Vantage begins IMSA season with brilliant double-podium finish in Rolex 24 at Daytona

• Vantage scores double podium with two partner teams as North America's prestigious IMSA series begins with its longest race
• Aston Martin takes second and third places as GTD Class fight goes down to the wire in breathtaking finish
• Magnus Racing line-up, featuring Aston Martin works driver Nicki Thiim, comes within two seconds of class win in dramatic final hour
• The Heart of Racing Team qualify on GTD pole position and finish race in third position to record second-straight Daytona podium.
• Vantage records sixth Rolex 24 podium finish in five years
• Van der Steur Racing ensures all three Vantage GT3s finish in top 10

25 January, 2026, Daytona, USA: Aston Martin's multiple championship-winning Vantage race car begun its international season with a strong double-podium finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, North America's most famous endurance race, on Sunday. The superb result ensured that the British ultra-luxury brand's most successful ever racing car scored its sixth rostrum finish in five years at the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the iconic Florida venue.

Aston Martin was in the victory fight right until the final lap of a gruelling 24-hour race thanks to a superb showing by partner teams Magnus Racing and The Heart of Racing. Magnus Racing's Nicki Thiim (DEN) and fellow Aston Martin works driver Mattia Drudi (ITA) in The Heart of Racing (THOR) Vantage GT3, emerged as the GTD Class leaders, following a lengthy overnight caution period for fog. With little more than an hour remaining, the cars circulated in formation at the head of the pack until the final fuel stops.

Once back on track it was Thiim, who shared the Magnus Racing Vantage with team owner John Potter (USA), Spencer Pumpelly (USA) and Madison Snow (USA), who found himself involved in a titanic battle for victory; the Danish ace going wheel-to-wheel with a rival Mercedes and eventually finishing just 1.4 seconds shy of victory. In doing so, he recorded Magnus Racing's third Daytona podium in five years with Vantage; the Utah-based team having also finished second in 2022 and '23.

“So close…. Again,” said Thiim. “It's tough to come so close to winning one of the biggest sportscar races in the world and to just miss out by a few seconds, but we should be very proud of our performance in this race. I always enjoy driving with Magnus Racing, everybody did a fantastic job, and the Aston Martin was a really great car to have in the racing conditions.”

Just eight seconds further back was the #27 THOR Vantage, which qualified on pole position in class on Thursday in the hands of former IMSA GTD champion Zacharie Robichon (CDN), meaning Vantage has now taken pole for the world's two most famous twice-around-the-clock races, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, within the past seven months.

Robichon, Daytona debutant Dudu Barrichello (BRA) and Aston Martin works drivers Tom Gamble (GBR) and Drudi kept their car in the hunt for victory throughout the 24 hours; Gamble taking the lead with two-and-a-half hours to go and eventually finishing third to match the Seattle-based team's result of 12 months earlier.

This also completed Aston Martin's second GTD double-podium in four years at Daytona; THOR and Magnus Racing having finished first and second in 2023 with the previous-generation Vantage GT3.

“We should be very happy with a podium at Daytona, because it's a great result,” said Drudi. “The team did a fantastic job at the ROAR [last weekend's pre-season three-day test at Daytona] and throughout race week and all my team-mates were very strong. We were close to winning – just like we were last year – but lost a bit of pace when the track warmed up in the last hour. Next year I hope to come back and win.”

All three Vantages that started the race finished in the top 10, a testament to the durability and driveability of the British-built racing car. Van der Steur Racing, which was contesting its second Rolex 24 at Daytona, ran inside the top 10 for most of the race and finished a commendable 10th with works driver Valentin Hasse Clot (FRA), Sébastien Baud (FRA), Rory van der Steur (USA) and Carl Bennett (THA). Hasse Clot qualified the car fifth in class.

Sharing the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury Vantage road car, the Vantage GT3, which triumphed at the 24 Hours of Spa in 2024 – 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.

There was additional success at Daytona as Vantage achieved a one-two finish on Friday in the Rolex 24's main support event, the four-hour opening round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Frank DePew (USA), Andrew Davis (USA) and Robin Liddell (GBR) took Rebel Rock Racing's Vantage GT4 to victory, ahead of Circle H Racing's similar example driven by David Hampton (USA), Thomas Merrill (USA) and Martin Sarukhanyan (ARM).

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Rolex 24 at Daytona is always a fantastic event to start the season with and brings together the best of the world's GT racing brands, teams and drivers. Once again Vantage has proven itself capable of challenging for and winning the biggest races on the planet and Magnus Racing, The Heart of Racing Team and Van der Steur Racing performed incredibly well to deliver two podium finishes. Vantage has now taken pole position at both Le Mans and Daytona within seven months of each other, which proves the speed of the latest-generation version of the car, and the fact that two different partner teams can come to a race as grueling as the Rolex and fight for victory all the way to the flag, shows formidable reliability as well. Vantage is Aston Martin's most successful race car of all time and this start to the season just serves to make everybody involved even more eager to add more trophies to the car's ever-growing collection in 2026.”

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