Works driver Nicki Thiim (DEN) and Belgian partner team Comtoyou Racing produced a flawless weekend, recording the brand’s third and fourth DTM pole positions before going on to win both hour-long races with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3. 

"This has been an amazing weekend for me, one of the best of my life,” said Thiim. “It has been my career goal to bring the Thiim family name back to the top of the DTM, since my father Kurt won in 1992. 

“Now I am winning in the DTM myself with Aston Martin, and Vantage; two iconic names which are so close to my heart. It’s an emotional feeling and one I just don’t want to go away! Comtoyou Racing has prepared an amazing car, and the Vantage is really showing its strengths in the championship now, and to achieve all this at the Norisring – my favourite circuit – just makes it all the more special.” 

Comtoyou Racing is a valued partner team of AMR. Since it started racing Aston Martin Vantages in 2024, the team has enjoyed huge success, including that 24 Hours of Spa overall win – the first for Aston Martin in the GT3 era – and last year claimed the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Drivers’ and Teams’ Silver Cup with AMR Driver Academy winners Jamie Day (GBR) and Kobe Pauwels (BEL). 

It has led the charge for Aston Martin in the DTM and following the Norisring success, is now a firmly established front-runner in the series. Indeed, with his two pole positions and wins, as well as another pole, a second and a fourth at the Lausitzring in June, Thiim now leads the drivers’ championship by nine points at the halfway stage. 

DTM is unique among the various GT3-FIA homologated premium GT series. The largely German-based championship, which also hosts events at Austria’s Red Bull Ring and Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, places a premium on hour-long double-header sprint races, with cars allocated to one driver, rather than the more traditional system of shared cars in GT racing.  

Historically Germany’s most popular racing series, with a prestigious legacy dating back more than 40 years, and its impetus on fast, technically advanced and powerful racing cars, it has always attracted some of the best of the world’s driving talent. With more than half a million fan attendances in 2025, and a 16-race, eight round championship, Aston Martin competes against cars from no less than six other major manufacturers. 

“Our sincere congratulations and thanks go to the Comtoyou Racing team,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, Adam Carter. “The DTM is a fierce and evenly-matched championship, and one which features the majority of our traditional rivals in the marketplace. These breakthrough victories are a standout moment in the legacy of Vantage and serve as clear statement to the qualities and performance level of Aston Martin’s most focussed sportscar. It’s fitting that these accolades should fall on Nicki Thiim’s shoulders, his service to the brand has been outstanding over the past decade and he thoroughly deserves to revel in this moment. May there be many more!” 

Now AMR’s Vantage teams will look to replicate this success as they returns to action in the world’s two foremost sportscar racing series, the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] – the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo (BRA); and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park [CTMP] in Canada, on 10-12 July. 

As usual, the Heart of Racing Team [THOR] brings two ultra-strong Aston Martin Vantage GT3s to the iconic Interlagos circuit, having achieved the team’s second WEC podium finish of the season in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #23 THOR lineup of Gray Newell (USA), Dudu Barrichello (BRA) and Jonny Adam (GBR) which finished third at La Sarthe, is slightly altered with the Brazilian missing his home race to defend his IMSA GTD points lead with THOR at CTMP. His place will be taken in the squad by Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy graduate Kobe Pauwels (BEL). 

The sister #27 car, which finished second in Round 2 of WEC – the 6 Hours of Spa – in May, will be driven by THOR team principal Ian James (GBR), who races alongside works driver and double 24 Hours of Le Mans polesitter Mattia Drudi (ITA), and the 2021 IMSA GTD champion, 2023 European Le Mans Series LMGTE title winner, and polesitter at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, Zach Robichon (CAN).  

Vantage has a strong record at Interlagos where it took the LMGT3 class pole and then famously finished on the podium last season with Racing Spirit of Léman. In six years, Vantage has recorded three class wins and four runner-up finishes at the Brazilian Grand Prix venue. 

Aston Martin’s record at CTMP is equally strong, with two GTD class victories from the past five races at the circuit historically known as Mosport. Both those wins were achieved by IMSA Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP driver and 2022 IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis (CAN) who joins Barrichello again this weekend. 

Stepping up to the GTD Pro class this weekend is the #68 Car Blanche entry, run by the new YRB Racing team – which recorded an extraordinary GTD class debut podium on its first IMSA weekend at Watkins Glen, last time out. One of the stars of that performance, works driver Valentin Hasse Clot (FRA) will make his GTD Pro class debut with the team alongside Scott Andrews (AUS) who joins the team for CTMP. 

Sharing the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury Vantage road car, the Vantage GT3, is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.