Heart of Racing confirm their final missing pieces ahead of their FIA WEC return next month

Monday, February 23, 2026

Within the distinctly organised manner in which they work, the Heart of Racing team today confirmed their remaining driver line up for this season’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

Having already confirmed a full driver line up within both of their #007 and #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar entries, only the ‘lead’ driver of both Ian James and Gray Newell had so far been confirmed within their #23 and #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 entries – until today.

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This morning’s news see no surprises within the #23 car as Ian James is again joined by both Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi as the Canadian and Italian look to build upon their rookie year of last season.

The team’s new for 2026 #27 car entry is confirmed with Newell as he takes another massive step up the GT racing ladder from his GT4 days within the GT America/GT4 America Series earlier and his GT3 experience from within the GT World Challenge America Series which he shared under the tutelage of AMR factory driver Darren Turner.

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Joining him will be the familiar face of Eduardo Barrichello as the Brazilian goes double duty with the team within their WEC and IMSA race programmes this season with both drivers this year operating under the overall guidance of AMR factory driver Jonny Adam.

Two times Le Mans 24hr GTE class winner and multiple British GT Champion, the Scot needs no further introduction as Barrichello is himself only entering his second year of GT racing having competed within the championship last season with the Racing Spirit of Leman team.

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“I am super excited to be joining The Heart of Racing in 2026 and returning to WEC,” said Adam. “Teaming up with Dudu, who had some awesome performances last season in LMGT3, alongside supporting Gray’s first year in WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours is something that I’m really getting fully involved in. The goal is to gain experience along the way and hopefully have some successful results for the team with the Aston Martin Vantage. I believe that’s entirely possible with this line-up.”

Although probably already testing together somewhere around the world, the more official track action isn’t that far away with the Prologue Test which precedes the opening round to the season in Qatar just over three weeks away.

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The Heart of Racing team will be the sole runners of both Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered machinery this season.

Photo credits – Team / Series / Blackthorn