- Vantage set to fight for 12th FIA WEC crown during 2025 season
- The Heart of Racing continues race-winning LMGT3 programme in 2025
- Aston Martin works driver Mattia Drudi prepares for first FIA WEC campaign
- Racing Spirit of Leman ready for FIA WEC debut at Qatar 1812km
- Valentin Hasse Clot one of three Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy winners competing at Lusail, joining Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis
While Valkyrie contests the Hypercar division, Aston Martin will also battle for victory in the LMGT3 category as the latest version of the Vantage GT3 will be fielded by 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship race winner The Heart of Racing (THOR) and by series newcomer Racing Spirit of Leman.
Sharing the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury Vantage road car, the Vantage GT3, which triumphed at last year’s 24 Hours of Spa – the world’s most prestigious GT3-only event – is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.
Fresh from a GTD-class podium finish at January’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, the US-based THOR team prepares for a second full season of WEC competition with a highly-accomplished driver line-up.
Photo: Nick Dungan / Drew Gibson Photography
Team Principal Ian James (GBR) – a multiple sportscar champion in North America and an LMGT3 winner at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) last year – will be partnered by 2021 IMSA GTD title winner and 2023 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) GTE champion Zacharie Robichon (CDN) and by Aston Martin works driver Mattia Drudi (ITA), the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint champion and a member of last year’s 24 Hours of Spa-winning line-up.
Joining THOR for a first FIA WEC season is Racing Spirit of Léman. The Swiss team won the 2023 Le Mans Cup GT3 crown with Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse Clot (FRA), who remains as part of the line-up for his first full season in the series.
Hasse Clot is the third winner of the Aston Martin Racing Academy to race an Aston Martin in the 2025 FIA WEC, joining Valkyrie drivers Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis. He will share with Derek DeBoer (USA), continuing a partnership that brought the pair podium finishes in last year’s ELMS, and Brazilian Eduardo Barrichello – son of 13-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Rubens Barrichello. Eduardo was a title contender in Brazil’s Stock Car V8 Series in 2024 before switching to GT racing this year.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “Vantage, in its various forms, is Aston Martin’s most successful racing car; 11 FIA WEC titles so far providing clear evidence of the strength of the road car platform from which all versions of the race car are derived. With two strong partner teams in The Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman, each of which feature Aston Martin works drivers in their line-ups, we have everything we need to challenge at the front across the season.”
