The Heart of Racing Finishes Third in WEC LMGT3 Season Finale
The No. 009 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie leads its first laps in the team’s debut season.
Sakhir, Bahrain (November 8, 2025) - The Heart of Racing secured its first World Endurance Championship podium of the season this weekend at Bahrain International Circuit. The No. 27 Heart of Racing Vantage finished third in the series finale. The No. 007 and No. 009 Aston Martin THOR Valkyries made history with both cars qualifying with the first and second fastest laps to move on to HYPERPOLE together. The No. 009 Valkyrie went on to lead several laps in the race, marking another first in Valkyrie’s debut season.
Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, and Mattia Drudi were teamed up in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage. James qualified for the trio on Friday afternoon, setting the fourth fastest lap that locked the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team into its seventh HYPERPOLE session of the season. Robichon took over the driver's seat for the ten-minute HYPERPOLE session, locking in a third row starting position for Saturday’s eight-hour enduro.
On Saturday, James and Robichon alternated their time in the driver's seat for the first six stints of the race, saving tires and fuel, but also making sure to maintain a top-five position throughout their time in the Vantage. Robichon passed the Vantage to Drudi with a full tank of fuel, four fresh tires, and fourth place position with just two and a half hours remaining. The Italian had worked his way to sit third when a safety car came out with less than an hour remaining. Once the field was back green, Drudi was preparing to pass for the lead with under 30 minutes to go when Hypercar traffic intervened, forcing a gap between the two. The traffic ultimately cost Drudi two positions. Drudi crossed the finish line in third, earning the team’s first WEC podium of the season.
The Aston Martin THOR Team’s seventh- and fifteenth-place results do not reflect the pace the team showed over the weekend. The No. 009 Valkyrie squad, comprised of Alex Riberas, Marco Sørensen, and Roman De Angelis, topped the practice charts in first and second practice sessions. The No. 007 Valkyrie team of Harry Tinknell, Tom Gamble, and Ross Gunn was right behind the No. 009 team, setting the third fastest lap in first practice.
Sørensen and Gunn qualified on Friday afternoon, just as the sun was setting. Gunn set the fastest lap of the twelve-minute session with a 1:47.290-second lap, earning the No. 007 team’s first HYPERPOLE appearance. Sørensen was right behind him, setting the second fastest lap. This marked the first time both Aston Martin THOR Valkyries made it to the HYPERPOLE session. In the final ten-minute HYPERPOLE session, Sørensen set the sixth fastest lap, while Gunn acquired a ninth-place starting position.
In the No. 009 Valkyrie, Sørensen drove the first two stints before passing the Aston over to De Angelis. It was at this point in the race that the No. 009 team decided to stray away from the strategy of the rest of the field. After just one stint, Riberas took over the Valkyrie from De Angelis during the first safety car while in fifth place. When the field went back to green, just ten minutes later, Riberas had made a pass for the lead. Riberas led the Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie for the first time in team history for twelve laps, one of those laps setting a fast lap time for the race. Unfortunately, a drive-through penalty set the team back to fifth. Sørensen finished the final two and a half hours of the race and was on pace for a podium finish, but a late race safety car extinguished all hopes of that. The Dane finished the race in seventh.
The No. 007 Valkyrie had Tinknell behind the wheel for the opening two stints before Gamble took over for a single stint. Gunn maintained a top-five position and even battled for podium contention for the majority of his two-stint run. Tinknell piloted the Valkyrie for the next two stints, also running in podium contention. Unfortunately, the final safety car of the race came out with just 51 minutes remaining as the No. 007 Valkyrie, with Gunn behind the wheel, left the pit lane. This destroyed the No. 007 team’s ability to fight back to the front of the pack in the final moments of the race. Gunn crossed the finish line in fifteenth place.
Though the 2025 season has officially come to an end, the 2026 season starts on Sunday, November 9th, with the WEC Rookie test at Bahrain International Circuit, where Drudi will make his first official laps in the Valkyrie, and Gray Newell will test the Vantage after a successful first season in GT World Challenge America.
THOR Driver Quotes
Ian James : “We were in the hunt all day today. Mattia drove great at the end there. Zach had some tough stints on old tires, and I did okay during mine. It was a real team effort; the crew had great pit stops, and we definitely deserved to be on the podium. On the Valkyrie side, it was close. We led our first laps in WEC competition, which is a good milestone for us. The safety car came at the wrong time in terms of our strategy. We’re still really proud of how far we’ve come this year. I think people know we are serious and competing. In Qatar, we were a couple of seconds off the pace at the back of the grid. The team has stayed focused, so much has gone on behind the scenes, and the drivers have done a great job.”
Zacharie Robichon : “All year, we have been so close to getting on the podium. This weekend, the team did a flawless job, we had a great strategy, and everyone drove well. We just came up a little short of the top step, but we are still proud to have placed third, knowing we were legitimately fighting for the win, as we have all year. To have such a strong year and finish fourth in the championship is a bit disappointing, but there were several factors beyond our control. As a team, we can be super proud of what we did and learn from what happened this season.”
Alex Riberas : “Definitely a lot of positives from the weekend. Not the result we were aiming for, however, definitely a lot of good things to take out of this race. We were able to lead a WEC race for the first time in the car's history— not by luck, but by actually being the quickest out there. Today was one of those days when you can see a lot of progress from the team. You can see there is a lot of potential. When we get better at the small details, we will be fighting with big dogs soon. Today was a long day, a tough race with a lot of tire management. The team operated at a super high level, and I’m super proud of every single member.”
Marco Sørensen : “In the end, the result just didn’t reflect the pace we had in the car. We had the pace to get at least a podium, and I think we got a little too messy at times, like in Fuji with penalties and such. In the end, we had a decent strategy, but we didn’t have any tires to put on. I knew when I had 15-lap-old tires at the start of a stint that I wasn’t going to be able to fight for a podium. We should be proud of what we have achieved all year. For me, when you look back at the past three races, and you have a car that could have podiumed on pace, and we didn’t manage to do that. For me, we are here to get wins and start being up at the front of the grid more. There is still a learning curve, but next year is a fresh start, and we have to do better than we did this year. I really think we have a lot to work on, and it’s a good thing. We will go into the off-season with a lot of motivation.”
Roman De Angelis : “It’s been a good weekend in Bahrain. Having the car up front in most of the practice sessions and qualifying both cars into HYPERPOLE. Getting a seventh-place result is kind of disappointing after running towards the front for a majority of the race, and I felt like we were in podium contention for the whole race. I’m very happy to have ended the first season that way, and I hope for more success in the future.”
Harry Tinknell : “The start was a little tricky, we know it's not our strongest part in the tire warm up. We had a strategy to let the tires come back to us at the end of the stint, and that’s what happened. We had the safety car in the middle of the race, which brought everyone back together a bit. At times, we had some really strong pace and we were flying. It’s a very difficult race; many people are using different strategies. At some point, you’re fast, and at some points, you’re just holding on. Unfortunately, the last safety car destroyed our race and put us a lap down; from there, there wasn’t much we could do.”
Tom Gamble : “It was a little bit of a bittersweet ending there. It was looking like we were going to get a very strong result, but the final safety car coming out just a lap too late really took us out of the race. It’s disappointing. We had a strong package today. It’s been an incredible debut season for the Valkyrie. The progress made has been incredible. From where we started in Qatar to where we ended the season, being disappointed at a non-points finish, is really quite a milestone.”
Ross Gunn : “The middle stint felt like it was a really good time for the car. In general, the pace was really strong. We did a really good job with the double stints in the front, and it worked out well. I think everyone did a solid job; Lady Luck just wasn’t on our side. That’s motorsport, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. We just got very unlucky on the last safety car, and that cost us a decent points haul.”
