Kobe Pauwels goes into this weekend’s 6 Hours of Imola (17-19 April) aiming to ‘show Heart of Racing Team and Aston Martin that I was the right choice’ to replace the otherwise-engaged ‘Dudu’ Barrichello. He has already got off to an excellent start.
The reigning Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy winner – who is contesting a full campaign with Comtoyou Racing in the GT World Challenge Europe in 2026 – was drafted into Heart of Racing Team’s #23 Aston Martin Vantage for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s curtain-raising contest due to the unavailability of regular driver Barrichello, who is on IMSA duty instead.
Competing alongside fellow FIA WEC rookie Gray Newell and series returnee Jonny Adam, Pauwels swiftly settled into his stride today, lapping fastest of the trio in FP1 around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari with a time that was good enough for sixth overall in the high-calibre, 18-strong LMGT3 field.
In FP2, the Belgian prodigy – still just 21 years of age – then outpaced everybody else in the class, stopping the clocks seven hundredths-of-a-second quicker than Akkodis ASP Team’s similarly impressive newcomer, Hadrien David, with Zacharie Robichon ensuring both Vantages ended the day ensconced inside the top three on the timesheets.
“It’s been great!” enthused Pauwels, who last year clinched the crown in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup’s Silver Cup category and is a former European Rallycross Champion, having similarly excelled in the dual-surface discipline prior to switching to circuit racing. “To be making my FIA WEC debut is very exciting, and if I’m honest, has come earlier than I expected it would!
“Winning the AMR Academy was a great honour for me. I learned a lot working with Aston Martin through the season and the test at the end of last year was an amazing experience, because you get to work with some outstanding people and that allows you to validate what you are learning as you develop.
“We took it easy in FP1 today, just dialling everything in and going through the data and then in FP2, we made a few set-up changes, which obviously worked really well. On short-run qualifying pace we are right there; on long runs, there’s still a bit of work to do, but we have time to think about what we need to change and we should be in a good window.
“I’m happy to end the day in P1 on my debut – I can’t complain about that – and I will continue to do my best to show Heart of Racing Team and Aston Martin that I was the right choice!”
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