Round 05 - Michelin Le Mans Cup Silverstone 2026: Pace, Rain and a Race of Changing Fortunes for Aston Martin

Silverstone delivered one of the most unpredictable races of the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup season, with changing weather, Safety Cars and difficult tyre decisions turning the penultimate round into a two-hour strategic challenge.

For Aston Martin, there was plenty of speed but ultimately no place on the GT3 podium. Code Racing Development led the class from pole position, Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn ran third during the opening stint, and championship leader Racing Spirit of Léman arrived with an opportunity to secure the GT3 title.

By the chequered flag, however, the picture looked very different. Kessel Racing secured a Ferrari one-two in GT3, Code Racing Development finished fourth, Blackthorn came home seventh and Racing Spirit of Léman finished ninth, leaving the championship to be decided at Portimão.

Aston Martin locks out two of the top three in qualifying

Aston Martin began race day with an impressive qualifying performance. Stéphane Lemeret put the #11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo on GT3 pole with a 2:01.539, just 0.051 seconds ahead of the #77 SMC Motorsport McLaren. Behind them came another Aston Martin. Claude Bovet qualified the #91 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Vantage third in GT3, setting a 2:02.718 around the 5.891-kilometre Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

It represented another significant step forward for Blackthorn after Tom Canning had already demonstrated the car's pace during Friday practice. Canning had been third-fastest in GT3 during FP1 with a 2:00.244, only 0.009 seconds away from second place. Championship leader Philipp Sager qualified the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin seventh, knowing that victory at Silverstone would be enough to secure the GT3 title before the season finale.

Aston Martin therefore headed into the two-hour race with genuine opportunities at both the front of the race and in the championship.

Aston Martin leads as Blackthorn holds third

The race began in dry conditions with 44 cars heading towards Copse. At the front of the overall field, the championship-leading #85 R-ace GP Duqueine led away, but there was immediate drama further back. Contact involving the #49 High Class Racing Ligier and the #77 SMC Motorsport McLaren left debris on the circuit and prompted an early Full Course Yellow.

In GT3, however, the Aston Martins had started strongly. Lemeret retained the class lead in the pole-sitting #11 Code Racing Development Vantage, ahead of the #77 McLaren. Behind them, Claude Bovet held third position in the #91 Blackthorn Aston Martin, with the two Kessel Racing Ferraris immediately applying pressure. Oscar Ryndziewicz in the #21 Ferrari and Lorenzo Innocenti in the #17 were both close behind, but Bovet initially held his ground and kept Blackthorn firmly inside the GT3 podium positions.

It was an encouraging opening phase for a team that had endured a difficult Michelin Le Mans Cup campaign. Blackthorn had missed the opening Barcelona race following Bovet's testing accident, scored points at Le Castellet and then suffered a dramatic retirement at Spa after smoke and fire developed around the Aston Martin. At Silverstone, the #91 was finally running where its pace had suggested it could.

Caution periods interrupt the rhythm

The race soon became more complicated. The #88 AF Corse Ferrari suffered a problem around its front-right corner and, after briefly returning to the circuit following a pit inspection, stopped with the driver unable to steer the car. Further contact between the #68 and #99 LMP3 cars added more debris and brought out the Safety Car. After approximately eight minutes behind the Safety Car, racing resumed, but the interruptions were beginning to influence pit-stop strategy across the field.

At the front, Louis Iglesias had brought the #9 ANS Motorsport Ligier through from eighth on the grid and, as the race approached its halfway stage, passed the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine for the overall lead at Brooklands. The GT3 battle remained equally significant, with Code Racing Development and Blackthorn still representing Aston Martin towards the front of the class.

Blackthorn fights at the front

For Blackthorn, the opening stint underlined just how competitive the #91 had become at Silverstone. Claude Bovet spent much of his time in the car holding third position despite sustained pressure from the Ferraris behind, keeping Blackthorn firmly in the GT3 podium fight. Towards the end of his stint, Bovet saw an opportunity to make further progress on a car ahead and committed to the move. Unfortunately, the #91 spun in the process, costing several positions before the scheduled driver change.

It took some of the reward away from what had otherwise been a very strong stint, but the underlying pace remained clear. Tom Canning took over with ground to recover, just as the weather was about to add another layer of complexity to the race.

Silverstone weather changes everything

Rain began falling over parts of the circuit before quickly becoming heavy enough to leave cars on slick tyres struggling for grip. Another Safety Car was called. What followed became one of the defining periods of the race. Teams faced the classic Silverstone dilemma: commit to wet tyres or gamble that the shower would pass quickly enough for slicks to remain the better option. Some fitted wets. Others stayed on slicks. Some changed to wets and then returned almost immediately to slicks as conditions evolved.

Blackthorn was caught in the middle of that strategic uncertainty. Canning returned to the pits as conditions worsened and the #91 was switched onto wet tyres. As the rain eased and the circuit began drying again, he was brought back in once more for a return to slicks. It was precisely the type of race where making the correct decision could transform a result, but also where every additional pit stop carried a significant time penalty.

The Safety Car period continued longer than originally expected after the #24 Racing Spirit of Léman LMP3 car spun while running on slick tyres. When racing finally resumed, only around 25 minutes remained.

Kessel Racing makes the right calls

As the track dried, the balance increasingly swung towards slick tyres. Kessel Racing reacted particularly well. Both of its Ferraris switched from wets back to slicks and rapidly became contenders for the GT3 lead as the #51 AF Corse Ferrari also headed to the pits for dry-weather tyres. David Fumanelli emerged at the front of the class in the #17 Kessel Racing Ferrari, with teammate Giacomo Altoè in the #21 close behind. Fumanelli held his advantage through the closing stages to secure victory alongside Lorenzo Innocenti, their second consecutive Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 win following Spa. The #21 Ferrari completed a Kessel Racing one-two, finishing nine seconds behind, while Matteo Cressoni brought the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche home third.

Code Racing Development narrowly misses the podium

After starting from pole and leading the opening stages, the #11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin finished fourth in GT3 and 25th overall. A podium had slipped away, but the weekend again demonstrated the outright speed within the #11 Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. Silverstone marked the car's third GT3 pole position of the 2026 season, and fourth place delivered 12 championship points in addition to the bonus point earned for pole.

Code Racing Development leaves Silverstone sixth in the GT3 Teams' Championship on 45 points. The pace has rarely been in question this season. Converting that speed into consistently large race scores has proved more difficult.

Blackthorn brings the #91 home seventh

After its eventful afternoon, Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn finished seventh in GT3 and 35th overall, completing 49 laps. It was a result which, viewed only on paper, doesn’t tell the whole story of the weekend. Claude Bovet had qualified third. The #91 ran third during the opening stage of the race. Tom Canning then had to contend not only with the positions already lost following Bovet's spin, but also with a second half dominated by changing weather and repeated tyre decisions.

Unlike Spa, however, the Aston Martin reached the finish. Seventh place earned six championship points, taking Blackthorn to 14 for the season. For a campaign that’s included a missed opening round and a fire-related retirement, Silverstone offered one of the clearest demonstrations yet of the potential within the #91 package.

Racing Spirit's title celebrations put on hold

For championship leader Racing Spirit of Léman, Silverstone proved a difficult afternoon. The #10 Aston Martin had started seventh in GT3 but eventually finished ninth in class and 37th overall, three laps behind the overall winner. That result delivered only two championship points. More significantly, the #21 Kessel Racing Ferrari's second place dramatically reduced Racing Spirit's advantage. The #10 Aston Martin still leads the GT3 Teams' Championship with 92 points, but Kessel Racing's #21 is now just five points behind on 87. In the drivers' standings, Philipp Sager also remains first on 92 points, with Oscar Ryndziewicz second on 87.

The title will therefore be decided in Portugal.

Overall victory changes after the chequered flag

The drama was not confined to GT3. Enzo Peugeot crossed the line first aboard the championship-leading #85 R-ace GP Duqueine, but a 10-second penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement changed the final result. Peugeot had passed Maxwell Dodds in the #9 ANS Motorsport Ligier on the Wellington Straight during the closing stages and crossed the line only a few seconds ahead. Once the penalty was applied, Maxwell Dodds and Louis Iglesias were promoted to overall victory for ANS Motorsport, with R-ace GP classified second. That was still more than enough for Peugeot and Danial Frost to secure the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 Championship with one round remaining. Team Virage completed the overall podium with the #70 Ligier.

FTP reading

Silverstone was one of those races where the final classification only tells part of the story. For Aston Martin, the raw result, fourth, seventh and ninth in GT3 looks relatively modest. The underlying performance was considerably more encouraging.

Code Racing Development put an Aston Martin on pole. Blackthorn qualified third and ran in a podium position during the opening stint. Racing Spirit of Léman remains at the head of the championship. What prevented those strengths becoming a Silverstone podium was a combination of incidents, changing weather and the strategic uncertainty created when heavy rain arrived midway through the race.

For Blackthorn in particular, there were positives to take. The #91 had shown competitive pace from Friday practice onwards, Claude Bovet delivered one of his strongest qualifying performances of the season and, before the spin late in his stint, the car was genuinely racing amongst the GT3 leaders. Seventh place may therefore feel like an opportunity missed, but Silverstone also provided further evidence that Blackthorn is capable of competing much further up the GT3 order than its championship position suggests.

For Racing Spirit of Léman, attention now turns entirely towards the championship. Its once-comfortable advantage has been reduced to five points.

One race remains. Portimão will decide the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 Championship.