Gray Newell, the eldest son of Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, lines up for his first 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend, racing in the LMGT3 class for The Heart of Racing. The American driver shares the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 with Jonny Adam of the UK and Brazil’s Eduardo Barrichello, with the race getting underway at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 13 June. As of 12 June, the team has already qualified third in class, putting Newell near the front of the LMGT3 grid before lights out.
This is Newell’s first appearance at Le Mans and his debut season in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the top tier of international endurance racing.
Gray Newell’s Le Mans Entry And The No. 23 Car
Newell will drive the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 for The Heart of Racing, sharing the car with Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello, the son of former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello. Each Le Mans entry is run by a three-driver crew, with the active driver rotating roughly every two to four hours across the full day of racing.
Heart of Racing has qualified the car third in the LMGT3 class ahead of the race, giving the trio a strong starting position. The team is fielding a second entry at Le Mans as well, one that includes co-founder Ian James in its driver line-up.
From Game Development To A Full-Time Racing Career
While the Newell name is best known through Valve and Steam, Gray Newell has built a professional motorsport career over the past several years. He briefly pursued game development before moving into racing in 2021, and has since competed across multiple GT and endurance series, including GT4 America, the GT America Series, the GT World Challenge America, and the IMSA SportsCar Championship, collecting points, podiums, and wins along the way.
He stepped up to the World Endurance Championship for the 2026 season, racing in the LMGT3 class. He scored points on debut at the Imola season opener in April, marking his arrival in the series before this weekend’s run at Le Mans.
The Heart Of Racing And The Newell Family Connection
The Heart of Racing was founded in 2014 to raise funds for charities including Seattle Children’s Hospital, and competes as an Aston Martin works team. The outfit runs both the Aston Martin Valkyrie in the Hypercar class and the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo in LMGT3 within the WEC.
Gabe Newell co-founded the team alongside racer Ian James and businessman Yahn Bernier, tying the Newell family directly to the organisation Gray now races for. Newell has been part of The Heart of Racing since 2021, the same year he began his racing career.
One Of Motorsport’s Toughest Tests
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the oldest and most famous sportscar races in the world, first run in 1923 and held annually since 1949 after a break spanning the Great Depression and the Second World War. It is a set-course endurance race in which crews cover as much distance as possible within the time limit, with the current record of 3,360 miles, or 5,410 kilometres, set in 2010.
Racing gets underway at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 13 June, where Newell and his Heart of Racing crew will take on a full day of continuous competition from their third-place LMGT3 grid slot.