Multi Podium Weekend for The Heart of Racing at Sebring
Sebring, Fla. (6 May, 2024) - The Heart of Racing leaves Sebring International Raceway with four podium finishes including a second place finish and three third place finishes this weekend. The team took on the multi-category weekend with entries in Pirelli GT4 America AM, Pirelli GT4 America PRO AM, and GT America powered by AWS GT4.
Hannah Greenemeier was the first to qualify, taking third in the Pirelli GT4 America AM category, which also marked her first official qualifying SRO outing after qualifying was canceled at the Sonoma Raceway event weekend.
During the Saturday afternoon Pirelli GT4 America race, Greenemeier was quick to move up to second before a full course caution came out five minutes into the 60 minute race. Greenemeier retained her second place position when the field saw the green flag again. The young driver from Colorado handed the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to her co-driver Hannah Grisham, who crossed the finish line in fifth.
“Overall it was a good weekend,” said Greenemeier. “We definitely did not have as much pace as we would have liked, but in the end it was a good points weekend. So now we'll just move on to COTA in a couple of weeks and just try and keep up the good point races each weekend and see where we end up in the championship.”
Grisham was second to qualify on Saturday for Sunday’s afternoon race but after being unable to get a clear flying lap, Grisham qualified eighth in the AM category.
Grisham was first behind the wheel of the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the second race of the weekend on Sunday. Grisham was quick to start charging forward from eighth. The California driver handed the Aston Martin off to Greenemeier in fifth place with a little under 30 minutes to go. The duo made up two spots on the pit stop landing Greenemeier in third for the remainder of the race.
“Today was really strong, we started pretty far in the back but were able to make our way towards the front of the pack,” said Grisham. “We ended up with the Hard Charger Award and made it up to P3. So we're really happy about that. A huge thank you to the Heart of Racing Team and Hannah. Next is to continue the momentum into COTA and hopefully to the championship.”
“The Hannahs” earned the Super Fuel Hard Charger Award for the race after making up twelve positions on the entire field.
Gray Newell qualified first for the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entry, setting the eighth fastest lap in the Pirelli GT4 America PRO AM category.
After a review of the start on Saturday’s afternoon race, Newell was forced to a drive through penalty after being judged to have jumped the start forcing the Aston Martin to rejoin the field in ninth. Roman De Angelis was next up behind the wheel with 30 minutes remaining. During the pit stop, the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 was penalized for a pit stop time infringement, as a result 1.13 seconds was added on to the Aston Martin’s finishing time. Just after the 30 minute mark, De Angelis was forced to a second drive through penalty because the first drive through penalty was served as a caution came out and therefore it didn’t count. De Angelis crossed the finish line in sixth.
De Angelis qualified second for the Newell / De Angelis pair, scoring a starting position of second for Sunday’s afternoon race. De Angelis was able to maintain his starting position through his stint of 30 minutes before handing the Aston Martin off to Newell, who was able to keep the position through the remainder of the race scoring the duo’s second podium of the season.
“Really happy to leave Sebring with a podium finish in race two,” said De Angelis. “The team and Gray both did a great job executing, definitely outperforming with the cards we were dealt this weekend. Race one was quite unfortunate with two drive through penalties, but we’re still in the championship fight, so I'm looking forward to getting some points back in COTA!”
On Saturday morning, Newell qualified third for Saturday’s afternoon GT America powered by AWS race. Newell was able to maintain position when a quick caution came out just four minutes into the 40 minute race. Just five minutes later the track went back to green flag racing where Newell remained in third place until he took the checkered flag.
Race two for GT America powered by AWS took place Sunday morning with Newell starting from third, a position decided by his fastest lap from Saturday’s race. The 40 minute race stayed green for its entirety, Newell crossed the finish line third. Newell was able to maintain his championship points standings at second with his two third place finishes on the weekend.
The Heart of Racing team will be back in action next weekend with IMSA at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and WEC at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps before heading to Circuit of the Americas May 17-19 for the next round of Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS.
