Their engines have hardly cooled down yet from their 2026 season endeavours, yet the American based CSM Motorsport have remained busy at the helm confirming yet some more of their Aston Martin Racing powered placements for next season.

Having already confirmed Ismaeel Ellahi within one of their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 cars ahead of next season’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series, the Indianapolis based team have today confirmed a further crew within their second car.

 

 

Drivers Don Yount and Jonathin Klein were confirmed by the Czabok-Simpson Motorsport team within their #3 car ahead of the new IMSA season that will again start with the official test day at the Roar before the 24 before embarking upon the now usual four-hour race to open the Michelin Pilot Challenge with at Daytona International Speedway in the New Year.

Ellahi was an early confirmation for the team as he moved across from the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge as a solo racer before rounding off the 2026 season with co-driver Ayrton Houk within that series as well as the SRO based GT4 America Series.

Photo credits – Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second round of the IMSA Weather Sportscar Championship will be soon upon us next weekend as the whole grid swap the Daytona International Speedway for that of the Sebring International Raceway for another elongated endurance race.

With a twenty-four-hour race already under their belts, the combined class entries of forty-five cars will compete at the 12 Hours of Sebring around the infamous bumps of the former wartime airfield-based circuit.

 

Unlike the opening round to the season at the Rolex 24, this around we will not be seeing the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 but will be having back the two full season entries from the Heart of Racing team plus the Van Der Steur AMR as contestants within the Endurance Cup.

The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Ross Gunn, Roman de Angelis and Alex Riberas will certainly be hoping for better fortune this time around after technical issues during the Rolex 24 put them many laps down to their peers but for Sebring, the Valkyrie does benefit from the greatest advances from IMSA’s latest round of balance of performance changes.

 

 

Whilst the #19 Van Der Steur AMR GTD of Rory Van Der Steur, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Sebastian Baud (with Carl Bennett) suffered at the end of the Rolex with a lowly track position at the end despite their encouraging run through the middle of the fog affected race (P11 in class), the #27 HoRT AMR GTD of Mattia Drudi, Eduardo Barchello, Zacharie Robichon (with Tom Gamble) completed the Daytona GTD podium behind that of the Magnus Racing team as they completed the opening round to the season P2 and P3 in class.

Obviously, all will be looking to either improve or replicate those class finishes at Sebring as the ultra-competitive nature of the topflight GTP class (for the #23) and the GTD class for all the AMR Vantage runners do not allow to too much of a points deficit before championship aspirations are soon compromised.

 

 

Track action will begin on Thursday morning with the first Free Practice session before moving onto Qualifying on Friday with the start to the 12-Hours of Sebring starting at 10:10 hrs local on Saturday morning.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

Leading North America’s most prized sportscar race with only minutes remaining, Magnus Racing and the No. 44 Virtual Energy Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO took an incredible runner-up finish at this year’s 2026 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking the checkered flag after one of the most highlighted end-of-race battles in race history. While the closing 30 minutes would populate highlight reels worldwide, the result also served as the team’s fifth podium at Daytona, and most notably marked the team’s return to form.

“How fortunate are we to be disappointed in second,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “We’d be lying to say the last few minutes weren’t disappointing, but ultimately, we’re happy to be on the podium knowing the team performed so well. To be leading with such a strong car, and only minutes remaining, is a testament to how everyone executed. The drivers performed well, the crew was faultless, the car was fast, and the strategy put us in the right place at the end. It’s great to see everyone rewarded for such hard work getting to here. I can’t thank our fans, and of course incredible partners at Virtual Energy, for all of their support through this.”

 

 

In typical Rolex 24 fashion, this year’s twice-around-the-clock classic featured no shortage of trials and tribulations.

With team owner John Potter taking the green flag, a flawless opening two hours would demonstrate John’s pace in combination with his experience, passing multiple cars while putting a premium on maintaining a clean car. As his double-stint continued, John’s pace would take the car to the top-10 by time he stepped out.

Unfortunately, an ill-timed caution period two hours into the race would send the team one lap down, however an equally well-time caution period would allow the team to get the lead lap back just 45 minutes later. Knowing how critical a clean car would be for the end of the race, the next eight hours would be an effectively smooth process, with Potter, Spencer Pumpelly, Madison Snow, and Nicki Thiim all taking their turns to simply manage their time.

 

 

As the night progressed, however, the coastal community of Daytona Beach would be engulfed in a long period of dense fog, forcing the field to run under caution for over six hours. Running through the night and into the morning at safety car speeds, the team shifted from enduring through the night to focusing on performance for the next day, knowing that when the green flag fell it would become a seven-hour sprint race.

Once racing resumed, the intensity of the race would ramp up significantly. Fighting his way into the top five, Spencer Pumpelly took opening honors to place the car in a strong position for the races closing hours. Unfortunately, strong contact from behind by a lap-down Ferrari would send him spinning in the bus stop, luckily with minimal damage but a frustrating loss of track position.

 

 

Swapping to Nicki Thiim under the six-hour mark, the pace of the car began to show, with Nicki making his way through the field and sending a clear message on the car’s pace.

The next three hours would rotate from Thiim to Madison Snow, with the usual ebb-and-flow of track position and offsetting sequences placing the car a little further back, however a timely caution just under the three-hour mark would set the stage for a wild finish.

With Nicki back in the car to the finish, it was a hard-fought restart that would dramatically change the tone of the race. Taking the green flag in fifth, an unreal and impossible-to-describe series of passes through the first six turns would vault the team to first, and with it a strong feeling that victory was a real possibility. As the race evolved to the final 90 minutes, the car would drop back to second briefly due to offsetting strategies with another Aston Martin, but ultimately the strategy and pace of the No. 44 would prevail, and the team continued to lead after the final round of pit stops.

 

 

With no pit stops remaining and no concerns on needing to save to the end, all focus was simply on getting to the finish, with the team now leading with a palpable sense of excitement.

However, with only minutes remaining, the No. 57 AMG Mercedes arrived with a surprisingly strong pace that had not existed prior. Taking an opportunity in prototype traffic to take the lead, the Mercedes succeeded but with the Aston giving strong chase to take victory back.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, the battle for the race lead came to a head. Following a strong exit in the famed bus stop chicane, Nicki would make a run past the Mercedes down the front straight, only for the Mercedes to make a dangerous block at the Magnus No. 44 at over 170 MPH, making contact and allowing the No. 57 to maintain the lead. It was a move largely considered illegal by both fans and industry insiders alike, but despite a protest from the team, no real penalty was issued to the Mercedes.

 

 

With not enough time to make another move, the team would settle for a runner-up finish, which given a difficult 2025 season, will ultimately be seen as a positive.

It was the third runner-up finish in five years at Daytona, and a strong sign of the team’s potential moving forward.

Also worth noting, the team’s tradition of pitside webstreaming continued, with their 24-hour stream of all pitside communications and strategic discussions being put on YouTube for all to see, garnering over 6,000 viewers in the process.

For Spencer Pumpelly, adding yet another podium to his roster of success at Daytona was a welcome one.

 

 

“I can’t thank everyone on this team enough for their hard work,” stated Pumpelly. “The level of competition in IMSA is so high in the current era, and we put ourselves in a position to win at the end. It came from everyone executing perfectly, and I couldn’t be prouder of where we are as a group.”

For Madison Snow in his team debut, a solid performance capped off an enjoyable event.

“It was great to be part of this team,” stated Snow. “I’ve known so many people here for most of my career, so even if it was my first race it didn’t feel that way. The car was incredibly fast, and the results speak for the quality of the crew. It was an honor to be here and I look forward to how the rest of the season continues.”

Finally, for Nicki Thiim, a combination of joy and heartbreak would summarize his event.

 

 

“I wanted to take this team to victory more than I can describe,” stated Thiim. “They did an incredible job preparing the car and putting us in a position to fight. I don’t know what else to say. The video and public reaction says everything I need to say, it just means we’ll come back that much harder next year.”

Having committed to select endurance events throughout the season, the next event for Magnus Racing will be announced soon, with the team opting to simply enjoy the moment for the time being.

Source material and photo credits – Magnus Racing

 

The four-hour opening race to the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series delivered another racing classic earlier this evening as fifty-one GS and TCR based crews battled it around the 3.56mile road circuit that makes up the Daytona Speedway.

Having ran Qualifying earlier yesterday, it was the #26 Heart of Racing car that would lead the GS class charge for Aston Martin Racing in those opening laps as Hannah Grisham was just one of many drivers taking the start being new to the series.

 

 

Surprisingly, the race ran very cleaner for the first forty minutes before debris on track forced the implementation of the first Full Course Yellow having seen Grisham already stick her elbows out at the sharp end of the field whilst the Circle H Racing, Van Der Steur, Rebel Rock and 89X Motorsport Aston Martins continued to build up a head of steam towards the rear of the class. The timing of this caution period also allowed those bronze graded drivers to see out their mandatory forty minute minimum driving time at the earliest opportunity and without badly affecting their overall race strategy either.

Those stops saw Grisham remain within the #26 car whilst all of the others featured a driver change as well as fuel and tyre service – more so for the #10 VDSR Aston which was seen entering the pit again just a few laps later for what would turn out to be on-going technical issues for them.

 

 

There would then be trouble getting back to green flag running as a multiple car incident in the Safety Car queue would see the caution period extended for another ten minutes or so before getting back to green before going almost immediately back to FCY no2 with a TCR car in the tyre wall of turn one.

Finally getting back to green at the two hours twenty minutes to go point saw Andrew Davis quickly take over at the lead of the race in his #71 Rebel rock car with the #26 of Grisham still close behind in P7 but with the #14 Circle H Racing AMR now steadily moving up the class order to P11 with the #10 and #8 bronze cup runners P26 and P28 respectively.

 

 

Minutes later, FCY no.3 and then FCY no.4 saw more opportunity for service where Davis retained his race lead, but both the #14 and #26 cars dropped back slightly thanks to their driver changes. Getting back to green at the halfway mark saw the #8 89X Motorsport crew get pinged for the first of two pit lane transgressions – each one earning themselves another trip down pit lane but up front, we now had an Aston Martin 1-2 with the #14 Circle H joining Rebel Rock at the important end of the pack. The VDSR Aston Martin would again revisit pit lane and then go behind the wall for further works during which they would lose ten laps to their peers.

 

After FCY no.5 at the ninety-minute mark saw Mike David Ortmann take over the #26 car from Hannah Greenemeir after he #92 BMW induced spit at turn one to lead something of a resurgent charge through the order from his then P28 position in class to nearer P10 going into the final half hour of the race whilst the #71 and #14 cars still did battle royale with each other at the front.

 

 

All GS cars made their final stops for fuel and tyres (in varying options of fitment) with just forty-five minutes remaining – still with the two #14 and #71 cars (in that order again) still arguing over just who was going to take the chequered flag but at least they both never threatened each other’s position within the race with any uncalled-for late lunge for example. 

 

With just fifteen minutes remaining, a wide line out of turn one for the #14 car was enough for the #71 to pass them for position and for the lead of the race that they would retain until the chequered flag to account for another timely Aston Martin Racing win (and second place) at Daytona with Rebel Rock beating Circle H by just 2.5 seconds at the end.

 

 

The recovery drive by Ortmann placed the Heart of Racing crew just ousted the top ten in eleventh with the #8 89X Motorsport and #10 VDSR AMR’s still claiming P2 and P3 places respectively within their Bronze Cup class finishing P26 and P29 overall in class.

Another great start to another season with the series now moving on to its next round at Sebring.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year we see a constant ebb and flow of team moving between series and this closed season is certainly no different to any other as today sees the Rebel Rock Racing team confirm their intention to race their new Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 within the SRO GT World Challenge America Series this year.

In previous years we have seen the likes of Flying Lizard Motorsport and the Heart of Racing teams be the main AMR powered stalwarts within that series but with the former already having left the series and the brand and with the latter leaving the SRO America family of series altogether, there seemed a possibility of their being now Vantage GT3 representation in that series this year – until now.

 

 

Having already conducted a live racing (testing) experiment at Sebring last year with their Vantage GT3, the team have today confirmed that both Frank DePew and Robin Liddell will now compete within the series new for 2026 single three-hour endurance races per event format in lieu of their older two ninety-minute races.

Team Principal and co-driver, Robin Liddell, is relishing the new challenge for 2026. “I’m really looking forward to campaigning our new GT3 Aston Martin Vantage with Frank in the GTWC series this year. We had a lot of fun driving the car in a recent test at Sebring, but we also recognise it is a decent step up in terms of increased performance as well as a new technical challenge. So, after some deliberation we decided that the GTWC series would be the ideal place for us to compete in 2026 as we look to make that jump and get to grips with the new car.”

 

In the meantime, the team and crew have the four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge Series opener from Daytona tonight to concentrate upon within one of their AMR Vantage GT4 platforms.

Photo credits – Team / social media

Five Aston Martin Racing powered crews tested at last weekend’s IMSA Roar before the 24-official test from Daytona International Speedway and those five will go onto make up part of the fifty-one GS and TCR based entry ahead of Fridays Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour opener.

Still leaving their AMR Vantage GT3 aside for just a bit longer saw the #71 Rebel Rock Racing crew of Frank DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis return with their easily identifiable green with red accents Vantage GT4 for just another run around the iconic banked and infield circuit as do husband and wife Ben and Christine Sloss aboard their #10 Van Der Steur AMR entry alongside that of Mike Fitzpatrick and his#8 89X Motorsport with his new co-driver Johan Schwartz.

 

We of course welcome the timely arrival of the #26 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT4 that Hannah’s Grisham and Greenemeier will peddle this full season for the first time in IMSA with multiple ADAC GT4 Germany Champion Mike David Ortmann alongside for the longer races this season.

Then we have the new #14 Circle H Racing effort competing for the first time under the watchful eye of the Archangel Motorsport team where drivers David Hampton, Thomas Merrill and Martin Sarukhanyan will race together for the first time.

 

 

Last weekend saw the Michelin Pilot Challenge runners run five sessions around the 3.56-mile road course with both the #71 and #14 crews taking it in turns to be the lead Aston Martin, with the #14 car being fastest overall at the end of session 4 on Sunday.

Obviously, that was only testing and posturing before the opening four-hour race on Friday where the grid will hit the track again (this time in anger) for the first time on Wednesday with Free Practice 1. Another Free Practice ahead of Qualifying later on Thursday sees the green flag to the race being waved at 13:45hrs local on Friday afternoon.

 

 

As with any season within Michelin Pilot Challenge – 2026 will never disappoint!

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

The Rolex 24 at Daytona will begin at 1340 local time (-5 Hours GMT) on Saturday, 24 January 2026 and will be broadcasted live globally in the IMSA TV and YouTube channels.

 

 

IMSA also started off their 2026 season this weekend with the opening two races of an extended ten round season for their VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series at their Roar before the 24-hour test weekend at the Daytona International Speedway.

Double dutying their GT4 commitments this weekend within both this and the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series test saw Mike Fitzpatrick take to the track for these opening two forty-five-minute races within his own #89 89X Motorsport Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4.

Still something of a raw recruit within the IMSA programme, Fitzpatrick qualified for both races towards the rear of the relatively small twenty-two LMP3 and GT4 grid for each race with Saturdays race being run under clear blue skies and sunshine whilst todays was in more difficult wet conditions.

 

 

With the exception of a couple of spins, the opening race ran caution free for Fitzpatrick to record a P10 finish in class – up one from his starting position.

Race two was a totally different affair with the race starting behind the Safety Car for multiple siting laps before a usual start five minutes in as heavy rain continued to fall around the infamous banked and infield circuit. Despite the tricky conditions, the first Full Course Safety came just ten minutes from the end as an LMP3 spun off into the tyre wall which made for a last lap dash to the flag however, the #89 car had pulled into pit lane just before this incident to be the only retiree of the race.

Photo credits – 89X Motorsport

 

 

 

The pre-event entry lists for both the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series attendance at the Roar before the 24 have finally been published by IMSA with Aston Martin Racing powered teams again being well represented within both.

The VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series will be on the only ones actually racing for the first time at the Roar test from Daytona as they see out their opening two races of the season.

 

A Happy New Year to you all as we continue to countdown to the opening racing adventures to this new 2026 season (for any Aston Martin Racing powered team that is) little over two weeks away now and the IMSA Roar before the 24 test from Daytona.

Long time the opening event to the whole suite of IMSA Series as the Weathertech Sportscar Championship entries will be there for their mandatory test prior to the Rolex 24 whilst the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge entries will be running their opening races to the season at the Roar, and the Michelin Pilot Challenge runners can also be there just as a pre-season test.

 

The Heart of Racing will return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona with a two-car effort featuring the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie in the GTP class and the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage in the GTD category. The 2026 roster blends established talent and fresh energy as the team builds on the momentum of a milestone 2025 season.