It’s a near totally blank canvas this weekend for the FIA World Endurance Championship with the cars, drivers and teams having arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain for this improvised penultimate round to their 2026 season.

Originally rescheduled to be in Qatar next weekend, this seventh and indeed final round to the season from Bahrain both had to hastily rescheduled again, thanks to the ongoing tensions within the Middle East to Barcelona and Monza respectively.

 

For the four Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered cars, there needed to be a quick trip over to Belgium last week in order to retrieve their cars from the airport having had them all flown back to Europe after the last round to the season at Fuji Speedway just over two weeks ago. From there, there was just enough time to give them all a quick strip down and rebuild before having to ship them out again in time for the long road haul down to Spain.

Whilst Japan did see a much deserved P2 finish in class for the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi to bolster their championship chances going into these final two six hour races, it was an unfortunate early exit to the race for the #23 Vantage LMGT3 of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam after the young American was the victim of inter-car contact along with the resulting spin out into the tyre wall from where the car would not move again.

 

For the two Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars, this were looking good for both of them before the simple error of crossing the pit exit blend line at their last stop cost the #007 car of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble a drive through penalty from their potential podium winning position whilst the #009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen became victim to an untimely Safety Car intervention.

Championship wise – it’s still just the #27 Vantage LMGT3 crew with any chance of hauling in the TF Sport Corvette crew over these two remaining rounds being twenty-four points behind with time now running out after their own sluggish start to the season.

 

We still believe that Drudi will be on double race duty this weekend at both Catalunya with the FIA WEC and at Portimao for the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, an event that Sorensen has already been withdrawn/removed from within the same car as Drudi for the benefit of his Heart of Racing team WEC entry.

Free Practice begins on Friday before progressing in class Qualifying and Hyperpole on Saturday before the race itself is waved off at noon local time on Sunday and with the series never actually having raced at the circuit before – there is no form guide to be going by either!

Photo credits – Team / Aston Martin / DPPI

 

 

 

 

The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 did their championship aspirations a power of good as they came through another chaotic round of the FIA World Endurance Championship to finish on the second step of the class podium at the six hours of Fuji Speedway earlier today.

Having been forced been to abandon their usual plans for both class Qualifying and Hyperpole due to the weather at the circuit at the time yesterday, grid places were determined by each cars fastest lap through the non-weather affected Free Practice sessions. That meant that the teams #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Harry Ticknell and Tom Gamble would be started towards the front in P4 with the sister #009 Valkyrie of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen in P6.

 

For the second time over recent rounds, the #23 AMR Vantage LMGT3 of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam would out qualify the #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Matia Drudi but only by one place again with the #23 starting form P15 and the #27 P16 within another class set of eighteen cars.

Although still very wet in places, the race did get underway with at least no further rain falling (but still looked threatening around the track) did still see two other LMGT3 cars tangle at the first corner at the first time of asking whilst the two Valkyries held their ground before the first of many Safety Cars was called to recover the resulting debris. At the restart, James was quickly making moves into the top ten in class whilst Newell was still back at the tail of the non-delayed LMGT3 cars.

 

Settling into the first hour as the track still appeared to be unwilling to dry out any further, the two Valkyries were still running in P4 and P5 as they had from the first corner after Newell had caught onto the rear of the #27 car as that hour mark approached as a brief FCY was called for debris on track.

Ten minutes into the next hour, the slightest of contact onto the nose of the #23 car from a passing Hypercar saw Newell spin out to make minor front end contact with the outside tyre wall having just gone onto the saturated grass but Newell was unable to get the car going again forcing their early retirement after just thirty seven laps.

 

The caution thrown around the #23 incident took over twenty minutes off the race clock as the track went back to green with four hours twenty to go with the two Valkyries still running strongly at the head of the field and with the #27 still dabbling in and out of the top ten in their class all through the second hour as James eventually grabbed the attention of Race Control for speeding within the pit lane – a drive through penalty for that one was his reward.

Approaching the midway point, the gloom around the circuit appeared to be increasing along with the first speckles of rain with the trackside humidity still keeping the track surface at a persistent state of damp – nothing that would be beyond the scope of the new slick tyres per class as both Tincknell and Sorensen eventually handed their cars over to their respective partners to take to the flag still at the sharper end of the Hypercar class having their race of the season so far.

 

The first pain for the two Valkyrie crews came just before the top of the fourth hour as having just taken the overall race lead, Gamble was adjudged to have crossed the solid white line of pit exit and that would earn the Englishman another trip through pit lane – that would drop the #007 car to seventh as a consequence but that did elevate the sister #009 car up to third.

Another Safety Car for stranded vehicles again slowed the race down again at the final hour but that was just before another incident with the #27 car (this time with Drudi behind the wheel) and a passing McLaren that saw the McLaren spear off into the barrier along the start/finish straight bringing out another immediate Safety Car intervention. Whilst that was the end for the #58 car, the #27 car also suffered a puncture from the contact helping the #27’s slow limp back to pit lane.

 

That left what was then a twenty-minute dash to the flag under the failing light of Fuji but with the #009 still within contention of a podium winning position in fourth overall, the #007 P14 and the #27 still only P7 in class just ahead of the restart. After it went back to green, however, contact for the #009 car spun them around at the death of the race, dropping them right back in class whilst Drudi had fought his way back into the podium winning portion of his class.

At the end, the #009 was the best of the two Valkyrie finishers in P10 with the #007 a disappointing for them P14 whilst the #27 came away with a P2 in class finish at the end as the Championship now flies back to Europe for its two rescheduled rounds at both Monza and Barcelona in lieu of the previously postponed round at Qatar and the usual season finale at Bahrain.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI

 

 

 

 

Extra-ordinary scenes at the Fuji Speedway in Japan earlier today as the FIA World Endurance Championship was forced to cancel by its Hypercar and LMGT3 Qualifying and Hyperpole sessions due to the intense weather conditions at the circuit.

Although not unexpected, the intensity of the rain massively reduced visibility yet along having large amounts of water on track, but it was the combination of both that quickly forced the hand of Race Control just as the LMGT3 cars left the pits for their first session. As a result, all grid starting positions have been determined by each cars fastest lap time over the three preceding Free Practice sessions.

 

These set of circumstances gives the situation of where both Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars should have earned themselves their best ever positions within the championship where the #007 car of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble was in front of their sister #009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen only for a penalty to drop the #007 car to fourth in the order – ironically for an incident with their sister #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 car and with the #009 car starting from P6.

That #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Matia Drudi will start tomorrows six hours of Fuji from P16 whilst the sister #23 car of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam will again start in front of them in P15.

 

All rather confusing!

Photo credits – Team / AMR / DPPI

 

 

 

 

 

Six hours of Fuji Speedway is the latest FIA World Endurance Championship offering this weekend as the Hypercar and LMP3 based series moves onto Japan for its sixth round of the season.

Last time out at the Circuit of The Americas was just three weeks ago where the #007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie secured its best qualifying position of its racing life so far in fourth whilst the team’s two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s locked out the front row in class for the first time ever.

 

Six hours later and through some very trying track conditions later, the #007 car of harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble converted that starting position into a P4 overall finishing result whilst the two Vantage crews did eventually swap positions upon track for the #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Matia Drudi to claim their first race win of the season but with their sister #23 car of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam doing enough to secure the final step of the LMGT3 podium for an historic home 1-3 result for the American based team.

The results from the USA lift the #007 crew up to eleventh within the Hypercar Drivers Championship, very much still in contention with even the class leaders above with three rounds still outstanding whilst within LMGT3, that result kickstarts again the #27 crews championship assault after something of a slow start to now lie nineth whilst the #23 crew are now placed just five points above them in sixth – seventeen points behind the class leading driver.

 

Past season results from Fuji Speedway have been difficult from any Aston Martin Racing powered crew and you have to go back to 2022 for when the locally based #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GTE crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg for their last podium finish within the then Am class.

Last year’s race was (like all the rest) the first for the new Aston Martin Valkyrie car and it was the #009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen who faired best within that race with their P5 finish overall after the sister #007 was spun out after contact.

 

As usual, all bar tyre pressures and camber information remains confidential to the teams going into the Fuji round so we won’t know of any changes in car performance within either platform until teams get on track for the first Free Practice session later just before lunchtime on Friday and maybe then not until the actual race which gets waved off at 11:00hrs local on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI

The Heart of Racing team extended their best collective performance within the FIA World Endurance Championship from Hyperpole and into the race itself yesterday as both blue Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 powered crews finished on the class podium but with one of their Hypercar entries only just missing out on similar.

Saturday had already seen the #27 secure pole position for Sundays six-hour race at the Circuit of the Americas, just ahead of its #23 sister car for the first ever front row lockout in the championship whilst the #007 Valkyrie had claimed its best Hyperpole finish to date with a P4 starting position.

 

All of that work could have been literally washed away at the start of this fifth round of the season as the heavens opened around parts of the Texan circuit just as the cars were going to the grid. Race Control fortunately became wise to the developing situation, allowing the grid to procession around the circuit at a Safety Car enforced speed that helped to dissipate the water, allowing the race to kick off as designed in its two-by-two formation just a few laps later.

Whilst the was some side-to-side door bashing going on, especially within the opening few laps and sometimes with blue Aston upon blue Aston, all successfully made it around the circuit for the first time except for two minor spins.

 

With pole setter Gray Newell initially losing several places at the start, we presume that wise calming words over the radio from his co-drivers of Jonny Adam and Edurdo Barrichello helped the young American to calm his nerves and to pick himself up again from where he had left off in qualifying as tehir sister #27 car of Ian James jockeyed for the class lead up front.

Within the Hypercar class, the hard tyred #007 of Harry Tincknell and Ton Gamble were still able to get away and still ran better than the medium tyre shod #009 sister car of Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas for much of the opening half of the race as (especially) the #007 race position continued to be just outside of the top five for much of the time.

 

Soon it was minimum drive time done for both Newell and James as they handed over to their silver co-drivers in Barrichello and Zacharie Robichon respectively for the middle section of the race – something that was interrupted with a somewhat prolonged Virtual Safety Car / Safety Car period whilst various issues with the circuit were sorted. When the racing did finally resume, the #007 was holding P3 overall, #009 P9 in hypercar with the #27 still at the front of the LMGT3 class but with the #23 now in hot pursuit in fourth.

Whilst most of the drivers were reporting back high tyre degradation issues with their respective Michelin and Goodyear tyres (as expected), nothing really hampered the cars for too long as the two drivers cycled through their stints within both Valkyries whilst both Vantage LMGT3 crews still had three of them in each to utilise.

 

Eventually in LMGT3, the #27 began to pull clear of its closest rivals as the race headed into its final hour for Mattia Drudi to take the chequered flag for their first race win of the season by a comfortable five second gap but with the #23 car of Adam just another couple of seconds back again to round off an American 1-3 for the team.

There was also smiles around the performance of the #007 Valkyrie as Tincknell and Gamble gambled a bit with both strategy and race craft to finally come home P4 overall for the cars best ever finish within the FIA WEC. The #009 car finished P13.

 

As the cars now head towards Japan and the next round of the season from Fuji Speedway at the end of September, those results see Adam and Newell move up to 6th in the Drivers’ Championship with the #27 crew up to 9th – all still within easy reach of the existing leaders with still three rounds to go.

Photo Credits – Team / DPPI

 

 

 

 

 

With both America and Europe seeing most of the Aston Martin Racing powered action this weekend, the Japanese Super GT Series will also be running what is their fifth scheduled round of the season from Suzuka.

Although only running as the fourth actual race weekend of the season after the cancellation of their annual fly-away round from Sepang and couple of months ago, we again look forward to the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg to support.

 

Last time out at the beginning of August at their ‘home’ circuit of Fuji Speedway, the #777 car was severely handicapped with both a maximum success ballast allocation as well as a fuel flow restrictor being applied during their pitstop which obviously affected the team’s performance.

Eventually finishing P23 within their GT300 class, that also saw their championship slump down the order from the head of the pack prior to that 300km event to come away fifth overall in the championship, but still just five points behind the new leaders.

 

Going into this weekend’s 300km race this weekend, their success ballast remains at 70kg over the car’s declared base weight but that is no longer as much as those now above them in the championship.

Competing within another GT300 class size of twenty-nine runners, track action will begin again with Practice and Qualifying on Saturday before the race on Sunday.

Photo credits - Team

 

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

Three further Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews see out this weekend’s mainstream events for AMR’s customer and Partner teams across the world as both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Prosport Racing teams return to the Nurburgring Nordschleife for the latest round of the NLS season and the D’Station Racing team make a return in the Japanese Super GT Series.

Starting in Germany, there has been some controversary already this week after another Nurburgring based endurance series was confirmed for 2027 supported by enticing automatic entries and reduced fees into next year’s ADAC Ravenol 24H main event. All of this would again be in direct competition with the more established Nurburgring Langstrecken Series (nee VLN Series) who race again this weekend with another healthy multi-classed grid.

 

Competing within Saturday’s six hour will again be the #35 Walkenhorst SP9 Pro class entry of Christian Krognes and Dennis Fetzer who last time out in late June (and alongside Mateo Villagomez) secure both overall pole position for the first time plus managing to bring their car home P5 overall, P3 in class.

They will be joined again by the #37 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Maxime and Guido Dumarey alongside Marek Bochmann, a team who was also successful last time out in that four-hour race by finishing third within their SP9 Am class. This weekend’s race will, however, be a six-hour affair.

 

Finally, we welcome the cars and teams of the Japanese Super GT Series back on track this weekend as after an enforced layover following the cancellation of the intended third round of the season at Sepang in late June.

For this weekend, the combined GT500 and GT300 grids of which the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg will again be part of as they protect their slender GT300 class lead after their class win first time out at Okayama followed up by a P7 finish at Fuji.

 

This weekend, the series is again back at the Fuji Speedway but this time for a more typical race calendar with a 300km race as opposed to the two individual sprint races as tried last year.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

D’Station Racing will be upon home turf this weekend as they face the second round of the Japanese Super GT Series from their local Fuji Speedway circuit.

Having won the opening round to the season at Okayama a month ago with their #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 with drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg aboard, all will be looking for something similar this weekend as their race demands increases from a usual 300km affair to a three-hour enduro.

 

For this weekend’s second round to the now seven round season (having had the series indefinitely postpone its travels to Sepang) again sees the #777 crew compete within a twenty-nine strong GT300 class entry plus those faster GT500 class cars too. With this longer race, some of the GT300 entries will be running a three-man crew but not D’Station.

As a result of the #777 crew winning last time out, they will be saddled with an additional 52kg of success ballast for their efforts for an event which will see their usual split format qualifying on Saturday before the race on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team

 

 

 

Emulating the race winning ways of their AMR powered European cousins this weekend, the Japanese based D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing team went one better than the Comtoyou Racing team at their opening round of their national Super GT Series.

Beating the #7 Comtoyou Racing’s qualifying position by one to secure a season opening pole position within the GT300 class at today’s Okayama opener, the #777 D’Station Racing pairing of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg went on to run a near lights to flag class win at the end of the 300km race.

 

With weather conditions staying fine over the race weekend, the #777 backed up a good pre-season build up started the officially timed sessions only eighth fastest in Free Practice before going onto shave another 2.4 seconds off that lap time to secure pole position from the #2 Bridgestone tyre shod Toyota.

In a surprisingly clean race, an early stop for fuel for the #777 still saw them come through to the midway stop and driver change in the class lead before Fagg rounded off an otherwise faultless team performance to win the class by over seven seconds.

 

The next round will be from the teams ‘home’ circuit of Fuji Speedway in just over two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / social media

 

 

 

It was a final race visit to the podium for the Japanese D’Station Racing team as they secured a P3 finish to the final round of their domestic Super Taikyu Series efforts from their home track of Fuji Speedway.

Having Qualified in fifth, the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Yuki Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii driven car still needed a strong overall finish going into this final four-hour race to cement their fourth-place position within their ST-X class championship. Having skipped the Fuji 24 in favour of partnering their ST-1 Porsche effort, the team had no chance of progressing higher within the class as a result, but a poor display could have seen them drop another position.

 

The Japanese Super Taikyu Series will be running their seventh and final round to their 2025 season this weekend from Fuji Speedway where the locally based D’Station Racing team should again be in attendance with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Again running another bumper nine class entry, the #777 D’Station Racing entry will be competing within the seven strong and topflight ST-X class with drivers Satoshi Hoshino, Yuta Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii again behind the wheel.

 

It was a successful return to the Super Taikyu Endurance Series for the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 crew as they secured another P3 podium finish at the end of today’s three-hour race at Okayama.

Having qualified their car third overall yesterday, the Satoshi Hoshino, Yuta Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii driven car got off to a sluggish start upon the greasy track surface, initially dropping one place on the opening lap but a later rain shower would again dampen the track.

 

Aston Martin’s new Valkyrie hypercar celebrated the British performance brand’s 100th race in the FIA World Endurance Championship, by achieving its best finish yet in its debut season, as well as delivering Aston Martin’s best overall finish in the world’s premier sportscar series.

The works Aston Martin The Heart Of Racing Team, and drivers Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas finished sixth in the 6 Hours of Fuji, marking a new high in the programme, having delivered front-running pace throughout the weekend in Japan.

Aston Martin is one of three manufacturers to have competed in every WEC race since the series’ inception in 2012. Having claimed 53 class victories and 11 world championship titles in that time, it was fitting that the brand should achieve its best result so far for the Hypercar programme at the series’ centennial event.