The Heart of Racing ready for GT World Challenge debut at Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma, Calif. (March 25, 2025) - The Heart of Racing Team will head to Sonoma Raceway this weekend for the SRO GT World Challenge powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America season opener. The weekend will see the team grow its SRO program to the top level, as Heart of Racing Team will field an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in SRO America for the first time, having competed in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD and GTD PRO categories since 2020.
Gray Newell and Darren Turner will team up in the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in GT World Challenge’s Pro-Am category.
The 2025 season marks Newell’s first full season in GT3 machinery after competing in several international GT3 competitions in the 24H Series. Newell is no stranger to Sonoma Raceway, having earned a second and third place finish in GT America powered by AWS in 2024 along with a second place finish in Pirelli GT4 America.
Turner has 20 years of experience in Aston Martin GT3 machinery but will be making his first start at Sonoma Raceway this weekend. The Aston Martin works driver tested with the Heart of Racing Team earlier this year getting reassociated with the team after competing with the Heart of Racing IMSA WeatherTech crew in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The Heart of Racing Team will also continue to field an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in Pirelli GT4 America with Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier as the championship also opens with the visit to wine country’s Sonoma Raceway.
The "Hannah duo" will reunite for a second season in GT4 competition after working their way to compete in the Silver class in 2024. Grisham and Greenemeier secured a win in their debut race together at Sonoma Raceway and followed it up with a third place finish that same weekend.
Most recently Newell and Grisham teamed up with Heart of Racing Team Principal, Ian James in the 12 hours of Mugello last weekend where the trio won the GT3 AM class.
Catch all Sonoma Raceway racing action on YouTube.com/GTWorld with races on Saturday at 6:15pm ET (GTWC) and 8:00pm ET (GT4) followed by Sunday’s races at 2:35pm ET (GT4) and 6:00pm ET (GTWC).
Heart of Racing Team Driver Quotes :
Darren Turner : “It’s been a long wait over the winter for this week to finally be here! Very happy to be joining THOR again and sharing the Aston Martin Vantage with Gray for a full season. The competition looks strong but I feel we have the right ingredients to get decent results and who knows, maybe a few visits to the podium!”
Hannah Grisham : I’m looking forward to starting the season at Sonoma this weekend. Hannah and myself will be in the new Aston Martin GT4 this year and fighting for a championship in the Silver class. I’m extremely excited for our second year together as teammates and can’t wait to see how we continue to grow and learn together this year. We had some success in the Silver class at the end of 2024 and we are looking to capitalize on that. Sonoma is always a great track to go to so I'm looking forward to seeing the entire Heart of Racing Team and hitting the track for practice later this week!”
Hannah Greenemeier : “I’m very excited to get the season started with my Heart of Racing family in Sonoma. Hannah and I had a great season opener there last year and I hope that is the case this year too. It’s been a long six months out of the car so I can’t wait to get back on track. Thank you to Gabe, Yahn, Ian, Paul, and everyone on the team for this amazing opportunity again this year.”
