Walkenhorst Motorsport motivated for the start of the international season

Walkenhorst Motorsport will kick off the 2025 season of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup in Le Castellet.

This year’s GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season gets underway this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. A total of 59 GT3 cars will start the six-hour race on Saturday evening. Walkenhorst Motorsport from Melle in Lower Saxony will be represented with two Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the strong field.

‘We are really looking forward to the season opener in Le Castellet,’ says team founder Henry Walkenhorst. ‘The GT World Challenge Europe is the world’s biggest GT3 championship and a perfect platform for us to present ourselves on an international stage. We have once again put together a strong team and have set ourselves the goal of fighting for top results.’

The Aston Martin team will compete with one car in the Pro class and one in the Silver Cup. The team’s top car will be driven by the three Aston Martin factory drivers David Pittard, Henrique Chaves and Christian Krognes. Romain Leroux, Mateo Villagomez and Oliver Söderström will drive the Silver Cup car from Walkenhorst Motorsport.

The official pre-season test of the international GT championship took place on the circuit in the south of France around a month ago. Due to changing weather conditions, the team was able to collect important data in various conditions and is therefore well prepared for this year’s season opener.

The six-hour race in Le Castellet will start at 18:00 on Saturday and finish at midnight. The transition to dusk and fireworks during the race will create a special atmosphere. The race is an important test for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, the world’s biggest GT3 race, in June.

‘After an intensive year of training in 2024, we are highly motivated for the 2025 season of the GT World Challenge Europe with our Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. We have carried out extensive data analyses over the winter and also completed important tests. We were also able to extensively test the new Pirelli tyres in various weather conditions at the Prologue in March. We have two strong driver trios in the Pro and Silver categories this season and would like to score the first points for the championship at the season opener in France,’ says Managing Director Jörg Breuer.

The race and qualifying, which will take place on Saturday from 11:50 a.m., will be broadcast on the official live stream of the series on YouTube. SRO offers live streams in various languages. In addition to broadcasts in English, French and Italian, there will once again be a German-language livestream. On Friday, the participants will have extensive test sessions to familiarise themselves with the six-hour race on the former GP circuit.