“What a day! The GTD car, the crew, the drivers, everybody just executed,” said THOR team principal Ian James. “I’m so happy for us to get back to Victory Lane. Watkins Glen is our happy place, and it continues to be that way.”

Robichon started the race from pole but had to stay focussed to avoid drama in a chaotic race that witnessed no less than nine full course yellow interruptions and a torrential rain shower at the start. Despite these hazards the Canadian maintained control of the lead from the second hour before handing over to Stevenson for the middle stint.

The Briton had to fight back from contact with a rival while fighting over third place in the hotly contested division and was unlucky to find himself out of track position a couple of times as the FCYs rained down.

Gamble took over the car during yet another caution with two hours to go and began his stirring charge back from eighth place. Assisted by attrition, and the ever-present FCYs, the FIA World Endurance Championship Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie driver found himself battling for second place in the closing stages. The matter was settled when his rival spun. Then one final caution in the last 10 minutes of the race brought THOR’s clever fuel-saving strategy into play and this ultimately proved the deciding factor when the leading Lexus ran out of fuel on the last lap, handing the victory to Gamble.

“I’d actually settled for second at that point,” said Gamble. “I can barely believe we’ve won the race. I was feeling a little disappointed because I knew how fast the Vantage was this weekend, it’s been strong all weekend. It was quite hard to hold it all together on the last lap once I saw the Lexus slowing, but it feels great to have finally won in IMSA”.

For Gamble and Stevenson this marked their first victories for THOR and in IMSA, having secured podium finishes at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours.

Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam (GBR) became the most successful British GT Championship driver of all time on Sunday when he shared victory with Blackthorn team-mate Giacamo Petrobelli in the 3 Hours of Spa, Round 5 of the largely UK-based series.

The achievement marked a record 20th victory for the Scottish driver who is contending to become the only person to have won the British GT Championship title five times. All his previous titles, in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 were won driving Aston Martins, and Adam has now won a British GT race in every iteration Vantage GT3 since its introduction in 2012.

The victory, which was emphatic and founded upon a similarly impressive first pole position for the team, also marked the first overall triumph for the latest Vantage GT3 in the SRO-run series, as well as providing maiden wins for Petrobelli and the Blackthorn team at this level.

Beachdean Motorsport, with whom Adam clinched his first British GT title, also won the GT3 Silver Am Class at Spa, thanks to an excellent run from team owner Andrew Howard and his team-mate Tom Wood.

Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 achieved its first top 10 finish in the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring in eight years as partner teams PROsport Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport took a class podium apiece in the twice-around-the-clock German classic last weekend.

PROsport Racing, running a previous generation Vantage for Steven Palette (FRA), Marek Böckmann (GER) and Nico Bastian (GER), avoided the chaos around them and ran as high as fifth overall, before finally finishing seventh, which was good enough for second in the SP9 Pro-Am class.

The Walkenhorst #34 Vantage GT3 was in podium contention before technical issues ended its charge, while the #30 SP9 Am entry finished second in class.

At Pikes Peak, a specially developed Aston Martin Vantage GT4 triumphed on its first proper attempt. Stephen Wetterau (USA) dominated the GT4 Trophy division and finished 27th overall.

Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter praised the weekend's success, commending THOR, Adam, and Wetterau for showcasing the Vantage's versatility and race-winning form.