Spa-Francorchamps, 30 June 2024: Aston Martin has secured a historic overall victory in the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, the world’s most prestigious all-GT3 24-hour race, held at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, over the weekend of 29-30 June.
This remarkable win was achieved by Aston Martin’s partner team Comtoyou Racing, with works drivers Mattia Drudi (ITA), Marco Sørensen (DEN), and Nicki Thiim (DEN). It marks Aston Martin’s first 24-hour race victory since 1948 and the maiden 24-hour triumph for the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3. This victory is also notable as it is the first time since the event became an all-GT race in 2001 that Aston Martin has outperformed its major competitors.
For double FIA GT World Endurance champion Thiim and triple world champion Sørensen, affectionately known as the ‘Dane Train,’ this victory is their first overall win in a 24-hour race as teammates, despite having three 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins between them.
Sørensen reflected on the win: “This is a very special moment. Winning in the first year with the new Vantage GT3 is an amazing achievement. It’s a fantastic car, and we’ve had a good feeling about it all year. But to win an event like this takes more than good driving and good luck, and the team, and everyone back at Aston Martin Racing, as well as my teammates, deserve credit for a victory I will remember forever.”
Thiim added: “It’s difficult to put into words what this means to me and to Aston Martin. We have been trying to win this race for a long time, and to do it in this way is an incredible feeling. I think everyone knows how I feel about Aston Martin. We have had so many special memories together, and this win is up there with the best of them for me.”
For Drudi, a Fanatec GT World Europe champion, the race was an opportunity to shine on one of endurance racing’s biggest stages. He consistently put the #007 car in contention, especially during the opening hours of the race, where he maneuvered the team into a leading position before the first of several Safety Car periods.
The race was marked by a complicated night of torrential thunderstorms and multiple incidents, which neutralized the event for several hours. Comtoyou Racing remained composed, keeping the car in touch with the leading pack even as pitstops during Safety Car periods caused significant position swings. Each time, the team rebounded, racing back to the front. As the track dried out by morning, they found themselves in a tight battle for victory with a rival Ferrari, two BMWs, and the other Pro class #34 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of partner team Walkenhorst Motorsport, driven by Henrique Chaves (POR), Ross Gunn (GBR), and David Pittard (GBR).
In the race’s final hour, the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin trailed the Ferrari by 10 seconds. However, when the Ferrari pitted and was delayed by a stranded car at the pitlane entry, Drudi seized the opportunity and raced unopposed to the finish.
Drudi remarked: “Winning with Nicki and Marco has been a fantastic experience. This is such a tough race, but I would say we had the perfect run, with no problems and very good execution. I am very proud of everyone in the team.”
Gunn brought the #34 Walkenhorst Vantage GT3 home in fourth place following a strong performance that saw the team lead on several occasions. Walkenhorst Motorsport, a previous winner of the event, nearly clinched the Silver Cup class victory with the #35 Vantage GT3 driven by Romain Leroux (FRA), Lorcan Hanafin (GBR), and Maxime Robin (FRA). Unfortunately, the car was the innocent victim of an accident following a Safety Car period on Sunday morning, while fighting for the class lead.
Of Comtoyou Racing’s four-car entry, the #007 often emerged as the fastest car in the race. The team’s #21 Silver Cup car, driven by Charles Clark (GBR), Sam Dejonghe (BEL), Matisse Lismont (BEL), and Xavier Maassen, finished sixth after leading the class earlier in the race.
The new Vantage GT3, closely derived from the new Vantage road car unveiled earlier this year at Silverstone, and built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminum chassis and powered by its formidable twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 engine, is in exceptional form. In June alone, it clinched victories in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the SUPER GT Series, the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, and the Road to Le Mans event. Now, Aston Martin can add one of the most famous wins in its racing history to that tally.
Adam Carter, Head of Endurance Motorsport, commented: “We offer our sincere congratulations and thanks to our partners Comtoyou Racing on this fantastic victory for the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3. We have known since the start of the season what the car is capable of, and this performance at Spa was through a combination of technical excellence, endurance, fortitude, and execution. I’d also like to congratulate Walkenhorst Motorsport on a hard-fought performance which was unfortunate not to yield a podium finish. The hard work of everyone at Aston Martin Racing is paying off already in a car that is still so young. To win the 24 Hours of Spa is no small achievement, and given that it had only been done three times by a British manufacturer in its 100-year history, and now twice by Aston Martin, it ranks as one of our greatest endurance victories.”
Aston Martin’s previous best finish in the GT3 era at Spa 24 Hours was in 2021, when Gunn, Sørensen, and Thiim secured a competitive third place overall, having been in the lead fight for much of the race. Before that, the best GT finish for an Aston Martin was third in 2008 with the Gigawave DBR9 GT1. Aston Martin last won the event in 1948 with a 2-Litre Sports DB1 driven by Britons St John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson, when it was run to different regulations.
