Round 06 - Hockenheim | 11th–13th September 2026

Blackthorn Shows Front-Running Pace but Rain Frustrates Hockenheim Challenge

Blackthorn Racing left Hockenheim without another Pro-Am victory, but the sixth round of the International GT Open provided further evidence that the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo can compete with the fastest professional entries in the championship. Charlie Bateman and Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam finished fourth in Pro-Am in Saturday’s opening race, before Adam produced one of Blackthorn’s strongest qualifying performances of the season on Sunday, placing the Aston Martin third overall and on Pro-Am pole.

That second-row starting position offered the prospect of another major result, but rain began falling almost immediately after the start. Adam was caught by the rapidly changing grip conditions and spun on the opening lap, forcing Blackthorn into recovery mode during a chaotic race shaped by intermittent rain, tyre decisions and two Safety Car periods. The #97 eventually recovered to fifth in Pro-Am, leaving Hockenheim with useful championship points but rather less reward than its outright pace had suggested.

Saturday Qualifying – Lamborghini Pole, Blackthorn Faces a Recovery Race

Blackthorn’s Saturday qualifying session did not produce a repeat of Jonny Adam’s outright pole position at Paul Ricard. Instead, Leonardo Moncini put the #63 Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 on pole with a 1:37.189. Five different manufacturers filled the top six positions, illustrating just how competitive the Hockenheim field had become.

The leading Pro-Am qualifier was Jim Pla in the Saintéloc Racing Audi, ninth overall. Blackthorn therefore entered the opening 70-minute race needing to make progress rather than defend from the front. It was a very different starting point to Paul Ricard, where Adam had controlled the field from outright pole.

Race 1 – Blackthorn Fights Back to Fourth in Pro-Am

Moncini converted pole position into the overall race lead and controlled the opening phase ahead of Dean Macdonald’s Greystone GT McLaren, Tom Lebbon’s Elite Motorsport Ferrari and the other Pro contenders. The first major interruption arrived after around 15 minutes. Seweryn Mazur spun exiting Turn 12 while Marcelo Hahn’s Ferrari stopped on circuit, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car.

The restart compressed the field before the compulsory driver-change window opened. For the Pro-Am championship, one of the most significant developments involved Alexander Fach’s #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche. The championship-leading car was forced into the pits following contact and ultimately failed to score, creating an opportunity for Bateman and Blackthorn to reduce the deficit at the top of the standings.

At the front, Rodrigo Testa took over the Villorba Corse Lamborghini from Moncini and maintained the advantage. The pair went on to secure their first victory of the season, with the Greystone GT McLaren of Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald second. Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana were eventually promoted to third in the ZRS Motorsport Porsche following a penalty for the AF Corse Ferrari. The closing stages produced an intense Pro-Am battle.

Filip Salaquarda initially led for Team ISR, but Yannick Mettler steadily closed in aboard the CBRX by SPS Mercedes and completed the decisive pass with around five minutes remaining. Behind them, Karol Basz’s Olimp Racing Ferrari came under increasing pressure. Adam was among those closing rapidly. The Blackthorn Aston Martin passed the Olimp Ferrari during the final phase, moving the #97 into fourth in Pro-Am. Dexter Müller and Mettler took the class victory, ahead of Salaquarda and Libor Milota, with the Track Focused McLaren completing the podium.

For Blackthorn, fourth place was not another trophy, but it was valuable. With Fach failing to score, Bateman had effectively erased the five-point championship deficit he had carried into Hockenheim.

Sunday Qualifying – Adam Puts the Aston Martin on the Second Row

If Saturday had been about recovery, Sunday morning demonstrated the outright potential of the Vantage GT3 Evo. Alex Fontana secured pole for ZRS Motorsport with a 1:36.841, edging Tom Emson’s championship-leading Elite Motorsport Ferrari by only 0.140 seconds. Immediately behind them was Jonny Adam.

The Scottish Aston Martin works driver recorded a 1:37.178, just 0.337 seconds from outright pole, placing the Pro-Am Blackthorn Aston Martin third overall on the grid. Alexander Fach qualified fourth, only 0.066 seconds behind Adam. It was another exceptional qualifying performance from Blackthorn.

At Paul Ricard, Adam had beaten every Pro entry to outright pole. At Hockenheim, he again placed the #97 among the very fastest cars in the entire field. For a Pro-Am pairing to start on the second row alongside the leading professional crews was another significant demonstration of the Aston Martin’s raw speed.

Race 2 – Rain Arrives Almost Immediately

The conditions changed almost as soon as the lights went out. Emson launched strongly from the front row and challenged Fontana into the opening braking zone. The Ferrari and Porsche made contact, sending Fontana into a spin and immediately disrupting the order. At virtually the same moment, the first drops of rain began to fall.

Adam became one of the earliest drivers caught by the suddenly reduced grip and spun the #97 Aston Martin, undoing much of the advantage created by his superb qualifying performance. Instead of fighting amongst the overall leaders, Blackthorn suddenly faced another recovery race.

The frustration was obvious, but the circumstances were very different from a conventional dry-race error. Hockenheim had become extremely difficult to read, with some parts of the circuit wet while others remained almost dry. Even the eventual winners described conditions as unpredictable from lap to lap.

Changing Rain Creates a Strategic Lottery

The weather continued to fluctuate. By Lap 10 the rain had strengthened, with several cars running wide at Turn 6. Emson himself went off briefly and surrendered the lead to Tommaso Mosca. Two laps later, with the circuit becoming significantly wetter, race control deployed a Full Course Yellow. The timing coincided closely with the compulsory pit-stop window and created an important strategic decision: whether to commit to wet tyres immediately or gamble on conditions improving.

Some teams changed tyres; others remained on slicks. The neutralisation eventually became a Safety Car as the field attempted to adapt to the deteriorating circuit. When racing resumed, Tom Lebbon quickly moved the Elite Motorsport Ferrari into the lead. The action lasted only briefly. Marcelo Hahn, still running slick tyres, crashed into the barriers and triggered a second Safety Car, further compressing the field and leaving only a short final sprint to the chequered flag.

Blackthorn Recovers but Podium Slips Away

The final restart was every bit as difficult as the earlier phases of the race. Cars repeatedly slid beyond the circuit limits as drivers searched for grip. Maximilian Götz, Lucas Wolf, Libor Milota, Jim Pla and Leonardo Moncini were among those caught out during the closing minutes. Despite the opening-lap spin, Blackthorn continued its recovery and brought the Aston Martin back into the Pro-Am points.

The #97 ultimately finished fifth in class. It was some distance from what had appeared possible when Adam lined up third overall, but salvaging points from such a disrupted race was important given the championship battle.

At the front, Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon won overall for Elite Motorsport, taking their fifth victory of the season and extending their championship advantage. Michaël Blanchemain and Jim Pla claimed their first Pro-Am victory for Saintéloc Racing, ahead of Alexander Schwarzer and Fach’s Porsche, with Darren and James Kell third for Track Focused.

A Weekend of Pace Rather Than Podiums

Hockenheim therefore produced a very different outcome to Paul Ricard. There was no Aston Martin victory. There was no class podium. Yet it would be misleading to characterise the weekend simply as a disappointing result. The strongest evidence came on Sunday morning.

Jonny Adam qualified a Pro-Am Aston Martin third overall, only 0.337 seconds from pole and ahead of the majority of the professional field. That followed his outright pole position at Paul Ricard and provides a second strong data point suggesting that the Vantage GT3 Evo is not merely competitive within Pro-Am.

In the right conditions, Blackthorn can challenge the fastest cars in International GT Open irrespective of category. The difficulty at Hockenheim was converting that potential into a result. Saturday required a recovery drive and still yielded fourth in class. Sunday began from an exceptional grid position, but rapidly changing weather transformed the race within moments of the start.

Championship Fight Remains Wide Open

Hockenheim was also important for the Pro-Am title. Blackthorn arrived in Germany with Bateman five points behind Alexander Fach. Fach’s Race 1 retirement combined with Blackthorn’s fourth-place finish effectively brought the pair level after Saturday. Sunday swung the advantage back towards the Porsche driver. Fach finished second in Pro-Am while Blackthorn recovered to fifth.

On FTP’s current calculation from the published class results, that leaves Fach on 72 points and Bateman on 68, a gap of only four points heading into the closing stages of the season. GT Open’s online championship table had not yet been refreshed with the Hockenheim totals when checked, so those figures should be regarded as provisional until the official updated classification appears. The broader picture, however, is clear. Blackthorn remains firmly in the championship fight.

Monza Becomes a Major Opportunity

The next challenge is the Monza GT Open 500 on 25th–27th September. For Blackthorn, Hockenheim demonstrated both sides of its current position. The #97 Aston Martin possesses enough speed to qualify alongside, and occasionally ahead of, the leading Pro cars.

At the same time, with the championship now entering its decisive phase, converting that performance into class results becomes increasingly important. Paul Ricard showed what happens when outright speed and race execution come together: two Pro-Am victories from two very different races. Hockenheim showed how quickly that opportunity can disappear.

The trophies may have been missing in Germany, but the underlying message was still encouraging: Blackthorn remains one of the fastest Pro-Am combinations in International GT Open, and with the championship gap still measured in only a handful of points, the title remains very much within reach.