The Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Nicki Thiim, Marco Sørensen and Mattia Drudi has triumphed in a thrilling finish in the 24 Hours of Spa.
The result is made all the more remarkable by the fact that the winning Vantage AMR GT3 was making its debut at the biggest GT race in the world, while the Comtoyou squad did not begin working with the British brand until earlier this year.
While the car triumphed at the first time of asking, today’s victory was the first for Aston Martin since the 1948 edition.
In a chaotic race that featured heavy rain and 17 Safety Cars, the team moved into the lead in the final hour when then-leaders Ferrari AF Corse were blocked by a stricken Grasser Racing Lamborghini at pit entry.
The #51 Ferrari, with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel, lost over 50 seconds as he sat behind the Silver Cup entry, seeing a 10-second lead turn into a 40-second deficit.
Pier Guidi returned to the track in fifth and quickly climbed back to third before inheriting second when the Rowe BMW M4 GT3 was forced to come in for a splash of fuel in the final two minutes.
WRT’s BMW came through to complete the podium after the Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin received a 10-second penalty post-race for making contact with Pier Guidi as he charged back through.
The pole-sitting Grasser Racing Lamborghini finished fifth, ahead of the Rowe Racing BMW that lost four places with its final lap pit stop.
The first Mercedes home was the AlManar Racing by GetSpeed #777, which was seventh overall, and the Gold Class winners.
SSR Herberth’s #92 was the first Porsche entry, finishing eighth overall, two positions ahead of Bronze Class winners Tresor Attempto Racing, the first Audi.
Jaxon Evans finished as the best of the Kiwis with the Phantom Global Racing Porsche he shared with Joel Eriksson and Thomas Preining. They finished 26th overall, having battled brake issues and a puncture.
Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Porsche entry of Bamber, Brendon Leitch, Adrian D’Silva, and Kerong Li was involved in a frightening high-speed crash before nightfall, which ended their race.
Nicolas Baert was at the wheel of the #12 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin and was squeezed by Christian Hook in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. The Ferrari spun as the two came together on the run into Eau Rogue and was left stranded on track.
Several other cars worked past at speed, but D’Silva was left unsighted with nowhere to go and hit the rear of the stricken Ferrari, which burst into flames. All drivers involved in the incident were cleared from the medical centre.
Triple Eight Race Engineering was another team that found trouble during the race, with Marcel Konrad flipping the #888 Mercedes-AMG under Safety Car conditions during the sixth hour early in the night.
