Fuji’s return round of the 2026 Super GT Series was always going to be a difficult race affair for the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing powered crew as the effects of the then championship leading status took full effect.

Having skipped the last round due to the cancellation of the fly-away race from Sepang, the last race from Fuji Speedway in early May had been the last time the collective GT500 and GT300 classes had been together ahead of what was to be a ‘usual’ 300km race this time around.

With both Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg back aboard the #777 AMR Vantage GT3, Saturday’s qualifying position of P27 out of a GT300 class size of twenty-nine cars came as no surprise to them.

 

The race itself got underway on Sunday in a startling way as it was red flagged on only the fifth lap after a GT500 car became airborne along the damp start straight before coming down in something of a crumpled heap. Fortunately, the driver was reported as being otherwise no worse for his unplanned flight along the pit wall but the necessary time for his extraction from the car and the clean-up operation was obviously made.

The race eventually got back underway with still fifty-five minutes on the clock but for the #777 crew, the 70kg of additional success ballast and the additional ten seconds on the refuelling meant that they were never to be in contention within the top twenty in class.

 

The crew eventually finished P23 as attention now moves onto Suzuka at the end of August.

Photo credits - Team

 

 

The D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing claimed enough points at the end of their second round to the Japanese Super GT Series earlier today to retain (an albeit slender) lead within their GT300 class.

Racing today at their ‘home’ circuit of Fujii Speedway, the #777 crew of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg were facing the prospect of running this weekend’s three-hour race (as opposed to a more traditional 300km race) with maximum success ballast after their lights to flag class win at the end of the opening round from Okayama.

 

Reporting back during Free Practice and Qualifying issues of tyre degradation and a lowered level of performance (with the BoP ballast weight having its desired effect), the crew were having to find compromises to make up for that.

Having Qualified in eleventh within their class set of twenty-eight other entries, it was a warm start to the day as Fujii again did the opening stint to the race before handing over to Fagg in P9th before he too elevated their track position in class up to seventh at the end of his run.

 

With the success ballast and a new fuel flow restrictor being imposed onto their stops, the #777 crew still managed to come home In seventh for nine more valuable championship points to secure their class lead as the series now has an elongated wait through the period of the now postponed visit to Sepang before its next round of the season, again from Fuji Speedway in early August.

Photo credits – D’Station Racing

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

The two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews competing within the opening races of the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series will need to use the Christmas break to get to grips within happened between races that saw both the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR and the #89 EBM AMR crews finish towards the sharp end of the GT3 in race one but struggled in the weekend’s closing race.

Back-to-back four-hour races of course over the race weekend at each of the three scheduled races in Sepang, Dubai and Abu Dhabi saw the season’s opener take place in Malaysia with another capacity grid of forty-seven LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 machinery with the two Aston’s part of the largest group of twenty-one such cars.

Congratulations to Belgian Racer Kobe Pauwels who today was announced as the latest winner of the coveted Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy for 2025.

Following in the footsteps of a long line of eight other accomplished racers including that of his 2025 teammate (Jamie Day) who last year secured the same prize in a year saw both Pauwels and Day compete within both the SRO GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Cup Series with the Comtoyou Racing AMR team.

 

The opening track sessions of the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series are now in the books as a capacity forty-seven, multi-classed entry looks to get the opening two races in of this new season from the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.

Now into its fifth season, this is the third time that the ACO rules series has visited this part of Asia to go alongside their more used venues at both the Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, and like always, each will be a double header race event.

 

The Asian Le Mans Series today confirmed a massive forty-eight multi-classed car entry for their opening round to their 2025-26 winter season that kicks off at the Sepang International Circuit in just a couple of weeks’ time with further news of the expected two car Aston Martin Racing powered entry.

With the sixteen strong LMP2 class again taking the spotlight alongside the ten new LMP3 runners, it’s from within the twenty-two strong GT3 entry that obviously grabs our attention as both the Ecurie Ecosse bannered Blackthorn AMR, and the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR’s also confirmed at least most of their drivers.

 

Two more series with Aston Martin Racing powered crews competing over in Asia this weekend completes our preview of events as both the Japanese Super GT Series goes again with their sixth round of the season from Sugo whilst the Thailand Super Series races their penultimate round to their season from Sepang.

First and foremost, will of course be the Super GT Series as the D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg look to rekindle that rich vein of success that sadly alluded them last time out at Suzuka.

 

A ‘challenging return’ to the Thailand Super Series was the verdict of the team after another couple of fraught races within that series with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 and drivers Grahame Dowsett and Romain Leroux at the weekend.

Competing at a much-reduced race programme at the Sepang International, the GT3/GTM and GT4 only grid were again going to race two, one-hour long races over the course of Saturday and Sunday with Dowsett running the first qualifying session and opening stint within race one with rolls reversed with Leroux in race 2.

 

The Thailand Super Series is back in business this coming weekend with their third round of the season from Sepang and another pair of races for the restricted GT3, GTM and GT4 runners.

That means that the #7 Team NZ Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of Grahame Dowsett and Romain Leroux will be back on track after their last round of the series from the improvised street circuit of the Bangsaen Grand Prix back in early July.

 

D’Station Racing’s involvement in this weekend’s fourth round of the Super GT Series concludes our mainstream involvement for Aston Martin Racing powered entries around the globe as they prepare to battle out something rather different.

Back to their home circuit of Fuji Speedway, the locally based team again prepare to field their #777 AMR Vantage GT3 within the GT300 class but this time around, there will be two individually driven sprint races over the course of both Saturday and Sunday to keep drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg occupied.

The red D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 should be back on track at the weekend as the second tier Japanese GT series gets back underway at Sugo after their last twenty-four round from Fuji Speedway.

At the twenty-four hour, it was decided to amalgamate their respective driving forces within their #47 ST-1 Porsche 992 entry for which that earned the team an overall P4 finish – first in class for their efforts.