Aston Martin Vantage claims first victory of the GT World Challenge Europe season
Aston Martin triumphed in the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – the Paul Ricard 6 Hours – thanks to a brilliant fightback from partner team Comtoyou Racing and works drivers Mattia Drudi (ITA), Marco Sørensen (DEN) and Nicki Thiim (DEN), on Saturday night.
Their breathtaking victory was the first for the trio since their famous CrowdStrike Spa 24 Hours win in 2024 and marked the first ‘regular season’ Endurance Cup overall win for any Vantage since R Motorsport’s victory at Silverstone in 2018. “That was awesome,” said Thiim, “what an amazing weekend.
“To be honest, we really brainstormed and tried something new with the Vantage GT3 this week. I had some mixed feelings when we tried it in the Prologue, but we stuck with it and it worked well. In the cold conditions the car was just a dream to drive. I really had a lot of fun.”
Victory in the series’ traditional 6-Hour opener on France’s Côte D’Azur came in dramatic circumstances, after the winning #007 Vantage GT3 staged a fightback from a left rear puncture in the first hour of the race. Having started third on the grid, Sørensen stayed in the leading pack for the first 50 minutes before the issue occurred in the final sector of the lap. This was fortuitous as the slow crawl back to the pits to change tyres was short, keeping the car within its strategic pitstop window and still in the top 15 when it emerged from its service.
Sørensen put on a charge, climbing back to sixth before handing over to Thiim, who forged forward into the podium positions. From that point on, Thiim and Drudi alternated stints and put consistent pressure on the leader. A Full Course Yellow neutralised the race with 30 minutes to go, and when it went green again, Thiim closed in and made a concerted bid for the lead in the final stages.
Setting a sequence of flying laps, one of which was the fastest of the race, Thiim pressured the leader into a mistake on the back straight and moved to the front with five laps to go. “Nicki did an amazing job at the end, and the entire team was fantastic from the Prologue onwards,” said Drudi.
“We tried some different things on the set-up and it paid off because we were competitive in both qualifying and the race. We were lucky that Marco’s puncture was in the last sector of the lap, so we were able to pit without losing too much time and we fought back. At the end Nicki’s pace was super quick.
“This is the best way to start the season, and we can try to fight for the championship now.” Sørensen added: “Since 2024 when we won Spa, we haven’t had a race win in this championship, but we’ve been on the podium a couple of times.
“It’s nice to take an actual win and be up there and fighting where we deserve to be.” Vantage was also on the podium in the Silver Cup Class of the 58-car field, with Comtoyou Racing’s #21 crew of AMR Driver Academy winner Kobe Pauwels (BEL) and current candidates Sébastien Baud (FRA) and Oliver Söderström (SWE) finishing third, having started from the class pole. Run over five rounds, the series heads to Monza in Italy (29-31 May) next, before moving on to its blue riband event – the Crowdstrike Spa 24 Hours (24-28 June). The series then concludes with two three-hour races at the Nürburging in Germany (28-30 August) and Portugal’s Portimao circuit (16-18 October)
In Japan, partner team D’station Racing claimed another victory with the Aston Martin Vantage in the opening round of the AUTOBACS SUPER GT Championship, at Okayama. Drivers Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) and Charlie Fagg (GBR) dominated the race, leading away from pole position in a lights-to-flag win. D’station Racing is the first team to win in a Japanese domestic championship with an Aston Martin (the 2021 Super Taikyu Championship) and this latest success represented its fourth class win with the Vantage GT3 in all competitions. Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, Adam Carter said: “This a tremendous result for Vantage, for Aston Martin and for our partners Comtoyou Racing. For more than two seasons now the #007 car has been a force to be reckoned with in the GT World Challenge Europe and this second victory for the crew feels long overdue.
“Vantage also won in the Japanese SUPER GT Championship with D’station Racing, and we commend everyone in the team for an outstanding performance at Okayama. Congratulations to everyone involved in these results.” Sharing the mechanical architecture of the high-performance Vantage road car, the Vantage GT3, which triumphed at the 24 Hours of Spa in 2024 – the world’s most prestigious GT3-only event, is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.