We are now just one week away from the 2026 racing season going absolutely bonkers which will see our own Aston Martin Racing powered race coverage step up from just the one European based series this weekend to up to eight series operating around the globe specifically around the Vantage GT3 and GT4 platforms next weekend.
In between then and now, we will also have three of those eight series run their respective Prologue tests as the ACO based European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup Series prepare for their opening round to the year from Barcelona and the SRO ran GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup kicks off at the Le Castellet circuit in southern France.
Whilst we thought that we were already aware of the AMR powered entry lists within all three series, further publications today have seen names come and go within existing entries plus an all new F1 inspired entry being confirmed within the other.
Starting with that one, today saw the Belgian based Comtoyou Racing further expand their already chaotic race schedule within the GT World Challenge Series with another AMR Vantage GT3 entry for Aston Martin F1 driver Lance Stroll and former F1 racer Roberto Merhi (alongside third man Mari Boya).
We understood from this week’s British GT Championship Media Day that the team has recently collected their sixth Vantage GT3 platform from the Prodrive factory with this specific car being something of a last-minute rush to build in participation with the Comtoyou team.
This takes their racing commitment at next weekend’s series opening to four cars as the new #18 car will compete within the Pro class alongside their already established #007 car and that of their other silver and bronze class entries.
That obviously expands the total AMR powered entry to seven cars with two entries from the German based Walkenhorst Motorsport team in both Pro and silver classes plus the single car from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR which will race in the bronze class.
Then just along the south coast of Europe, both the ACO rules European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup Series will also be running their pre-season Prologue test ahead of their opening rounds to the year from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
Within the headlining ELMS Series, the Aston Martin Racing powered entry from the Racing Spirit of Leman team remains the same as previously announced with Clement Mateu, Marius Fossard and Valentin Haase-Clot racing their #59 car within a fourteen-car strong LMGT3 class.
The remaining driver variations/additions and omissions have come from the ten strong GT3 class of the series within the three AMR powered entries.
Tom Canning’s progression back into ACO rules racing alongside Claude Bovet remains the same within the latter’s own Blackthorn AMR team and their #91 entry but we have unfortunately lost that of Tom Wood and his original Racing Spirit of Leman drive lost.
Whilst that young Brit moves across to the Eurie Ecosse Blackthorn team for selected rounds (including Paul Ricard next week) within the GTWCE Endurance Cup, his position has now been confirmed for the returning pair of Phillip Sager and Valentin Hasse-Clot (who raced last year togther with Code Racing Development) whilst within the actual #10 Code Racing Development car being driven by both Antoine Leclerc and Pascal Huteau.
Huteau will also be racing within the Fanta Racing R-Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 in the GT3 Revival Series that debuts at Paul Ricard next weekend.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media