Another incredible round of the FIA World Endurance Championship came our way yesterday from Spa Francorchamps, Belgium as the four Heart of Racing Aston Martin powered crews went about their usual competitive game plan which this time earned one crew podium success but at the cost of broken hearts for another.

 

Unlike the preceding two days of track preparation, the early afternoon start to yesterday’s six-hour race came under glorious blue skies and warming sunshine as the thirty-five cars within the Hypercar and LMGT3 gathered on the grid in front of another sizeable crowd.

 

Qualifying the day before had seen both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars reach the Hyperpole session for the first time as good pace during Free Practice had put decent qualifying positions very much on the cards with the #009 car of Marco Sorenson/Alex Riberas just out doing the #007 car of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble in P6 and P7 respectively.

Within LMGT3, the experience within the #27 AMR Vantage car of Ian James/Zacharie Robichon/Mattia Drudi again proved pivotable as they secured a P2 start after their class Hyperpole session whilst Gray Newell still did well in his first WEC visit to the circuit to qualify P13 in a car that he shares with Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello.

 

The race final got underway after two warm up laps behind the Safety Car with all the entries surviving the initial bumping around the opening laps as race pace was quickly determined by those cars at the front in class but whilst initially losing a small number of places each, all four cars were looking good.

An early Safety Car for a car off in the gravel reset the pack after just twenty minutes but once the race got back underway, the next biggest challenge for those on track was when the hypercar recaught and made their way through the LMGTs tail enders which saw a car from each class make through the gravel for an untidy show of driving skills from those concerned.

 

Whilst Newell had kept his copybook clean as far as track limits were concerned in Qualifying, he was unfortunately racking them in during his first two hours aboard the #23 car, something that would cost him and his team-mates two additional visit to the pit lane in penalties.

At the halfway point, all bronze and silver ranked drivers had now had at least one stint apiece within their respective GT car whilst all four hypercar drivers were still holding a mid-table position whilst not favouring still the medium tyre. Further Full Course Yellow calls for debris and later a collision between a leading hypercar and an LMGT3 at Les Combes – something which lead to something of another prolonged delay to the race.

 

Two hours still remained as there seemed to be a distinct downturn in ambient temperature at the top of the circuit, but the #27 Vantage crew had come back through the field to third in class, but the two green hypercars were still importantly where they both started in sixth and seventh.

Disaster would however strike down the #009 car of Riberas as, at another Safety Car restart and whilst attempting to overtake the Alpine onto the Kemmel Straight, that wheels left the track surface and for the Valkyrie to spin, crossing the track before hitting the outside wall with sufficient force to smash the front quarter of the car putting the #009 into immediate retirement.

 

Another Safety Car clean-up operation left just twenty-five minutes with Gamble getting the final stint to the flag aboard the #007. Drudi was still aboard his #27 car, and he was still pushing for an improved class podium position – then in third but a time penalty for then leader would move them up one at the end.

As the chequered flag fell, the race pace of the #007 had just fallen away towards the end despite being on the ‘better for them’ softs as they finished their season best in fourth with the #27 Vantage LMGT3 crew also getting their first podium of the year – second in class. The #23 Vantage LMGT3 would complete their first WEC race together as a driving trio in P13 as eyes now move to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

 

Two days of race preparation are now on the bag for the thirty-five FIA World Endurance Championship squads ahead of tomorrow’s six hours of Spa Francorchamps with the Aston Martin powered crews also showing some of their best performances to date.

Thursdays two Free Practice sessions were ran upon what was then a very green track after persistent rain through the early part of the week but whilst both the #23 and #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews did struggle for pace in the morning session, the season debuting crew of Gray Newell, Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello surprised all by being quickest in class at the end of the day.

 

There were also very encouraging performances from both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar crews of Harry Tinknell/Tom Gamble aboard the #007 and Alex Riberas/Marco Sorenson aboard the #009 after the #009 finished P2 overall in the more challenging conditions of Thursday morning and then fifth quickest in the afternoon whilst the #007 was also within the top ten in both.

Fridays final Free Practice 3 session was ran in the best track conditions yet as warming air and clearer skies finally moved above the Spa circuit which this time allowed the #007 Valkyrie to show its pace with a third fastest time in class (#009 strangely at its lowest position this weekend in twelfth) whilst the two Vantage GT3 crews finished the session 6thand 15th in favour of the more experienced crew of Ian James, Mattia Drudi and Zacharie Robichon after a multiple Full Course Yellow interrupted session.

 

That left just Qualifying and possibly Hyperpole left for all to do and it was the LMGT3 class out again first for their fifteen minute session and whilst Newell would closely follow James around for the first couple of laps, the experience gap between them soon became evident as James secured the #27 car a position within the next Hyperpole session but Newell had to make do with (a still mightily impressive) P13.

A further twelve-minute session for (this time around) the #27 cars silver graded driver in Robichon saw the Canadian push to the end to split the two Lexus cars to grab a front row start in P2 for his efforts.

 

The Hypercar class cars were out next with both Tincknell and Sorenson continuing their cars fine run of form in Belgium to get both cars through to Hyperpole for the first time ever albeit from a last lap dash for the #009. Despite pushing the performance envelope in the final session were the #009 car was near the fastest car on track at the time, both crews were eventually pushed back down the order (mainly thanks to the compulsory use of the Michelin medium tyre in Hyperpole)to still claim a project best performance in the series in P6 and P7 for the #009 and #007 respectively.

Saturday’s six-hour race will still be another challenge altogether for all four Heart of Racing crews as it will of course be race pace which will ultimately dictate just where each car will be in class as the chequered flag falls at 20:00hrs local.

 

It was another exciting end to another exciting Asian Le Mans Series race as the 2024/25 season concluded under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi this evening as one of the Aston Martin Racing powered teams secured another podium finish within the GT class.

Sundays concluding four-hour round of the season technically began way back on Saturday morning when the second-best lap of the fifteen-minute Qualifying session was used to determine the starting positions for this race.

 

It appears to be another unchanged driver line up for the #777 D’Station Racing team as they move from Fuji Speedway of last weekend to the Sugo Circuit and the latest round of the Japanese national Super GT Series.

With the Japanese version of the entry list showing that Charlie Fagg will again be joining Tomonobu Fujii within the teams GT300 specification Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3, we had thought that the presence of Marco Sorensen within the country of last weekend’s penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship might have rekindled the season opening partnership within the car.

 

The other weekend’s home win at the Circuit of the Americas proved itself to be too little too late for the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing powered crew within yesterday’s penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship from Fuji Speedway in Japan.

For them and their AMR powered stablemates from the locally based D’Station Racing team, a combination of better performance, better strategy and massively enhanced championship points position going into this six-hour round were all too much for either Aston Martin team with both the race and the inaugural LMGT3 Championship wins going to other teams.

 

This weekend should have been the fifth round of the Japanese Super GT Series from Suzuka, but that event has now been cancelled by race organisers with the circuit laying on an expected trajectory course of a typhoon that is approaching the country.

With the expected increase in rainfall as well as wind speed, public safety has been put to the forefront with the event now delayed until the 7/8th December.

 

Despite the increased success ballast imposed from their class win from Suzuka in early June, today’s Super GT race from their home track of Fuji Speedway provided another positive result for the D’Station Racing team.

With team favourite Charlie Fagg again pairing up with co-driver Tomonobu Fujii for this round, the British/Japanese pairing were obviously keen to build upon their class win form last time out with what looked like their topflight Japanese GT season finally getting underway after something of a sluggish start to the year.

 

The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship and supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge Series are both back in action next weekend from the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Ontario.

Just three weeks since each were last out at Watkins Glen, this weekend will again see many driver changes within both group of Aston Martin Racing powered teams thanks to the World Endurance Championship being also back in business from Brazil.

Aston Martin’s new Vantage GT3 will make its Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa debut this weekend as the British ultra-luxury sportscar brand bids to win the race outright for the first time since the event became a GT3-only race in 2012.

No less than seven Vantages – the largest ever contingent of Aston Martin GT3s – are entered by two of Aston Martin’s new-for-2024 partner teams, ComToYou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport. This represents more than 10% of the giant 67-strong entry, which comprises nine competing global manufacturers and five integral classes.

Both teams head into the 100th anniversary of an event Aston Martin last won in 1948 (when the race was run to different rules), aiming to crown a landmark month that has produced maiden victories for the new Vantage GT3 in North America, Asia and Europe. The Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa represents the last opportunity to bring home some silverware in a blue riband ‘twice around-the-clock’ race in 2024, with Vantage having shone brightly in the Rolex 24 Hours, Nürburgring 24 Hours and the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Both teams’ bids are boosted by the presence of an all-works driver line-up with their single Pro class entries. ComToYou Racing’s #7 will bring a familiar feel for Aston Martin Racing fans the world over as the ‘Dane Train’ duo of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen are reunited alongside Mattia Drudi (ITA). Between them, Thiim and Sørensen boast five FIA GT World Endurance Championship titles and two 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins. Neither has ever won the Spa classic however, though their team-mate Drudi, the reigning Fanatec GT World Europe Sprint Cup champion, finished second overall in 2020.

Walkenhorst Motorsport’s #34 entry boasts an equally exciting line-up with David Pittard (GBR), the 2023 Nürburgring 24 Hours winner, being joined by Henrique Chaves, the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, and Ross Gunn (GBR) hot off the podium from recording the new Vantage GT3’s first victory in IMSA.

Between them, the six works Aston Martin drivers represent the strongest-ever assault on the race’s Pro class by the brand. Moreover, it comes into the event with Vantage in a rich vein of form having clinched victories in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the SUPER GT Series, the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie and Road to Le Mans event in the past four weekends.

ComToYou Racing has entered three further Vantage GT3s, which all share the mechanical architecture of the new Vantage road car unveiled earlier this year at Silverstone, and which are built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.

The Belgian team’s #11 Bronze Cup entry will be driven by John de Wilde (BEL), Kobe Pauwels (BEL), Job van Uitert (NED) and Dante Rappange (NED). It also has two Silver Cup entries; the #12 will be raced by Nicolas Baert (BEL), Esteban Muth (BEL), Sebastian Øgaard (DEN) and Erwan Bastard (FRA), while the #21 will feature Charles Clark (GBR), Sam Dejonghe (BEL), Matisse Lismont (BEL) and Xavier Maassen (NED).

Walkenhorst Motorsport brings a strong Silver Cup line-up to its fleet of Vantage GT3s, with Romain Leroux (FRA), Lorcan Hanafin (GBR) and Maxime Robin (FRA) in the #35. Meanwhile the team’s Bronze Cup #36 car will also be a competitive force with drivers Tim Creswick (GBR), Mex Jansen (NED) and Ben Green (GBR).

Adam Carter, Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa represents perhaps the purest form of GT endurance racing, given that it is open only to GT3 cars. It makes it a unique and difficult, and therefore perfect, test of our new Vantage GT3. The car has performed well through June, winning in three continents including North America, and it shone brightly in the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago. Misfortune has played its part in all the major 24 hours races so far this season, so let’s hope we’ve had our fill of that ahead of Spa. Sixty-seven entries from nine manufacturers tells its own story about what this race means to the sport on its 100th anniversary, and it would be a proud claim to say that new Vantage had excelled in this event.”

Aston Martin recorded its best finish in the GT3 era in 2021, when Gunn, Sørensen and Thiim secured a competitive third place overall, having been in the lead fight for much of the race. Prior to that, the best GT finish for an Aston Martin was also third, in 2008, with the Gigawave DBR9. Aston Martin last won the event in 1948, when it was run to different regulations, with a 2-Litre Sports DB1 driven by Britons St John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson.

Source material - AMR

 

The 92nd Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend again proved itself to be one of the toughest endurance races for multi-classed prototype and GT based race cars as two Aston Martin Racing powered teams represented the British marque at this elongated round of the World Endurance Championship.

Running the new LMGT3 configuration of the GT based class for the first time, the ACO again applied their own variant of the WEC’s Balance of performance criteria to all the cars that would see changes for the Aston Martin’s from what was last seen at Spa Francorchamps at six weeks ago.

 

Sadly, no Hyperpole glory for either of the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 teams at Le Mans this evening as both the Heart of Racing and D’Station Racing crews finished a respectable P5 and P6 on Saturdays grid.

Having a final three-hour Free Practice this afternoon, this evening final piece of the qualifying jigsaw saw all twenty-four Hyperpole runners have to wait for extensive barrier repairs to be completed after a substantial accident for a LMP3 runner in the preceding Le Mans Cup race.

 

The excitement is certainly building at the Circuit de La Sarthe at Le Mans where the capacity sixty-two multi-class grid have just battled out the hour-long Qualifying session that see’s both Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews move up to the later Hyperpole session.

Having started formal track proceedings earlier today with the first Free Practice session this afternoon which saw both the #27 Heart of Racing and #777 D’Station Racing teams take to the track for the first time since Sunday’s Test Day.

 

It appeared from the outside to be a another successful Le Mans 24 Hour official test day for the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 powered crews from both the Heart of Racing and D’Station Racing teams.

Having already passed through the technical inspection of Le Pesage within the town of Le Mans on Friday as well as being part of the parade through the town later on Saturday, Sunday saw the sixty-two strong Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 class grids take to the infamous Circuit de La Sarthe for the first of three timed sessions on Sunday morning.