Strong news out of the Heart of Racing camp ahead of IMSA 2026
The No. 27 Heart of Racing Vantage welcomes Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello for his first full-season IMSA campaign, joining returning drivers Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robichon, and Mattia Drudi. While Barrichello has raced at many IMSA venues, the 2026 Rolex 24 will mark his debut at Daytona International Speedway. He enters the event alongside a proven trio that delivered a podium finish at last year’s Rolex 24.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to race in IMSA,” said Barrichello. “I’ve seen my dad compete in the series on multiple occasions, and since then, it has become a personal goal. To get to do it with such an iconic team is something I never thought possible. I’m extremely happy and grateful to be doing it with the great group at The Heart of Racing, and I can’t wait to get started. Bring on 2026!”
“I can’t wait to be returning to the IMSA championship in 2026 with the Heart of Racing Team,” said Gamble. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity. We had some great races last year, but didn’t quite secure the championship, which is definitely the goal for this year! We have the tools to do the job and I’m excited to see what myself and Dudu can achieve.”
The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie will field an unchanged lineup for the upcoming season, with Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis returning as the full-season GTP drivers. Alex Riberas rejoins the program for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Motul Petit Le Mans. Marco Sørensen will round out the four-driver roster for the 24-hour classic.
Gunn, De Angelis, Riberas, and Sørensen previously teamed up for the 2025 Rolex 24 in the GTD PRO category before an early mechanical issue forced a retirement. The trio of Gunn, De Angelis, and Riberas concluded the 2025 season by securing the Valkyrie’s first IMSA podium — a strong second-place finish that marked a breakthrough moment for Aston Martin’s prototype program.
“I’m very happy and excited to rejoin The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin for 2026,” said Gunn. “2025 was a year of learning, growth, and relentless improvement with the Valkyrie. I think 2026 is an opportunity to keep pushing forward and enjoy what we’re building together. I’m really looking forward to Daytona — it’s a race we missed in the Valkyrie last year, and I’m determined to get back there. Hopefully, we can continue the form we showed at the end of 2025 and fight for a win.”
The Heart of Racing will return to Daytona International Speedway for the ROAR Before the 24, January 16–18, 2026, followed by the Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 24, 2026.
Source material - HoRT
Tuesday, December 02, 2025 |
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Aston Martin crews seal the remaining Iberian and CPV Class titles at Supercars finale
Featuring two final fifty minute races within the series season concluding Estoril Endurance Festival saw both the #77 Racar Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Mathieu Martins and the #777 Gianfranco AMR Vantage GT4 of Rubens Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende chase the Iberian and Espana Series double within their respective GT4 Pro and GT4 Am classes.
With Martins claiming pole position ahead of race one on Sunday, that lead was short lived going into the first corner whilst the #777 Gianfranco machine of Vaquinhas was the meat in a three-car sandwich as many took avoiding action from a spinning BMW on the opening lap.
From then on in, it was to be a frustrating chase to the pit stop window for the #77 car before most of the field pitted at the earliest opportunity. With the younger Henrique Oliveira now aboard the #77, he too went into an immediate racing dice with at least three other cars in class which extended until the chequered flag with the #77 claiming a P4 finish and the #777 another P1 in class.
Race two later in the day had much the same franticness about it as cars squabbled for early track position but with a reversal on starting drivers of course. As the race seemed to be going through its motions, an off for a championship contesting Am Class Mercedes saw the Safety Car brought out with just four minutes remaining.
Seventh at the restart, the #77 was on something of a charge that saw them move up to P4 overall at the end with a last corner switch for position on track for Martins to lay claim to both the Iberian and CPV Portuguese drivers championships to go with his already claimed Espana title.
Vaquinhas and Rezende also added both the Iberian GT4 Am Championship title with that of the CPV Class title to also go alongside their previous Espana Championship win from a few weeks ago.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Monday, December 01, 2025 |
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More details confirmed ahead of the Asian Le Mans Series opener later this month
With the sixteen strong LMP2 class again taking the spotlight alongside the ten new LMP3 runners, it’s from within the twenty-two strong GT3 entry that obviously grabs our attention as both the Ecurie Ecosse bannered Blackthorn AMR, and the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR’s also confirmed at least most of their drivers.
The #56 Ecurie Ecosse entry has been known about for some time now as British GT Championship pairing of Jonny Adam and Giacomo Petrobelli step up another gear together having just missed out on the top accolades within this season of racing together in the UK. For AMR factory driver Adam, this is nothing knew as the Scot has assisted many a driver crew along the way within this series before but for the Italian it will be another ACO rules series under his belt. They will join forces with Comtoyou Racing GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Silver Class Champion 2025 Kobe Pauwels.
What we did learn today is 66% of the driver line within the #89 EBM AMR Vantage GT3 entry as the other half of the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Championship winning duo Jamie Bell returns to the team for a second season of ALMS racing but he will this time have the frame of Marco Sorensen alongside him as the entry’s professional driver but they have yet to announce their bronze rated driver.
Last season saw the team run Anderson Tanoto for the opening Sepang races before alongside Kiwi Brendon Leitch and Marco Sorenson before Day, Mattia Drudi and Gabriel Rindone took over for both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Depending upon just how will the within the #89 will dictate just how much of a chance that car will have within an obviously competitive class but the #56 crew is already looking strong with three drivers well versed and competent within that platform.
Depending upon just how will the within the #89 will dictate just how much of a chance that car will have within an obviously competitive class but the #56 crew is already looking strong with three drivers well versed and competent within that platform.
This season’s opening races in Sepang will be run back-to-back again over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of December before moving across to both Dubai and Yas Marina in the New Year.
It will be another eventful season, we are sure!
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media / GTWCE
Friday, November 28, 2025 |
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More AMR powered crews chasing Supercars Iberian titles at season finale this weekend
Getting ourselves confused with the series inter Supercars Espana Series which concluded at Jerez a few weeks ago with a number of Aston Martin Racing powered crews taking the top accolades throughout the multiple classes, this weekend’s final races of the Iberian based series sees similar AMR possibilities.
Seven AMR Vantage GT4 crews have been listed within the provisional entry list although one (#78 Racar Motorsport) does not have any driver names listed, and we have seen previously just how not all listed entries will be there when the track action starts.
Going through the entry list (as listed) we again see the #007 Araujo Competicao Pro-Bronze entry of Bruno Pereira and Goncalo Araujo; the #77 Racar Pro class entry for Mathieu Martins and Henrique Oliveira and the sister #79 Bronze entry for Vasco Oliveira and Francisco Carvalho.
The two Am class entries of the #707 Racar Motorsport for Antonio Lopes and Filipe Videira as well as the #777 Gianfranco Motorsport of Ruben Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende complete the Aston Martin powered entry.
Championship wise – Martins aboard the #77 Pro remains just six points behind the championship leader as he looks to add the Iberian title to that of his Espana Championship win, whilst both Oliveira and Carvalho could close the gap within Bronze should results go their way with their sixteen-point points deficit.
Vaquinhas and Rezende need just another sixteen points to secure their Am class championship to go alongside the Espana championship win too.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 |
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A close run thing for the Archangel AMR Vantage GT4 at the Apex One 10 Hour enduro
With the #66 Archangel AMR Vantage GT4 of Paul Holton, Madeline Stewart and Joshua Jacobs having started strongly during the opening Free Practice sessions leading the GT4 class in Practice 1 and Night Practice 2, the mixed driver line up came back to secure class pole position ahead of Saturdays marathon.
Despite having not participated within their own GT3 class Qualifying, the new #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Frank DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis was still on hand to complete some racing laps with their new car although their ‘racing’ was limited to just a few hours of track time for their first event with their new GT3.
With just eight cars taking to the Sebring International Raceway for the race, track incident and accident was thankfully non-existent as their Code 60 safety measure on track was never utilised.
Initially losing the GT4 class lead to the #52 Kelly Moss Porsche at the start and for the first hour hours, the #66 Aston then took the class lead for the next three hours before eventually conceding the class win to the #52 crew at the end by just two laps.
Whilst the leading GT3 crews had completed 245 laps of the circuit in that ten-hour event, the #71 Rebel Rock had completed just 41 but for them, learning and familiarity rather than racing itself was the name of the game for them.
Photo credits – Apex One
Monday, November 24, 2025 |
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Second Aston Martin takes class pole in this weekends Apex One 10 Hour enduro
Not being a topflight race series with a big eye upon timely information flow or indeed photos of the track action, this #66 Archangel entry appears to be driven by Paul Holton, Madeline Stewart and Joshua Jacobs.
We would be guessing that the Paul Holton is that of Team TGM fame whilst Stewart appears to be a young Porsche Carrera Cup North America series racer from New Zealand whilst Jacobs is something of an unknown. The crew later went on to secure a dominating GT4 class pole position in Qualifying.
As just eight cars are listed for tonight’s three qualifying sessions from the fourteen cars that tested, the #71 Rebel Rock AMR has not taken to the track for Qualifying.
Photo credits – Apex One
Friday, November 21, 2025 |
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Rebel Rock Racing start their Vantage GT3 adventure at Sebring
Only last week did we learn of the team’s recent acquisition of a new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 which they will debut within this weekend’s Apex One 10Hour Endurance race from Sebring international Raceway with a three-man driver line up.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series AMR Vantage GT4 car regulars Frank DePew and Robin Liddell will make that step up to the GT3 platform together alongside the support of third man Andrew Davis who has supported the #71 GT4 crew at the longer Pilot Challenge races this season.
Today has been the first day their new Vantage GT3 has been around the iconic 3.7 miles former wartime airfield circuit within another Creventic based race series which will boast entries from the GT3/GT4/TCR and 992 platforms.
Early shots from trackside still show the Aston pretty much in plain carbon except for a few orange accents previously known to bedeck their Vantage GT4 over previous seasons as this event entry is still very much an ‘in at the deep entry commitment’ to the GT3 course ahead of a 2026 commitment that has yet to be confirmed.
Live timing shows a fourteen-car entry with seven GT3’s and three GT4’s from some very familiar teams within todays day and night practice sessions before moving into Qualifying tomorrow afternoon at 15.30hrs local before the ten-hour race is waved off at 10.00am local on Saturday.
Photo credit – Team / Halston Pitman
Thursday, November 20, 2025 |
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Final day double podium and race win for Villadsen at Misano
First seen as a support series to the FIA World Endurance Championships visit to Imola in April saw the Gino Motorsport prepared Aston Martin of the Team Spirit Racing team return with Mathias Villadsen being the wheel of his #23 car again as he completed his first full season of GT4 racing.
Under the tutor ledge of Jan Magnussen, the young Dane completed his final races of the season with a P4 overall / P3 in class podium finish in today’s opening race before ending the year very much upon a high with an overall race win.
Quite what these finishes did for his championship position is difficult to see as information flow out of the series (beyond that of team based social media posts) is quite limited but those forty points would have doubled his points tally for the season.
Joining him for this round was the young Brazilian racer T Bastos in his first ever GT4 race aboard the teams #67 Motorsport Performance Academy car – an organisation headed by fellow GT3 superstar Agusto Farfus.
Photo credits – Team / Social media
Sunday, November 16, 2025 |
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A P3 podium rounds off the Super Taikyu Series for the D'Station Racing team in 2025
Having Qualified in fifth, the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Yuki Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii driven car still needed a strong overall finish going into this final four-hour race to cement their fourth-place position within their ST-X class championship. Having skipped the Fuji 24 in favour of partnering their ST-1 Porsche effort, the team had no chance of progressing higher within the class as a result, but a poor display could have seen them drop another position.
Starting under fresh clear blue skies and sunshine, the opening couple hours ran clean with only local yellow flags being needed to cover what drama there was on track with the #777 crew still battling for a podium position as the light began to fade into the final hour of racing.
Eventually finishing the race and indeed the season under total darkness, the #777 crew had done enough for them to round off another enjoyable season return to the Super Taikyu Series with a P3 overall result.
No doubt, plans for a 2026 return are underway already.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, November 16, 2025 |
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An unfortunate end to the inaugural SRO GT Cup finale in Macau
The expectations of the circuit lived up to their name during the earlier Free Practice session where two thirds of the twenty-five strong grid were unable to post a single time thanks to multiple session interruptions for those in strife around the 3.8-mile Guia circuit.
That situation progressed into Friday Qualifying where three further red flag interruptions saw most crews complete eleven laps of the circuit – not all at full racing speed obviously and that left Yang with a late last lap lunge to claim a P13 starting slot ahead of the Sunday morning race.
A dry and warm 08:00 start to the day for the cars that did make it to the grid saw at least three cars at the tail end of the pack make early contact with one another to see bodywork flying and cars come to a smoking halt bringing out the Safety Car for the first time.
On the restart, further contact front and rear to the pack saw another three cars taken out of the race with the Safety Car again being called, still without a full racing lap having been completed but with Yang now up to P10.
Another restart and unfortunately more contact or driver error saw a further two cars facing the wrong way or in the barrier for the race to finish behind the Safety Car for a race that was never a race. Yang did manage to steal another position after that last restart to claim a P9 finish for his efforts.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Sunday, November 16, 2025 |
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Rebel Rock Racing steps up to an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3
Stepping up to the GT3 category has been a long-term ambition of the team which was acquired by DePew in 2016. While the full program of races for 2026 has yet to be confirmed Rebel Rock Racing is looking at a combination of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge events along with selected endurance races which makes the upcoming event at Sebring an ideal opportunity for the team to dip its toe in the water ahead of the new season.
For Team Owner, Frank DePew the Apex One 10 Hours of Sebring will be the ideal way to begin preparations for the 2026 season."I am excited by the challenge of getting to grips with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and look forward to driving this fantastic machine in anger at the Apex One event next week at Sebring with support from Aston Martin Racing. It will be a great way to ease our way into our IMSA program starting in January.”
"This is an idea that we've flirted with since 2020, so to finally have taken delivery of the car and be heading down to Sebring to test and race it for the very first time is super exciting,” explained Team Manager and DePew’s driving partner, Robin Liddell.
The Scotsman went on to explain how the graduation to GT3 represents a challenge for both the regular Rebel Rock Racing drivers. “It will be something of an unknown for all of us; it's been eight years since I last drove a GT3 car so I'm not oblivious to the personal challenge in terms of getting comfortable with the increase in performance, let alone helping Frank get up to speed and making sure the team has everything that they need to do the job with such an advanced piece of kit such as the Vantage GT3 EVO. In terms of equipment, personnel and additional resources there are a lot of new elements but we are all thrilled to have a new opportunity and very much looking forward to the challenge."
With a remarkable 11.6% winning percentage over the last seven years in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series, Rebel Rock has built up a strong pedigree in the GT4 category. This includes giving the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo its global maiden victory at Sebring in 2024. With multiple race-ready Aston Martin GT4 cars available, the team is keen to put all of that experience to good use by offering customer solutions for the first time.
Robin Liddell believes that the team has the ability to provide a race-winning turnkey solution for customers looking to compete for a title in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. "The team really came of age when we virtually won the championship in 2023; for 2024 we took delivery of the Astons and having won a race early on in the program we hoped to capitalize on that momentum for 2025 and really have a go at the championship. For all kinds of reasons that didn't materialise but we had a fast car all season and with the knowledge, skills and experience within the Rebel Rock team stable I really think we are perfectly positioned to offer that program to suitably qualified and funded drivers should they wish to become a part of our team. We are of course keen to stay in IMSA if at all possible but would consider any other opportunities if they make sense."
Source material – Rebel Rock Racing
Friday, November 14, 2025 |
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IMSA gets out early for a November test at Daytona this weekend
Usually the first to get their new season underway in mid to late January, IMSA will again be running their elective pre-season test from the home of the opening round (Rolex 24) with track sessions be available per class allocation over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Thirty-eight cars are being listed as attending this test – not to be confused of course with the mandatory Roar before the 24 test in early January, with the Heart of Racing team keen to make an early mark upon the proceedings next season having elected to skip the Roar and Rolex 24 this season in order to forward their pre-season testing with their new Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Fresh from the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship only last weekend in Bahrain, IMSA regulars Ross Gunn and Roman de Angelis will again be testing aboard their #23 car whilst it will be the #44 Magnus Racing entry of John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly who will be representing the Aston Martin Racing marque as they are due to attend with their Vantage GTD entry.
That of course, may strongly suggest that the #44 car will be seen out again this season coming after racing at the Rolex 24 last season before taking something of a sabbatical before re-emerging for later, selective endurance rounds this year.
The #44 car will be one of eight GTD entries whilst the #23 car will be one of eleven GTP entries alongside those from the LMP2 and GTD Pro classes.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 |
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One more run out for the D'Station Racing team within the Super Taikyu Series' finale
Again running another bumper nine class entry, the #777 D’Station Racing entry will be competing within the seven strong and topflight ST-X class with drivers Satoshi Hoshino, Yuta Kamimura and Tomonobu Fujii again behind the wheel.
The crews absence from the earlier Fuji 24hour round prevents the team from pushing for that illusive overall win with their fourth in class position not quite clear enough from the chasing #101 entry to be safe regardless of Sunday’s results.
Individual class qualifying will again be run over Saturday afternoon before the final four-hour race of the season is waved off at 13:15hrs (local) on Sunday.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 |
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