Racing Spirit of Leman chasing a hat trick of ACO rules podium finishes in Texas this weekend

Thursday, September 04, 2025

The Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 arrive at the Circuit of the Americas this week upon something of a roll within ACO rules endurance racing after recent class success last time out within both the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series.

Securing their first LMGT3 class podium finish of the season in P3 last time out in Brazil with what was then an ad-hoc driver line up after Derek DeBoer had seen step away before the event (for personal reasons) with his place alongside Valentin Hasse-Clot and Eduardo Barrichello taken by Anthony McIntosh.

Despite that and the race being the first time within the Championship and the LMGT3 variant of the AMR Vantage for McIntosh, that still permitted the #10 car to steal a late class podium finish by the end of what was the fifth round of the season nearly two months ago.

DeBoer rejoins his counterparts for this weekend’s six-hour race for what is listed as being his swansong appearance within the Championship this year before McIntosh again deputises for his countryman and sees out the remainder of the season.

The team also secured their first class win of the season within the parallel European Le Mans Series race from Spa Francorchamps two weeks ago where Hasse-Clot, Clement Mateu and Erwan Bastard did similar at the end of that four-hour affair so confidence within the team and crew should be running high

Amongst the eighteen strong LMGT3 entry also sees the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi, a team who didn’t have a great showing last time out in Brazil where there usual steady progress saw them bring home a disappointing P14 in class finish for a second non points scoring finish to the year after James crashed out in Italy.

With three races of the season still to complete, both teams still find themselves significantly behind the present LMGT3 class leaders with a forty-two points deficit to the #27 crew – increasing to fifty-eight points for both Barrichello and Hasse-Clot within the #10 car.

Like the Hypercar class before it, the LMGT3 class will also see sweeping balance of performance changes across its nine strong manufacturer entry with the Vantage seeing changes within its power, energy and base weight parameters with the #10 car also getting additional success weight ballast thanks to their P3 finish last time out.