Heart of Racing Team set for Barber Motorsports Park debut
Birmingham, Ala. (6 Sept. 2024) - The Heart of Racing Team heads Barber Motorsports Park this weekend for the penultimate round of the Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS seasons. The three-car team will make its first start at the Alabama track, and will arrive at the immaculate facility holding second in Pirelli GT4 America PRO-AM point standings and third in GT America powered by AWS.
Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier will co-drive the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage in Pirelli GT4 America’s Silver category. The duo is coming off of their first podium in the Silver class with a third place finish at Road America.
Barber Motorsports Park is a new addition to the SRO calendar for 2024 and will mark the first start at the 2.38 mile circuit for several drivers including Grisham.
“I’m looking forward to racing at Barber Motorsports Park following our strong performance at Road America,” said Grisham. “Barber will be a new track for me, and I’m excited to take on the challenge. It seems like a fantastic circuit, and I’m eager to build on that momentum that Hannah and I have had recently.”
Greenemeier has a bit more familiarity with the Alabama track, having two starts there earlier in the season while competing in the World Racing League. Greenemeier walked away from the weekend with a ninth and twelfth place finish for her debut weekend at Barber.
“Barber should be a lot of fun and I’m excited to get there,” said Greenemeier. “Barber is a great track with some high commitment corners. I know that everyone on the team will be giving it their all. I’m really looking forward to continuing the positive momentum from Road America just a few weeks ago.”
Currently second in championship points standings for the Pirelli GT4 America PRO-AM category, Roman De Angelis and Gray Newell will join forces to debut the team’s new No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 heading into the Barber round. At the beginning of the 2024 season, Aston Martin released a new version of the Vantage in both GT3 and GT4 specifications. The team has found success with the GT3 version having nine podium finishes across WEC and IMSA competition and look to have similar achievements with the GT4 specification.
Most recently, De Angelis and Newell scored their first win of the season at Road America as well as scored a third place finish. The two podium finishes added to the duo’s second place finish at Sonoma Raceway and third place finish at Sebring International Raceway.
De Angelis will bring his knowledge of Barber to the team with six starts under his belt at the circuit. The Canadian made his first start at Barber Motorsports Park in 2017 in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA where he scored a first and third place finish in his class. De Angelis returned two more times in 2018 and 2019 earning two pole awards, three wins, and a second place finish.
“I’m excited to be back at Barber for the first time since 2019,” said De Angelis. “It’s always been a personal favorite for me and I’ve had some great races there in the past, so I’m definitely excited to get back, especially driving the Aston Martin Vantage with Gray. We’re coming off a strong weekend in Road America and I hope to build on that and most importantly close the gap to the championship leaders.”
Newell who will also be making his debut at Barber Motorsports Park and will be competing in GT America powered by AWS the same weekend. The Seattle native is currently third in the championship points standings with just two race weekends remaining. Newell is coming off of a second and third place finish in GT America powered by AWS from Road America as well.
Make sure to watch all four races on GT World’s YouTube channel with the green flag dropping Saturday at 2:00pm ET (GTA) and 6:00pm ET (GT4). Sunday morning will host the final two races at 9:40am ET (GTA) and 10:45am ET (GT4).
