Only three months after it first emerged on the scene in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the enigmatic Car Blanche team has become the first to officially announce its entry for the 2027 season.
Car Blanche, which acquired the assets of Van der Steur Racing in June, will move up to the GTD Pro class in 2027 after splitting its truncated 2026 campaign across both GT classes with its all-white #68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
Aston Martin Racing factory drivers Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sørensen have been announced as the drivers for 2027. In his first full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Hasse-Clot drove the first half of the season for Van der Steur Racing – and continued with the group following the surprise acquisition of VDSR by the mysterious YRB Racing group.
Since the purchase, Hasse-Clot has led Car Blanche to a pair of GTD podiums at Watkins Glen and Road America, and a best GTD Pro finish of fourth at VIRginia International Raceway.
“A fast car is a nice car, and we still have scored two podiums on Car Blanche’s debut,” Hasse-Clot said earlier this week. “If we’d have been on the back of the grid, nobody would have noticed Car Blanche. But the fact we’ve been competitive has made it stand out as well.”
Sørensen joined Car Blanche at VIR and will see out the remainder of the 2026 season in GTD Pro, leading into a full-time programme for 2027. A class winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans, Sørensen has been part of the Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar/GTP programme since it began in 2025.
Team Principal Chris Deely was another core member of the team who continued after the YRB Racing acquisition, and said during the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport): “We’ll be chasing the GTD Pro championship next. We want to have the strongest effort possible, whatever that means.”
Car Blanche is the first of several teams who are expected to announce their 2027 IMSA programmes in the coming days and weeks, with the entry list for next year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona set to be finalised on 9 December.
Images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
