That came in the form of the #77 Racar Motorsport GT4 Pro entry of what should have been Mathieu Martins and Roberto Faria where in fact Martins was this time joined by the younger Henrique Olivera for these two races. Why? – we’re not sure!

A pole position and two P3 podium finishes were enough for the #77 car of Martins to claim both the Overall and GT4 Pro Championship classes with just the two final races of the endurance series from Estoril still to come. This surely makes up for him being runner up in class last season.

Then, a pair of class wins for the #777 Gianfranco Motorsport Am classed AMR Vantage GT4 entry of Ruben Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende was also enough for the pairing to claim top honours within that class

The #79 Racar Motorsport AMR Bronze class entry of Vasco Oliveira and Francisco Carvalho finished just short of a similar milestone – ultimately finishing third in class overall for their troubles.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

“Aston Martin entered Hypercar in 2025 to compete on the world stage in endurance racing and at the highest level of competition,’ said Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport. “In WEC, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in North America, we have found that level of competition to be extremely high, full of great talent with some well-established and deservedly respected programmes to race against.

“This is a worthy testament to the sanctioning bodies, the ACO, FIA and IMSA, who jointly created a set of regulations to allow cars of different architectures to compete against each other on the world stage. They took on a noble challenge and it is one they should be complimented on achieving.”

Valkyrie’s sporting momentum continues to grow after a highly promising September in which it fought for a podium position in the 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN) before recording its best WEC finish with fifth position overall. This, after the unique 6.5 litre V12-powered British hypercar ran as high as fourth position in the rain-affected race in Austin, earlier in the same month. Then in the IMSA finale – the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta – in mid-October, Valkyrie clinched its first podium in global competition, coming home within five seconds of a famous maiden victory.

This all follows an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans (in June) where both Valkyrie hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue to finish 12th and 14th, and the Aston Martin THOR Team registered the cars’ – and Aston Martin’s – first Manufacturers’ World Championship points in the Hypercar class.

The three works drivers responsible for the podium in Atlanta, Roman De Angelis, Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas, all return to action in Bahrain as the eight-hour race length requires that each car is shared by three racers.

Gunn will re-join his British compatriots Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble in the #007 Valkyrie, having shared the car with them in Qatar and again at Le Mans. The same goes for De Angelis, who will drive the #009 entry alongside Riberas and three-time WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen.

After the event, the 2024 Spa 24 Hours winner and Aston Martin works driver Mattia Drudi will get his first chance to sample WEC-specification Hypercar class machinery when he drives the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in the official Rookie Test in Bahrain on Sunday 9 November – the day after the 2025 season concludes.

Drudi, who shares the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with The Heart of Racing Team Principal Ian James and Zacharie Robichon, has been given the opportunity after consistently delivering world-class performances in LMGT3; notably his breathtaking class pole position for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Of course, I’m super excited to drive a car that is already iconic in the Hypercar Class, even though it is only its first season racing in WEC,” said Drudi. “I’ve been closely following the progress of Valkyrie throughout the championship and it was fantastic to see it record a strong result at Fuji.

“It will be interesting for me to drive straight after a race weekend so I can compare my data with what’s been collected during the event. It will also be a challenge to get used to a car that will be completely new for me. I must thank The Heart of Racing team for giving me the chance to drive the Valkyrie in the Rookie Test. It will be the perfect way to end my first WEC season with Aston Martin.”

James added: “Mattia thoroughly deserves this opportunity. Having raced alongside him all season, I’ve been able to witness his exceptional talent and I’m really interested to see what he makes of Valkyrie.”

Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s most successful sportscar of all time, Vantage, also heads into the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship – the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain – hunting for a victorious conclusion to an exciting season within its LMGT3 class.

Through five iterations spanning 13 seasons Vantage has claimed 53 GT class victories – the second highest of any manufacturer. Responsible for 11 world championship titles, and five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins in the WEC era, Vantage has also claimed 68 class pole positions. The most successful GTE Am (2012-2022) car of all-time, Vantage recorded 33 wins and 29 pole positions before the class was retired to make way for the current LMGT3 category, which embarks on its 16th race this weekend.

Vantage’s record at Bahrain is also exceptional with seven class victories derived from 13 podium appearances as well as nine class pole positions.

Again, Aston Martin partner team The Heart of Racing heads into the Bahrain finale fighting for a place in the top three of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ standings; building on fifth place in its first full WEC season in 2024. Currently fifth in the championship again this season, THOR has amassed 63 points - 18 behind third place with 38 points available for victory and another one for pole position. Team principal Ian James will race the #27 Vantage alongside Zach Robichon and AMR works driver Mattia Drudi.

Racing Spirit of Léman once again calls upon Anthony McIntosh, who starred on his WEC debut at July’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo. With the American driving alongside Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse Clot in the #10 Vantage GT3, the trio achieved the team’s first WEC podium finish in LMGT3.

The Heart of Racing’s GT World Challenge America podium finisher Gray Newell will be given the chance to experience WEC’s LMGT3 class for the first time when he makes his series debut in the Rookie Test, on Sunday, following the season finale in Bahrain.

The 28-year-old American has earned the opportunity after an impressive debut season in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3, where he finished on the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am podium three times alongside works driver Darren Turner in 2025.

“After a successful first year with the Vantage GT3 it’s a massive honour for me to be selected for the Rookie Test in Bahrain,” said Newell. “The Heart of Racing has done an incredible job of creating a vertical pipeline for its drivers, moving everyone forward and upwards as a team. I look forward to getting a feel for the Vantage GT3 in WEC trim as well as my first time on track with hypercar traffic. I could not ask for a more exciting way to end the 2025 season.”

Team Principal Ian James added: “Gray’s performances in 2025 have been outstanding. Since he joined THOR in 2021, he’s improved every season and is now blossoming into a driver that can look to achieve a great deal in endurance racing in the future. Giving him the chance to drive in the WEC team, in an LMGT3-spec Vantage, will be a hugely valuable experience for his continued development and is a just reward for a very strong season.”

Source material and photo credits – Aston Martin

Those differences quickly became apparent in qualifying after the #777 crew of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg ended up seventh out of a class size of twenty-eight cars – albeit two point three seconds off the leading GT300 pace.

Contact from a Ferrari coming up the inside from a long way backdropped the Aston Martin right back to the rear of the pack as the season closing 300km race got underway before the remaining time was a long, hard claw back up the order to eventually finish P12 overall.

Despite claiming the two class wins at the two solo driven rounds from Fuji Speedway earlier in the year which saw them come very close to the overall class lead, the second half to their season has been far from kind ending with the team coming up short of their ultimate ambition of the class championship.

The team already appear to be planning for their 2026 campaign.

Photo credits - Team

Race two on Sunday was a little more exciting as other crews had serious championship aspirations firmly set in their minds as early contact between two cars brought out the Safety Car after the first lap.

With Hunt holding station after the restart and until the pit stop, Talbot was soon on the move up the order from tenth and up to sixth as the other crews competing their change overs before another Safety Car was required at three quarter race distance for a car stopped in the gravel.

On another incredible lap with the pack closely packed, Talbot was able to pick off a number of cars to claim a P4 finish at the end for his efforts.

These two results leaves Talbot with a fifth-place finish overall within the Drivers’ Championship but with the team finishing fourth within that Championship.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

As we understand things, this entry was rather a skills maintaining effort from the team rather than any full season entry with Letlaka also being listed on the timing results under a Dragon Racing entry – presumably with one of their Ferrari’s.

This was the first time in two years that their Vantage GT3 had been raced so maybe we will get to see it again if any further rounds are entered into in advance of an early start to 2026 with the Dubai 24 and 6H Creventic races in early January.

Photo credits – Team / social media

After that, we were aware of the car running in unrestricted format, the team then progressed back to the Lamborghini or Ferrari GT3 package in other series.

This weekend’s format will see the #120 car compete in two twenty-five-minute sprint races on Saturday with Letlaka already showing his pace being fastest in Friday practice.

Photo credits – Team / social media

Not the first time at the circuit of course as that is where their season started before they then ventured off around both Thailand and Malaysia over the course of the year.

Two more-hour long races to come with alternate starts for each driver as usual – just hoping that they can end their year upon something of a high!

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

After previous rounds at Portimao, Jarama, Vila Real and most recently at Valencia in mid-September, we still see the #77 Racar Motorsport AMR of Mathieu Martin and Roberto Faria lead the way by just nine points within their GT4 Pro class whilst teammates Vasco Oliveira and Francisco Carvalho trail by a similar margin within their GT4 Bronze class.

Completing the Racar entry will be the #78 car of Henrique Oliveira and Luca Savu as well as the #707 entry of Filipe Videira and Antonio Lopes.

The #777 Gianfranco Motorsport #777 and their GT4 Vantage Evo of Rubens Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende complete the five Aston Martins within the true GT4 class entry whilst the venerable #700 NGT Vantage of Fernando Soares and Miguel Ferreira will compete again within their GTX class.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

Presently sitting in fifth within the Pro-Am Drivers Championship, even a race winning double this weekend will not be enough to elevate Talbot into the top three crews in class so notwithstanding the additional costs of flying another young gun into the country kind of makes sense for the team.

Qualifying and the first of two, one-hour races will be on Saturday with the season finale running later on Sunday.



Photo credits – Series / Team / social media

The duo sit nineth in class and now sixty-eight points behind the leaders with just twenty-five points being available.

Being the eighth round of the season, Motegi will again welcome fifteen GT500 entries alongside the twenty-eight GT300 entries for their finale.

Photo credits – Team / social media

A three-hour race with three drivers made the stint lengths a relatively simple calculation for all as the #777 pitted around the top of the hour as they still ran fourth overall after their first scheduled stop.

With the whole race being run under glum conditions, a briefly emerging sun saved itself for the chequered flag and podium as the #777 eventually came home third overall, thirty-eight seconds off the winning pace of the #666 Porsche.

The final round of the season will take place at their team’s home track of Fuji Speedway in mid-November.

Photo credits – Team / social media

Round six of seven, sees the teams new for 2025 red liveried #777 AMR Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura compete again together within an eight strong ST-X class since their last round together at Autopolis way back at the end of July where the secured a front row start to ultimately finish in fourth.

Having elected to miss their home Fuji Speedway twenty-four hour earlier in the season, the #777 would need something close to a minor miracle in class to win the class outright as they trail the present leaders by forty-three points in fourth place overall with just two races remaining.

Qualifying will again be on Saturday ahead of a 13:30hrs local start to this three-hour race.

Photo credit – Team / Series / social media

Whilst the Level Motorsport Aston Martin did compete at the season opener, Yand only took charge of the #87 at round two where he struggled with technical issues.

Again, the Aston struggled for pace but that proved to be due to leaves collecting within the cars air cooling ducts causing both engine and brake temperature to rise above preferred levels. 

Despite this and the fact that this was the first time around the improvised (but fully designed) street circuit, Yang was still able to deliver his best results if the season so far with a P4 finish within his Am class after race one on Saturday but improving to a class second in race two.

All eyes will now move onto the season finale from the more recognisable street circuit layout of Macau and the Greater Bay Area GT4 race next month.

Photo credits – social media

Starting within the headlining GT World Challenge America Series which also of course saw many new entries join the familiar all-season ones as it again became the final round of the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge Series with their usual two, one-hour races transforming into one eight-hour affair.

The #24 Heart of Racing AMR entry of Gray Newell and Darren Turner were again within the increased twenty-five car entry but had fellow IMSA and FIA WEC team-mate of Zacharie Robichon alongside in their GT3 Pro-Am entry.

Qualifying fifteenth overall – fifth in class (but second in class from the American Series entries), they would improve their track position to finish eleventh overall – P4 in class but first amongst their GTWC America Series runners at the end of the weather affected and storm red flagged race.

Within the supporting GT America Series, the #2 Racers Edge AMR Vantage GT3 driver of Jason Bell at last had something to cheer about after he claimed his first podium finish of the season in the dry forty-minute weekend opener whilst also claiming pole position for race 2 on Sunday by virtue of his fastest race lap. There would also be a debut race class win for the #007 Archangel prepared Prosport Competition AMR Vantage GT4 of Mike Johnson.

The wet season finale on Sunday, however, wasn’t a great result as the #007 firstly didn’t start the race whilst Bell would quickly drop behind the more dominant drivers in the slippery conditions to eventually round off his second season within a GT3 in sixth.

Finally, it was the turn of the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews competing within the final two races of the GT4 America Series. Again, none were in any championship winning/contending position going into last weekend but that certainly didn’t stop any of them aiming to the claim the spoils of motorsport by claiming the final race podium silverware.

The JMF Motorsport team did the best with both their #3 and #4 crews of Jonathon Neudorf/Jesse Webb and Mike David Ortmann/Braydon Arthur (respectively) had the best results as the #3 crew claimed a P3 class podium in race one of the weekend, but their sister #4 crew claimed both a P2 finish and an overall race win to round the year off very much upon a high. The #26 Heart of Racing AMR crew of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir rounded their year off with a P7 and P4 finishes in class whilst the step up #39 Van Der Steur crew of Max Hewitt and Luca Mars ended up with a brace of P5 class finishes 

No ultimate prizes for any AMR powered crew unfortunately but they all had great high points along the way and hopefully many will be back again next season for another try.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media