One final LMGT3 podium for the #23 car at a chaotic FIA WEC Finale from Monza (UPDATED)

That’s it for another year as the FIA World Endurance Championship brought their 2026 season to a close earlier today at the Temple of Speed at Monza, Italy – a race that was littered with both incident and accident that kept many title contenders and podium pushing teams waiting till the very end.

Not quite Bahrain weather wise this weekend but thankfully the rain had now passed the Royal Park by and even had the autumnal Italian sunshine make an appearance during the early afternoon before this six-hour, eighth round of the season concluded in the darkness of the early evening.

 

For the Heart of Racing team, their two Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars were still searching for their first podium finish in what was their second season of global competition whilst one of the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews had lost their final chances of championship success after a lacklustre performance (caused via BoP and tyre degradation over that of driver ability) at the preceding round at Barcelona.

Starting this race of something still resembling a damp track surface, slicks would be the mainstay of the day within both classes with both Valkyries starting from near the rear of their class but with the two LMGT3 crews starting 4th and 5th.

 

Monza would become a brutal affair for all of the thirty five runners with the #23 Vantage of Gray Newell suffering the first rear end impact that would send him spinning, and through the gravel as a result – an incident that would bring out the first caution period for the McLaren that also spun out in avoidance. That would send the #23 to the rear of the pack, a place from where a miraculous recovery was orchestrated.

The sister and previous LMGT3 Championship contending car of Ian James would also be in the wars as another actual championship contending Corvette also inflicted rear end contact onto the Aston Martin, something that saw James spin off before rejoining whilst (both) perpetrators got themselves a drive through penalty. Both cars would go on to receive penalties of their own during the race for various pit stop/caution process violations.

 

Up within the Hypercar class, both Valkyries were displaying pace relative to their rivals that neither car and crew had been able to show within the previous wet sessions with the #009 car of Marco Sorenson/Alex Riberas again showing a faster pace than that of the #007 of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble with both cars featuring within the top ten at the halfway stage of the race until a mistake under braking for the #009 car saw them nose heavily into the wall going into the first chicane. Miracullously, a quick visit to pit lane and a new nose section saw the car back in the race.

Going into the second half, Eduardo Barrichello was again showing his pace aboard the #23 car and was soon pressurising for the class lead before punctuating his double stint time with Jonny Adam climbing aboard in-between.

 

Despite the lack of championship possibilities, that never stopped the impetuous to progress for the four Heart of Racing cars with the #23 still showing strong pace at the sharp end of the LMGT3 class but now with the #007 getting benefit for their early pit stop strategy (which only got hampered by untimely cautions) as Gamble slowly moved up the order.

On track at least, the final caution affected final laps gave the team an apparent rewarding finish to this final race of the season as Barrichello secured another podium finish for the debuting #23 car but also as Gamble took the chequered flag whilst circulating third overall. However, a subsequent post-race twenty second time penalty for tyre pressure issues during the race would see them drop to fourth overall.

 

Another great race – another great season within the FIA WEC for the Heart of Racing team as they now get ready for the opening races of the Asian Le Mans Series starting just next week from Paul Ricard.