

Racing as only their third round to the season, their out of the box performances at the opening round of the year at the Red Bull Ring had been unsurprisingly muted by the series visit to the improvised street circuit layout of the Norisring last time out, so good performances were high on the agenda for both Jan Philipp Springob and Philipp Gogollok aboard their #4 car amongst the grid of eighteen other runners.

 

Despite repeated revisits to the Balance of Performance clip-board over the weekend, the weekend started well for the pairing on Saturday after Springob claimed pole position ahead of that opening hour-long race later in the day.

Not quite a comfortable lights to flag win, the #4 crew managed to stay clear of trouble during the opening laps to hold onto the race lead going into the compulsory pit window. A further full course yellow brought the pack back together again going into the final quarter of the race which left Gogollok busy in with his mirrors as he protected the teams run into another race win in the series.

 

Roles reversed for race two saw Gogollok this time undertake the role of qualifying, taking the start from P3 on the grid later in the day.

Decidedly cooler than Saturday and with the potential of further rain still on the radar made for a very skittish start to the race around the very greasy track. With something of a dry line nearly always visible around the track, the still falling rain did nothing to affect the flow of the race until just before the pit window when the rain fall intensified and two contacting cars left debris around the track. Delaying the pit window by a few minutes, the clean up behind the Safety Car was quickly down as the #4 car pitted from fourth.

 

With the rain then reducing in volume, the speed of the race towards the chequered flag increased accordingly as Springob chased down the podium placed cars ahead. That was quickly done as the #4 car moved up to third with any further charge thwarted by a late FCY for debris slowed the pace back down again leaving just a couple of minutes to the end. The team would eventually finish their third race weekend of the year with another podium finish to add to their race win.

Photo credits - ADAC

 

 

 

 

Both the DTM and ADAC GT4 Germany Series are back in action this weekend as both series move across to Oschersleben for what will be the fifth round of the GT3 based DTM but only the third round of the GT4 series.

Last time out at the Norisring was something special for the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Nicki Thiim as the crew and driver did what was necessary to secure the double overall race wins at the end of each of the hour-long races despite each race being interrupted either by accident of weather.

However, that success last time out comes at a weight cost this time out as the Vantage GT3 will suffer from the addition of a 30kg increase in car base weight as well as an additional 20kg increase in handicap weight.

With the circuit layout being a sequence of short straights before ninety-degree bends, that additional weight for the car will have a clear impact on both its acceleration out and braking into the corners. The team did suffer from brake issues in the second race of last weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series from Misano before Thiim could get into the car but that should be upon another chassis to his DTM entry.

 

Thiim will once again be joined within his #008 car by Nicolas Baert who is still to demonstrate any kind of improvement in terms of racing performance in what is now his second season within the series. Three weeks ago at the Norisring, the Belgian failed to get to close to the midway point in the timing during either qualifying nor in the race each day whilst Thiim proved that the car had pace this time around.

This weekend also sees the entry reduced to twenty cars after the race one halting crash landed one driver in hospital with leg injuries after heavy contact from another car going into the tight hairpin.

 

Then there will be the competitive nineteen car grid of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series which again sees the #4 Cosy Racing by ESM Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 Evo of Jan Philipp Springob and Philipp Gogollok.

Unlike the bigger Vantage GT3, the Vantage GT4 didn’t quite get the performance envelope that it needed to race around the improvised street circuit of the Norisring despite two bites at the apple by race organisers.

 

A P5 overall qualifying performance from each driver ahead of the weekend’s racing wasn’t still forward enough for the pairing to capitalise with a race finish higher than P5 overall. For this weekend at least, the Vantage GT4 will be given a 5kg BoP weight reduction (25kg over declared base weight) over that at the Norisring.

Photo credits – DTM / ADAC

  

 

The second round of the German DTM Series took place at the weekend from the Lausitzring with both Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crews again in action.

With two more-hour long races around the fast and furious tri-oval infield circuit layout, it was always going to difficult for the two still relatively inexperienced GT3 racers in Gilles Magnus and Nicolas Baert to take the race to the peers, but improvements were still needed after the disaster of the opening round from Oschersleben.

 

Twenty-four cars will compete at the Lausitzring this weekend in the second round of the German DTM Series.

Two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 cars from the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team will again be part of that entry as Nicolas Baert and Gilles Magnes again prepare to compete within this fiercely competitive solo driver series within the #7 and #8 cars respectively.

Last weekend’s hectic schedule of motor racing also witnessed a whole host of Aston Martin Racing powered success for the many Partner and Customer teams around the world.

Germany proved itself to be the busiest as far AMR powered teams were concerned as the Nordschleife Langstrecken Serie ran its second-round four-hour affair from the notorious ‘Green Hell’ circuit whilst both the DTM and event supporting GT4 Germany Series opened their 2025 account from Oschersleben.

Two more European series start their 2025 campaigns this weekend from Oschersleben in Germany where both series will feature two Aston Martin Racing powered crews amongst them.

Starting off at the higher level sees the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team finally make their anticipated start within the DTM Series with their two AMR Vantage GT3 Evo’s for both Gilles Magnus and Nicolas Baert.

 

Encouraging performances finally came to the Walkenhorst Aston Martin Racing powered team at the weekend as one of the ADAC GT Masters Vantage GT3 crews secured a podium finish in race and were in contention for another the second.

After a uncharacteristically poor performance at the opening round of the season at Oschersleben about a month ago saw the #34 crew of Denis Bulatov and Mike David Ortmann secure a much-deserved overall P3 finish after an eventful race one of the weekend from the Dutch coastal circuit of Zandvoort.

 

Five Aston Martin Racing Vantage crews again populate themselves within the twenty-seven strong entry list for this weekend’s second round of the ADAC GT4 Germany, this time just across the border at Zandvoort, Holland.

Having ran last time out at Oschersleben, the four Prosport Racing and this time solo crew from the Doer Motorsport team again competed within two highly dramatic one-hour sprint races that left for five DNF or DNS for the five Aston Martins across the two races but was highlighted by an overall win for reigning champions Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann aboard the #1 Prosport car.

 

A fine recovery weekend for the Prosport Racing team at this weekend’s Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie as that fourth round of the formerly named VLN gave time another two good results but also time to test out damaged stock.

As previously reported, the Nurburgring based team transporter lorry was involved in what can only be assumed as a serious road traffic accident on their way back to base from the opening round of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series from Oschersleben.

Not just injuring their driver (later confirmed by the team as non-life threatening), it also transpired that all four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 cars that were inside the transporter at the time also suffered serious damage because of that accident.


Yesterday’s preparation to this NLS4 event also gave the team track time to shake down all four cars in advance of next weekend’s second round of the German GT4 series from Zandvoort, Holland. The team report that that test passed off without incident or concern, which is good.

Results from today’s four-hour NLS race were also good despite having to replace half of their driver line up at short notice (due to prior engagements rather than anything else) and that brought home an SP9 Pro-Am class win for the #17 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Maxime Dumarey and Mike David Ortmann together with a P4 in SP10 for the #176 AMR Vantage GT4 of Guido Dumarey and Celia Martin.

Photo credits - Team

 

After the trials and tribulations for the five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews at the opening round of the ADAC Gt4 Germany Series from Oschersleben on Saturday, Sunday’s second race unfortunately saw much of the same.

Having suffered from technical gremlins for much of the Free Practice, Q1 and race 1, the #48 car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn got swapped out to one of the teams cars that had just competed within the ADAC TotalEnergies 24H event the week before.

 

The five Aston Martin Racing powered runners within the ADAC GT4 Germany Series will be hoping for better in tomorrow’s second race of the season opener from Oschersleben after incident and technical issues saw just two cars finish.

Entering this season as defending Champions, the #1 Prosport Racing car of Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse were immediately upon the back foot having Qualified only sixth within the field of twenty-nine cars. The #007 Doer Motorsport car of Ben Dorr (and Theo Nouet) was next in also a disappointing (for them) P11 with the Bachmann family car of Jessica and Andreas close behind in P12 despite their ongoing technical issues through Free Practice and Qualifying.