As mentioned last month, Aston Martin secured a historic victory in the 24 Hours of Spa at the end of June. Aston’s only previous win was in 1948 when St John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson triumphed in a 2-litre Sports.
This year marked the race’s centenary, and it was fittingly won by a Belgian team, Comtoyou Racing. Comtoyou had success racing Audi R8s last year but switched to Aston Martin for 2024 following Audi’s withdrawal of factory support for its customer teams at the end of last season. The new Vantage AMR GT3 Evo only made its debut in January, so Spa was its biggest success so far and suggests the car continues to improve. The winning #007 car also benefited from being piloted round the Ardennes track by the experienced ‘Dane Train’ of Marco Sorenson and Nikki Thiim, alongside new AMR works driver Italian Mattia Drudi.
The race saw heavy rain throughout the night which contributed to a total of 17 safety car periods. The #007 Aston looked set for a solid second place until a dramatic twist with 50 minutes remaining. The leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari was blocked by a broken-down Lamborghini in the pit lane while making its final stop for fuel. That delay promoted the Aston with Drudi at the wheel to P1 where it remained, winning by 33 seconds from the Ferrari.
Lady luck might have smiled on Aston Martin this time; but in endurance racing, and especially in a 24-hour race, you must be there at the finish to take advantage of any mishaps suffered by rivals. More good news for Aston at Spa was the P4 finish by Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Vantage GT3 of Chaves/Gunn/Pittard.
The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) visited Brazil in July for the
6 Hours of Sao Paolo. The overall winner was the #8 Toyota hypercar, meaning this season’s five WEC races have been won by five different manufacturers. There was an excellent result for Aston in the LMGT3 class where Heart of Racing’s #27 Vantage, driven by team owner Ian James alongside Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas, finished in second behind the winning Porsche 911. Having started in ninth this result represented a strong race performance and provided some compensation for the team’s disappointment at Le Mans where it crashed out while challenging for a podium spot. The next WEC round takes place at COTA in Texas on 1 September.
Another second place was recorded by the Vantage GT3 at Imola in the European Le Mans Series. The Porsche driven by the all-female Iron Dames team held off Racing Spirit of Leman’s Aston by less than a second at the chequered flag.
The IMSA round in Ontario, Canada witnessed a strong showing by Aston Martin. In the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, Heart of Racing finished fifth in GTD Pro with the Mario Farnbacher/Ross Gunn entry, and its #27 car won the GTD class in the hands of Roman de Angelis and Spencer Pumpelly. The GT4 Michelin Pilot Challenge race saw Aston take second and third places courtesy of Van der Steur Racing and Team TGM, with two other Vantages finishing in the top eight of a 33 car field.
The following IMSA round took place in early August at Road America, Wisconsin. Heart of Racing’s #23 car finished third in class, improving from eighth on the grid. The GT4 support race continued the theme of strong results for the Vantage AMR GT4. The second place Aston was a mere 0.4 seconds behind the winning Porsche and was closely followed home by another Vantage in P3. Further down the field was NASCAR Cup star Ross Chastain making his debut in GT4 machinery, driving an Aston for Skip Barber Racing.
The British GT series went to Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit in July for two one-hour sprint races. AMR customer team Forsetti Racing maintained their strong, consistent form in the GT4 class, finishing P3 and P4 in race one followed by P2 and P3 in the second race. This gives them an unassailable lead in the GT4 Team Championship with two rounds remaining, while Forsetti’s driver pairings of Orton/Warren head the ProAm class and Day/Porter lead in Silver. In GT3 Aston was represented by the two Blackthorn entries, with Beechdean missing this round. Race one was promising with Adam/Petrobelli running in P4 only to have their race ruined by a stop-go penalty for a pitstop infringement; the second race saw them finish fifth. The #10 car of Rowledge/Topham finished P6 (P3 in the Silver Am class) and P9.