Van der Steur Racing is no stranger to the IMSA paddock, with a presence dating some twenty years.
Most recently, the team founded by former racer Gunnar van der Steur has competed in the Grand Sport (GS) class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. For 2025, VDSR will move to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship side of the paddock as it steps up to campaign the No. 19 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class.
They’ll compete in all five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events, and possibly select sprint races as well, with drivers Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot.
Van der Steur Racing is making maximum use of the resources that Aston Martin Racing and its partner Prodrive have to offer in terms of technical and engineering support. Hasse-Clot is an Aston Martin factory driver who teamed with Rory van der Steur to finish fourth or better in four of the five Michelin Pilot Challenge races they ran together in 2024 in van der Steur’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
His best result of the season was achieved in the sprint race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where he teamed with Scott Andrews for a second-place finish.
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The No. 19 Aston Martin missed the Saturday morning session of the three-day IMSA-sanctioned test, but got up to speed quickly, with Hasse-Clot setting the third quickest GTD time in the Saturday night session.
Maxime Robin, van der Steur, Eric Filgueiras and Brady Behrman also ran laps in the car over the course of the weekend, with Robin running P3 in the first Sunday session. The team’s full 2025 driver lineup has not been finalized.
“It’s obviously a huge move for the team, and for my teammate Rory, who is discovering everything about GT3,” commented Hasse-Clot during the test. “They made the right decision by hiring people from the Aston Martin Racing (AMR) factory, so it’s going to be a smooth transition, I think. We’re all here to support them in this move.
“I’m feeling good,” he continued. “I’m very familiar with the car and the mechanics and engineers and everyone around the team. Saturday was our first roll-out with the car and with the IMSA systems on board the car, and we’ve sorted everything. All positive!”
Fast start for Iron Dames Porsche
While there were other highlights, a sixth-place GTD class finish in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona remained the best result of the 2024 season for the all-female Iron Dames program in the No. 83 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
For 2025, the pink Iron Dames livery and the No. 83 stay the same, but the driver lineup is evolving and the team has opted to trade the Lamborghini for a Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). It’s a homecoming of sorts, because Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy drove a similar Porsche to a historic first all-female win at the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain.
“Clearly we had a difficult year in 2024, so we chose to look for more reliability, for more consistency, and we found a partner within Porsche,” said Frey. “We already had some experience with that brand in Europe and thought it would be a nice idea to also make the move to Porsche for IMSA in 2025. We very much look forward to that.”
The 2025 Iron Dames WeatherTech Championship lineup is yet to be announced, but Frey was in the car for the test along with Karen Gaillard and team co-owner Claudio Schiavoni. Matteo Cressoni, a driver and engineering advisor for the related Iron Lynx organization, also drove the No. 83 Porsche at Daytona and set the second fastest GTD time of the week on Sunday afternoon.
Frey was pleased coming off her track time at Daytona.
“Whenever we jump in the car it gives us a smile, so we love the car very much,” she said. “The test for us was very positive, so I can’t wait to get it started in January.”
New horizons for DXDT
DXDT Racing has plenty of experience with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The North Carolina-based team was the first to earn a major victory with the new-for-2024 GT3 version of the iconic American sports car.
This year, DXDT is tackling a new challenge by competing full-time in the WeatherTech Championship’s GTD class. With the 2025 driver lineup not yet announced, those at the test sharing seat time in the No. 36 Corvette were Alec Udell – who competed with the team this past season in GT World Challenge America – Salih Yoluc, Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood, and two-time IMSA champion and GM driver Pipo Derani.
Udell is looking forward to his first full season in the WeatherTech Championship.
“IMSA has the highest competition in the U.S. for any form of sports car racing,” he said. “The level of operations, the team strategy and all the execution … you have to be perfect. There’s no wiggle room with the packed fields. The events bring in a ton of fans and are really a show. It’s a fantastic place to race.
“We’ve had the goal of getting everything to gel together and building momentum to grow this program,” he added. “The focus was always to build up to the IMSA championship.”
The DXDT Corvette completed 343 laps over the course of two days at Daytona.
“Everything is coming together smoothly,” Udell reported. “We’re bringing a lot of talented minds together and I think that’s what it takes to have a successful program.”
The 2025 WeatherTech Championship season opens with the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24, January 17-19, leading into the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 23-26.