GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
GT World Challenge Europe is one of the most competitive GT3 championships in the world, but it’s important to separate the wider championship from the Endurance Cup. The 2026 GT World Challenge Europe calendar includes both Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup rounds; Brands Hatch, Misano, Magny-Cours, Zandvoort and Barcelona are Sprint Cup rounds, while Monza, Spa, Nürburgring and Portimão sit within the Endurance Cup schedule after the Paul Ricard opener. Aston Martin interest centres on Vantage GT3 entries from teams including Comtoyou Racing, Walkenhorst Motorsport and Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
GT World Challenge Europe - Season So Far
Aston Martin’s 2026 GT World Challenge Europe story has already delivered one of the marque’s strongest motorsport results of the season, and one of its most frustrating race-day contrasts.
The Endurance Cup campaign began brilliantly at Paul Ricard. Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, shared by Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim, won the six-hour season opener outright after a dramatic late charge. It wasn’t a simple lights-to-flag victory. The car had to recover from a left-rear puncture near the end of the opening stint, stay in contention through the middle phase, and then capitalise when a late Safety Car brought the leading pack back together. Thiim’s move for the lead in the final laps turned a strong recovery drive into a major Aston Martin win.
That result mattered because of the level of competition. GT World Challenge Europe is one of the deepest GT3 championships in the world, and an outright Endurance Cup victory against Mercedes-AMG, McLaren, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari and other factory-supported efforts is a serious statement. It also gave the #7 Comtoyou crew the early championship lead and placed the Vantage AMR GT3 EVO firmly among Aston Martin’s headline racing stories of 2026.
Brands Hatch then added a useful Sprint Cup note, although it sits slightly outside the core Endurance Cup story followed here. The wider GT World Challenge Europe season includes both Sprint and Endurance rounds, and Brands Hatch counted towards the overall GTWC Europe and Sprint Cup tables rather than the Endurance Cup standings. Aston Martin’s best Brands Hatch result came from Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels, who finished ninth overall in Race 1 in the #7 Comtoyou Racing Vantage. Race 2 was tougher, and the Aston Martin entries were not in the headline fight, but the weekend still contributed to the wider GTWC Europe picture.
Monza then brought the second Endurance Cup round and a very different kind of Aston Martin story. The #7 Comtoyou Racing Vantage arrived as the Paul Ricard winner and one of the key Pro Cup contenders, but its race was effectively over almost before it began. A huge opening-lap accident at the first chicane eliminated several leading cars, including the Drudi / Sørensen / Thiim Aston Martin. That was a major blow to Aston Martin’s Pro hopes and a painful reminder of how quickly a GT3 endurance race can turn.
But Monza was not a lost Aston Martin weekend. Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn produced the standout result for the marque, bringing the #56 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO home 10th overall and 2nd in Bronze Cup. In a 57-car field, after a heavily interrupted race shaped by Safety Cars, Full Course Yellows and repeated strategy resets, Giacomo Petrobelli, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam delivered exactly the kind of resilient customer-racing result that deserves attention.
That Blackthorn podium gives the GTWC Europe story a second Aston Martin thread. The #7 Comtoyou car remains the flagship Pro Cup contender, with an outright win already on the board despite the frustration of Monza. Blackthorn, meanwhile, has now turned its Bronze Cup programme into a proper podium story, with Petrobelli and Adam shown sixth in the Endurance Bronze driver classification on 19 points after Monza. With Hanafin back in the line-up for the Italian round, the #56 crew now has something meaningful to build from.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, the season so far shows the strength and depth of the Vantage AMR GT3 EVO in customer competition. Paul Ricard proved the car can win outright at the highest level of European GT3 racing. Monza showed that even when the headline Pro entry is taken out, Aston Martin’s wider customer network can still produce a result worth celebrating. One Aston Martin story is about outright championship contention; the other is about Blackthorn building momentum in Bronze Cup.
The next Endurance Cup round is the biggest of them all: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. After a Paul Ricard win, Monza heartbreak for the #7, and a Bronze Cup podium for Blackthorn, Spa now becomes a major test of Aston Martin’s GT3 depth, resilience and endurance-racing credentials.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
Latest Result
Monza 3 Hours
Monza delivered one of the most chaotic GT World Challenge Europe races of the season so far, with a huge opening-lap accident reshaping the race before the first chicane. Overall victory went to the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, while Aston Martin’s headline Pro Cup hopes were hit immediately when the #7 Comtoyou Racing Vantage AMR GT3 EVO was caught in the first-lap chaos.
The standout Aston Martin result came from Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn. The #56 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Giacomo Petrobelli, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam finished 10th overall and 2nd in Bronze Cup, making Blackthorn the leading Aston Martin finisher and giving the team a strong class podium from a brutal, heavily interrupted race.
| Pos | Car | Team | Drivers | Gap / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #66 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II | Tresor Attempto Racing | Rocco Mazzola / Sebastian Øgaard / Ariel Levi | Overall winner |
| 2 | #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER | Lucas Auer / Luca Stolz / Maro Engel | +0.783s |
| 3 | #555 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO | CSA Racing | Baptiste Moulin / Romain Andriolo / Lorens Lecertua | +2.425s |
| 4 | #2 Porsche 911 GT3 R | Boutsen VDS | Morris Schuring / Dorian Boccolacci / Alessio Picariello | +2.785s |
| 5 | #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO | ROWE Racing | Augusto Farfus / Jake Dennis / Raffaele Marciello | +3.558s |
| Pos | Class result | Car | Team | Drivers | FTP note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 2nd Bronze | #56 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn | Giacomo Petrobelli / Lorcan Hanafin / Jonny Adam | Best Aston Martin finisher; Bronze Cup podium |
| 26 | Silver Cup finisher | #35 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Walkenhorst Motorsport | Gaspard Simon / Ethan Ischer / Mateo Villagomez | Reached the finish in a disrupted race |
| 28 | Silver Cup finisher | #21 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Kobe Pauwels / Oliver Söderström / Sébastien Baud | Useful Silver Cup mileage |
| 29 | Pro Cup finisher | #34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | natural elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport | Jamie Day / Christian Krognes / Henrique Chaves | Finished, but outside the main Pro fight |
| 39 | Bronze Cup finisher | #11 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Aaron Muss / Marcelo Tomasoni / Kyle Marcelli | Classified three laps down |
| DNF | Pro Cup | #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Mattia Drudi / Marco Sørensen / Nicki Thiim | Caught in the opening-lap accident |
FTP Summary: Monza was brutal for Aston Martin’s Pro hopes, but Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn delivered the standout result — 10th overall, 2nd in Bronze Cup, and the best Aston Martin finish of a chaotic GT World Challenge Europe weekend.
Championship Standings
Monza changes the championship tone. Comtoyou’s #7 Aston Martin crew remain firmly in the Endurance Cup fight after their Paul Ricard victory, while Blackthorn’s Bronze Cup podium gives the #56 Aston Martin programme valuable momentum heading towards Spa.
| Pos | Drivers | Team / Car | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maro Engel / Lucas Auer / Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER | 43 |
| 2 | Marco Sørensen / Nicki Thiim / Mattia Drudi | #7 Aston Martin / Comtoyou Racing | 33 |
| 3 | Rocco Mazzola / Sebastian Øgaard / Ariel Levi | Tresor Attempto Racing | 25 |
| 4 | Jordan Pepper / Kelvin van der Linde / Charles Weerts | Team WRT | 21 |
| 5 | Louis Prette / Thomas Fleming / Benjamin Goethe | Garage 59 | 19 |
| 6 | Augusto Farfus / Raffaele Marciello / Jake Dennis | ROWE Racing | 19 |
| Pos | Team | Car / entry | Pts | FTP note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winward Racing / Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER | #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | 43 | Monza runner-up; now leads the overall driver picture |
| 2 | Comtoyou Racing | #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | 33 | Paul Ricard winner; DNF at Monza after opening-lap accident |
| 3 | Tresor Attempto Racing | #66 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II | 25 | Monza overall winner |
| 4 | Team WRT | #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO | 21 | Consistent early-season scoring |
| 5 | Garage 59 | #58 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO | 19 | Strong Paul Ricard result keeps them in the top five |
| 6 | ROWE Racing | #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO | 19 | Top-five finish at Monza |
| Pos | Drivers | Team / car | Pts | FTP note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Giacomo Petrobelli / Jonny Adam | #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin | 19 | Bronze Cup podium at Monza; Hanafin joined the #56 line-up for this round |
| Pos | Drivers | Team / car | Pts | FTP note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Kobe Pauwels / Oliver Söderström / Sébastien Baud | #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin | 22 | Comtoyou’s Silver Cup Aston remains inside the top five |
FTP Summary: After Monza, Aston Martin’s GT World Challenge Europe story has split in two. The #7 Comtoyou Pro car remains a championship contender despite its opening-lap DNF, while Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn has added a major Bronze Cup podium and valuable momentum to its European campaign.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
Round 02 - Monza (The Monza 3 Hours was Round 3 of the overall GT World Challenge Europe season, but Round 2 of the Endurance Cup campaign)
GT World Challenge Europe Monza Race Report - Blackthorn turns Monza chaos into a Bronze Cup podium for Aston Martin
The second round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup took the championship to Monza, with a huge 57-car field assembled for the three-hour race at the Temple of Speed. For Aston Martin, this was an important weekend: Comtoyou Racing arrived as the Endurance Cup points leader after the #7 Vantage AMR GT3 EVO won the Paul Ricard opener, while Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn returned with its Bronze Cup Aston Martin line-up of Giacomo Petrobelli, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam.
The race was shaped almost immediately by a huge opening-lap accident at the first chicane. DailySportscar reports that the incident eliminated seven leading contenders, including the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. That was a major blow to Aston Martin’s Pro-class hopes, because the same crew had won the opening Endurance Cup round at Paul Ricard and came into Monza as one of the key championship contenders. You can see the footage of the crash in the short film below;
Once the Pro Aston was gone, the best Aston Martin story became Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn. In a race interrupted by six cautions and repeated strategy resets, the #56 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO stayed in the fight and was shown in the broadcast classification as 10th overall and 2nd in Bronze Cup. For Giacomo Petrobelli, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam, that was an excellent result from a chaotic afternoon, and it made Blackthorn the leading Aston Martin finisher at Monza.
Overall victory went to the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Rocco Mazzola, Sebastian Øgaard and Ariel Levi. DailySportscar describes it as an upset win for the Silver Cup-entered Audi, which benefitted from well-timed Full Course Yellow pit stops and cycled to the front during the final round of stops. The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER car finished second, with the #555 CSA Racing McLaren completing the overall podium.
Bronze Cup honours went to the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Dustin Blattner, Lorenzo Patrese and Dennis Marschall, ninth overall. Blackthorn’s #56 Aston Martin followed close behind in 10th overall, making it second in Bronze, with the #42 Oman Racing by Century Motorsport BMW completing the Bronze podium according to the broadcast classification. That makes Blackthorn’s result especially valuable: it was not merely a class podium, but a top-ten overall finish in one of the deepest GT3 fields of the season.
The other Aston Martin entries had mixed fortunes. The #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Vantage AMR GT3 EVO was shown 26th overall, the #21 Comtoyou Racing Silver Cup Aston Martin 28th, and the #34 natural elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport Pro entry 29th. The #11 Comtoyou Racing Bronze Cup Aston Martin was classified further back, shown three laps down, while the #7 Comtoyou Pro car was one of the early retirements from the opening-lap chaos.
The standings also give Blackthorn a useful season context. Petrobelli and Adam were shown sixth in the Endurance Bronze driver classification on 19 points, while the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn entry now has a proper podium result to build from. That matters because Lorcan Hanafin had missed the Paul Ricard opener due to a European Le Mans Series clash, making Monza the first full appearance of the Petrobelli / Hanafin / Adam line-up in this Endurance Cup campaign.
For Aston Martin, Monza was therefore a weekend of contrast. The headline Pro entry was taken out before the race had properly begun, which damaged Comtoyou’s momentum after its Paul Ricard victory. But Blackthorn turned a messy race into a strong Bronze Cup result, while the wider Vantage AMR GT3 EVO presence across Comtoyou and Walkenhorst ensured Aston Martin remained visible throughout the field. The next Endurance Cup round is the biggest of them all: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, scheduled for 25th - 28th June 2026.
GT World Challenge Europe • Monza
Result Snapshot — Aston Martin Focus
A focused FTP summary of the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO entries from a chaotic Monza Endurance Cup race, led by Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn’s Bronze Cup podium.
| Pos | Class result | Car | Team | Drivers | FTP note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 2nd Bronze | #56 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn | Giacomo Petrobelli / Lorcan Hanafin / Jonny Adam | Best Aston Martin finisher; Bronze Cup podium |
| 26 | Silver Cup finisher | #35 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Walkenhorst Motorsport | Gaspard Simon / Ethan Ischer / Mateo Villagomez | Reached the finish in a disrupted race |
| 28 | Silver Cup finisher | #21 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Kobe Pauwels / Oliver Söderström / Sébastien Baud | Useful Silver Cup mileage |
| 29 | Pro Cup finisher | #34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | natural elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport | Jamie Day / Christian Krognes / Henrique Chaves | Finished, but outside the main Pro fight |
| 39 | Bronze Cup finisher | #11 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Aaron Muss / Marcelo Tomasoni / Kyle Marcelli | Classified three laps down |
| DNF | Pro Cup | #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO | Comtoyou Racing | Mattia Drudi / Marco Sørensen / Nicki Thiim | Caught in the opening-lap accident |
FTP Summary Line
Monza was brutal for Aston Martin’s Pro hopes, but Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn delivered the standout result: 10th overall, 2nd in Bronze Cup, and the best Aston Martin finish of a chaotic GT World Challenge Europe weekend.
Images © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Note - Brands Hatch
Although the main FTP Motorsport Hub page for this championship is built around the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, the wider GT World Challenge Europe season also includes Sprint Cup rounds. Brands Hatch was one of those Sprint Cup events, so its results count towards the wider GT World Challenge Europe overall and Sprint Cup standings, but not the Endurance Cup standings. That distinction matters because Aston Martin’s Endurance Cup position should still be judged from the Paul Ricard opener until the next Endurance Cup round at Monza.
At Brands Hatch, Aston Martin was represented by Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport. The strongest Aston Martin result came in Race 1, where Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels finished ninth overall in the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO. Walkenhorst Motorsport’s #34 Vantage finished 16th, the #35 Walkenhorst Vantage finished 18th, and Comtoyou’s #21 Silver Cup Vantage finished 24th. Race 2 was tougher: the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin finished 14th, the #34 Walkenhorst car 20th, the #35 Walkenhorst car 26th, and the #21 Comtoyou car 27th.
The headline Brands Hatch results went elsewhere. Race 1 was won by AF Corse’s #50 Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer after the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry lost victory to penalties, while Race 2 was won by the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus.
From an Aston Martin perspective, Brands Hatch was therefore a useful supporting note rather than a headline result. It did, however, affect the wider GT World Challenge Europe table: after Paul Ricard and Brands Hatch, Comtoyou Racing sits second in the overall GT World Challenge Europe teams’ standings on 36.5 points, behind Winward Racing on 40.5 points. Walkenhorst Motorsport is 15th on 0.5 points. The Endurance Cup picture remains separate, with Aston Martin’s Paul Ricard victory still the key result for the Endurance Cup strand.
FTP Summary Line
Brands Hatch was a Sprint Cup weekend, not an Endurance Cup round, so it should be treated as a wider GT World Challenge Europe update rather than a replacement for the Paul Ricard Endurance Cup result. Aston Martin’s strongest finish was ninth for Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Vantage in Race 1, while the wider standings still leave Comtoyou second overall after the opening Endurance and Sprint events.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
Round 01 - Paul Ricard 6 Hours 2026
The 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup opened at Circuit Paul Ricard with one of Aston Martin’s strongest results of the season so far. Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, driven by Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim, took overall victory in the six-hour opener, finishing ahead of the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and the #58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. The official result placed the winning Aston Martin first after 176 laps, with just 0.806 seconds covering the top two at the flag.
The victory was hard-earned rather than straightforward. The #48 Mercedes-AMG had controlled much of the race from pole position and looked set for the win before a late Safety Car bunched the field. Thiim then had to work through traffic, close the gap to Lucas Auer and make the decisive move in the final stages. The official race report noted that the Aston Martin took the lead with less than ten minutes remaining, while Aston Martin’s own account described Thiim moving ahead with five laps to go.
It was also a recovery drive. The #7 Aston Martin had suffered a left-rear puncture near the end of the opening stint, but because the problem occurred close to the pit entry, Sørensen was able to bring the car in without losing the race entirely. From there, Comtoyou rebuilt the challenge, with Sørensen, Thiim and Drudi keeping the car in contention before the late neutralisation gave the crew the chance to attack.
There was wider Aston Martin interest beyond the winning car. Aston Martin had announced a seven-car Vantage GT3 line-up for the Paul Ricard opener, including entries from Comtoyou Racing, Walkenhorst Motorsport and Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn. The official race result showed Comtoyou’s #21 Silver Cup Aston Martin finishing 20th overall, Walkenhorst Motorsport’s #35 Silver Cup car 34th, Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn’s #56 Bronze Cup car 41st, Comtoyou’s #11 Bronze Cup car 44th, and the #18 Comtoyou Pro Cup entry of Roberto Merhi, Lance Stroll and Mari Boya 48th.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, this was a significant Aston Martin weekend. The headline was not simply that a Vantage won, but that it won overall in one of the most competitive GT3 championships in the world, against a huge field and after recovering from an early setback. The result also mattered in context: Aston Martin described it as the first GT World Challenge Europe overall victory for Vantage since Comtoyou’s 2024 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa win, and the first regular-season Endurance Cup overall victory for a Vantage since R-Motorsport at Silverstone in 2018.
FTP Summary Line
Aston Martin’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season began with a major overall victory, as Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Vantage AMR GT3 EVO recovered from an early puncture to win the Paul Ricard 6 Hours with Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. In a deep and highly competitive GT3 field, this was one of Aston Martin’s strongest early-season motorsport results and a clear headline moment for the FTP Motorsport Hub.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.