WEC rookie McIntosh, who finished second in the Silver Am class of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa last month, started the race and led initially before holding his own in second place until the first pitstops. Emerging sixth for the second part of his double stint, he stayed in contention near the front of the pack until a small mistake dropped the car out of the top ten before the American handed the car over to Barrichello.

The 23-year-old then put on an outstanding double-stint, racing the car back into the fight for the podium. Another strong double-stint from Hasse Clot followed, meaning that Barrichello found himself in fifth in the final hour of the race. Once again, he went on the attack, passing two cars in the final 15 minutes and claiming third position with just three laps to go.

“It was crazy,” said Barrichello. “I had to put all my faith in the engineers who were telling me how hard to push the tyres at the end of the race because I couldn’t drive them too hard or I would have gone to zero very quickly. But we were able to manage it and thankfully everything worked out and we had enough in the car to take third position at the end.

“It’s an amazing feeling to have finished on the podium in my home race, and it was so incredible to experience that special reception from the fans. I’m not sure I deserved it, but I enjoyed it anyway! It is an honour to race an Aston Martin here at Interlagos, and it has been such an incredible weekend – one of the best of my life.”

The podium marked the first for all three drivers, as well as the best result for RSL in only its fifth WEC start. In the five occasions that Interlagos has appeared on the WEC schedule since 2012, Vantage has now taken three class wins and five further podiums. This was the second time the latest iteration of the Vantage GT3, which was introduced in 2024, has finished on the podium. The Heart of Racing (THOR) finished second in last year’s event. RSL’s pole position was also the second consecutive one for Vantage in WEC, with THOR having claimed the accolade in June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter said: “We congratulate Racing Spirit of Léman on an outstanding performance throughout the weekend. The team maximised the potential of Vantage in qualifying at Interlagos and then delivered with an exceptional podium in the race. Eduardo Barrichello’s performance was highly encouraging in only his fifth WEC start, while Ian McIntosh enjoyed an excellent debut and Valentin Hasse Clot, just like the team, thoroughly enjoyed this podium. The result once again emphasises the versality and competitiveness of Vantage GT3, key components to success in customer racing. The Heart of Racing ran strongly once again in IMSA at CTMP, and, once again is in contention for the title as we move into the final third of the season.”

WEC now takes a summer break before reconvening at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for 6-hour Lone Star Le Mans on 5-7 September. 

Source material - AMR

The new Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar enters the second half of its trailblazing maiden season in the FIA World Endurance Championship when it races on South American soil for the first time at Interlagos, for the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, this weekend.

Following an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans last month where both Valkyrie hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue, finishing 12th and 14th, the works Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team registered the cars’, and Aston Martin’s first Manufacturer’s World Championship points in the Hypercar Class. The British brand now seeks to build on this positive momentum with a breakthrough top ten finish on WEC’s return to the six-hour race format, as the championship moves into the ‘flyaway’ event phase of the calendar that shapes the second half of the season.

The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ to be produced by Aston Martin, and raced by the Aston Martin THOR Team, Valkyrie is the only car in the WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar. Valkyrie is also the only LMH to compete in both the FIA WEC and in North America’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and has scored top-10 finishes in every race it has contested in the USA.

Valkyrie made its global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February. The British machine has subsequently demonstrated outstanding reliability, having finished 11 times from 12 starts in all competitions and has solid progression in terms of competitiveness. It has been a consistent points-scorer in all five IMSA races.

The Aston Martin THOR Team will return to its two regular WEC Valkyrie line-ups for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, with the #007 driven by Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell and the #009 of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen.

Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 returns to the frontline of the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT class action this weekend with race victory very much in the crosshairs.

The FIA World Endurance Championship visits Interlagos for only the fifth time in its history, having been reintroduced to the calendar last year. In that period, Vantage has recorded three class wins and four runner-up finishes – including in 2024. The Heart of Racing team and the Racing Spirit of Léman squad aims to add to that tally with the latest iteration – the Vantage GT3 – in the LMGT3 class of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo on 13 July.

Regular class frontrunners, THOR team principal Ian James, Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi are looking to at least repeat the performance of the #27 Vantage from last year when it finished second in class. Indeed, so far in 2025, the team has recorded a sixth, a fifth and a fourth from four races and based on its pace, a podium is overdue.

THOR will be joined by Racing Spirit of Léman, which introduces a new driver, Anthony McIntosh to its regular line-up of Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #10 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. McIntosh comes fresh off the back of a Pro-Am Class podium in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with Beechdean AMR, while he also races a Vantage with van der Steur Racing in selected IMSA races in the GTD class. McIntosh steps in for his compatriot Derek De Boer, who is otherwise engaged with external commitments, but will return to the car for the next round – the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas on 5-7 September.

THOR is also in action in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with the latest version of the Vantage GT3 in the all-GT round of the series at Mosport, in Canada. Fresh off a brilliant, last-gasp win at Watkins Glen last month, the team’s fulltime #27 driver Casper Stevenson is currently second in the standings, just 60 points off the GTD class championship lead. His regular teammate Gamble is otherwise engaged with Valkyrie at Interlagos, so THOR has drafted in IMSA Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP driver and 2022 IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis; a two-time GTD class winner of the event.

“The Vantage GT3 continues to go from strength to strength,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter. “It proved to be an outstanding choice for our partner teams in the recent 24 Hours of Spa, where it achieved two class win and another class podium. In IMSA it was victorious in the previous round at Watkins Glen. In WEC, the pace has been there, if not the results. Aston Martin has a strong record at Interlagos, and there is every reason for us to head to São Paulo in an optimistic frame of mind, with a podium finish a very clear target for both of our partner teams.”

Source material - AMR

Having had to settle for just a front row starting position this time around, there was still plenty of inter-class contact within the opening laps to readjust that running order with the #59 car taking the early lead in class as minor issues on track finally built up to an incident on track which saw up to six cars involved at the bottom of the first half hour of racing.

Fortunately, not involving the RSLM Aston Martin, it did eliminate three LMGT3 class rivals as the race was red flagged to allow for the clear up operation, but the race soon got back underway after a 15-20minute delay (although the race clock did keep running) but Mateu would have to suffer the consequences of two of his own actions on track.

First starting out of position on track at the start and then his reduction and adherence to the Full Course yellow speed limit on track would earn the Frenchman individual drive through penalties from which there would be no recovery on track from either himself or his co-drivers.

The best that the #59 car could then offer was to attempt to stay on the lead lap in and around seventh in class from the halfway stage but the continued periods of caution without the ability of a wave around would never improve their position as the weather again came into question as the skies darkened again.

Into the final hour of the race, an off-track excursion for the #59 car further delayed them although they didn’t loose any further track position then although they would at their final stop as Hasse-Clot was forced to suffer an additional ten second time penalty for an earlier (unknown by us) incident.

The four hours of Imola would finally end for the all-French driver crew with a distant P29 overall and P7 in class finish for their efforts as both the team and Hasse-Clot refocus their attention to this weekend’s FIA WEC round from Brazil.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

That being said, the old adage of ‘being able to finish first – first you have to finish’ was where the two cars of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble/ Rogg Gunn within the #007 alongside that of the #009 car of Marco Sorensen/Alex Riberas/Roman De Angelis managed to do just that as the #009 completed the years gruelling edition P13 overall with the #007 just two places behind out of the twenty strong class entry.

Being the cars first live twenty-four-hour race, that will go down as a great achievement on the grounds of longevity for the more vital race components within the engine and drivetrain as well as the suspension and serviceability of the overall package although their race results today still fall short of those illusive first FIA WEC Championship points.

Within the LMGT3 class, it was a similar case for both the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James/Mattia Drudi/Zacharie Robichon and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage of Derek DeBoer/Valentin Hasse-Clot and Eduardo Barrichello.

With the #27 car taking Pole Position after Hyperpole 2 earlier in the week, the car also broke with traditional as pole setting driver Drudi was allowed to take the start to the race (as opposed to James) as did Hasse-Clot aboard the #10 as opposed to DeBoer.

During the opening hours, both Aston Martins enjoyed time at the head of the class before technical issues aboard the #10 car consigned them to the garage for repairs – something that would cost the crew three racing laps and that proved itself to be a gap that was just too big to cross during the many hours left within the race.

As the hours passed and the rate of attrition increased (particularly during the hours of darkness, the #27 remained well placed somewhere within the top ten whilst all the #10 car could do was to climb its way off from the bottom of the timing screen as with just one hour remaining, the #10 car now sat P13 out of the remaining seventeen LMGT3 entries still running.

At the end, the #27 Heart of Racing narrowly missed out upon that coveted class podium position, finishing fourth in class and less than a lap down to the eventual class winning Porsche. The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman crew would ultimately finish P46 overall – P13 in class, five laps down to the class winner.

Double points on offer at Le Mans and a bonus point for Pole Position see the #27 crew raise up to fourth within the LMGT3 Drivers Championship with the #10 crew down in P16 as the FIA WEC now heads to Brazil for its next round in just three weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)

 

 

Casting our minds back to the action at the Circuit de La Sarthe – that was not really one to remember in the end as the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage LMGT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Erwan Bastard and Marco Sorenson eventually finished P9 in class after the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli exited the race in the early hours of Sunday morning with that scary image of the car rolling onto its roof after a heavy contact with the tyre wall at Indianapolis.

Thankfully, Mancinelli was otherwise OK as he picked himself out of the wreckage of what was left of his car, and we understand that that chassis has now been replaced and rebuilt (alongside the D’Station Racing car) at the Prodrive facility in time to be flown to Sao Paulo for this weekend’s events.

The crews are already at the circuit preparing both their garages and their cars for the track action that begins on Friday morning with the first of three Free Practice sessions.

The only change so far is the expected swap back from Hoshino within the #777 to that of Clement Mateu as the Frenchman’s deal with the Japanese team was to step aside to allow what later became Hoshino’s final racing visit to the event.

Championship wise, that DNF at Le Mans and a poor finish the round before at Spa Francorchamps has seen their early pace falter as they drop to seventh within the LMGT3 Driver table on half the points of the leader whilst the usual two D’Station drivers (Bastard and Sorenson) now sit in fourth thanks to the double points on offer at Le Mans. They are thirty-three points behind the leading crew.

The Six Hours of Sao Paula starts at 11:30 hours local on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / Kelvin Pope Firecracker Media