The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship enters its homeward stretch to its 2026 campaign next weekend as the combined grid of GTP, LMP2 and GTD based entries make their way to Road America Circuit near the Great Lakes for another endurance round.

Whilst the GTD based entries were running last time out at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park three weeks ago, the prototype-based entries haven’t run since Watkins Glenn a further two weeks before that.

 

That round was certainly one to forget for the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP car of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis after the Canadian emerged from pit lane and into a wall of stationary traffic putting himself and two other cars out of the race. That lull in the schedule has at least allowed the team to make the necessary repairs to what was quite an extensively damaged Valkyrie – again all valuable information for the team running the same chassis in both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship in just how the car fairs in situations like that. Fortunately, all drivers concerned were able to walk away otherwise unscathed with is the important thing at the end of the day.

Within the GTD classes, we will have just the championship leading #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Eduardo Barrichello, Zacharie Robichon and Tom Gamble alongside the #068 Car Blanche AMR of Valentin Hasse-Clot Trenton Estep and Marius Fossard to cheer on – ie. No return as yet of the #44 Magnus Racing AMR team this time around.

 

For the white #068 car, it’s also a return to the GTD class after both Hasse-Clot and the guesting Scot Andrews stepped into the realms of the GTD Pro class for the first time in what was only their second race together in the post Van Der Steur Racing and now Car Blanche era. Despite finishing at the back of the more established pack, the team and crew showed pace at but also indiscipline at times, something that pushed them down the order.

For the #27 Heart of Racing crew, Canada started well after Barrichello missed the home race of his FIA WEC campaign to concentrate upon his and the teams IMSA GTD hopes to secure his first pole position of the season. After the two hours and forty minutes of that race alongside De Angelis this time around, the P6 finish in class was still enough for the Brazilian to maintain his championship lead going into these four final rounds of the season.

 

Track action for the combined IMSA grid of fifty-four cars starts on Friday with Practice One before running through further practice sessions and qualifying on Saturday before being waved off to this six-hour affair at 11:40hrs local next weekend.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

The Six Hours of Sao Paulo was something of a mixed bag of results for the Heart of Racing team as their Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews struggled for pace whilst their Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar powered colleagues chalked up another milestone within the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Earlier rain had left the Interlagos circuit at least damp in places ahead of yesterday morning’s start as the #007 Valkyrie of Tom Gamble/Harry Tincknell had beaten the sister #009 car of Ale Riberas/Marco Sorenson into Hyperpole to qualifying P9 against the #009’s P15 but each of the LMGT3 crews were nearly at extreme ends to third grid.

 

Gray Newell, Kobe Pauwel and Jonny Adam had secured their first ever FIA WEC LMGT3 pole position within their #23 car whilst the sister #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi had uncharacteristically struggled to also end up no better than P15 in class.

Come the start, Newell’s inexperience at the head of the group quickly showed within the degree of racing talent around him and the #23 car quickly tumbled down the order during the opening laps as both Valkyries also slipped back as well with both Vantages then running nose to tail to one another just prior to the end of the first hour.

 

Just after the opening hour, the #23 car also suffered a spin as another Hypercar came around the outside and whilst no real damage was done, the time lost in returning to track was considerable. A later rearward impact from the yellow Ferrari Hypercar for the #23 car (with Pauwel then behind the wheel) would result in rear defuser damage – something that would hobble the car for the rest of the race in addition to the immediate spin.

Further up the order, the respective running positions of the two Valkyrie’s was similar to that of the two Vantage LMGT3 crews for the Heart of Racing team as nether class set were seemingly able to progress themselves up the order outside of the natural cyclic movements up and down the order as each class went through the pit stop strategies.

 

Beyond the halfway point, the sunshine and residential warmth of the day began to drop as both Valkyries finally both made it into the top ten in class and with the #27 Vantage still several cars ahead of the #23 despite a drive through penalty of their own for tyre pressure irregularities.

Going into the final ninety minutes, the ambient temperature had dropped to just sixteen degrees C as the mist began to drop around the periphery of the circuit leading most to believe that rain was on its way as the two Valkyries received their final stop for service with little under fifty minutes remaining as they both defended their top ten positions in class.

 

In the glum of the Brazilian evening, the fourth round of the FIA WEC finally came to an end with the #007 taking P7 and the #009 P9 on track at least. The #27 would eventually finish P13 and the #23 P18 in class to end what quickly became for them a very disappointing weekend and with both crews failing to add a championship point to their tallies. A post -ace penalty for the #20 BMW Hypercar, however, would see the #007 car elevate up to P6 in class – the two Aston Martin Valkyries best combined finish to date within the Championship.

The next round will be the Heart of Racing's effective home race at the Circuit of The Americas at the beginning of September.

 

Photo credits – Team / DPPI / social media

 

 

With the early track sessions to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Sao Paulo just about to take place for the first time later today, there’s probably just about enough time to highlight that fact.

Round four of the revised 2026 calendar, this weekend’s visit to Brazil is also the first fly away round of the season following the postponement of the scheduled opener from Qatar as well as being the first round since the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in mid-June.

 

The Heart of Racing team of course return with their pair of Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars as well as their pair of Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s but with a little driver change within one of the latter’s, thanks to another diary clash with the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.

Unfortunately for local racing hero, Brazilian Eduardo Barrichello will be missing his second home race of his so far short WEC career to concentrate upon his IMSA championship lead for the Heart of Racing team up in Canada so for him, there will be no repeat of his podium winning finish that he enjoyed last time out with the Racing Spirit of Leman team.

 

His space within the #23 HoRT AMR Vantage LMGT3 alongside both Jonny Adam and Gray Newell will be Kobe Pauwels again as was the case at the rescheduled season opener from Imola in mid-April. The #23 crew enjoyed a P3 podium winning position last time out at Le Mans.

For their sister #27 AMR Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi, it will be business as usual for the regular trio having suffered terminal gear box failure at Le Mans whilst being constantly being within the top three in class during the early hours of the Sunday morning.

 

That leaves the two Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar entries for the back to two driver line up of both Harry Tinknell/Tom Gamble within the #007 car and Alex Riberas/ Marco Sorensen within the #009 car respectively.

Both crews enjoyed a very positive Le Mans 24Hr alongside their third-man drivers of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis with the #009 car again getting through to Hyperpole2 before the #007 car out finished their sister crew to attain their best ever finish to the race within the cars two-year racing history at the circuit to finish P8 and P14 respectively.

That was running under ACO rules of Balance of Performance, and it will be back to the FIA WEC version of events this time around so it will be interesting to see just how the top set Hypercar series pans out.

Two ninety-minute Free Practice sessions will fill the timetable today (Friday) before Free Practice 3 precedes Qualifying/Hyperpole on Saturday. The six-hour race is flagged off at 11:30Hrs local.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI / Social media

 

 

 

 

 

If you fancy something a little more ‘old school’ then this weekend’s Le Mans Classic will certainly be up your street with a whole host of venerable Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered machine featuring within the extensive entry lists.

Obviously competing around the same circuit layout as the more widely acclaimed 24 Hours of Le Mans doe, track action will begin on Friday before two days of races within races for the entry list that covers a significant period of sportscar racing.

 

There will be competing the #007, #008 and #009 Aston Martin Lola DBR1-2 prototypes that date back to the 2008-9 era with the factory team as well as Aston Martin Racing DBR9, Vantage GTE’s and GT3’s as the SRO GT3 Revival Series also get track time for their new series this time round.

What is there not to like about that!?

 

 

 

 

It’s another transatlantic flight for Ross Gunn this week as he rejoins his North American based Heart of Racing team-mates for the latest round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Challenge this weekend from Watkins Glen.

For him, the last few weeks have been extremely busy starting with the last sprint round of the IMSA series at Detroit before moving back to Europe for the Le Mans Test Day, the Le Mans 24Hr itself and at Spa Francorchamps last weekend for the British GT Championship.

 

Pairing up again with Roman De Angelis (who also raced at Le Mans 24Hr with the Heart of Racing team) within the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP, it will be another full house for the championship as the GTP class, and the two GTD classes again compete alongside the LMP2 class for the Sahlins Six Hours of the Glen.

For this event, that means that we will welcome back Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD powered crews from the Heart of Racing team (as full season entrants) with their #27 car as well as the #19 Van Der Steur AMR and the #44 Magnus Racing one as well.

Last time at Detroit was a just a GTP and GTD Pro class event that saw the Valkyrie again struggle for pace (even before the side-to-side contact with another GTP car) whilst the last time the #27 HoRT car was out before that was from Laguna Seca back in early May where the crew secured a P2 finish in class. The #27 car will again be driven by Eduardo Barrichello, Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon.

The #19 Van Der Steur AMR team again run with a TBC amongst their driver roster as just Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot have been confirmed.

 

The #44 Magnus also make a return to the series as only having attended the season opener at the Rolex 24 so far with a driver line up of Spencer Pumpelly and Mario Farnbacher joining John Potter behind the wheel.

Results going into this weekend see the #23 Valkyrie thirteenth within the GTP class having scored within five rounds so far whilst their sister #27 AMR Vantage GTD team still sees Barrichello leading the GTD Drivers Championship table – albeit by a narrower margin from the chasing BMW powered crew.

 

Track action with Practice 1 will begin on Friday before Qualifying on Saturday before a 12:10hrs wave off (local) for this six-hour race.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dreams do come true occasionally and Gray Newell must be thinking that right now having just seen his #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 that he shared with Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam safely cross the finish line at the 20 Hours of Le Mans in podium winning position.

Under much warming track conditions that Test Day just last weekend, the 94th Edition to the event around the Circuit de La Sarthe kicked off yesterday afternoon in a surprisingly orderly fashions as the sixty two runners split between the headlining Hypercar, the guesting for the event LMP2 and the full season LMGT3 classes went about their opening laps watching on by another packed in crowd.

 

The two Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyries had shown great pace during the test day, but their race pace was down compared to that of their rivals as both the #007 and #009 cars quickly dropped down the hypercar order during the opening laps to circulate just above that of the two Peugeots.

The three AMR Vantage LMGT3’s from both the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams picked up from where they had left off with Mattia Drudi leading the class from his earlier won pole position in his #27 car, with Jonny Adam starting the sister #23 in the mid-table in class and with Valentin Hasse-Clot opening the order for the #59 RSLM crew for the best part of the opening hour.

 

Once the bronze ranked drivers had taken charge of their respective LMGT3 cars, they thankfully avoided all the earlier trouble and strife around the circuit as the dreams and hopes of others came crashing down for one reason or another with the two Valkyrie crews doing likewise further up the order despite being obviously outpaced by most of the hybrid-based competitors around them.

As darkness fell around the circuit, the track temperature remained higher than recent nights but still cool enough for most hypercars to go onto the Michelin soft tyre for the first time.

 

Coming out the other side of the darkness and into Sunday morning, all five Aston Martin remained relatively in the same positions as the #007 and #009 ebbed and flowed up and down the order as the pit sequence filtered through the class but still within reach of a top ten position.

The #27 Vantage remained in close contact with the class leaders having lead the class for much of the opening quarter to the race with the #23 sister car also doing what it needed to, both overall and in support of the quicker car up from whilst the #59 was never able to break free and establish a race position much higher than P15 in class.

 

Heartache would come to the Heart of Racing team with little under three hours to go as gearbox issues ended the chances of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi to better the just off the podium finish of last season.

With nerves obviously showing towards the countdown to the chequered flag and with the more experienced Adam by his side, the realisation soon struck the race debuting Newell that a class podium was quickly coming his way as Barrichello completed the final corners to claim a overall LMGT3 P3 finish. That result would be his and Barrichello’s first LM24 podium finish whilst it was Adam’s first since that heady day of a GTE Am class win.

 

The two Valkyries also both finished the race with their best finish at the twenty hour to date as the #007 car of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn came home P8 overall and just two laps down to the winning Toyota whilst the #009 of Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis came home the last of the Hypercar runners in P14 but a further seven laps down having suffered a puncture at the remote end to the circuit on Sunday– two great performances non the less.

The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Clement Mateu, Marius Fossard and Valentin Hasse-Clot also rallied at the end converting their P21 starting position into a P11 finish in class for their efforts.

 

Well done to all involved.

Photo credits – Team / Aston Martin / DPPI Images

 

 

 

 

 

The two Hyperpole qualifying sessions within each of the LMGT3 and Hypercar classes has just finished at the Circuit de La Sarthe and its another Pole Position for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage crew at the end of it.

Having secured all four cars within both LMGT3 and Hypercar through last nights Qualifying session, tonight’s Hyperpole 1 and 2 sessions gave everyone the chance of ‘going for gold’ which the #27 crew grabbed with both hands.

 

With Ian James having firstly secured that opportunity last night, it was then Zacharie Robichon who secured the next step in that process in emphatic style by being fastest in class before Mattia Drudi had to get the job done twice during his stint after his first pole position grabbing lap time was deleted for track limits.

The sister #23 car also made their mark during the first two sessions before a ‘technical issue’ with the car sadly stopped Jonnie Adam from doing better than P8 after race debutant Gray Newell had outperformed Ian James in Qualifying with a P3 result before Eduardo Barrichello went fourth fastest in Hyperpole 1.

 

Then it was the turn of the teams two Aston Martin Valkyries again after Tom Gamble and Alex Riberas had elevated them into the top fifteen and Hyperpole 1 last night within their #007 and #009 cars respectively.

Ross Gunn was out next tonight within the #007 as was Marco Soronsen within the #007 and all was looking good for both cars to progress until the final seconds of Hyperpole 1 where some last charges successively dropped both cars down the top ten order until the #007 car found itself just upon the wrong side of the cut-off point and as a result, they will start the 24 Hours of Le Mans from P11.

That left the #009 car getting through by the skin of its teeth allowing Roman De Angelis the honour of a top ten shout out at Le Mans. He repaid that favour by securing a P8 start to the race which in themselves represent another massive progressive step in the racing development of this car.

The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage LMGT3 also elevates itself up one position from their Qualifying results of last night following the disqualification from the results of one of the TF Sport Corvettes. Clement Mateu, Marius Fossard and Valentin Hasse-Clot will now start P21 in class.

 

Track action at the circuit is not however, complete as a one-hour Free Practice 4 session is still due later tonight.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI Images / social media

 

 

The night is still young at the Circuit de La Sarthe as the sixty-two entries in this years 24 Hours of Le Mans have been busy with the opening Free Practice session earlier today before turning their attentions to this evenings opening Qualifying session ahead of Hyperpole tomorrow.

Today was the first track action of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship Blue Ribband event after the closing laps of the official Test Day on Sunday which features the two Ason Martin Valkyrie Hypercars and two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 entries from the Heart of Racing team and the invited AMR Vantage LMGT3 from the Racing Spirit of Leman team.

 

Whilst Free Practice one earlier today didn’t really show any surprises from the Aston Martin powered camp in terms of lap pace, the two later thirty-minute-long Qualifying sessions for both the LMP2/LMGT3 and then Hypercar classes certainly did with four of the five cars making it through to the next qualifying stage tomorrow.

They were the four Heart of Racing entries which saw both Gray Newell and Ian James take their #27 and #23 cars (respectively) through the knock-out stage which saw the LM24 debutant (Newell) beat the more established and experienced racer (James) to finish the session third fastest compared to James’ eight best time in class.

 

The AMR powered casualty here was the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman entry of Clement Mateu who appeared to lack overall pace in comparison to his stable mates along the pit lane where the Frenchman could do no more than finish P22 in class. That will be their starting position for Saturday’s start to the race.

Then in the Hypercar class, it was the turn of Tom Gamble and Alex Riberas to take out their #007 and #009 cars for their opening thirty-minute knock-out stage, where Gamble indicated intent by claiming the fastest lap time for much of the session. Next time around and Riberas was right behind his team-mate to chalk up and Aston Martin 1-2 before the final laps saw others pip them for pace into the dying minutes of the session for the cars to finish P9 and P7 in class – both safely through to Hyperpole.

Before that, however, all the runners will have a further Free Practice 2 session to look forward to tonight (starting at 22:00hrs local tonight) within which event rookies must complete their mandatory lap requirements.

Free Practice Three tomorrow afternoon will precede the following Hyperpole 1 and 2 sessions which will start after the first of the support races from 20:00hrs local.

Photo credits – DPPI / Teams / social media

 

 

 

 

Track action has already begun in today’s single official test day before next weekend’s 24 Hour of Le Mans but yesterday also saw some cars on the roads of downtown Le Mans for the recently established car procession.

Gray Newell and Harry Tincknell both got the ‘nod’ this time around to take out their Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar and Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 respectively this time around to represent the Heart of Racing team.

 

Not to be confused with the annual drivers parade that will take place later on Friday, this was the chance for fans to see a selection of cars being raced within this event and the FIA World Endurance Championship to run freely upon what are usually public roads within the city centre.

 

With that bit of fun now over, all the crews now have what’s left of this morning’s three-hour session and another after lunch to get their ship in order ahead of the more formally timed sessions later next week.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

The first day opening ceremony ahead of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans is now safely in the bag as just over half the expected sixty-two car entry passed through the Le Pesage process within the Place de La Republique in downtown Le Mans earlier today.

 

With the remainder of the field to have their time in front of both the scrutineers and expectant crowd in the square over the course of tomorrow, all five Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered crews from both the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman teams faced that opportunity earlier today.

 

Whilst the cars were in the town, there were also checks being made within each of the teams garages with their refuelling rigs before one Aston Martin Valkyrie and one Heart of Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 then get a thrash around the old town of Le Mans and Saturday afternoons town centre procession.

 

That noise and motion will then lead into the two three-hour track sessions of the official test within which the teams will cycle through their respective test and build up programme as well as getting the likes of LM24 debutant Gray Newell in getting in his minimum laps ahead of the more formally timed and sanctioned track sessions next week.

 

With BoP now a closely guarded secret from the public arena within the FIA World Endurance Championship and that of the twenty-four hour being solely different from the mainstream WEC season anyway, it probably will not be until Qualifying and Hyperpole where we will find out just where either Aston Martin platform sits within their respective classes.

Photo credits – Teams / DPPI Images