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

It will be two months since their previous round from Paul Ricard in southern France that the European Le Mans Series last did battle together but for some, there was also the small business of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to deal with in between.

This weekend sees the racing return of this ACO rules series as forty-seven LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3 powered crews get ready for their next four-hour battle around the Autodromo Internationale Enzo E Ferrari at Imola, Italy and for us that means the return of the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman entry.

 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans wasn’t too kind to the team three weeks ago in terms of the performance got out of their Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 compared to their stablemates along the pit lane after the crew of Clement Mateu, Marius Fossard and Valentin Hasse-Clot finished that endeavour P11 in class – the latter two drivers do arrive in Italy with ‘momentum’ under their belts having taken a P3 class podium in their opening IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship race with the new YRB Racing Car Blanche team at Watkins Glen last weekend.

The previous two races within the ELMS series have also been challenging affairs for the team with a P10 finish in Spain despite Mateu qualifying in fourth before a similar P10 finish in class last time out at Paul Ricard. The #59 car again makes up a LMGT3 class of fourteen cars.

 

Seeing that the usually supporting Michelin Le Mans Cup Series ran their inaugural three-hour race at Le Mans earlier this month, they don’t figure back onto the ELMS timetable until their next round at Spa Francorchamps in August.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

 

 

There will be happier faces within the Aston Martin Racing powered IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series camps this evening as the four such powered teams each delivered better performances than last at this evenings two-hour race at Watkins Glen International.

Hannah Grisham and the #26 Heart of Racing ANR Vantage that she shares with Hannah Greenemeir had yesterday stolen the racing headlines to become the first women to claim an overall pole position within the series.

The former #66 Van Der Steur AMR Vantage GT4 of Allen Patten and Trenton Estep had been grabbing the headlines earlier in the weekend after it was confirmed that the Van Der Stuer family were stepping away from the team that they had created and that would move on under the racing name of Car Blanche with YRB Racing now taking over the reins of the team.

The #14 Circle H Racing of David Hampton and Thomas Merril as well as the #4 medusa Motorsport entry of Hunter Yearny and Aaron Sterling had not endured repeated issues and accidents over the last couple of rounds so a good performance from them both was much needed by all.

 

Having had rain in earlier sessions, the race was run under perfect dry conditions as Grisham held her nerve and maintained her race lead into the opening corners whilst both the remaining GS and TCR classes battled early for position.

Pitting earlier than the halfway stage, Grisham relinquished the race lead to hand over to Greenemeir to come out in second whilst the #66 Car Blanche entry was again rounding out the top ten but as the race stayed decidedly green, the #26 car would begin to fall down the order as the race clock dropped into the final half hour.

 

Eventually blotting their copybook, the race came under the control of the first of a series of short Full Course Yellows as first a TCR car stopped on track before a drain cover become lose on track forcing the race to finish behind the Safety Car.

At the end however, the #66 Car Blanche car had pipped the #26 Heart of Racing entry for position just before the cautions began as their finished P5 overall with the all-female crew just behind in P6. The #14 Circle H entry had rallied from their new last starting position to finish P8 whilst the #4 Medusa crew this time finished in P24 having suffered from turbo issues all weekend

The Michelin Pilot Challenge Series now moves onto the Canadian Tires Motorsport Park in two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

 

YRB Racing will make its competitive debut this weekend at Watkins Glen International in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge following the acquisition of van der Steur Racing.

After years of competition across IMSA and other North American racing series, van der Steur Racing has concluded operations with YRB Racing now entering as a new team under new ownership.

“First and foremost, we would like to thank Gunnar and Rory for their support over the past 6 seasons. Starting in TCR and making it all the way to GTD in our 5th season was an amazing journey.” said Christopher Deely, who will remain Team Principal of the team moving forward. “We are ready to apply all of our experience from van der Steur Racing to grow YRB Racing with our customers and partners as we push for a winning future.”

 

 

The Michelin Pilot Challenge also makes its place again within the IMSA schedule this weekend for another two-hour race at Watkins Glen for their forty-four GS and TCR based entry and its four full season Aston Martin Racing powered runners.

Last time out at Mid-Ohio back in early June unfortunately proved itself to be something of a disaster for these four AMR crews as both the #4 Medusa Motorsport and #14 Circle H Racing Vantage GT4’s were lost to a first lap incident whilst the #26 Heart of Racing and #66 Van Der Steur AMR entries were knocked back during an intensive four-hour race with the #26 car losing further ground to a late on technical issue.

 

 

Hopefully, all has now been rectified with all four Aston Martin Racing platforms as the entry list suggests no changes to the driver line ups. Hunter Yeany and Athan Sterling again appear within their #4 car whilst David Hampton/Thomas Merrill, Hannah Grisham/Hannah Greenemeir and Allan Patten/Trenton Estep all figure within their #14, #26 and #66 cars respectively.

Track action begins for this series on Thursday with Practice One from the upstate New York circuit with Practice Two and Qualifying on Saturday ahead of a 13:03Hrs (local) start to this two-hour – fifth round of the season.

 

Within the GS Drivers Championship standings, it is the #26 Heart of Racing crew that leads the way for the AMR powered crews in eighth with the #66 VDS crew just behind in tenth just prior to this midway point to the season.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

The Heart of Racing claimed a dramatic last-gasp victory in the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen, Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as Tom Gamble, Zach Robichon and Casper Stevenson recorded their first win of the IMSA GTD class season.

The world famous former grand prix circuit, in New York, has proved a happy hunting ground for the US-based team and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 over recent years; this was their fourth IMSA GT win since 2022 across the GT Pro and GTD classes.

 

It was back to winning ways for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 after the latest round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series from Watkins Glen yesterday as this time it was the turn of the Van Der Steur crew to win in Bronze Cup.

Round five of the season and it was back to a two-hour race format this time around as the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again showed their one lap qualifying pace to secure their umpteenth front row start to yesterday’s race.

Supporting the headlining IMSA Series again this weekend will be the GT4 and TCR cars of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series as they revert to their more traditional two-hour race format for this weekend’s visit to Watkins Glen.

Last time out at Mid-Ohio, the series enjoyed the status of the main event as they embarked upon another four-hour race for the second time this season two weeks ago – an event which again saw the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entries struggle.

 

It’s a very busy time for many of the Aston Martin (Racing) drivers who competed at Le Mans this week as back-to-back-to-back twenty-four-hour races see their racing services demanded both at the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hour events but also with the latest round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship in between.

This weekend coming sees the sixth round of the North American series take place with another six-hour running from Watkins Glen for the whole IMSA class structure which for Aston Martin fans will mean the return of the both the IMSA Valkyrie GTP car as well as three AMR Vantage GTD’s this time around.

 

Mid-Ohio proved itself to be a very tough day at the office for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered runners of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series as only one crew came away with something to shout about.

Within the earlier two VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races, there was only the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew within that twenty strong LPM3/GT3 and GT4 based cars but perhaps the less said about that the better as DePew had earlier contact within Race 1 and was forced to retire after only three laps before lasting only slightly longer in the second forty-five-minute race to retire after twelve laps.

 

Just a quick shout out to all those at Automatic Racing over in Florida who last weekend completed their first race meeting after losing one of their own from cancer.

Competing within the World Racing League’s latest eight plus seven-hour race weekend from Watkins Glen, saw the team’s venerable #909 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 take part against some much newer machinery and again proved that all that shines is not necessarily gold with a P11 overall finish is Sundays second race.