Running their longest race within the history of the Series at the Circuit de La Sarthe earlier today, proved itself to be another eventful one albeit not always in a positive way as far as the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s were concerned.

Qualifying was all sorted yesterday as the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman entry of Philipp Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot this time bucked the trend in beating the #10 Code Racing Development AMR Vantage of Sebastian Moreno and Ethan Ischer to be the highest placed Aston Martin on the Road to Le Mans grid fourth in class to the #10 cars P7.

 

The two Blackthorn AMR cars of #90 Charles Bateman and Kobe Pauwels as well the late crew replacements of Giacomo Petrobelli and Romain Leroux within the #91 car (who would replace both Claude Bovet and Tom Canning due to an apparent injury to Bovet) would figure towards the rear of the fifty-eight strong grid.

An early start to the three-hour race on Friday morning saw of the crews struggling to get warmth into their tyres and brakes with the inevitable contact between cars on the opening lap saw race hobbling damage for many. One of those was the #90 car of Bateman who would return to pit lane with what appeared to just be a rear puncture but was something obviously a bit more sinister as the car only lasted another seven laps before being retired.

 

Their #91 of Petrobelli was also seen with front quarter damage which appeared to be ‘raceable’ from what little viewpoint we had of the car but that also was retired from the race on only the next lap to their sister to make for a forgettable race weekend in France for the team.

Leaving just the #10 and #11 cars to the AMR name, the race never settled until about half an hour had passed after a quick sequence of slow zones during the opening laps had again spoiled the start but only at the hour mark did we see the Safety Car for the first time after a heavy off into the safer barrier at the Porsche Curves.

 

Sager and Moreno meanwhile were keeping out of trouble circulating P6 and P10 in class respectively as their stint length was coming to an end before their Pro or silver classed drivers took over to the end. Both Hasse-Clot and Ischer quickly made their mark as the elevated their cars up to P4 and P8 with little under an hour still to go and they were both forced to pit for their final time.

Losing time to the repositioning of the car relative to their refuelling rig, the #10 car re-emerged in third as the two leading McLarens were circulating faster than what the Frenchman could cut down so a lower step of the podium was looking probable. Last lap contact between the two class leaders, however, saw the long-time leader sidelined with terminal damage allowing the #10 car to easily pass for position.

 

At the flag, the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin took second in class whilst the #10 Code Racing Development go their first finish of the season with a post-race time penalty adjusted seventh in class – all subject to official confirmation.

 

The Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Sebastian Moreno has again showed his qualifying pace at least as he qualified the #11 car that he now shares with Ethan Ischer onto another pole position within the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series.

This time competing at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, the Columbian bronze driver did what he did at the opening round from Barcelona just few weeks ago to go nearly three quarters of a second quicker than anyone else within their ten strong GT3 class to claim his second pole position of the season. His teammate, Ischer also secured a fastest class lap of the event during an earlier Free Practice session

 

The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT3 of Philipp Sager (shared with Valentin Hasse-Clot) sadly could not replicate his qualifying pace of Barcelona as they eventually qualified P8 in class with the #91 Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR of Claude Bovet (and Tom Canning) had better fortune this time to make it through to the grid of this afternoons race in nineth after an earlier spin for Bovet.

They sadly had a heavy off in Spain that prevented them from racing in Spain, as did the #11 Code of Racing Development AMR during the opening laps of that race which eventually allowed the #10 RSLM car to come through to claim a season opening race win. It’s just now time for the teams to join together all those dots for the race.

 

The second two-hour round of the Le Mans Cup season is waved off at 18:20hrs local this evening.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

It was a debut event well done for the #11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 within the final round of the Le Mans Cup Series from Portimao earlier this weekend that saw one final podium finish for their efforts.

Having stepped up to both the AMR platform and the ACO rules series at the turn of the year, the teams original pairing of Philipp Sager and Rory Van Der Steur got off to a flying start with two podium finishes for the team and crew after the opening two races.

 

Everything has shaped up rather nicely ahead of tomorrow morning’s final race of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup Series season with both Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews populating the front row of the final grid at Portimao.

Having learned of the full season entered #11 Code Racing Development late change in driver line up to series debutants Pascal Huteau and David Kullmann in replacement of the previous advertised Philipp Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot as well as the guesting #91 Blackthorn AMR of Alex Martin and Charles Bateman making their first appearance together, it appears that their status of no pressure being upon them was enough for both crews to post the two fastest laps time to otherwise dominate the GT3 class front row.

 

Today sees a big change in driver line for the #11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for this weekend’s final round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series at Portimao as well as an additional entry.

The earlier provisional entry list again showed the usual Philipp Sager again being paired up with Valentin Hasse-Clot in lieu of an absent Rory Van Der Steur but today sees even that change to a whole new pairing.

 

2025 is certainly coming to an end for many race series around the world with the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup Series just another two as they run out their final races of the year from Portimao in Portugal this weekend.

For the whole season, we have enjoyed and successes (and sometimes not) of one Aston Martin Racing powered team within each of these two ACO rules series with this weekend being no different as the Racing Spirit of Leman aim for the top step of their LMGT3 class whilst the Code Racing Development Vantage GT3 considers what might have been in their series as they retain just the slightest of chances for the overall class title.

 

The Michelin Le Mans Cup Series debut at Silverstone this weekend couldn’t have gone more wrong for the Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 squad if they had tried except for the unfortunate situation of crashing their car.

Despite starting the weekend saw the #11 car of Philipp Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot looking racey within the earlier sessions with the venerable Austrian racer the first to fit slicks within his own bronze driver session on Friday.

 

Six years in the making and the return of the European Le Mans Series to Silverstone today proved itself to be another instant success for the attending crowd as the forty-four cars spread across the three available class of car hit the track again today under some changeable conditions.

The debut of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series was, however, first out on track the French Code Racing Development team again represented the Aston Martin Racing marque with their #11 with Philipp Sager being joined this time around by Valentin Hasse-Clot as the absence of regular co-driver Rory Van Der Steur was explained to us (a private matter unfortunately).

 

After a six-year hiatus, the European Le Mans Series returns to the home of British motor racing this weekend for its penultimate round to their 2025 season.

Back in 2019 when the event was last run at the Silverstone circuit, the GTE platform was still in operation as opposed to the LMGT3 platform ruleset that is used today but unlike that August date in 2019 – there were no Aston Martin Racing powered entries.

 

The Spa Francorchamps round of the Le Mans Cup Series was certainly an opportunity missed for the Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew as incident, accident and later indiscipline consigned the pair to a lowly finish.

Having qualified fourth in class in some very wet conditions earlier in the day the #11 car of Philipp Sager and Rory Van der Steur eventually got underway within the two-hour race under much drier circuit conditions although bizarre scenes within the GT3 class lead to the opening laps taking place from behind the Safety Car.

 

Starting their second halves to their respective seasons nest weekend will be the two ACO rules European Le Mans and Le Mans Cup Series as they both take their capacity grids to Spa Francorchamps for their fourth rounds of the season.

Having started in Spain before travelling to France (with a brief interlude thereafter for those competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans) before returning at Imola in early July, this second half to the ELMS will see next weekend’s round in Belgium before a return to Silverstone in a months’ time before the usual season finale from Portimao in mid-October.

 

It was unfortunately that ‘bad day at the office’ for the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entries from both the Code Racing Development and the Racing Spirit of Leman teams after todays second round of the Road to Le Mans Le Mans Cup Series after a decent start Thursday.

Again, featuring another large fifty-eight strong LMP3 and GT3 grid over the more modest forty-two strong mixed classed grid for the usual seasonal rounds, that number of cars and the varying degrees of racing abilities spread amongst the two driver crews again saw the track sessions descend into some form of anarchy even before we got to the two, hour long races on Thursday and Saturday.

 

In amongst the various preparatory sessions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans around the Circuit de La Sarthe this coming week will also see the now institutional two races from the Le Mans Cup Series.

Having seen the usual six round race calendar extended in race duration this year, their Road to Le Mans event sees the expected fifty-eight strong LMP3 and GT3 entry revert to their usual two race – one on Thursday and the other on Saturday morning format.