Heart of Racing again lose out at VIR whilst Car Blanche secures solid GTD Pro finish

Sunday, August 23, 2026

The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship’s visit to the Virginia International Raceway this weekend provided perhaps one of the best GTD only races so far although things certainly didn’t go the way of one of the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD entries as late contact on one came with a significant cost.

Racing as the nineth round of the season, this weekend’s programme was just for the GTD Pro and GTD classes but that still provided twenty-three cars onto Sunday’s grid for the two hours and forty-minute race.

Like the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series before it, some of the earlier practice sessions were affected by torrential rain and passing storms but the race was able to run under full sunshine and a dry track. Yesterday’s qualifying had seen the #68 Car Blanche AMR Vantage GTD Pro car of Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen secure a fifth place start whilst the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD of Eduardo Barrichello and Tom Gamble had seen their two best laps deleted for exceeding their permitted power output during that session (as measured instantaneously via the car’s torque sensors) to find themselves demoted to P12 in class as a consequence.

Having built up an early class lead during the longer opening rounds of the season, recent results for the Barrichello lead car had seen that lead gradually reduce after they got repeatedly outscored by those chasing, so a decent result at VIR was vital for their championship efforts. The Car Blanche team, meanwhile, were running within only their second Pro class race since their buyout from Van Der Steur Racing earlier in the year but their hopes were raised this time with this full factory driver line up.

Unfortunately, the race got underway to all familiar incidents and accidents that saw three cars effectively eliminated from the race halfway around the opening laps but that certainly appeared to be more out of circumstance than anything else as Race Control was expected to take a firm hand to anything else after incidents at recent races.

Getting back to green after the twenty-minute clean up, the race certainly settled within both classes as everyone was looking to ‘steady their ships’ around the tight and twisting 3.27-mile VIR circuit as that lap one incident had again proven, that the outfield grass was extremely wet and any retardation attempt once upon it, was slight to nil.

For the #68 car of Hasse-Clot, it was steady as she goes as the Frenchman held his P5 starting position into what would become a near two-hour stint. The #27 GTD of Barrichello was however make quick progress through the ranks from P12, through to P8 and incredibly up to third in class by the forty-five-minute mark of the race (minimum drive time).

Whilst Barrichello would pit for service and a driver change to Gamble just after that race milestone, the #68 would only pit for fuel and tyres before being sent upon their way again as at the halfway point of the race, both Aston Martins held a podium winning position within their classes as the racing action around the circuit began to pick up in intensity but thankfully remained clean.

At the top of the final hour, Hasse-Clot would eventually stop from third in class to allow Sorensen his first racing laps whilst Gamble would follow him in next time around for what would be his final service and the dash to the flag having just overtaken the then class leading Lamborghini after they ran wide.

As the race clock went down to the final thirty minutes, the #27 car would have a race upon their hands as the #57 Mercedes AMG car had now caught them in what would become very significant within the championship stakes as it was the #57 crew immediately behind Barrichello in class. A lead of just 0.621 seconds was never going to boke well at this level of motorsport!

As the time counted down, the racing intensified between the two cars as neither driver would give ground to the other until a mistake from Gamble with only six minutes remaining allowed the #57 passed only for the British driver to force his way through (and push the Mercedes off track) at the next corner. Fearing a penalty, the #27 would soon allow the #57 back past but that wasn’t enough for the new world Race Control after weeks of criticism going their way for driver standards.

That Drive through penalty for incident responsibility was quickly given to the #27 and that would have a disastrous consequence of dropping them down to P5 in the order with only minutes remaining. At the chequered flag, the #68 crew would cross the line a very worthy fourth in class and whilst the #27 would recover to finish P4, that effectively meant that the points lost to the #57 crew within the championship had now doubled as the series moves onto Indianapolis in a month’s time.