Two back-to-back four-hour races of the NLS season saw three Aston Martin Racing powered crews take to the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit as the German endurance series ramps up until the end of its 2026 season.

The full season AMR protagonists from the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing team were again on hand as both entered their own Vantage GT3 that would both be running within the SP9 Pro-Am class for their respective trio of drivers. The Prosport Racing team would also be entering one of their remaining Vantage GT4 cars with a differing crew within each race.

 

The #35 Walkenhorst crew of Christian Krognes, Mateo Villagomez and Dennis Fetzer had already achieved podium success earlier in the season and were keen for some more whilst the father/son combination of Guido and Maxime Dumarey would in fact be joined by Adam Christodoulou, taking them out of the Am class and into the Pro-Am class.

The #175 Prosport AMR Vantage GT4 meanwhile would be running with both Robb Holland and Jacques Derenne on Saturday with Derenne and Jean-Luc Behets on Sunday.

A four-hour double header around the Nurburgring Nordschleife is the beckoning call for well over one hundred multi-classed crews this weekend as the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie ramps up the temperature towards the end of its 2026 season.

Rounds eight and nine of the season will witness one hundred and thirty-six crews take to the track on for Saturday’s four-hour race whilst a more modest in comparison one hundred and twenty- one cars and crews will do likewise for Sunday’s four-hour race.

 

Within that number we do welcome back the ‘mostly’ full season entries from both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing Aston Martin Racing powered teams as well as an AMR Vantage GT4 powered crew for the first time in a while.

The #35 Walkenhorst SP9 Pro-Am entry of Christian Krognes, Mateo Villagomez and Dennis Fetzer are back together again looking to avenge their DNF last time out within the six-hour NLS 7 event after they had secured both overall pole position and a P3 finish in class at the round before that.

 

Within the #37 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 entry, it will again be the father and son pairing of Maxime and Guido Dumarey after they also struggled in NLS 7 but also secured a P3 finish within their SP9 Am class before that.

The only change to the norm this weekend is the inclusion of the #175 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 entry for the first time since the 24Hrs which will run a split crew across the weekend. For Saturday it will be both Robb Holland and Jacques Derenne whilst on Sunday it will be Derenne and Jean-Luc Behets – competing within the SP10 class on both dates.

Photo credits – Teams / Eric Metzner

Three further Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews see out this weekend’s mainstream events for AMR’s customer and Partner teams across the world as both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing teams return to the Nurburgring Nordschleife for the latest round of the NLS season and the D’Station Racing team make a return in the Japanese Super GT Series.

Starting in Germany, there has been some controversary already this week after another Nurburgring based endurance series was confirmed for 2027 supported by enticing automatic entries and reduced fees into next year’s ADAC Ravenol 24H main event. All of this would again be in direct competition with the more established Nurburgring Langstrecken Series (nee VLN Series) who race again this weekend with another healthy multi-classed grid.

 

Competing within Saturday’s six hour will again be the #35 Walkenhorst SP9 Pro class entry of Christian Krognes and Dennis Fetzer who last time out in late June (and alongside Mateo Villagomez) secure both overall pole position for the first time plus managing to bring their car home P5 overall, P3 in class.

They will be joined again by the #37 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Maxime and Guido Dumarey alongside Marek Bochmann, a team who was also successful last time out in that four-hour race by finishing third within their SP9 Am class. This weekend’s race will, however, be a six-hour affair.

 

Finally, we welcome the cars and teams of the Japanese Super GT Series back on track this weekend as after an enforced layover following the cancellation of the intended third round of the season at Sepang in late June.

For this weekend, the combined GT500 and GT300 grids of which the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg will again be part of as they protect their slender GT300 class lead after their class win first time out at Okayama followed up by a P7 finish at Fuji.

 

This weekend, the series is again back at the Fuji Speedway but this time for a more typical race calendar with a 300km race as opposed to the two individual sprint races as tried last year.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

It was a great display from the two Aston Martin Racing powered entries into today’s sixth round of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie as one crew first secured an overall Pole position to the race before both crews delivered class podium finishes.

First time back at the Nurburgring Nordschleife since twenty-four hour for the NLS Series, todays entry was a typically more modest one hundred and twelve car entry for this four-hour race with both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 crews amongst them.

 

Competing like many across northern Europe at the moment with high ambient temperatures, it was the #35 Walkenhorst AMR of Christian Krognes who was first to deliver after he placed the car that he was to share with Mateo Villagomez and Dennis Fetzer onto the front row of the grid whilst the Maxime and Guido Dumarey alongside Marek Bochmann secured a P16 in SP9 start.

With the race starting just a few hours later, Krognes was to hold the race lead over the opening laps whilst Bochmann has elevated their track position onto the tail end of the top ten overall as the race then settled into its normal rhythm.

 

As the race progressed, the #35 crew would fall down the order to as low as fifth overall before a late charge brought them right back into the action to claim a P4 overall race finish but P3 within their own SP9 Pro class whilst the #37 Prosport Racing AMR entry did likewise within their own SP9 Am class car.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

 

 

 

 

 

Germany will be the venue of three significant race series this weekend as both the DTM and ADAC GT Masters Series pair up again at the Lausitzring whilst the NLS Series get back underway after their annual break for the ADAC Ravenol N24 event just a few weeks.

Whilst the total entry numbers may be now considered modest compared to others, there will of course be at least one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crew within each as the Comtoyou Racing team again fields all three entries at the Lausitzring, it’s both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing team doing the honours around the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

 

It’s the third round of the year for both the DTM and GT Masters runners and all three Comtoyou Racing AMR crews will be looking for more after a poor showing last time out around the coastal circuit of Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

Running solo as usual, the #007 car of Nicki Thiim and the #008 car of Nicolas Baert struggled to keep within the top ten at the end of both races (for Thiim) whilst Baert was again the last of those still running out of their twenty-car entry. It was a similar tail within the GT Masters Series for the #39 Vantage GT3 of Jamie Day and Baudouin Detout whose best result at Zandvoort was a P8 out of their entry of just fifteen cars.

 

Whilst the entry remains constant for DTM, the other series has seen a two car drop in numbers for this weekend.

Rounding things off in Germany will be the running of the sixth round of the 2026 Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie which sees about one hundred and ten cars listed ahead of Saturday’s four-hour race.

 

 

Now that the main event has now passed, we will just see the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport SP9 Pro-Am entry of Mateo Villagomez, Christian Krognes and Dennis Fetzer alongside the #37 Prosport Racing SP9 Am class entry for father and son, Guido and Maxime Dumarey. Both crews will be looking to make amends to their DNF finishes at the twenty four hour race back in mid-May.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

After five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 runners within the opening round to the new SRO supported GT3 Revival Series, there will be another mix of another five V12 Vantage GT3’s at this weekend’s second round to the series from the Spa Classic.

Whilst all of this is obviously great news for any lover of the old V12 Aston Martin engine, the biggest problem that we have is actually identifying which car will be presented by each team moving forward.

What we do know is that Jonathon Mitchell will be back with his #007 former Team TRG-AMR GT3 that he raced to a double P2 podium finish last time out at Paul Ricard back in early April after which he enjoyed similar racing success at the recent Donington Festival.

 

 

The #16 Britec Motorsport of Afshin Fatemi is again listed like he was for the opening round but failed to part in any of the proceedings.

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

 

After his racing duties at last weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 from the Nurburgring, Guido Dumarey will go back in time this weekend from his 16A variant of the Vantage GT3 that sadly impaled itself into the armco barrier in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tyre failure to that of his prior V12 model as presented by GDM Motorsport.

Franz Wunderlich and (maybe) Pascal Huteau will be back with their #62 former R-Motorsport AMR Vantage GT3 that also raced in the south of France first time out with just Wunderlich behind the wheel. He was also at Spa Francorchamps two weeks ago as he peddled is former TF Sport AMR Vantage GTE in the FIA WEC support race there.

Rounding off the indicated five car entry is that of the #82 ERA Motorsport entry for Christian Abrecht and Kyle Tilley. This one we really don’t know about other than it could be a platform recently sold by the RoFGO Collection a few months ago, but we will have to wait and see.

 

All being well, there should be two forty-minute races over the course of the race weekend for the forty-six car entry.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

Whilst there have been many other Aston Martin Racing powered team podium finishes this weekend, the greatest achievement of the year so far has to go to the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport entry in this weekend’s ADAC Ravenol N24 around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Giving early indications as to their speed and intentions, the #34 car of Nicki Thiim, Mattia Drudi and Christian Krognes not only took the race to the more dominant German brands but beat many of them in the process to eventually finish third overall at the end of the twenty-four earlier this afternoon. This result is the best overall race result on record for any AMR podium tea has achieved and has been something that has (and continues) to illude the British marque.

 

Starting from eleventh on the grid after Fridays top qualifying session, the #34 was quickly making its mark at the sharp end of the one hundred and sixty-one car entry – leading the race by right as the afternoon turned dark and as Drudi survived two laps around the sprawling circuit on slicks whilst others were coming off worse for the same.

With their success, there was also heartache to be felt within the AMR camp featuring four AMR Vantage GT3 powered crews and one Vantage GT4 powered crew as it was just the #34 crew who finished the race. The #35 Walkenhorst car failed to make it five times around the track before its stationary position on track was narrowly avoided by the chasing pack whilst the #39 Walkenhorst car didn’t go much further after being rear ended during the night.

 

The #37 Prosport Racing AMR did make it through the night only for a tyre failure along the Dottinger Hohe to spear the older Vantage headlong into the barrier and into immediate retirement. We unfortunately didn’t see much of the #169 Dorr Motorsport Vantage GT4, but they did also feature high within their SP10 class overnight before also failing somewhere soon after.

It’s been another great event – a great tribute to the sadness of the preceding Qualification race weekend but well done to all concerned.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / AMR / social media

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Tragedy unfortunately struck down the motorsport community again at the weekend after it was confirmed that a veteran racer succumbed to injuries inflicted in a multi-car accident at the opening race of the 2026 ADAC Ravenol N24 Qualifiers on Saturday.

Over one hundred and thirty-two cars were listed as entering this weekend’s pair of four-hour races however the events early into Saturday’s race saw the proceedings red flagged due to this multi-car incident, but no further details were given.

 

Only later into the evening when it was confirmed that race one of the weekend would not be resumed did race organisers confirm that 66-year-old Finnish racer Juha Miettinen had sadly passed away despite the best of efforts by the medical and circuit staff.

That seven-car accident had also claimed the #27 Prosport Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 amongst the carnage just prior to the Karussell and that car and crew would take no further involvement in Sundays continuation.

 

 

 

Five Aston Martin Racing powered crews will convene around at the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit this weekend for the two ADAC Ravenol N24 Qualification races around the infamous circuit.

Unsurprisingly, all five crews are from the Prosport Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams with the former running their pair of older 16A iteration of platform whilst the latter run a trio of Evo versions.

At the last NLS round we only had the single Prosport entry but that was simply because the Walkenhorst team were busy in the south of France getting ready for the opening six-hour round of the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup Series.

 

That being said, one of the overall winners within the #007 Comtoyou Racing AMR Vantage GT3’s in that event will be swapping allegiances to the Walkenhorst team for these qualification races and indeed twenty-four hour itself as Nicki Thiim partners Christian Krognes with the #34 SP9 entry. They will then be joined by third man Mattai Drudi at the 24 but he is already busy this weekend at the FIA WEC opener in Italy.

The team’s second N24 entry within their #35 car will also be present around the Green Hell this weekend as drivers Mateo Villagomez, Felipe Fernandez-Laser, Dennis Fetzer and Stefan Aust team up togther for the first time.

A third team entry for team boss Henry Walknehorst, Nico Hantke, Anders Buchardt and Mex Jansen will also be involved within the teams #39 car. We don’t know about any special livery this time around after the colourful charity fundraiser example of last season.

 

The locally based Prosport Racing team will also be fielding two AMR Vantage GT3 crews this weekend although they are only down for having one within the main event in mid-May. The entry list for this weekend also list drivers within both cars so it’s all rather confusing at the moment with father and son Maxime and Guido Dumarey part of the N24 entry but with Marek Bockmann, Tobias Wahl, Maik Ronnefarth and Markus Lonnroth all in support somewhere across the two cars.

This weekend’s event will be made up of two four-hour races – one on Saturday and the other on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

 

Another steady performance from the locally based Prosport Racing team as both of their Aston Martin Racing powered entries came safely home at the end of today’s third round of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie.

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

 

 

With the Walkenhorst Motorsport team presently busy with their GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup racing duties this weekend, it comes as no real surprise that the Prosport Racing team will be the sole Aston Martin Racing powered representative within this weekend’s NLS event.

This weekend will see the third round of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie being run around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschliefe with another four-hour race that will lead into the N24 Qualifying double header the on weekend after.

 

 

 

Whilst the racing headlines may have been all about a certain young Dutchman and his Mercedes AMG GT3 team mates at first winning and then later losing the race upon a technicality, the second Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie race of the season was at least productive for the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews.

With race one of the year cancelled because of unsafe racing conditions around the Nordschleife, todays four-hour affair at least had the benefit of gently warming sunny and dry track conditions as over one hundred and thirty cars took to the track again.

 

 

Whilst that Verstappen car did take overall pole position by some margin, the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport AMR Vantage SP9 Pro classed entry of Christian Krognes and Matia Drudi were still upon the second row of the rolling grid in fourth. Their sister #35 Pro-Am entered car would start P25 overall with the single Prosport Racing SP9 Am classed car two slot further back for this midday’s start.

Their persistence would be rewarded at the end as the #34 car would improve to a P4 overall after the post-race disqualification of the Verstappen car but the other two would better than with a podium position each within their respective classes.

It’s second time lucky for the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie this weekend as the German circuit hosts the second four-hour round of the NLS series with the ADAC Barbarossapreis and an expected entry list of over one hundred and thirty cars.

 

 

Last weekend’s season opener was sadly thwarted by the unwelcome arrival of snow, ice and freezing fog of the Eiffel mountain circuit that quickly put paid to any chances of racing. Testing on the Friday was run through thoroughly wet and miserable conditions before the weather got suddenly colder overnight and although cars did eventually hit the track in Qualifying on Saturday, race officials eventually deemed conditions too dangerous to continue.

Like last weekend, we welcome the same three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 runners and riders again from both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing teams although the #37 Prosport entry does now include a third driver within their father and son crew.

 

 

Team favourite Marek Bockmann joins Maxime and Guido Dumarey within their SP9 Am classed entry whilst the two Walkenhorst entries remain the same with Christian Krognes and Mattia Drudi pairing within their #34 Pro classed entry with Matteo Villagomez, Dennis Fetzer and Felipe Fernandez Laser sharing their #35 Pro-Am entry.

All being well, testing will continue today with Qualifying then held early on Saturday morning before the start of this four-hour race from midday.

Photo credits – Teams / social media