Race one of Saturday would however, go down as one of those ones to forget (and quickly) after the Italian was pinged not just one or twice, but three times for track limits - each of which was rewarded with a drive through penalty for the car. That was further compounded by a pit stop infringement by the team (car not being earthed at refuelling) which saw a further five seconds added to their next stop.

With Petrobelli having driven a double stint with Adam and Pauwels seeing out the remainder of the four-hour race between them, the best that they could up with was another disappointing P8 finish in class.

 

Sunday’s final race of the season was, however, something completely different as Petrobelli again took the start and quickly found himself in the class lead before the end of the opening lap only to lose it before the lap’s end with a front puncture.

Rebalancing the car with fuel whilst that was being changed, it looked like another long haul around the race clock at the back of the field. A nasty looking accident between an LMP2 and a GT car at the forty-minute mark would see an immediate red flag with concerns for the drivers, an extensive debris filed and damage to the barriers. Thankfully, both drivers were able to walk away unaided, but the circuit would require attention that would wipe out another seventy minutes of the race clock.

 

Getting back to racing just before the halfway mark and as the light began to fade, Petrobelli would still have to see out the balance of his minimum driver time before handing over to Adam for the middle stint where the Scotsman plugged away at the order to deliver Pauwels with what was a better placed than most P4 position – mainly thanks to their differing strategy that had kicked off on the opening lap after their puncture.

This year’s winner of the AMR Drivers Academy saw Pauwels take on a very mature driver as he made steady progress up to third but with the two cars in front still needing to complete their third and final driver changes. Our hearts were in our mouths towards the end of the #56 car pitted with only seven minutes remaining but (whilst the lead two cars pitted for driver changes), the Aston was only there to reset the maximum drive time to allow the Belgian to go to the end.

 

Taking the class win by nearly nine seconds saw the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn team sandwich the more disappointing races of the mid-season with two worthy visits to the podium for efforts. Moving onto to the ‘normal’ 2026 season, we still await just where the Blackthorn AMR team will be this year but with that already rapidly approaching – that won’t be too long to wait!

Photo credits – Team / social media

 

 

 

That would pale into insignificance going into the final hour of the race however, as the #56 car was forced to box with ‘technical issues’ that would eventually see the #56 car listed as a non-finisher.

Moving onto Sunday’s race and with all technical issues suitably repaired, Petrobelli would again take the start to the race from his second bet qualification lap P8 in class and whilst the race again headed into an immediate Safety Car period – things were looking better (but only within regard to track limit compliance).

 

As LMP3 tail enders took out the GT class leaders ahead amongst other things, this all broke the pace to the race as the #56 consolidated its position at the tail end of the top ten going into the second half of the race. Progressing through from the bronze of Petrobelli to the Platinum of Adam in the middle stint to the closing leg of the silver graded Pauwels at the end wasn’t enough for the #56 car to make up for lost ground to eventually finish P10 at the end.

As the grid now makes the short journey down to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for this weekend’s closing back-to-back four-hour races there, the #56 crew see themselves drop down to tenth within the GT class – already well out of numerical contention for the championship win.

Photo credits – team / social media

This year, there will be again two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries entered amongst the GT3 class – one from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR team and the other from the Earl Bamber Motorsport team but with both teams arriving this time with their experiences and knowledge of last season.

Hopefully this time, a more coherent and consistent driver entry list will bolster both teams racing efforts this time around as last year both teams played with their driver line ups according to who was available (and paying) and the time.

As we have known for some time now, the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR will be driven again by the returning pair from last season of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam, this time joined by the Comtoyou Racing European Sprint silver class champion of Kobe Pauwels whilst the #89 EBM AMR entry was something of a late confirmation by the team.

Originally listed as being both Jamie Day and Marco Sorensen returning to the squad for another effort this season alongside a bronze driver then yet TBA, news this week confirmed that Martin Berry would be returning to an Aston Martin (after his ELMS efforts with TF Sport a couple of years ago) to race alongside former Comtoyou Racing European endurance racers Jamie Day and Matisse Lismont.

Today has seen the two private test sessions take place for all forty-seven crews with both the #56 and #89 crews running respectable lap times just under a second off the lead pace in session one with the #56 crew then lowering that time deficit to just over half a second in session two as both crews completed seventy-three laps each over the two sessions.

Friday will see the grid move into the more formally timed Free Practice one and two sessions before qualifying early on Saturday and the first four-hour race of the new season later that day and race two on Sunday.

Let’s see what this winter brings!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

The #56 Ecurie Ecosse entry has been known about for some time now as British GT Championship pairing of Jonny Adam and Giacomo Petrobelli step up another gear together having just missed out on the top accolades within this season of racing together in the UK. For AMR factory driver Adam, this is nothing knew as the Scot has assisted many a driver crew along the way within this series before but for the Italian it will be another ACO rules series under his belt. They will join forces with Comtoyou Racing GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Silver Class Champion 2025 Kobe Pauwels.

What we did learn today is 66% of the driver line within the #89 EBM AMR Vantage GT3 entry as the other half of the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Championship winning duo Jamie Bell returns to the team for a second season of ALMS racing but he will this time have the frame of Marco Sorensen alongside him as the entry’s professional driver but they have yet to announce their bronze rated driver.

This season’s opening races in Sepang will be run back-to-back again over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of December before moving across to both Dubai and Yas Marina in the New Year.

It will be another eventful season, we are sure!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media / GTWCE

As we understand things, this entry was rather a skills maintaining effort from the team rather than any full season entry with Letlaka also being listed on the timing results under a Dragon Racing entry – presumably with one of their Ferrari’s.

This was the first time in two years that their Vantage GT3 had been raced so maybe we will get to see it again if any further rounds are entered into in advance of an early start to 2026 with the Dubai 24 and 6H Creventic races in early January.

Photo credits – Team / social media

After that, we were aware of the car running in unrestricted format, the team then progressed back to the Lamborghini or Ferrari GT3 package in other series.

This weekend’s format will see the #120 car compete in two twenty-five-minute sprint races on Saturday with Letlaka already showing his pace being fastest in Friday practice.

Photo credits – Team / social media

Once on the grid for this afternoon’s opener – things didn’t last too long either as two clashing Porsche’s sent one heavily into the guard rail bringing out an immediate and prolonged red flag to allow for an extensive clean up and repair operation, only getting back to business over an hour later.

With three hours still showing on the race clock, the race finally got back underway but there was soon more carnage on track as the GT Championship leading Mercedes came around the final corner to meet head on a recovering (and championship leading too) LMP3 car taking themselves out of the race and bringing out the Safety Car again.

Having been spun around himself during Qualifying, Tanoto became the guilty party this time as a speculative move or missed braking point allowed his #98 EBM AMR to tag the Car Guy Ferrari into a spin and later fire around a rubbing tyre that forced the Ferrari to pull over. There would a be a drive through penalty for that.

By the halfway stage, the driving duties of each bronze ranked driver was done and it was then over to either silver or gold/platinum drivers to do their thing as each team saw fit. For the podium setting #89 EBM car of last time out, it was back to Jamie Day to maintain the fourth in class that Rindone had worked hard to preserve whilst Petrobelli would hand over to Charles Bateman from P6 and Tanoto over to Brendon Leitch now much lower down in P16.

This time it was Day’s turn to come to the attention of Race Control after an incident with another car that would see the #89 get a drive through penalty of their own and that would hit the team hard in terms of track position whilst persevering with a slightly less powerful AMR Vantage GT3 like they all were after the Dubai results of last week.

As the track side floodlights became more effective in the fading daylight, the race entered its final hour and whilst the #89 was still running P4 in class, the #98 was now comfortably ahead of its stablemate #19 Blackthorn car after they had received two drive through penalties of their own for causing both a collision and exceeding track limits whilst Petrobelli had been aboard.

As the race clock finally elapsed the required four hours, Mattia Drudi brought the #89 EBM a disappointing for them P5 (as it could have been podium challenging again before their DTP) with Marco Sorensen competing another ACO rules race in P13 with the #19 Blackthorn car finally finishing P21.

The cars go again tomorrow for the season finale from Yas Marina and with (sadly) no championship possibilities, the pressures to succeed will be off and their own performances may affect the GT Championship outcome a little further.

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media

Having made a massive impact with her ability and race craft in Dubai, Saudi racer Reema Juffali sadly steps away from the #19 Blackthorn car, but this is where Italian racer Giacomo Petrobelli finally steps into the AsLMS equation, joining both Jonny Adam and Charles Bateman within the #19 car.

The #89 EBM podium winning crew of Gabriel Rindone, Jamie Day and Mattia Drudi remains the same for Abu Dhabi, but they will be joined this time by the same drivers that competed within the opening rounds in Sepang. That means that Anderson Tanoto, Brendon Leitch and Marco Sorensen return to the series aboard the teams second #98 chassis.

This (and other changes in entries between rounds) sees a forty-seven strong combined LMP2, LMP2 and GT3 grid with the GT’s making up thirty of those entries with (we think) all classes still up for grabs with those illusive invites to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for both the LMP2 and GT3 classes.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

It was that way from the start of course as the #19 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 of Reema Juffali suddenly finding herself in the lead of the GT pack at the start to today’s race having qualified in third only to be forced back and hold a watching fourth in class for much of her two-hour stint.

Having lost out on almost half of her driver time on Saturday (due to the red flag for barrier repairs), the Saudi racer again proved her worth within the #19 car although by the end of end Aston’s bronze driver minimum driver time – both Aston’s found them back within the midst of the class.

Silver ranked drivers were up next within both cars as Day quickly reflected his growing experience within the class as well as local track knowledge to take the #89 EBM into the top ten as various (sometimes length) full course yellow and safety car periods for track clearing of debris and stranded cars interrupted the flow of the race.

Over in the #19 car, Charles Bateman would be getting second taste of the action having debuted within the car only yesterday to complete just a one fifty-minute stint in the car before handing over to AMR factory driver Jonny Adam to the end.

With Day running a slightly longer stint in the middle to that of Bateman, the two factory drivers of Adam and Drudi were left with differing workloads with just over an hour of seat time for Adam but twenty minutes less for the for Italian – not that he needed all of that even as he calmly claimed sixth, fifth, fourth and into third within the final ten minutes of the race just nine second behind the class winning #99 Porsche.

That result is the best result so far in the Asian Le Mans Series for the new Vantage GT3, the first for Earl Bamber Motorsport under Aston Martin Racing power but the second trophy in little over the week for Jamie Day having secured a similar trophy for his efforts in class at last weekend’s 12Hour of Bathurst. The #19 Blackthorn AMR crew eventually finished P14 in a bizarre role reversal of the two cars starting positions!!

The teams now far a relatively short trip down the motorway and across the border into Abu Dhabi for the concluding two four-hour races of the season around Yas Marina. From the commentary in today’s race, we expect to hear of certainly one driver change within the #19 Blackthorn car as Juffali steps away. We still await confirmation of the entry list for these two races.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media