The Heart of Racing World Endurance Championship Event Recap | 6 Hours of Spa
No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage Information
Driver Lineup : Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi
Class : LMGT3
Started : 2nd (2:16.612-seconds - Robichon)
Finished : 2nd
Laps : 139/139
Laps Led : 1
Pit Stops : 5
Team Notes
Stint rotation : James, Robichon, Drudi
James maintained a top-five position through his two stints battling high tire pressures before handing the No. 27 Vantage to Robichon on the qualifying tire set.
Robichon kept the No. 27 Vantage in podium contention when Drudi took over for the final two stints.
Drudi was battling for second when a Ferrari hypercar pushed him off course, slowing down the Vantage. Drudi finished third on track, knowing the leading Ferrari would receive a five-second post-race penalty, resulting in a second-place finish.
Chatting with the drivers…
Mattia Drudi : “I’m super happy, I mean, I think we did everything we could in a really clean way. The team did all the tire changes super quickly, and we didn’t get any penalties, which was the main target for the day. We had a really good strategy, and in the end, we found our setup there. It’s really nice to be back on the podium after an unhappy race in Imola. It’s good points in the championship, and I'm looking forward to Le Mans.”
Zacharie Robichon : “We kind of went up and down throughout the race. We knew we had a pretty good pace, and most importantly, we stayed out of trouble. We just had a nice, clean race, and as we’ve seen many times before in this championship, if you have a clean race, you’ll be in a shot there at the end. That’s exactly what happened. It was a great job by both Ian and Mattia.”
Season Standings
Race 2 of 10 : Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps
Highest Season Finish : 2nd (Spa-Francorchamps)
Completed Laps : 285/333
Provisional Championship Standings : 6th
No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie Information
Driver Lineup : Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble
Class : Hypercar
Started : 7th (2:01.052-seconds - Tincknell)
Finished : 4th
Laps : 151/151
Laps Led : 0
Pit Stops : 6
Team Notes
Stint rotation : Tincknell, Gamble, Tincknell, Gamble
Tincknell started on two sets of medium tires, which take a bit longer to warm up compared to the soft tires. Between saving fuel and the tires warming up, Tincknell had fallen back to 12th at one point.
Gamble went in for the middle two stints before Tincknell was back behind the wheel of the No. 007 Valkyrie with two hours to go.
A safety car came out with just an hour remaining, when Gamble jumped in the driver's seat, restarting from seventh. Gamble saw his “life flash before his eyes” when an Alpine spun just ahead of him going up Eau Rouge. Gamble made another clean pass by a Toyota to secure fourth.
Chatting with the drivers…
Harry Tincknell : "Unbelievable race. I was telling myself in the first stint to stay calm and save fuel, because it will come back to us at some point. This track and this championship create amazing things around here and epic racing. I just couldn’t be prouder of the boys and girls behind me who have worked so hard to improve the car so much. We are a completely different setup now compared to this time last year. It really showed in today's race. We weren’t always super fast, but points were absolutely lightning. The main thing is that sector one and sector three were really strong, and those two sectors are the most like Le Mans.”
Tom Gamble : “To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting that. With two hours to go, we were P11. I thought it was going to be a bit annoying, since we had such a good pace all weekend. Then things just kind of panned out in the end, and we just moved forward. I was able to pick off a couple of cars at the end. It was a nice race. I’m sorry about the 009; it would have been nice to have both cars up there. It's good to see Alex is okay. Good job by the team this weekend. We had a phenomenal performance. Hopefully, we continue to improve each weekend.”
Season Standings
Race 2 of 10 : Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps
Highest Season Finish : 4th (Spa-Francorchamps)
Completed Laps : 363/364
Provisional Championship Standings : 9th
No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage Information
Driver Lineup : Gray Newell, Dudu Barrichello, Jonny Adam
Class : LMGT3
Started : 13th (2:19.102-seconds - Newell)
Finished : 13th
Laps : 139/139
Laps Led : 0
Pit Stops : 8
Team Notes
Stint rotation : Newell, Barrichello, Adam
Newell drove the No. 23 Vantage for the first two stints; exceeding track limits, Newell had to serve drive-through penalties, but was able to stay on the lead lap.
Barrichello showed pace in his two middle stints.
Adam was fighting for a points finish when he was shoved off track by a Mercedes in the final moments of the race, resulting in a 13th-place finish.
Chatting with the drivers…
Gray Newell : “For me, it was good, it was a good step forward. I made some silly mistakes with track limits, but that’s all on me. I’m sorry to the team for that. Hopefully, we just keep moving forward each time. It’s interesting because the weather has changed a lot today compared to the practice days, which has changed the car balance a bit. We struggled with understeer at low speeds and oversteer at high speeds, so that’s not a pleasant combination. It was great to see the No. 27 guys get on the podium. It’s good to see we have the outright pace. The next one is the big one, but I’m excited for it.”
Dudu Barrichello : “It was a tough weekend. We had no straightaway speed; we struggled overall. Obviously, the drive thoughts at the beginning didn’t really help, but afterward, we were alright. We seemed pretty quick at times during my stint. At the end, it was just hard to keep up with the other cars. We had to settle for P13, but we have learned lessons, and we will go to Le Mans. It’s such a privilege to be there, and hopefully we will do better than at Spa.”
Season Standings
Race 2 of 10 : Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps
Highest Season Finish : 9th (Imola Circuit)
Completed Laps : 333/333
Provisional Championship Standings : 9th
No. 009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie Information
Driver Lineup : Marco Sorensen, Alex Riberas
Class : Hypercar
Started : 6th (2:01.013-seconds - Sorensen)
Finished : 14th
Laps : 136/151
Laps Led : 0
Pit Stops : 6
Team Notes
Stint rotation : Sorensen, Riberas, Sorensen, Riberas
During Sorensen’s first pit stop, a wheel nut became stuck, resulting in a longer stop and costing the team several positions.
Riberas had two quick middle stints putting the No. 009 Valkyrie back in the top six.
Riberas was back in the driver's seat for the final stint of the race when a safety car bunched up the field. After the restart, Riberas went to make a pass on an Alpine, the Alpine drove the No. 009 Valkyrie into the grass on the back straightaway. Unfortunately, the Valkyrie received too much damage to finish the race.
Chatting with the drivers…
Marco Sorensen : “We deserved a lot more. It was unfortunate what happened in the last 20-30 minutes, not ideal, but we’ll come back. It was nice to see the car was up there fighting. Right, I’m a bit gutted that we didn’t get the result. I think with where we were, we would have gotten a podium. I’m one hundred percent confident we would have had a podium today, and it's a bit of a shame. All in all, we had a pretty unlucky day, if you look at all around. The safety car brought us back into the game, which is why we would have finished on the podium. We will come back to Le Mans, and hopefully we will get a good result there.”
Alex Riberas : “Overall, still a positive weekend despite the outcome. I think we can see, with the finish of the No. 007 car just short of the podium, that we can be really happy with the progress. In the end, the team's feeling is that we are confident going into Le Mans. We can be happy with the progress we made and look to take another step in the 24-hour race.”
Season Standings
Race 2 of 10 : Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps
Highest Season Finish : 14th (Imola Circuit)
Completed Laps : 348/364
Provisional Championship Standings : 20th
2026 6 Hours of Imola Information
Race Length : 6 hours
Safety Cars : 5
Upcoming Race
Next up for the Heart of Racing Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship is the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 10–14, where the team will take on the world’s most iconic endurance race.
