New AMR powered E2P Racing busy testing in Portimao ahead of 24 Series season start in Italy
Announced back in October as swapping from their usual Porsche power to that of the new Vantage GT3, the Spanish based E2P Group team have spent the last few days testing at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with their new car – new list of drivers and a new bunch of help from the AMR factory team.
Due to compete within the 24H Series European Series, the team was out with drivers Pablo Burguera, Kosta Kanarogloy and Antonio Sainero under the watchful eyes of AMR technical engineers and driver David Pittard.
The 2025 24H European Series is due to kick off in Mugello in late March with four twelve-hour races in Italy, Belgium, and France before rounding off with a twenty four hour race in Spain in late September.
Soo far, this is the only Aston Martin that has been confirmed as competing within the series.
Photo credits - Team
It just wasn't to be in Jeddah at finale of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
Whilst there was one final podium finishing position to round the 2024 season off for one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crew, it wasn’t to be the then championship leading #007 Comtoyou Racing AMR of Marco Sorensen, Matteo Drudi and Nicki Thiim despite their best of efforts against the charging #51 AF Corse Ferrari crew who eventually picked up the overall crown by the end of the race.
Going into this final race of the season around the very long but very narrow circuit had already seen one Vantage GT3 eliminated from the proceedings from each of the Comtoyou racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams with another Walkenhorst entry only rescued from the ashes of a pit lane fire and an overnight rebuild by the team for that car to even make the grid.
The biggest talking point as far the Aston Martins were concerned was sadly again around the platforms balance of performance parameters with none of the cars even close at threatening those championship challenges in front of them. In hindsight, even a mid-event change in BoP (as in weight reduction and an increase in boost) wasn’t enough to give either Pro entry the ‘ponies’ that they needed to put up anything like a representative fight.
The one race success was from the #12 Comtoyou Racing entry of Nicolas Baert, Sebastian Ogaard and Matisse Lismont who grabbed P3 within the silver class.
Having lead the overall championship position since that overall win at the Spa 24, the #007 crew would eventually finish the year down in fourth with their sister #12 car the next best AMR finisher in class, P8 in silver.
What comes next for both the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Comtoyou Racing teams is yet to be seen but with the 2025 Prologue test already set for early March, that won’t be a too longer wait before the first signs of pre-season testing gets underway.
The new 2024 Vantage GT3 car did well within its opening year of racing service again and with the ongoing developmental work that AMR are already undertaking, 2025 looks more than positive.
Well done to all involved this season and here’s looking forward to next.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Not the best of starts for either AMR powered team at the start of the Jeddah GT World Challenge Europe finale
Before anyone else worries too much, none of the incidents involved have involved the championship contending #007 Comtoyou Racing car of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mateo Drudi but both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams have already a car between them due to accident damage and a further car being sidelined due to a fire.
The #36 Walkenhorst bronze entry of Ben Green, Mex Jensen and David Pun was the first eliminated after the Chinese gentleman driver went off during the bronze driver test and that was already after the #11 Comtoyou Racing bronze entry of James Jakes, Nield Koolen and John De Wilde had been withdrawn without a wheel even being turned.
That lead to both Jakes and Koolen moving across to the sister #21 car at the expense of both regular drivers Charles Clarke and Matisse Lismont but even that arrangement was short-lived as that car crashed out but was fortunately repairable during testing
If that could not have gone any worse for the Aston Martin Racing collective, then the silver #35 Walkenhorst car was to suffer a fuel fire aboard the car – although quickly extinguished, the subsequent damage and cleaning up meant that the Romain Le Roux, Maxime Robin and Lorcan Hanafin entry would have little track time through Thursday and Friday with Q1-Q2-Q3 sessions their first real possibilities.
Assuming that all goes well overnight with the repairs of that car, that has left the original driver line ups of some cars being rehashed again as the sessions went through Free Practice and into the last session of today in Pre-Qualifying.
Both the #007 and #34 Pro entries remain the same with the Comtoyou Racing entries of the #21 car now being that of Koolen, Jakes and Job Van Uitert and the #12 being Nicolas Baert, Sebastian Ogaard and Matisse Lismont alongside a hopefully repairable #35 Walkenhorst.
And that doesn’t even include anything about track performances today from any of the AMR powered cars that are left!!
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
#007 aiming to be on top of the world at the end of this weekend Jeddah six hours in GT World Challenge Europe finale
Belgian based Comtoyou Racing sit on the cusp of something else very big this week as their #007 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 Pro class entry lies at the head of the overall championship battle as the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup battles it out for the final time on Saudi Arabia.
Thanks to the herculean efforts of the team and drivers Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Matteo Drudi at the Spa 24 earlier in the year (plus a little bit of luck), their overall win in Belgium propelled the #007 entry into the championship lead – a lead that they retain by the slenderest of margins going into this final six-hour round of the Endurance Cup Series at the unfamiliar Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Despite AMR powered entries across the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Pro classes, it is unfortunately only the #007 car that retains any championship potential this weekend in a near literal winner takes all situation.
The #34 Walkenhorst Pro entry of Ross Gunn, David Pittard and Henrique Chaves sit way down in P17 and like the remainder of the collective field, will be desperate to round off what has been a disappointing season for them within the new Vantage GT3 Evo on something of a high.
Within the silver class there is also the #12 Comtoyou Racing entry of Kobe Pauwels, Nicolas Baert and Sebastian Ogaard and the #35 Walkenhorst effort of Romain Leroux, Maxime Robin and Lorcan Hanafin.
Within Gold, the is the solo AMR effort of the #21 Comtoyou Racing crew of Matisse Lismont, Job Van Uitert and Charles Clark whilst the bronze class features both the #11 Comtoyou Racing effort of James Jakes, John De Wilde and Niels Koolen (a change to their usual line up) and the #36 Walkenhorst entry of Ben Green, Me Jensen and another driver change in David Pun.
Track action for these teams starts on Thursday with two official test sessions before the customary bronze driver test before moving into Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Friday. Individual qualifying sessions take place on Saturday morning but only four and a quarter hours before the six-hour race is waved off at 17:00hrs local.
Best of fortunes to the #007.
Photo credits – Team / series / social media
Final race glory for the Comtoyou Racing team at the finale of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series in Spain
When they said that the rain in Spain fell most upon the plain, what they actually meant was that it was to fall predominantly around the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona on Saturday when the opening hour-long race was being run.
Having seen the best of the weather in the morning Qualifying, the thirty-two strong grid was being formed as threateningly dark clouds built up in the not so far distance meaning that many crews elected for wet weather tyres even though the grid was then still dry.
Charging into the tight right hander for the first time, contact between two cars within the second half of the grid saw both make heavy contact with each other and the outer circuit wall where one erupted into a ball of flame as their fuel cell was ruptured before slewing across the track. Mercifully, neither driver was to receive significant injury, and both were able to self-extricate themselves from what was left of their cars, but the race was then destined for a prolonged Safety Car as the necessary clean-up operation and circuit repairs were made.
By this time the rain had arrived with a vengeance but within that half opening lap before the Safety Car was called, some had moved up the order before the yellow flags neutralised the race. With many hanging on with slicks until the pit window, others were to spin off in the conditions.
With the best Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 having qualified in P13 overall, it was to the be gold class #21 car of Matisse Lismont and David Pittard who would come out on top within the teams quartet of cars as by the time the Safety Car was withdrawn – there was little over five minutes of racing left.
Having lost the #11 car of James Jakes after the first lap (racing solo this weekend after his original co-driver was taken ill at a late stage to the weekend) and then the car developing an internal issue, both the #007 and #12 ended up in the gravel for some more heartache with another DNF apiece.
Eventually crossing the line P11 overall, a P3 podium position in Gold was a great reward for their efforts despite the briefest of racing periods.
Sundays finale was all togther different as the sun and the track temperatures eventually returned after something of a delayed start to the track programme due to poor visibility.
With the drivers this time reversed, race two would prove itself to be almost incident free and that allowed those who needed to race to win championships just that although another AMR Vantage GT3 wasn’t to be left out of that fun – although it was just for fun considering their season long turmoil with performance. With further BoP adjustments being made between races, this time the new Vantage GT3 Evo looked and was quick but that was something too little too late for their season aspirations.
Having had AMR driver Drudi run another faultless stint, it was done to Nicolas Baert to see off the unwanted attention of the Garbage 59 McLaren during the closing stages to finally seal that crews first podium finish of the year in second overall. The #21 crew were unable to make the final race weekend a double as they come home fourth in Gold whilst the #12 car of Dante Rappange and Lorens Lecertua this time did manage to finish the race fifth in silver whilst the solo driven #11 car was again another DNF with only a handful of laps completed.
That is now the Sprint Series completed – congratulations to all the new class Champions this time around as the series now looks ahead to its Endurance Cup conclusion way over in Saudi Arabia at the end of November.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup rounds off this weekend in Spain for Comtoyou Racing
Competing around the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing team are again back in action with their four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 as their Pro, Silver and Gold class pairing have two last gasps at class success within this weekend’s final two-hour long races within a series that has so far been far from kind to the team.
Before the cars embark upon that long journey, there is the small object of these two final races within the Sprint Series where a good showing is almost a most for the team as Matteo Drudi/Nicolas Baert will again race their #7 car within the topflight Pro class whilst Lorens Lecertua and Dante Rappange return with their #12 Silver entry and AMR factory driver David Pittard again pairs up with Matisse Lismont within their #21 Gold entry.
The teams #11 and what was listed as a Gold class entry has recently reverted back to a TBA status under both driver names after the usual crew of James Jakes and Sebastian Ogaard was removed from previous entry list announcements.
Track action will begin tomorrow (Friday) with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying with Qualifying 1 and Race 1 on Saturday with the same for season finale on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / Series
Another one to forget for the Comtoyou Racing after the GTWCE Sprint Cup visit to Magny-Cours
Already struggling for pace within the Balance of performance parameters set to the new 2024 AMR Vantage GT3 by the governing body, their Sprint Cup endeavours so far have nearly all been a case of ‘catch up’ to their peers but with the odd instance of inspiration from (usually) the #007 Pro class entry.
Preparing themselves for another of the events usual into the night races on Saturday, the writing was again already upon the wall for the team after the #007 car of Nicolas Baert and Mattia Drudi qualified a distant P20 overall whilst their #11 Gold class entry of Sebastian Ogaard and James Jakes was not too far behind them in P24 and the #21 Silver entry of Matisse Lismont and David Pittard the next row back again. The teams fourth entry, that of the #12 silver class of Lorens Lecertua and Dante Rappange would start P30 of a thirty-two strong entry.
Reminiscent of the early round from Misano to say the least.
The competitive nature of the grid, the complexities of the circuit with a car that was not necessarily performing who it was first designed saw the #11 car fall by the wayside during the race, the #007 move up the order slightly to achieve a P15 overall and P9 finish in class result but with the #12 and #21 cars finishing towards the back in P25 and P27 places overall and P7 in silver and P4 in gold respectively.
Then ahead of race two, it really did all wrong!
During the opening laps of Q2, both the #12 and #21 cars collided with each other at the final corner to bring out the red flag but with no real information or evidence into just what happened. None the less, both cars suffered opposing corner damage to one another (suggesting side to side contact) that unfortunately left both cars irreparable at the circuit in time for the race start.
That was then compounded by the #007 not getting away from the grid on the formation that resulted in three of their four cars being noted as non-starters on the timing screen. The only saving grace was that their #11 gold entry of OGaard and Jakes were this time able to complete the concluding hour-long race to claim a mid-table P15 overall and P4 finish in class.
The final race of the Sprint Cup will be from Barcelona in mid-October.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Another tough day at the GT World Challenge office for the seven AMRs at the Nurburgring
Starting their weekend’s preparation in the wet of Friday and the mirk of a foggy Saturday, hopes of retaining the overall pace seen within the #7 Comtoyou Racing AMR of Matteo Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorenson were at least still there or there abouts as Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying sessions were the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport entry of Ross Gunn, Henrique Chaves and David Pittard headed the Pro classed Aston’s in P5.
Next on Sunday came the individual Qualifying runs of each driver, and whilst the rains had since passed, the track was still greasy in places as the #35 Walkenhorst Silver class entry of Lorcan Hanafin found to his cost – wide out of one corner and understeering off into the tyre wall of the next for a hard hit. That cost that crew their driver timed run and hence a rear of the grid start for Sunday’s three-hour race.
Overall, though, the #7 Comtoyou Racing AMR claimed stable bragging rights with a P7 starting position, ahead of the #34 Walkenhorst crew a distant P17 but when you look at their actual combined times, just a second off a second row starting position so all was still to race for.
For two Aston Martin crews, however, their racing ended no sooner than it had begun as the #21 silver Comtoyou entry of Matisse Lismont (Charles Clark and Sam Dejonghe) collided with another car on the formation lap to give themselves a puncture and later ABS issues as well as forcing the Porsche into retirement.
Eventually getting the race underway after a second formation lap, the #7 car was fortunate to avoid a steamrollering Ferrari than came down the inside lap at an unabated rate of knots to whack squarely into the pole setting Porsche to knock them in turn into another car and into retirement but at least that moved each car behind up a place in turn. The #21 car was sadly a repeated visitor to pit lane with what was later confirmed as being ABS issues, but their sister #11 car of John De Wilde (with Kobe Pauwels and Job Van Uitert) also came into pit lane with unquantified issues – never to be seen again.
Whilst their #7 Pro crew were holding station in what was then P5, the Belgium teams #12 silver crew of Sebastian Ogaard (with Esteban Muth and Nicolas Baert) were at least having a better day – running a competitive P3 in class towards the end of Ogaard’s opening stint. Having started towards the rear of the fifty strong grid, the #35 Walkenhorst of Maxime Robin behind the wheel (with Hanafin and Romain Leroux) were also making their way up the order slowly and had elevated themselves to P38 by the end of the first half hour.
Just ahead of their first stop, the #7 car of Thiim moved up to P4 and the car ahead of them was finally penalised for their lap one collision at turn one and the Dane would hold that position until the end of his stint when he handed the car to Drudi. The #34 Walkenhorst car of Chaves, however, went longer in the hope of undercutting the stops of those ahead but to no avail at the end.
As the race settled into its second stint, the #7 car had dropped again to P7, but the #34 car of Pittard had at least caught up upon the battle ahead for P7/8th and 9th, giving the AMR factory driver at least half a chance. Muth meanwhile was continuing the #12 car’s battles within class but now second in class whilst the #35 Walkenhorst car had dropped back to P41. The teams #36 bronze class car of Tim Creswick, Mex Jensen and Ben Green was still struggling for pace however in P44.
Final stops and it was a Sorensen and Gunn Pro class dash to the flag, but Race Control had other ideas as they investigated the #7 car for an apparent unsafe release last time around. Never a reason to give up hard earned positions, this Dane also had a battle on his hands to fend off the chasing BMW behind whilst Gunn was trying everything that he could to get passed another on his out lap.
Walkenhorst then suffered a DNF of their own as their #35 car failed to return to the track after their second and final stop (unsure just why at the moment) but that meant that Hanafin would get no race time.
Eventually, Race Control called their judgement upon the #7 car and awarded them a ten second time penalty to be added to their race time. Although sounding draconian, that only dropped them one place to behind the BMW that had been chasing them for so long. That eventually gave the Championship leading crew a P5 finish on track but a P6 overall finish after the time penalty was applied to slightly extend their lead at the to of the table with the #34 car eventually coming home a disappointing P13.
The Comtoyou #12 had by then fallen off the silver class podium as well to finish a distant P6 on top of the DNF for their #11 car and a ten-lap deficit result for the hobbled #21 car. The remaining #36 Walkenhorst car finished P42 overall and P12 in bronze.
The next race of the series will be from Monza in late September.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
Seven Aston Martins return for next round of Endurance Cup from the Nurburgring
Last time out was of course the Spa 24 where the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Matteo Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen where in position to snatch an unexpected overall race win at the end after the race leading Ferrari was baulked in the pit lane going into their final stop.
To come first - first you must finish, and the #7 car was never too far from the front of the action to be able to grab that racing opportunity with both hands whilst the #34 Walkenhorst AMR Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn, David Pittard and Henrique Chaves was also in contention for a podium finish before a late race penalty dropped them down the order.
Since then, we have just had the last round of the Sprint Cup Series from Hockenheim where the old saga of Balance of Performance again reared its head over last weekend when the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin’s all received positive BoP adjustments ahead of each race which finally saw the team’s Pro car finally climb the order to where we expected it to be at amongst the multi-class grid.
Hopefully, that is all over for this weekend as seven Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3’s from both the Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams help to make up the fifty strong grid for this weekend’s three-hour race.
To confirm driver line ups within those seven cars –
#7 Comtoyou (Pro) – Drudi/Thiim/Sorenson
#11 Comtoyou (Bronze) – Job Van Uitert/John De Wilde/Kobe Pauwels
#12 Comtoyou (Silver) – Esteban Muth/Nicolas Baert/Sebastian Ogaard
#21 Comtoyou (Silver) – Charles Clark/Matisse Lismont/San Dejonghe
#34 Walkenhorst (Pro) – David Pittard/Ross Gunn/Henrique Chaves
#35 Walkenhorst (Silver) – Maxime Robin/Romain Leroux/Lorcan Hanafin
#36 Walkenhorst (Bronze) – Mex Jensen/Tim Creswick/Ben Green
From an Endurance Cup perspective, the #7 Comtoyou crew presently lead the Driver’s Championship thanks to their points haul from Spa which saw them score at each of the 6/12/24hr marks of the race whilst the #34 Walkenhorst crew sit back in joint P9.
Within the Silver class, the #21 Comtoyou squad sit at the head of the three AMR crews in P8 with the #35 Walkenhorst crew in P12 whilst in the bronze class, the #11 Comtoyou crew head the pair of AMR entries in P5 whilst the #36 Walkenhorst are down in P13.
Track action begins tomorrow with private testing before more formal affairs of Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday morning. Qualifying itself will be on Sunday morning ahead of a race start at 15:00hrs local.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
A tough weekend at the office for the Comtoyou Racing Team in Sprint Cup
The biggest surprise for this round was the number of times the SRO visited that touchy subject of Balance of Performance during the meeting, something which eventually saw the series adjust that of the AMR Vantage GT3’s BoP three times in a quest for their infamous parity amongst brands.
Despite arriving at the circuit as newly crowned Spa 24 Champions, qualifying for the opening hour-long race on Saturday saw all four cars from the team finish no higher than P23 within the thirty-two strong entry.
Again fielding a fourth car across the three available classes, it was the new #21 Gold Cup crew of David Pittard and Matisse Lismont car who headed the AMR quartet over the #7 Pro car of Matteo Drudi and Nicolas Baert, #11 Gold Cup runners James Jakes and newcomer Razvan Umbrarescu brought up the rear with revised driver line up of #12 Silver cup entry of Dante Rappange and Lorens Lecertua.
Despite the newly imposed loss of car weight and additional boost, none of the Aston’s were able to correct the expected qualifying position within the opening half of the race despite the likes of Pittard starting the #21 car and race one quickly descended into one that Comtoyou Racing will forget as the #7 Pro car eventually finished P17 overall and the #21 car P21 overall, P5 in Gold Cup.
Sunday saw the Vantage GT3 offered further weight loss and performance enhancement ahead of Q2 and that saw the #7 Pro climb the timing screen to claim sixth overall on the grid although both gold cars were still down at the wrong end of the table (no higher than P21) and with the #12 car setting no time at all.
With track temperatures remaining high, it was a better opening half race experience for the #7 car as Drudi quickly made the most of the errors of others to move up to P4 by the time the pit window opened.
Umbrarescu’s return to the series would however be a short-lived affair in race 2 as a spin into turn one just before the pit window put the #12 cars endeavours at an end as he brought out a FCY.
Service over and Baert’s retained the #7 P4 position whilst Pittard was now aboard the #21 car and had moved up to P15 overall – third in class although that would soon change as the rear window popped out of place after contact from the Audi behind into T1, hindering the cars aero-dynamics and forcing the AMR factory driver to eventually pit.
By the end, the #7 Pro car eventually finished P6 overall after a five second post race time penalty was applied for track limits - a more representative pace that what race 1 would have suggested despite Baert being hounded all the way around. The #12 silver cup car did not recover from their Q2 issues to finish at the rear and with both the #21 and #11 cars being non finishers. Certainly room for thought within each car ahead of the next round at Magny Cours at the tail end of August.
Next stop for the Comtoyou Racing team however is just next weekend as Endurance Cup series resumes from the Nurburgring.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Spa 24 Champions Comtoyou Racing back in Sprint Cup mode as GT World Challenge Europe visits Hockenheim (UPDATED)
After rounds at both Brands Hatch and most recently at Misano, the overall result for the team at Spa has come as a timely injection of confidence in both themselves and their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 race car platform after disappointing results for the team at the previous rounds for their trio of entries.
Next time out in Italy it was much of the same but with the revised #12 Silver Cup entry of Lorens Lecertua and Dante Rappange finishing as high as P19 overall and P4 in class.
This weekend’s events at the Hockenheimring in Germany will see no change to the two drivers crews that competed at Misano as the three Aston Martin Racing crews will be joined by a further thirty GT3 crews for this weekend’s two one-hour races.
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