Aston Martin The Heart of Racing 2025 Review

Aston Martin The Heart of Racing 2025 Review

by Connor Edmonds and James Edmonds. Photos by Jack Webster

2025 saw the return of Aston Martin to the top classes of international endurance racing with teams fielded by official works team, The Heart of Racing, who committed full seasons to the WEC and IMSA in the Hypercar and GTP classes respectively. (This makes Aston’s the only manufacturer with cars in all classes). With the 2026 season about to kick off with the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona, let’s take a quick look at last season.

Valkyrie was met with huge anticipation as not only would it be one of the few cars running in WEC without a hybrid powertrain (in keeping with current AM road car philosophy), but it would also mark the return of the much beloved V12 engine accompanied by its shrieking and hair-raising soundtrack. The fans all have their favorite teams of course, but there isn’t a single one of them who doesn’t smile from ear-to-ear every time the car goes past.

Ahead of the race while strolling the paddock as I waited for THOR team principal, Ian James, I was thrilled to see Aston Martin stalwart, George Howard-Chappell in the Aston garage. George has been one of the key masterminds in the AMR team for over 20 years when he was in charge of the awe inspiring DBR9 GT1 car which famously debuted and won at the 2005 edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring against the might of the well established Corvette racing team. Although he rues the mostly forgotten and ill-fated AMR-One from 2011, there were still lessons learned from that car which helped to shape the future.

Fast forward to 2025 and here we are again. I asked George about his newest project. “It’s shaping up very well, but it’s early days. They’re building the cars in the UK at a factory in Brackley on behalf of Aston Martin and it’s sure a challenging program because we have one car here and two in the WEC. We had an interesting birth in Qatar a couple of weeks ago and now we’re here! It’s all on track, so to speak, and we are taking a very measured approach. It’s very very early days and we’ve to get on top of it. We’ve got a few teething problems but we’re really looking forward to getting stronger and stronger.”

How are the cars different between both series? George continues, “They’re  slightly different because of the ways that the cars are configured aerodynamically. We have to do aerodynamic tests for both FIA WEC and IMSA and the spec is very slightly different between the two and then there’s some detailed differences based on racing here and in the WEC, but fundamentally it’s the same car.”  The qualifying pace of the car was about two seconds off  at Sebring. Is that a concern? “There’s a little more pace in the car and obviously qualifying isn’t that important in a 12 hour race, and as I said, we are just at the beginning and we’ve got to get the building blocks in place before we can start to get in the pack.”

“I’ve got a bit of a plan and what it’s going to look like for the next two years and so far we are on pace.”

• Ian James

The Valkyrie program had a long gestation period filled with stops and starts since it was first planned. George explains, “It seems like that and you are right. Originally this was a car that was talked about in 2020, then aborted and restarted but, the reality is that we only ran the car for the very first time in July of last year, so the real gestation period for the car is quite short.” How much was carried over from the road car, I asked. “There are some similarities with the AMR Pro which is a track day car, and obviously you can see the family resemblance with the Valkyrie road car, so it’s all very close between the two.”

When talking about the race, George is coy about expectations. “To have a clean run to the end and a finish and have the car perform reasonably well, that would be great. We are a really small team up against some really big manufacturers, so we need to keep that in mind.” That’s just the way George likes it.

After speaking with George, team owner, Ian James gave us a few minutes of his time to discuss his newest challenge. He has driven at Sebring a fair few times in years past and won the LMP2 class in 2004 with Miracle Motorsports and again in the GTD class with his own team in 2015 driving a Vantage. How does driving the car compare to being running it as team owner? Ian explains, “Once you’ve driven and you understand how hard it is to get success and especially to win at places like this, transitioning into the team principal hat, is challenging but it gives you a really wide array of experiences which you can bring to the fore.

“The last five years have been a learning curve for me, but it’s all about the people, right? It’s about who you work with and the environment. We call it a family because it really is, and now we are quite a big team worldwide. But it all stems back from my driving days and taking elements from each team that I drove for – what I really liked about it and what I thought was successful – and trying to mold it into one team.”

The Heart of Racing team started relatively recently with a GT program at Daytona and have rapidly grown into a team running cars all over the world across multiple classes. How was that achieved? “I think at the end of 2019, I owned one screw driver, now we’ve gone to multiple programs around the world. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support from Gabe Newell who funds the team. He gave us the impetus to start the team with one Vantage, but as success has come, he’s been willing to expand that and build on the program. Our relationship with Aston Martin has grown and to be here five years later as a factory team in Hypercar, is a testament to everybody that’s put in the hard work along the way.”

Running cars in two classes at Sebring must be a challenge. I asked Ian how he balances the two garages. “Again it goes back to the people. Great people in charge of the cars and running the cars and the engineers, so it really is pretty seamless from my perspective. I have more commitments on different media and meetings but they’re the ones doing the hard work. I just have to make sure that I put the right people in charge.”

At Qatar the car suffered an unusual issue on track when it lost one of the doors. I asked Ian if that was a design flaw or something more simple and what were the takeaways from the event? He explains, “Purely it wasn’t closed properly during the driver change. The car came back a bit too fast and the door flew off, so we really didn’t need to make any changes.

“We were very happy to get to the finish line for sure. We knew that the competition would be fierce and for sure it is, but also we see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve got a bit of a plan and what it’s going to look like for the next two years and so far we are on pace.”

Having raced and won here before, Ian is fully aware of the challenges presented by Sebring. It’s the polar opposite to Qatar. I asked about the approach coming here. “Obviously Qatar is a very high grip, very smooth surface, so here it will be much more a test of the man and machine. One of the things with modern day torque sensors, power settings and stuff like that, you have to be very cognizant of what those buttons do to the engine control unit. We’ve tested here a couple of times so we do have some knowledge, but it’s a harder challenge for the folks at (engine builder) Cosworth to keep that thing really close to the power limit around here and that’s the biggest challenge we have.”

With a two second deficit in qualifying, what does he have up his sleeve for the race, I asked Ian. “I think year one, if we can get to the end of the 12 hours, we’ll be very happy. But for example, we are only a tenth off the Lamborghini which has a year of racing under its belt and it probably has a BOP advantage of a second and a half, so we’re very happy where we are starting here. We’ll keep improving and keep moving forward.”

In the end, The Heart of Racing Valkyrie (piloted by Aston veterans Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas) finished their first race in a very creditable ninth position.

Connor Edmonds was on hand with me at Sebring International Raceway in March and takes up the story from the season ending Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta:

Alas, the final race of the season at Road Atlanta, the 2025 Motul Petit Le Mans, had arrived, and it’s safe to say that the anticipation was high. With record-breaking attendance at the race, the atmosphere was electric and the finale was poised to be absolutely thrilling. With this being my first time at Road Atlanta, I was excited and eager to take it all in. Even though I had never attended the event prior, the experience couldn’t have been more wonderful. With fantastic weather, company, hospitality thanks to IMSA, and (most importantly) racing, I couldn’t have asked for a better first Petit Le Mans experience. I even had the chance to meet, and occasionally chat with, numerous drivers including Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon, and more.

The Aston Martin THOR team is a group I had kept my eyes on throughout the entirety of the season ever since the Valkyrie GTP IMSA debut at the 2025 Twelve Hours of Sebring, another event this season which I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. Immediately, the sole V12 engine on the circuit made itself known with its unmistakable scream that was impossible to miss, to say the least. It’s easy to see why this car was an immediate crowd favorite. With this being the debut IMSA season of the Valkyrie GTP, the racing world was wondering how it would stack up against the rest amongst a grid full of formidable opponents.

In the Valkyrie’s debut season with IMSA, the Aston Martin THOR team proved themselves as a force to be reckoned with, achieving six finishes amongst the top ten up until the Petit Le Mans. Prior to the race at Road Atlanta, I was able to catch Ian James, the team principal of Aston Martin THOR, who was kind enough to have a brief chat with me regarding the season up until that point, as well as the future of the Valkyrie.

He had this to say, “First on the GT side, we are in the championship hunt, so a really good year there. On the GTP side, true to what I said at the beginning of the season, we would bring improvements race by race and I think we can see that in the performance of the Valkyrie and it’s good to be up there mixing it up with some of the other manufacturers here as we get to the last race of the year.”

On the subject of improvements and lessons learned throughout the season, Ian remarked, “Everything we learn, we put into the database and we learn and we are going back to tracks that we’ve been to, so that will help. But the competition is fierce out there so we can’t stand still. We have to keep working over the winter and come back to Daytona stronger next year.”

How have plans evolved for the 2026 based on the season so far? “So far we have done everything within current homologation and that will be a trend that will continue next year. We still have some areas of  improvement on the current car before we make any substantial changes though.”

With optimism going into the final race, as well as a season filled with promising results, anticipation was high to see how the team could round out their 2025 season. In stunning fashion, the team achieved their maiden podium with the Valkyrie achieving an incredible second place finish, a result that delighted Aston Martin fans everywhere. With the first race of the 2026 IMSA season, the famous Rolex 24 at Daytona, mere days away, the question remains: can the Aston Martin THOR team keep up their incredible momentum following the end of last season in October? I’m inclined to say yes, and I cannot wait to see how they do at the Daytona International Speedway this coming weekend. Based on my brief yet enlightening conversation with Ian James, the team has taken many lessons from 2025, and I for one, am thrilled to see how they will apply their past knowledge and rise to the occasion this season.

We will see you at the races starting this weekend at Daytona International Speedway!