Kobe Pauwels completes the Heart of Racing crew at Imola

The musical chairs are over at Heart of Racing. After announcing the presence of IMSA Spencer Pumpelly for the Long Beach round, which takes place the same weekend as the WEC at Imola (April 17-19), the team Aston Martin LMGT3 has confirmed the name of Eduardo Barrichello's replacement for the Imola race.

The Brazilian will indeed miss the opening round of the World Championship season as he is already committed to the same team in IMSA, which remains his priority series this year. Tom Gamble, his usual co-driver, will be driving one of the two Valkyries in the Hypercar class in the WEC, which is why Pumpelly is joining him. Therefore, someone had to replace Barrichello at Imola, and Belgian driver Kobe Pauwels was chosen.

Pauwels is very familiar with Aston Martin, having participated in the GT World Challenge Europe in recent seasons with the Comtoyou team, notably winning the 2025 Silver championship at the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage GT3. It is therefore the LMGT3 version of this car that he will be driving at Imola, and which he will share with Jonny Adam and Gray Newell, the son of one of the team's founders.

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