How Heart of Racing Team ended a two-year victory drought at Lone Star Le Mans...
The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo driven Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi scored the team first LMGT3 victory for two years as the American-flagged outfit toasted its second win at the Lone Star Le Mans race in three years.
After locking out the front row in qualifying, the #27 and #23 Aston Matins ended the fifth round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship with a best ever one-three result following an epic battle with multiple competitors.
It was the Proton Competition Ford Mustangs that appeared to be the early favourites, as the American muscle cars moved into an early one-two lead during the opening exchanges.
The squad’s hopes of scoring a first FIA WEC win faded, though, when the #77 Mustang driven by Eric Powell was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infraction, and then the #88 car of Stefano Gattuso had to make a pit-stop after a collision with the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Chevrolet Corvette driven by Salih Yoluç.
With the Aston Martins loitering in the leading group, there was still no obvious favourite, although the #91 Manthey DKR Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy and Ayhancan Güven led for a large part of the mid-phase of the six-hour contest.
The Porsche’s progress was only halted when a five-second penalty was issued for gaining an advantage off-track, allowing the #27 Aston Martin into the lead.
After Robichon executed a strong couple of stints at the wheel and then handed over to the rapid Drudi, the home win for Heart of Racing Team started to form as the Italian was able to hammer in lap times to pull away from the Porsche threat behind.
Drudi also had to contend with rising temperatures in the Aston Martin cockpit after his air conditioning stopped working.
“It was probably one of the toughest races in my life,” said the Italian. “The car was super quick and we did a really good job with the strategy to undercut cars in front when Zach and me swapped, but then the AC (Air Conditioning) stopped working, so let’s say it became quite hot in the cockpit!
“Luckily, we had clean air in the first couple of laps, so I was able to use the fresh tyres to pull away slightly from the cars behind and was then able to manage that.
“After one-and-a-half seasons of trying to get this win, we’d always been tripped up by something that stopped us from achieving our goal, and it never worked out. It’s finally really good to get the first win in the team’s home race, and also a double podium with the #23 in third position. I’m really happy – everybody did a mega job.”
“Relief is the prevailing feeling right now,” added fellow first-time winner, Robichon. “We’ve been so close so many times, and we’ve done so much to deserve this over the past two years. It just goes to show what we can do when we have a clean race. Right now, we can be proud of ourselves and enjoy the moment.”
As well as Ford and Porsche, Aston Martin had to contend with a threat from a quick #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maxime Martin, Rui Andrade and Martin Berry.
They were ultimately compromised, however, by a succession of penalties – one for a collision and one each for FCY and VSC violations. That ensured that the Mercedes was only able to finish in sixth position at flag fall.
Drudi’s scintillating pace after the last of two safety cars as the final hour approached built up a useful buffer of five seconds over the #91 Porsche, which also claimed its best result of the 2026 campaign.
The #23 Aston Martin driven by Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam placed third, cementing a first-ever LMGT3 double podium for the British brand.
The win for the #27 Aston Martin was the first FIA WEC victory for both Robichon and Drudi, while James celebrated his second success after simnilarly being part of the 2024 triumph. Aston Martin joined Porsche, Ferrari and Corvette as multiple winners in all three GT classes that have run in the series since 2012.
The wider implications for the 2026 title chase were fascinating as most of the leading championship protagonists faltered, with just the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of François Hériau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera scoring points in fourth position.
The #33 Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg was spun around at the first corner and struggled to finish a lowly 12th, while the #92 Porsche suffered a steering problem and finished out of contention.
The Goodyear Wingfoot Award, voted for by the fans, went to #91 Manthey DKR Engineering driver ,James Cottingham.
The LMGT3 title fight will continue with round six of eight – the 6 Hours of Fuji in Japan – on 25-27 September.
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