The Heart of Racing Looks to Continue Winning Momentum Into Road America’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend

Newell and the GT America HOR crew head to Nashville 

Elkhart Lake, Wisc. (31 July 2023) – The Heart of Racing (HOR) team will pull double duty this weekend as the team splits to cover both IMSA’s SportsCar Weekend at Road America and the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix with SRO’s GT America in Nashville, Tennessee.

The HOR IMSA squad is coming off of a double-victory from Lime Rock Park earlier this month sweeping the weekend with wins in both GT categories. The team will have to shift its focus going from the of the shortest circuits on the IMSA WeatherTech Championship schedule, to the longest and newly repaved 4.048-mile road course in the Wisconsin countryside.

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin team hopes its luck has turned for the better after having a tough start to the season. Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas scored their first pole position of the season at Lime Rock Park in the No. 23 Aston Martin and broke the GTD PRO track record posting a 50.593-second fast time beating the previous record of 51.079-seconds. The duo went on to win the overall race at Lime Rock Park topping their next best finish of the season which was fourth at the Long Beach Grand Prix in April.

Gunn has finished just short of the podium at the famed Wisconsin track, driving to two fourth place finishes in 2021 with Roman De Angelis and then again in 2022 with Riberas.

“We’ve always been pretty strong at Road America in the past,” said Gunn. “In 2021 we had a very impressive race. Last year we got a bit unlucky with the timing of the safety car, but other than that I’ve always enjoyed Road America. It’s a beautiful area and the Aston Martin is usually really strong there. Road America is a long circuit with lots of different challenges, but this year it’s a new challenge with the new repave. The repave should make it much quicker, but some closer racing as well. I’m looking forward to that element.”

Riberas only has two races under his belt at Road America, one being in 2016 scoring a twelfth place finish with Team Seattle, then revisiting the track with The Heart of Racing in 2022 where he and Gunn scored a fourth place finish.

“I’m definitely excited about Road America, especially coming off the double victory at Lime Rock,” said Riberas. “I think the whole team is very excited and riding the wave. Momentum is extremely important in IMSA and right now we have it in our box, so the team should be really strong there. The car should also be really strong there. We have a new surface, so a bit of a question mark in that regard, but again very excited and I cannot wait!”

The sister No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin team is also coming off of a GTD win at Lime Rock Park. Drivers De Angelis and Marco Sorensen drove to their second win of the season after winning the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona to start the IMSA season in January.

De Angelis heads into the weekend with two race starts at Road America on his resume. De Angelis made his Road America debut in 2020 scoring a fourth place finish with Gunn as his co-driver. Last season, De Angelis was teamed up with co-driver Max Martin where the duo scored a sixth place finish.

“Road America has always been amazing to drive in the Aston Martin,” said De Angelis. “I think the repave will be a huge change in what we’re used to experiencing at Road America. Generally it’s hard to tell if the new pavement will provide more or less grip and sometimes act in different ways, but the surface being completely smooth and re-done will be a plus! Road America has always been amazing to drive in any car, and I’m sure it will be just as good if not better suited to the Aston Martin GT3.”

Sorensen will be making his Road America debut this weekend, crossing off the sixth new track of the season.

“I’m ready to keep the momentum going into Road America,” said Sorensen. “The Heart of Racing guys continue to bring great Aston Martins each weekend. This is another track I haven’t been to yet so the practice sessions will be important as always. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Road America and I’m excited to see it for myself.”

The IMSA SportsCar Weekend will take the green flag at 11:10am ET on Sunday August 6th with live coverage on USA Network.

While the HOR IMSA team is in Wisconsin, the HOR SRO GT America (GTA) team will be racing on the streets of Nashville for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.

Gray Newell will take the driver’s seat for the first time since SRO visited VIRginia International Raceway in June. Newell currently sits fourth in the GTA championship points standings.

Newell will go into the Nashville weekend with three top-ten finishes from the previous two SRO seasons. In his debut season in SRO in 2021, Newell scored a ninth and tenth place finish on the Nashville street circuit which features a unique track layout that crosses over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge. Last season, Newell scored an eighth place finish during the second race of the Nashville weekend.

The Nashville doubleheader weekend will see the first GTA race on Saturday August 5th at 8:05pm ET followed by a second race on Sunday at 4:35pm ET. Both races can be viewed on SRO’s YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@GTWorld).