The forty-four cars of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Series come together for one last round this weekend as they converge upon the circuit de Catalunya for their final two one-hour races of 2026.

Having started the season off at Brands Hatch back in early May, races then at Misano, Magny-Cours and most recently from Zandvoort in the Netherlands just two weeks ago sadly sees none of the five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries in any position to challenge for any remaining unresolved classes this time around.

 

The #007 Comtoyou Racing Pro class crew of both Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels has all the pre-season hallmarks of being a title contending crew but results over the year has seen just four points finishing races with a season best P3 finish in race one from Magny-Cours.

There were three silver class entries from both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams with the #21 Comtoyou crew of Arthur Dorison and Oliver Soderstrom having the best of recent class successes as they grabbed both a P3 and then a class win at Zandvoort last time out. Despite that, the still trail the #34 Walkenhorst AMR crew of Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez within their class but their point tallies combined will only then just be enough to beat the crew that will claim the silver class championship by the end of the weekend.

The other #35 Walkenhorst AMR crew of Maxime Robin and Gaspard Simon sees them considerably further down the class order with a seasonal points tally of half of their brand stablemates.

The final crew competing again this weekend will be the bronze class #11 Comtoyou Racing AMR crew of Marcelo Tomasoni and Felice Jelmini. They too have found the class fight a tough one this season in what is still their first season together at this level for the Brazilian / Italian combo.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

It’s another busy race weekend for Jonny Adam this weekend as he flies back from his latest, podium winning round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Austin, Texas with the Heart of Racing team to continue out to Germany for the sixth round of the International GT Open Series.

Competing this time around at Hockenheim, Adam will this time be back within the Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered alongside his co-driver Charles Bateman around the Hockenheim circuit.

 

This time around, the #97 Blackthorn entry is the sole Aston Martin Racing representative as the #14 Good Speed Racing AMR appear to be giving this one a miss having completed within all the rounds up until now with varying degrees of success.

Success has also been intermittent for the #97 crew as Bateman has shared the #97 with three other drivers according to Adam’s or Henrique Chaves international commitments but that hasn’t left him out in being able to visit the class podium once or twice so far.

 

This weekend sees a seventy-minute race being ran on Saturday with a further sixty-minute race on Sunday – both with a mandatory pitstop and driver change window and with one driver qualifying the car per day.

Competing again within the Pro-Am class, Bateman presently sits second within his Drivers Championship just five points off the class lead with still five races to come over the final three races of the year (including this weekend’s).

Photo credits - Series

 

 

The Walkenhorst Motorsport team last weekend bucked the trend of their Aston Martin Racing stablemates at Comtoyou Racing having all of the fun within racing competition of late as they came away from the Misano with two podium finishes in class to their name.

Racing at just the second round of the Sprint Cup Series, the German based Walkenhorst team entered two silver classed AMR Vantage GT3’s alongside the three AMR entries from the Belgium based Comtoyou team for the weekend’s two one-hour races.

 

Race one on Saturday would be an into the night race with the forty-four strong grid lining up just before dusk but with just the #34 Walkenhorst AMR of Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez breaking into the top half during the earlier qualifying getting a P12 overall starting slot over the next best of the #7 Comtoyou Racing Pro class entry of Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels.

Race one unfortunately got off to a troubled start with many of the front running cars making contact with one another with two cars sustaining damage with a wide debris field that necessitated the Safety Car before the end of the opening lap.

 

Fortunately none of these were AMR powered runners but that did lose ten minutes of the race clock during the clean-up operation before things got going again as Day still featured as the only Aston Martin runner within the top half of the entry coming up to the mandatory pit stop window.

By the time that had finished it was practically dark around the mainly unlit circuit as now Villagomez took up the charge within the #34 car but with something of a comeback drive from Pauwels aboard the #7 Comtoyou car as he was climbing his way up towards the overall top fifteen.

 

Despite a late FCY for a car stranded in the gravel that would eventually see the race finish under waved yellows, the #34 completed the opening race of the weekend with an overall P14 finish – P2 in silver whilst the #7 car still missed out upon a class top ten finish despite their best of efforts. The #21 Comtoyou silver entry of Oliver Soderstrom and Arthur Dorison ended their day with a credible P3 in class – two places in front of the #35 Walkenhorst entry of Maxime Robin and Gaspard Simon. The #11 Comtoyou Racing bronze class entry of Felice Jelmini and Marcelo Tomasoni would feature at the tail end of the pack at the end of both races in their opening weekend of the series.

Race two on Sunday would be run under the full heat of the summer sun but with Pauwels starting from the second row of the grid in third and with the #34 Walkenhorst this time the next based AMR in P21.

 

A cleaner start this time saw Pauwels drop a place before holding position for what then appeared to be a resumption of the abilities, but brake issues would quickly see the car back in the garage for what be an immediate retirement. That left Villagomez still down in P21 as the lead Aston again.

As the race progressed, the #35 teammate of Robin was next seen climbing both the class and overall race ladder immediately prior to their stop but once that had been completed, their sister #34 again took over the leading reins for Aston Martin. Whilst the two remaining Comtoyou Racing cars got a variety of time penalties for (usually) track limits which put paid to their races, it was to be another great display from the two Walkenhorst entries again on Sunday.

 

Day and Villagomez came home to secure their second P2 in class podium having come home P16 overall whilst both Robin and Simon had their best result to date with their P5 finish in class.

The next round of the season will be from Magny-Cours in France in just ten days’ time.

Photo credits – Team / Series

 

 

 

It’s down to the Mistral Circuit this weekend for the International GT Open Series as they embark upon their fifth round of the season with another seventy plus sixty-minute race format over the weekend at Paul Ricard.

Thirty multi-classed GT3 crews are again in the attendance with both the #14 Good Speed Racing and #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Evo powered crews amongst them.

 

Last time out at the Hungaroring two weeks ago was something of a disappointing affair for both Aston Martin powered crews as the best that the #97 crew of Charles Bateman and (then) Kobe Pauwels could offer was a P5 in Pro-Am in both races whilst the #14 crew of Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz could only manage a P5 in race at the end of race one before experiencing something of an odd incident going into the final right hander at the end of race two that saw the green livered car speer into the inside barrier causing significant front end damage.

Whilst the #14 crew remains a constant again (and with the car suitably fixed and repaired), the #97 car resorts to its advertised full season crew of both Bateman and Jonny Adam in lieu of Pauwels after the Scot has flown back from Brazil and his latest exploits within the FIA World Endurance Championship last weekend.

 

Track action begins on Friday with Free Practice before Qualifying 1 and the opening seventy-minute race later on Saturday. Qualifying 2 and the sixty-minute race will again be run on Sunday.

Results so far this season would mean that Bateman would need something like a minor miracle over the remaining rounds of the season to narrow down his points deficit within Pro-Am whilst Wira does remain in contention in Am, being just seventeen points behind the class leader.

 

Photo credits – Series / Teams / social media

 

 

The FIA World Endurance Championship dream continues for the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crew earlier today as they went from their P3 podium finish at Le Mans last time out to LMGT3 Pole Position at the end of todays class Hyperpole.

Racing this weekend in Brazil with the fourth round of the FIA WEC season and the six hours of Sao Paulo, saw Gray Newell first set up the teams assault within Hyperpole by finishing fourth during class Qualifying before team substitute driver Kobe Pauwel go for gold in the second session.

 

Today’s results in qualifying and Hyperpole across the LMGT3 and Hypercar classes saw the #27 AMR Vantage LMGT3 finish a surprising P15 in class and not make it through to Hyperpole wilts the teams two Hypercar entries rotated on the usual qualifying format.

 

This time it was the #007 car of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell who progressed through to the second stage with their P10 result and will start tomorrows race from nineth on the grid whilst the #009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen start P15 overall.

Photo credits – DPPI / Team / social media

 

Within the International GT Open Series, there was unfortunately no dominance for either of the two Aston Martin Racing powered teams as both BoP, race penalties and other events hit both the Pro-Am and Am class entered cars at the Hungaroring.

With Jonny Adam on F1 duties this weekend at Silverstone, Kobe Pauwels was the one who got the nod to sit alongside Charles Bateman within the #97 Blackthorn AMR entry whilst it was business as usual for both Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz within their #14 Good Speed Racing entry.

 

This time, it was back to the usual seventy-minute race one on Saturday with a sixty minute second race on Sunday (with individual qualifying for each) where both Aston’s would be starting sixth within their respective classes within the midfield of the grid.

With both Pauwels and Magdziarz each taking the start to race one, the race was kept basically clean over the opening laps despite some typical inter-class panel bashing as some jockeyed for position and up towards the pit stop window opening. Finally, a late Safety Car for a Ferrari beached in the gravel interrupted the flow with just twenty minutes remaining where the race eventually ended with the #97 car finishing P12 overall/P5 in class with the #14 car finishing P21 overall/P5 in class.

 

 

The International GT Open Series moves onto the Hungaroring at the weekend for their fourth round of the season featuring another multi-classed grid of twenty-eight cars and the usual 70 plus 60-minute race format.

Both the #14 Good Speed Racing and #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s will again be in attendance although there is another driver change within the Blackthorn car.

 

Presumably getting a well-earned weekend off from his recent hectic run of driving and coaching commitments including two significant twenty-four-hour events both at Le Mans and at Spa, sees Jonny Adam step aside with Kobe Pauwels taking his place alongside that of Charles Bateman within the #97 Pro-Am entered car.

The Polish based #14 Good Speed Racing Am class entry remains the same with Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz again teaming up together after they secured a healthy pair of class podium finishes (including a class win) at the last sprint round of the Series from Misano earlier in June.

 

This weekend will see Qualifying and the 70-minute race ran on Saturday before second driver qualifying and the 60-minute race on Sunday.

Championship wise, Bateman finds himself third overall within Pro-Am after his five races so far after two races at Portimao and one longer race at Spa (having skipped Misano) whilst the Wira and Magdziarz find themselves 4th and 5threspectively in class but on different point tallies after Wira ran solo at the season opener in Portugal.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

Sunday’s opening six-hour round to the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship from Imola in Italy could perhaps be explained as something of a character-building experience for one half of the Heart of Racing garage but a job well done (but still leaving room for improvement) for the other after another characteristically gruelling race.

Starting under the Italian sunshine, there was eagerness to continue along the impressive development and performance curve that the team has displayed with last years all new Aston Martin Valyrie Hypercar and with a well-rounded Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 package for what was now a two-car entry.

 

Qualifying on Saturday had not reflected the quicker pace of the Vantage LMGT3 and whilst the #007 Valkyrie had done well with their P9 starting position, the sister #009 car was still struggling for pace after having a new car built up after their Prologue Test accident earlier in the week.

Despite thirty-five Hypercar and LMGT3 cars taking to the start around the tighter and undulating historical circuit, all ran surprisingly smoothly with all four Heart of Racing cars running within their respective mid-field at the end of the opening hour.

 

Into the second hour and #27 Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James had already had five seconds added to his first pit stop time for his apparent starting procedure error whilst the #23 rookie Gray Newell was also learning things the hard way after getting firstly pinged for speeding within the pit lane before later getting a reprimand for not quite stopping within his designated pitstop box. Despite these, the young American was being otherwise impressive considering his short racing background.

By the end of the second hour of racing, both Valkyries had elevated themselves into the top ten in class whilst the two Vantages were still struggling for pace compared to most of the other OEM’s. Despite an earlier Safety Car intervention for a stranded car on track had not shortened the gap to their opponents up ahead.

 

Hour three into hour four and with the imminent threat of rain fast approaching, the status quo within both class sets was looking insecure for all as the #007 remained within the top 10 and the #27 Vantage was doing likewise in P8.

Unfortunately, with little over ninety minutes remaining, Mattia Drudi was forced to box the #27 car and for (presumably) technical reasons unknown, they would take no further part in the proceedings making for a second consecutive DNF at the circuit. The #009 Valkyrie would also drop off the chasing group to eventually finish P14 overall and one lap down to the winning Toyota.

 

 

Blink and you would have missed it as the FIA World Endurance Championship completed its mandatory Prologue test at Imola today having been forced to do so from global events.

Whilst we would have been pleased to say that all passed off without incident for the Heart of Racing team, that would sadly not be the case after Marco Sorensen suffered a heavy off in his #008 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar during the wet morning session.

 

Without knowing too much about causation, the green V12 powered monster was seen spinning through the gravel before connecting heavily with the tyre protected circuit barrier causing significant damage to the car.

Whilst the Dane was able to extricate himself from the car and after mandatory medical assistance, was fortunately deemed fit to continue with the upcoming race weekend but the same couldn’t be said for the #009 car with the team now working hard to build up a new car utilising their spare monocoque in time for Fridays first Free Practice session.

 

Meanwhile, their sister #007 Hypercar of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble got in the laps and hence valuable data during the eight hours of track availability finishing the day just outside of the top ten within an extended class of seventeen cars.

It was better news however, across the team garage to where both Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s are prepared as Mattia Drudi powered the #27 car that he shares with Zacharie Robichon and Ian James to the top of the overall class leaderboard.

 

Their sister #23 car of Jonny Adam and a series debuting Kobe Pauwels and Gray Newell also fared well within the wet conditions finishing mid table in the results but with both debutant drivers getting in a decent number of laps between them.

That was of course just testing and the real business will begin on Friday ahead of Qualifying on Saturday and the start of this six-hour race opener at 13:00hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / AMR / social media

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

What a difference a day made for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 team at the final race weekend of the Asian Le Mans Series from Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

Having made the relative short trip up the coastline from the Dubai Autodrome that hosted rounds three and four of the 2025-26 season, the sole Aston Martin Racing crew were already out of the GT Class championship contention despite their opening race P3 podium at the opening race in Sepang in December.

 

 

Having suffered from the penalties arrived at through the constant breach of track limits in Dubai, it was presumably hoped that the lesson would have been learned before the Giacomo Petrobelli, Jonny Adam and Kobe Pauwels driven car arrived at Yas Marina.

Things were certainly looking up for the #56 crew as Petrobelli delivered a pair of P3 Qualifying positions as the Vantage GT3 looked more comfortable around the 5.2km circuit – made the easier after another inter-race Balance of Performance change for the Aston.

 

Unfortunately, not too much to cheer about for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing crew at the weekend after they battled out the middle two races of the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series from the Dubai Autodrome.

Having moved across from Sepang with the opening two races of the season where the Giacomo Ptrobelli, Kobe Pauwels and Jonny Adam driven car had secured an opening race P3 class podium as well as a P13 class finish for their efforts, last weekend’s events had started with a significant weight reduction for the AMR Vantage GT3 as part of a wider BoP “rebalance” in class.

 

 

However, with all the other GT class manufacturers also received BoP changes as well so there was never to be any significant benefit on track for the sole Aston Martin runner after it lost further ground on track to its rivals over the course of the two four-hour races that would make up rounds 3 and 4 of the series.

Race one on Saturday saw the Italian take the start form his P9 Qualifying position but despite some early progresses up to as high as P5 in class, the Aston was clearing struggling for pace with the teams race progress further compounded by two drive through penalties for the Italian for his repeated breach of track limits during his opening double stint.

 

Six weeks or so since the opening races to their 2025/26 season kicked off in Sepang, the Asian Le Mans Series is back at the racetrack again this weekend for another race double header for its mixed grid of LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars at the Dubai Autodrome.

Still sporting another combined grid of forty-six cars and crews, we will see just the single Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn stable part within this weekend’s two four-hour races with their driver line up of Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Kobe Pauwels aboard their #56 entry with the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR again being selective in their appearances.

 

 

Last time out at Sepang the #56 crew took a first race podium after their P3 finish in class whilst the #89 EBM car finished in seventh before in race two, both cars finished one lap off the pace in P13 and P14 respectively.

Track action has already begun in Dubai with the first private test session where the #56 appears to be quick out of the box, finishing third in the timing order just 0.211 of a second off the lead pace.

 

 

In Sepang, there were three adjustments to the official Balance of Performance regime within the GT Class and there have been two versions of that document ahead of the Dubai weekend already as the Vantage GT3 first lost 10kg off its declared base weight before losing a further 5kg in its first amendment. All the other platforms within the class have seen similar weight reduction or increases.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

In other Aston Martin Racing powered news this week sees the opening to applications today for this years intake of ‘pupil’s for AMR’s Driver Academy programme.

Open again to anyone between sixteen and twenty-six years old and racing an AMR Vantage GT or GT4 within any recognised mainstream series this year is eligible to apply to receive a multitude of on and off-track guidance along the way before being in chance of winning a significant financial contribution towards their 2027 racing programme.

Last year’s title was of course won by the young Belgian racer Kobe Pauwels after he (and the previous AMR Academy winner) Jamie Day secured the Silver Class championship win within the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup with Comtoyou Racing in their Vantage GT3.

 

Next, we have seen a post come out on social media from the GBR Stratton Motorsport team for potential racers within their British GT Championship AMR Vantage GT4 programme have announced a two-car entry into the 2026 season last year.

Just how many drivers they are after is yet to be seen but they did confirm potential test dates for any interested parties at Donington, Snetterton and Silverstone.

The necessary contact details for both the Academy and GBR Stratton requests can be seen within each respective image.

 

 

We have seen the Portuguese based Racar Motorsport team confirm their acquisition of at least one new Vantage GT4 for this season’s racing activities (yet to be confirmed) having secured both the Iberian and CPV drivers titles within the Iberian Supercars Series with their 17A variant.

 

 

Lastly, we (sadly)see the offering for sale of the former 2 Seas Motorsport/Verstappen.com AMR Vantage GT3 that was used by Thierry Vermuelin, Harry King and Chris Lulham to win the Gold Class within last season’s GT World Challenge Endurance Cup Championship seeing their recent move back to the AMG platform.

Photo credits – Teams / Racer Direct / social media