Two endurance rounds into the season, last weekend’s visit to Long Beach, California was the first sprint round of the season for both the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP and Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD as the former looked to steady something of a shaky start to the year and the latter looked to consolidate their early championship lead.

 

Things were always going to be tough for the Valkyrie entry of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis with the circuit demands far removed from the power characteristics of their normally aspirated V12 powerplant but being in the right place at the right time could have paid off for them.

The #27 AMR Vantage GTD had seen team reserve driver Spencer Pumpelly get drafted in due to the clash with the FIA WEC whilst Eduardo Barrichello was deliberately sent to the coastal street circuit in favour over the WEC in order to preserve their class lead after a podium finish at the two opening rounds. The #19 Van der Steur AMR Vantage GTD of Rory Van der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot were there to learn and develop into the demands of the IMSA sprint calendar against their more usual endurance commitments.

 

Qualifying had seen Gunn confirm a P7 starting slot ahead of Saturdays one-hundred-minute race but the #23 was quickly squeezed back down the order by the time to the top-flight of cars had passed the fountain for the first time whilst Pumpelly had started the #27 car from third and Van der Steur the #19 from twelve after their fastest lap was deleted for causing a red flag in an earlier session.

An early Safety Car for debris quickly muted things on track before the green flag again released the pack with Pumpelly the only Aston driver within the top ten in class at the restart.

 

Just the normal chaos with racing multi-classed vehicles around an improved street circuit ensued as Gunn would have over the #23 to De Angelis for the Canadian to retain fourth overall but again the #23 would lose out into the same corner as Gunn did on lap 1 as the #23 was again muscled off the racing line and into the tyre wall.

The #23 would ultimately lose a lap from this incident from which there was no recovery but Barrichello was holding P3 in GTD after his recent pit stop changeover at the halfway stage but their stop would come to attention of Race Control who would give the #27 car a Drive through penalty which would drop them from third to eighth in class.

 

The fourth FCY of the race allowed all to catch up with one another in GTD and with Hasse-Clot relishing his first American street circuit adventure saw the Frenchman pass Barrichello for position with just minutes to go. Eventually, the #19 Van der Steur GTD would finish best P8 in class with the #27 Heart of Racing P10 to maintain a now slender championship lead whilst the #23 Valkyrie had to make do with a P9 of their own as IMSA now looks forward to its next round of the season from the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca in early May.

Photo credits – Teams / AMR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the IMSA #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD having started so well to the season with podium finishes at both the Rolex 24 and 12Hours of Sebring, the team have elected to continue to run Eduardo Barrichello within IMSA next weekend as opposed to his originally intended alignment within their #23 LMGT3 entry in the FIA WEC.

As a result, Kobe Pauwels has been drafted into the #23 WEC car alongside its other full season drivers in Jonny Adam and fellow WEC debutant Gray Newell for next week’s Prologue Test and subsequent six hour opening race to the season in Italy with what will be his WEC debut after his recent Asian Le Mans Series experiences with the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR team last winter.

 

That leaves Barrichello running alongside ‘super sub’ Spencer Pumpelly at Long Beach as all other HoRT rostered drivers being effectively ‘cup tied’ already to either the WEC or IMSA rounds that weekend.

What a difference a year makes!!

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

Aston Martin’s multiple championship-winning Vantage race car continued its strong start to the 2026 season, recording a third IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship podium finish in just two races, as the Heart of Racing Team took a superb second in the 74th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.

The result, which follows Vantage’s second and third places in January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, ensured that the British ultra-luxury brand’s most successful ever racing car recorded its fourth rostrum finish in six years at the notoriously punishing Florida venue.

THOR’s Aston Martin was a victory contender all weekend, with Dudu Barrichello recording an emphatic class pole position on his 12 Hours of Sebring debut. The achievement echoed fellow THOR racer Mattia Drudi’s own pole lap at Daytona, meaning Vantage, and the Seattle-based team, have yet to be outpaced in qualifying in 2026. Barrichello’s lap also ensured Vantage is the current pole position-holder at three of sportscar racing’s most prestigious events; the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

And, just as in Daytona, Aston Martin was in the victory fight right until the end of a gruelling, caution-filled race that required THOR to fightback from adversity twice through an event full of complexity. Barrichello, and his teammates Zach Robichon and Tom Gamble all led the GTD class comfortably at various points of a race featuring no less than six lengthy caution periods behind the Safety Car.

Barrichello led initially and delivered a flawless opening stint. But during his second run in the car, the Brazilian had to forsake a strong position with an unscheduled pitstop for a false alarm in the fifth hour. Having fought back into the top ten, the #27 Vantage then fell off the lead lap serving a penalty for a pitlane incursion in Hour 7. Undeterred, the team set out to use the pace of the Vantage and take strategic advantage of the frequent Full Course Yellows.

Inch-perfect stints by all three drivers allowed Robichon to recover the lead, handing the Aston Martin over to Gamble in a strong position for the final charge. The Briton’s path to victory looked to have opened up when his chief rival was penalised for colliding with another car, and then the class leader (on an alternate strategy) pitted, moving the Aston Martin to the front. But Gamble’s, and the team’s hopes were dashed by yet another Full Course Yellow in the final 30 minutes which neutralised the field, extinguishing Gamble’s hard-earned advantage. Ultimately, he was forced to settle for second.

“I am disappointed for us to have come so close…. Again,” said Gamble. “But second place at Sebring is something we should all feel proud of, and it underlines the strong start to the season we’re having. My teammates were outstanding all weekend, and the team put together an amazing car, and the strategy was exceptional to get us back into contention through the race. It’s been an exciting start to the year, and these points will set us well on our way, but it’s tough to lose the win at such a late moment and it will be a while before this one doesn’t hurt!”

THOR team principal Ian James said: “You have got to be happy with a podium, even if it was tough to lose the win right at the end. But Tom and his teammates did an amazing job to get us in a position to fight for the win, and in the end, we didn’t quite have the pace. There were lots of positives to take away, and we leave Sebring with the GTD Class championship lead.”

It was the second time in as many years that THOR has finished on the podium at Sebring, and the fourth time in six attempts with Vantage since 2020. The runner-up spot this weekend also marked the 14th occasion an Aston Martin crew has stepped on the podium, including three victories.

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The close, stop-start nature of the racing in IMSA means that you need a car that can be competitive in any condition, and a team that has the strategic flexibility to maximise these properties. At Sebring we saw once again how the Heart of Racing and Vantage embody those traits with another outstanding performance. The race didn’t go our way, ultimately, but the success was in the consistency of pace and the ability to be in the fight every time it mattered. Sebring is very hard on racing cars, because it is bumpy, so to be in contention through the entire weekend showcased all of Vantages wide array of attributes. Long Beach can’t come soon enough.”

Source material – Aston Martin Racing

That left both AMR Vantage GT3 (SRO3) entries from both the Heart of Racing and Racers Edge stables for their bronze rated side of their GTWCAm side of things for drivers Gray Newell and Jason Bell respectively, as both drivers looked for more credible seat time within the cars ahead of their next round from CoTA.

Well, at least that was the plan as an early banker qualifying lap for race one from Newell ended up being the pole position time within a red flag affected fifteen-minute qualifying session. That saw the young man gain his first ever GT3 based pole position within his #24 car whilst Bell was scored P13 within his #2 car.

However, Bell would not start the opening forty-minute race with a clutch issue leaving Newell to fend for himself around the streets of Los Angeles as the lights went green for the first time. Losing early ground to race veteran Sofronas within his Audi. Defending hard after that, Newell maintained his P2 position for much of the race before being passed by the #29 BMW at the halfway point.

After that, Newell was able to keep hold of the final podium position despite having to deal with GT4 traffic and chasing Porsches for what we thought to be the final uneventful minutes of the race, but racing is never over till its over. Despite losing P3 to the chasing Porsche, an issue with the race leading Audi saw that car stop on track just yards away from the finish line for Newell to recover a P3 finishing position after all.

Race 2 would start according to fastest laps posted within race one which would mean a P6 start for Newell and P14 for Bell who would this time take the start but a mistake from Newell at the water fountain for the first time saw his car mount the kerb, hit the side of the Corvette to spin around to nose into the shrubbery of the water feature.

Whilst he got going again, he was still only one GT3 car place behind the #2 car of Bell who was running P12 at the time but both Astons would be forced to visit pit lane for damage at the end of the opening lap and whilst both would come back out, they had already dropped a lap to the leaders.

A further visit to pit lane for Bell would compound a sour return to the series where he won two GT4 driver championships as he would eventually bale from the race with seven minutes still remaining. Despite pushing hard since his visit to pit lane, Newell was unable to recover any ground lost to finish the day P11 overall.

Photo credits – Teams / Series

Aston Martin The Heart of Racing Team and its drivers Ross Gunn – an IMSA GTD Pro class winner at Long Beach – and Roman De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD champion, made gains in Friday practice and then achieved a best-ever 11th place in qualifying, just a tenth of a second shy of the top 10, on what was only Valkyrie’s third start and its second in IMSA’s GTP division, but a faultless and reliable run through the 100-minute race (the shortest on the IMSA calendar) was rewarded with an eighth-place finish.

The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ to be produced by Aston Martin, Valkyrie is the only car in IMSA’s premier GTP category derived from a road-legal hypercar. The British contender is also the first LMH car of any kind to compete in IMSA, and the only one contesting both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship simultaneously, having made its debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.

Valkyrie’s US debut season, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team at Sebring, has already produced an encouraging pair of top-10 finishes on circuits recognised as some of the world’s most demanding.

Source material – Aston Martin

For this round, there has been a change to the entry list of Sonoma with just the #39 Van Der Steur Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of Max Hewitt remaining the constant after his P2 and P1 finish in class at his series debut. Whilst having practised for the likes of Sonoma within his earlier GT4 Winter Series races, the demands of a street circuit will take the young American back to his karting and single seaters days as reference.

We do not see the #007 Prosport Competition AMR Vantage GT4 of Tim Savage (he tends to stay away from events that do not interest him) but we do this time welcome two AMR Vantage GT3 entries from both the Heart of Racing and Racers Edge Motorsport teams.

Both drivers, Gray Newell and Jason Bell respectively take a step back to their GT racing routes within the GT America Series as they continue to develop and build up racing seat time within the early parts of their 2025 GT World Challenge America Series commitments that continues from the Circuit of the Americas in two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

That will be backed up with a trip to Europe next weekend for the second round of the World Endurance Championship from Imola for their two Valkyrie Hypercars and their LMGT3 entry before returning stateside for the next round of the SRO America Series from CoTA the weekend after.

For this weekend however, it will be a reduced Aston Martin Racing powered headcount both in cars entered and drivers within the ones that are with this second-round reverting to the customary 100minute sprint around the improvised street circuit. Just twenty-six cars will compete this time around the 1.97mile circuit with the #23 Heart of Racing Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis running within a class size of ten other cars whilst double podium winners Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson return with their #27 AMR Vantage GTD entry within the larger class size of sixteen entries. There will be no Van Der Steur entry for this sprint event as they are Endurance Cup only.

For the Aston Martin powered Valkyrie, every event is a new experience for the team, but they will have taken stock from their best global event to date at the twelve hours of Sebring back in mid-March were the cars P9 finish at the end of that event was itself a feat in achievement.

The car and extended driver crew from their GTD effort stayed on at the circuit after the twelve-hour race for further endurance testing and evaluation ahead of their next racing challenge to date – around that of a street circuit this weekend.

Joining them at the event will be the #27 Vantage GTD crew of Stevenson and Gamble again after they (with Zacharie Robichon) secured podium finishing positions within both 24 and 12hr opening rounds of the season to lay second within the GTD Championship at this time.

In a tight program of events, Practice 1, 2 and Qualifying will all be on Friday ahead of a 17:05hrs local start to the hour and forty-minute race.

Then in support of the that, the team will also be fielding their AMR Vantage GT3 for Gray Newell as he dips back into the GT America Series for its second round of the season from Long Beach. Ordinarily, the son of the team owner would be with AMR factory driver Darren Turner within the GT World Challenge Series with their Vantage GT3.

This will also be his first time around a street circuit in any series within a GT3.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

That euphoria was however, not continued across the trio of Aston Martin powered teams as the #19 Van Der Steur GTD entry of Rory Van Der Steur, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Andrew McIntosh sadly lost out with continuing their great IMSA GTD debut from Daytona with four hours still remaining.

That team lost ground from the start after stopping on track during one of the earlier Free Practice sessions saw them as the cause of the red flag which negated their fastest lap in Qualifying to see them start way down in P16 in class. With McIntosh taking the start for the opening few stints, the #19 AMR Vantage GTD was then apparently subject for a few energy management issues which saw Hasse-Clot later pinged for a Drive through Penalty as a result, eventually forcing the car behind the wall for further inspection.

Despite their best of efforts and with Van Der Steur taking the car back out again (albeit many laps down by now), the car was eventually retired.

On the plus side however, the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD of Zacharie Robichon, Casper Stevenson and Tom Gamble has no such issues as they managed their run through both the pack from their P6 in class starting position, avoiding all the early FCY intervention for (usually) prototypes ending up in the wall/tyre barrier to remain within the top half dozen as day turned to night and the final dash to the flag.

It was the teams FIA World Endurance Championship Valkyrie Hypercar driver Tom Gamble who this time had the final stint, and on fresh rubber claimed that final step of the GTD podium to complement perfectly the results of the team at the opening round of the season at the Rolex 24 from Daytona.

If that wasn’t good enough, this even also saw the American debut of the Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP car after drivers Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas had already helped perform the cars global debut at the FIA WEC opener in Qatar just a few weeks earlier.

Still at the relative lower end of their learning curve with that car, earlier track sessions saw continued adjustments being made that took literal seconds off the minimum track time to be more than comparable to their more establish peers during Qualifying. That on track performance continued in race trim throughout the race as the Valkyrie was never the slowest GTP car on track, even within the opening laps, as Gunn took the charge for the first time in IMSA.

As with any race, you have to be in it to win it and by avoiding incidents and accidents around them, the trio of drivers were able to keep the #23 car on the lead lap for much of the race – typically cycling around the P10 position in class.

At the end of the twelve hours, the #23 Valkyrie had finished its hardest test to date nineth in class and just two laps off the leaders. Whilst some of that would have been race trim performance, part of it at least was down to a drive through penalty for the crew for exceeding its power delivery parameters but otherwise it was a job well done. This new additional data will now obviously back track into the teams two FIA WEC contenders ahead of their next round in Italy.

The next IMSA race for the Valkyrie GTP will be a whole new experience again as that will be around the streets of Long Beach, California in about four weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / series / social media