The Heart of Racing Returns to WEC Competition at Fuji

Shizuoka, Japan (6 September 2023) – The Heart of Racing (HOR) Team will rejoin the World Endurance Championship (WEC) grid at Fuji Speedway this weekend as the team continues its first-ever WEC campaign with a partial season program.

HOR sat out the WEC event at Monza due to conflict with the IMSA WeatherTech Championship race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

The HOR team will compete in the six hours of Fuji under the Northwest AMR banner September 8-10. The No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE will see team principal Ian James, Alex Riberas, and Daniel Mancinelli behind the wheel once again.

The Heart of Racing Team is in its first season in WEC after taking over the Northwest AMR banner when Paul Della Lana retired after the 6 Hours of Portimao. In the team’s WEC debut at Spa-Francorchamps, the trio scored a seventh place finish. The team then followed up by completing the team’s first 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with a sixth place in the LMGTE Am category.

Though James and Mancinelli will make their debut at Fuji Speedway, Riberas will make a return after competing at the Japanese circuit in 2017. Riberas and his co-drivers finished fifth in class competing in a Ferrari during the Asian Le Mans Series event weekend.

“Fuji is one of my favorite tracks outside of the US,” said Riberas. “I was there in 2017 and had a lot of fun. Japan is also one of my favorite countries in terms of the racing atmosphere, so I’m very much looking forward to that. I’m really looking forward to getting back with the Heart of Racing and Northwest AMR team again. It’s been quite a long time since Le Mans so I’m very excited.”

The 6 Hours of Fuji will begin with practice sessions on Friday, with the race starting at 11:00am local time on Sunday or 10:00pm ET Saturday night. You can watch the full race on MotorTrend or FIAWEC.TV in the United States.