Full Send Racing prepare for British GT finale with a little dapple (again) within GT Cup from Brands Hatch
This time around, it will be Steve Lloyd and Dan Lavery who will be racing the team’s slightly older 17A variant of the GT4 Vantage as they take on two solo driven sprint races and two pit stop races around the full Grand Prix circuit layout in what will be the penultimate round of the GT Cup Season.
Lavery of course, has already picked up the British GT GT4 Pro-Am Drivers Championship title alongside that of co-driver Darren Turner of the last round of that championship a couple of weeks ago. With one more round of that championship still to come next weekend – strangely from Brands Hatch, the #27 Grange Racing by FSR duo also lay in good stead for the overall GT4 title should results go in their favour.
Photo credits – Team
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 |
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British GT ramps up for a not quite a #doningtondecider this weekend (UPDATED)
One thing the teams and crew will not be missing this time around will be the recent repressive heat of summer of late with more seasonable temperatures and track conditions now expected for this weekend.
Looking back two weeks to those two races in Norfolk, it was a perfect performance from the #27 Grange Racing with FSR Vantage GT4 team of Dan Lavery and Darren Turner as they scooped two class wins for their efforts to lead their Pro-Am class and be in close contention with the GT4 Drivers overall championship as well.
The #40 Townsend Racing by Fox Motorsport AMR crew of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler celebrated something of a better performance in the heat of Norfolk after a P6 Pro-Am finish in race one was backed up with a deserved P3 podium finish in race two to now be just a handful of points behind Hartshorne. A double P5 finish for him in both races sees him lose a bit of ground to his rivals with the top three crews more than thirteen points ahead.
A P4 finish in race one but dropping valuable points through errors in race two saw the pairing having to make do with a P3 result in that race sees the #007 crew drop twenty-five points to the new GT3 Pro-Am class leaders as well as dropping to fifth within the Overall championship so for this crew – a decent result at Donington Park will be key to their final race campaign but the team will have an additional ten second stop at their designated driver change in lieu of their podium finish last time out. The #27 and #21 Vantage GT4 crews will also have an additional fifteen seconds of stop time added for Donington for the same reason.
UPDATE
Since posting, GBR Stratton Motorsport have since confirmed that accomplished young silver graded driver Jordan Collard will this weekend partner Hartshorne within their #97 car. Son of Rob and brother to Ricky Collard, the racing pedigree is already there with the young man getting his first laps aboard the car during Thursdays private test at the circuit.
Tuesday, September 01, 2026 |
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A single post race podium declaration not representative of all the AMR powered effort into todays opening Sprint Cup event
Similarly to the sister Endurance Cup series, the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 field is being provided by the Belgian Comtoyou Racing and German based Walkenhorst Motorsport team – fielding between them one Pro class and three silver class efforts.
With race one kicking off earlier this morning, this came to premature interval as one car was forced off heavily into the barriers which necessitated a red flag to repair the barriers but once things got going again, the race at least flowed all the way to the chequered flag before being delayed in result declaration some time later.
The remaining #35 Walkenhorst silver class car of Maxime Robin and Gaspard Simon finished their first day at the office together in an adjusted P5 whilst the #21 Comtoyou Racing car of Oliver Soderstrom and Arthur Dorison finished just behind in eighth.
Race two later in the day followed a similar thread for those out-front making things extremely difficult for those behind in passing but with slightly better starting positions for the four AMR runners.
This time, the race stayed surprisingly green all the way but despite the #007 car again passing double digit of competitor cars on the way through, they still hadn’t done enough to threaten the Pro class podium for a P11 finish this time around.
Within silver, the #34 Walkenhorst crew would again be the best AMR finishes in class with a confirmed P4 on track finish whilst their sister #35 crew secured a P7 finish at the end with the #21 Comtoyou car just behind to make up their pair of P8 finishes.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, May 03, 2026 |
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Mighty AMR powered entries within both GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Cup this season
The Belgian based Comtoyou Racing had already got out their earlier this year with confirmation of their three car Endurance Cup and three car Sprint Cup packages whilst today and yesterday saw further confirmations from both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Ecurie Ecosse by Blackthorn AMR teams.
The German based Walkenhorst team return for another pair of entries within both series but with differing drier line ups to previous seasons as AMR Drivers Academy and GTWCE Sprint Silver Cup champion Jamie Day joins their all-Pro class driver line up of both Henrique Chaves and Christian Krognes aboard their #34 car.
Their #35 silver class car meanwhile will comprise of a returning Mateo Villagomez alongside team newcomer Ethan Ischer whilst their third man remains unconfirmed at the moment.
The team will also field a two-car entry into the sister Sprint Cup Series as Day and Villagomez partner up again within the #35 car whilst Maxime Robin and Gaspard Simon try their luck togther within the sister #34 car. They also join the three Comtoyou Racing powered entries already announced.
That news was then rounded off earlier today as the Ecurie Ecosse lead Blackthorn AMR team also confirmed their step up to the Endurance Cup Series with a familiar pairing of both Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam alongside that of Lorcan Hanafin. Their #56 car will compete within the Bronze class alongside that of the #11 Comtoyou entry.
Having had to be satisfied with just one, two or even no AMR powered runners over the past few seasons, someone has again been working their magic to come up with eleven coherent racing packages spread across both series this year.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Thursday, February 26, 2026 |
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Comtoyou Racing confirm their six 2026 GT World Challenge Europe driver line ups
Team Green will be back with a vengeance in 2026 as the Belgian based team sets out another a six-car combined entry within both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup Series.
More regularly known as the Comtoyou Racing team, today’s announcement sees one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry across each of the Endurance Cup’s Pro, Silver and Bronze classes whilst also fielding three similar cars within the sister Sprint Cup Series within the same classes.
Their #11 Bronze Cup entry is a trio of new faces as Canadian Kyle Marcelli returns to the Aston Martin badge alongside American AJ Muss and Brazilian racer Marcelo Tomasoni.
Then within the Sprint Cup – it will be both Pauwels and Thiim pairing up together within the #007 Pro class entry as well as Soderstrom and Arthur Dorison within the #21 Silver class entry. The third #11 Bronze class entry sees Tomasoni complete a double stint alongside Italian racer Felice Jelmini.
Jean‑Michel Baert, the team owner, begins his third year of partnership with Aston Martin with the same optimism: “We have further strengthened our ties with our partner Aston Martin for this third year of collaboration, and we are delighted about it. I sincerely hope that we will be able to demonstrate the true value of our package and fight on equal terms with our competitors. Our car, our line‑ups, and our team are a real rocket. We’re among the best, and we fully intend to prove it again this year, just as we always have when given the opportunity. Based on our latest discussions with all involved parties, I am very confident heading into this new season, and I deeply hope that this year we will succeed in combining the professionalism and passion that drive us all! A huge congratulations already to our ‘back‑office’ team, who did an outstanding job during the winter break, and thank you to our loyal clients who once again place their trust in us for this new season! See you on the podiums and above all, see you in our paddocks. As you know, we love sharing this common passion: motorsport!”
Source material / Photo Credits - Team
Thursday, January 29, 2026 |
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Another #doningtondecider in store after another barnstorming race from Brands Hatch in British GT
Having qualified their #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 onto the front row of the grid behind just one of their 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG advisories, the Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam car didn’t get off to the best of starts as despite taking the race lead out of Paddock Hill Bend for the first time, the car was served with an unwanted drive through penalty for using external devices upon the car during the formation grid.
That transgression by the team dropped their car into the midst of the GT4 field on only about the third full racing lap having been behind the Safety Car from the second lap due to an off for a GT4 car at Druids on the opening lap.
Slightly further back meanwhile, the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood had also gotten off to a great start from their aggregated P7 position that Wood had earned the crew on Saturday by topping the Pro drivers qualifying session. After the earlier Safety Car restart, Howard had progressed up to P6 and distanced their class rivalling #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda who were then down in nineth.
Thwarting the Blackthorn’s progression through the lower order of the GT3 class was an on-track fire for one of the Ginetta GT4’s but fortunately for them, the driver was able to vacate the vehicle quickly for the trackside staff to bring things to a swift and safe conclusion although that did lose nearly eighteen minutes on the race clock.
Later after that restart, Petrobelli found himself being baulked by the #86 Honda which, whilst it was bad for them, that delay only helped their Beechdean AMR counterparts further ahead in the pack. Only just before the opening of the GT3 pit stop window did the #7 Aston pass the Honda before all bar the race leading Mercedes pitted for service at the first availability.
Pit stops done and Adam had come out in fourth thanks to the success time penalties affecting three cars out front in class whilst Wood was now P6 overall, still with a healthy lead of his own from the Honda in the silver-am class as Adam even got a warning for track limits such was his degree of determination for a decent finish this time around.
Further track drama was soon to follow as contact between a McLaren and a Porsche GT3 cars saw debris left upon track and one of those cars stranded in a gravel track – all of which necessitated a further Full Course Yellow and later Safety Car restart to sort out the mess.
With ten minutes to go, Wood put a lap onto the Honda so all he had to do was to finish to secure another class win but Adam had more problems upon his hands as he soon had other, faster cars upon him looking for track position as he became the head of a five car train with Wood immediately behind the Scot doing what he could to defend the #7 cars position.
Eventually the chequered flag came with the #7 Blackthorn car taking P4 with the #97 Beechdean car just one place behind in P5 – also taking the class win. With 37.5 points on offer at the final round from Donington Park in early October, both crews still need to perform if they want to have a chance at the class titles. The #7 car is now 28.5 points behind the championship leading #42 Mercedes whilst the #97 crew are still just 14 points ahead of the Honda powered crew.
Still all to race for at Donington then!!
Monday, August 25, 2025 |
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Tomorrows penultimate British GT race of the season all teed up to be another thriller
Despite just twenty cars taking to the track for today’s Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying sessions, like any discernible British GT Championship of the past, there are still several teams across both the GT3 and GT4 classes that could either win this weekend or take to another #DoningtonDecider those overall championship aspirations.
For the #7 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam car – they need a better performance this weekend that the two 2 Seas Motorsport Merecedes AMG GT3 crews that they are presently chasing within their Pro-Am class and whilst they were faster than both in this morning’s Free Practice, it was not the same in Pre-Qualifying.
Then within the two-horse silver-Am class that the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 car of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood fight themselves battling against the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX team this year, they were faster than the #86 in both preliminary sessions – despite having to endure a rough ride through the gravel in both sessions.
After lunch, it was time for Qualifying with each driver again taking their turn for an aggregated started position for tomorrows race. With the Am’s aboard first with Petrobelli not being able to beat both 2 Seas Mercedes crews this time around for a P4 finish whilst Howard was still faster than the #86 car as they had a lap deleted for track limits for a P9 finishing position.
Then came the Pro’s – and it wasn’t long before the #97 car of Wood had overtaken the #7 car of Adam at the top of the timing screen despite the Scot taking new tyres towards the end of the session for a final dash to the flag.
Finishing top, Wood would haul their overall starting position up to seventh – five cars ahead of their class rivals whilst the #7 car would claim a front row start in second with them and three other cars splitting the championship leading 2 Seas crews.
But like any series, Free Practice and Qualifying is one thing – the race is something completely different. That all starts at 13:00hrs local tomorrow.
It should be interesting based upon just how hard all the crews were pushing today!
Saturday, August 23, 2025 |
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Two Astons still in the championship hunt as British GT hits Brands Hatch for its penultimate round
That means that should the Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing want to continue this season’s GT3 battle into another classic #DoningtonDecider finale, drivers Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam need another top step podium finishing performance in Sunday’s two-hour race and favourable race results from others to do so.
With each of the 2 Seas Mercedes AMG GT3 based crews securing a convincing race win apiece in each of the two one-hour sprint races from Snetterton last time out, the #7 Blackthorn crew could do no more than fourth in the first and fifth in the second of the two races to now lie in third position in the drivers championship, still just nine points behind the leaders.
Results from last time out also mean that the #7 AMR Vantage GT3 crew are devoid of pit stop time penalties come Sunday’s race so track position will remain as an imperative factor going into Qualifying on Saturday.
Being another endurance round means that the #97 Beechdean AMR silver-am crew of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood are the remaining AMR powered runners out of a grid of just thirteen GT3 and eight GT4 based entries.
For the #97 crew, this season has been a persistent battle with their sole class rivals within the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX with the Honda powered crew taking top honours in class with the points margin between crews (Howard and Wood still leading) to just 3.5 points going into this penultimate race weekend. For these two crews, the 2025 result will be formed upon who fails to finish first!
Track action will begin again on Saturday with Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying on Saturday ahead of a 13:00hrs local start for Sundays two hour race.
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 |
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A 'difficult' weekend for both Aston Martins in the heat of Snetterton
Having seen both the Blackthorn AMR and Beechdean AMR teams almost run riot last time out at the three-hour round from Spa Francorchamps last time out, this weekend certainly saw some of that performance hauled back in as the Mercedes AMR and Lamborghini powered entries were certainly controlling the pace in the heat of Snetterton this weekend.
Despite that, Giacomo Petrobelli and his #7 Blackthorn still had a clear view into turn one of race one with his P2 Qualifying position whilst Andrew Howard had to crane his neck to see their silver-Am class rivalling #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX who had qualified two rows ahead of his #97 Beechdean car.
A clean opening lap for all cars saw the #7 car maintain position, as did the #97 until we soon saw them last in class and nearly three seconds behind the car in front for reasons that are unclear but despite that, Howard was soon able to close the gap. Up front meanwhile, the #42 Mercedes and #7 Blackthorn cars were gapping the chasing pack behind as both had success time penalties to serve from their successes in Belgium and for the Blackthorn car – that would be the full ten seconds.
Despite the Bridger Honda looking very fast at times, a spin for Jonny Ip saw their car relegated to last within the GT3 on track with also two or three cars between them and the Beechdean Aston Martin but by the time the pit window had opened, both cars were very close to one another again.
Despite pitting from a comfortable P2 overall, that ten second penalty saw Jonny Adam emerge down in P4 overall as the #7 Blackthorn car emerged from pit lane but there would be worse for Tom Wood in the #97 car as he would spin off at Riches and nudge (fortunately softly) into the tyre wall. Re-runs pf the incident showed that although marginally wide, there appeared to be no obvious reason for him to spin off like he did.
This time lacking the obvious power advantage, neither Aston Martin could recover or improve upon their track position as the race entered its final stages for the #7 Blackthorn car to eventually finish P4 overall and the #97 P13 overall – but more importantly second best in silver-am to the #86 Honda.
Race two had seen the circuit cloud over slightly but ambient and track temperatures remained constant as this time Adam had a third row start in his #7 Pro-Am entry whilst Wood would be starting in front of the #86 car of Jay Bridger.
In theory, that should have helped the #7 car as both Mercedes AMG had pit stop success penalties to serve this time around and Wood is certainly no slouch with the benefit of track position.
Despite some panel bashing, it was another clean opening lap with both Astons able to make up an early place before the race went static as the Pro drivers showed their worth to their paying bronze drivers. The tightness to the Snetterton 300 circuit layout and the parity of the pro driver again showed that the circuit was a difficult place to pace.
With both Adam and Wood handing over to Petrobelli and Howard respectively, the #7 Blackthorn car was maintaining its P6 position as were the #97 with their P1 position in class with little under thirty minutes of this final sprint race remaining. That stayed the case for much of the remaining time before an incident involving the Porsche allowed the #7 to step up to P5 overall whilst the #97 of Howard was also caught and passed by the #86 Honda.
A final lap incident for the #7 Amr saw the Italian enter a last lap battle with two other cars which culminated in the #77 McLaren spinning off after apparent contact from behind by the #7 car. Despite crossing the line in P4, it was a long wait before Race Control confirmed the result.
Despite all the above, the #7 Blackthorn crew remain second within both the overall and GT3 Pro-Am class battles as the Championship moves onto it penultimate round at Brands Hatch in late August – as does the #7 Beechdean crew in Silver-Am but with both teams, they are now in slightly worse position points wise than they were before.
Sunday, July 13, 2025 |
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AMR powered success at the GT Cups visit to Brands Hatch
This weekend was the second round of the UK based championship with the Feathers Motorsport and Oselli Motorsport teams both flying the AMR flag again but with the latter sporting their brand-new Vantage GT4 Evo for the first time.
Racing a four-race weekend format of two solo driven sprint races and two pit stop and driver change punctuated races around the full Grand Prix look of the Brands Hatch circuit, the #82 Feathers Vantage GT4 crew of Archie Clark and Tom Canning return alongside the #95 Oselli car of Matt Eddolls and Sam Mahre-Loghnan.
Track success for the #82 crew came immediately as Clark secured another GTH Class win at the end of the first twenty-five-minute sprint race whilst Eddolls was still getting to grips with his new car in P4 which is two models up from the one he raced at Donington Park at the start of the season. The first hour long endurance round went much the same way except for the #82 crew having to make do with a P2 in class finish with another P4 finish for the #95.
Sunday came even better for the pair of AMR entries as the Feathers car secured another P1 finish but with the Oselli car on the podium for the first time in P3. The second race weekend of the season was rounded off by the second and final endurance round where the #82 secured another P2 finish with the #95 ended a learning weekend with the reward of another P3 finish.
These results see the Feathers crew leap to the top of the overall championship points table as well as the GTH Class with the Oselli crew now fourth in that table too. Next round of the championship will be from Snetterton in early June.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, May 18, 2025 |
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