Thiim Hoping to Continue Comtoyou Momentum After Spa

Nicki Thiim hopes Comtoyou Racing will be able to carry over the momentum from its landmark CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa win into the third Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at the Nürburgring to launch a title tilt at the remaining races.

The Belgian squad came out on top in the centenary edition of the Belgian endurance classic with its No. 7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo driven by Thiim, Mattia Drudi and Marco Sorensen.

It marked the brand’s first win at the event since 1948 and has propelled the No. 7 crew to the top of the Endurance Cup drivers’ standings with three races at the Nürburgring, Monza and Jeddah remaining.

Thiim recognized the significance of the Spa result coming into the third round of the championship in Germany, noting that he hopes to score “some good points” to build on the success in Belgium.

“Especially personally, that’s the goal now,” Thiim told Sportscar365.

“When you’re leading after Spa, which is such a main factor of the championship, then you want to continue that.

“I think with this package, we have a good car for this track as well. I don’t see why we can’t get some good points here as well.”

Thiim noted he expects the Aston Martin to be less strong at Monza, therefore making the Nürburgring event “an important round” for the No. 7 crew.

“Once you get the helmet on, it’s go time and it’s straight to the battlefield, but in the back of your head you still have this championship obviously in mind,” he said.

“To be honest, I don’t see us so strong in Monza, so I think this is going to be an important round for us.

“So much can happen in this championship so it’s just about staying alive and getting the best out of it.”

Yelloly: No. 98 BMW in “Difficult” Spot After Spa DNF

After winning last year’s 24H Spa, Nick Yelloly, Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann suffered a setback at this year’s edition when their No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 retired from the race with cooling issues.

That result compounded an already challenging championship situation for the No. 98 crew, which also didn’t score points in the season opener at Paul Ricard.

Speaking to Sportscar365, Yelloly indicated that ROWE’s championship hopes likely rest with the sister No. 998 BMW while Yelloly, Eng and Wittmann will look to adopt a more race-to-race approach.

“Is it out of reach? I mean, it’s going to be difficult for sure,” Yelloly said.

“The other car is definitely better placed. As they won in Paul Ricard and they deserved on the podium in Spa for sure but unfortunately didn’t get it.

“So I would say that they would be in more of a position to go for the championship than we are at the moment. You never know, but obviously from the outside that’s quite obvious.”

Yelloly tipped the season finale at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the venue where the likelihood for a strong result is highest for the No. 98 team in the remaining rounds.

“Fingers crossed we have another round that’s going to be a circuit that suits our car,” Yelloly said.

“[We will] try and get a result either here or there. I’ve done a fair bit of simulator work around there for Aston Martin, so I’d say it’s more of a circuit that suits us because there’s really only two slow-speed corners.”