The Heart of Racing prepped for Six Hours of the Glen
Watkins Glen, NY (19 June 2024) - The Heart of Racing heads to Watkins Glen International for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen this weekend. The team goes straight to The Glen after four of the team’s five drivers competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend.
The No. 23 Heart of Racing GTD PRO entry will see Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn behind the wheel. Riberas, who is also competing in the full FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) schedule, joins Gunn for the second time this season. The pair most recently scored a third place finish at the Detroit Grand Prix. Gunn is currently third in championship point standings almost halfway through the IMSA season.
“Definitely another challenge going to Watkins Glen,” said Riberas. “We know the six hours is going to be a tough race. Ross is competing for the GTD PRO championship after our podium in Detroit which is very impressive from the team’s perspective. It is incredible what the team has been doing this year. We know we are underdogs, but we will execute and do our job. If some factors like luck and strategy and some circumstances go our way we can try again for a podium.”
The Riberas / Gunn duo looks to get back on the podium after having won the 2022 GTD PRO category at Watkins Glen International. While Riberas will be making his sixth start on the circuit, Gunn will be making his fifth start having raced to a third place finish in 2021 alongside Roman De Angelis.
“Watkins Glen is always a classic race,” said Gunn. “We won this race in 2022. It usually throws up a wild race in the sense that there are always cautions, mostly due to the amount of cars on track. We have all classes competing that weekend. We had a pretty successful test recently at Watkins Glen, the car felt really well balanced. In the past with the old generation Aston Martin Vantage we’ve always had strong performance and pace there so we will need to capitalize on that. I’m looking forward to seeing my teammates back from a busy Le Mans and to the six hour.”
Roman De Angelis, Zacharie Robichon and Ian James will reunite in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for the first time since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March where the trio scored a fourth place finish. Robichon and James have been competing in WEC which have overlapped on all the GTD Sprint Cup races up to this point. De Angelis currently sits ninth in the GTD championship points standings after two unfortunate races where the No. 27 Heart of Racing entry was unable to finish the race.
“I always look forward to racing in Watkins Glen,” said De Angelis. “I think it is one of the best tracks and events on the IMSA calendar. We’ve had some pretty rough luck the last few races, and are quite far back in the championship. I’m really looking forward to hopefully turning our season around and getting a good result as the whole team deserves it.”
The weekend marks De Angelis and James’ third Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen together after winning their first Watkin Glen outing in 2022 with Maxime Martin. Robichon will make his fifth start at the Glen with his best finish being third in 2023 with Wright Motorsports. The trio looks to score their first podium of the season on the 3.4-mile New York circuit.
“I’m excited to be back with the Heart of Racing this weekend at Watkins Glen,” said Robichon. “It is one of the best tracks on the calendar and I hope we find success like the team has had there in the past. Our last endurance race we just missed out on the podium and we’ll surely be looking to go a few positions higher!”
The Heart of Racing Team will qualify on Saturday June 22nd at 3:30pm ET and take the green flag on Sunday morning at 11:10am ET. Watch all of qualifying and six hours of racing on Peacock.
