The Heart of Racing takes two top-ten finishes in Grand Prix of Long Beach

Long Beach, Calif. (April 13, 2025) - Competing in two different classes, the Heart of Racing secured two top-ten results with an eighth and ninth place finish in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The 100-minute race kicked off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series’ Sprint Cup season following two endurance events in Daytona and Sebring. The Aston Martin THOR Team earned its second top-ten GTP finish with the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie with an eighth place result. After running in a strong position for much of the event, the Heart of Racing Team finished ninth in the GTD class with No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage. 

Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis teamed up in the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie for its first sprint race. Gunn qualified on Friday, securing a tenth place starting position. 

Gunn took first stint as the race went green for the opening 20 minutes before a caution slowed the field as the team called the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie to pit lane for a driver change to De Angelis. The well executed pit stop saw the team gain several positions on pit lane. The Canadian was able to continue to battle for position, ultimately finishing in eighth place. 

Casper Stevenson and Tom Gamble took to the streets of Long Beach for the first time this weekend, piloting the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage in the GTD category. Gamble qualified for the pair, setting the third fastest lap with a 1:17.939-second lap. 

Gamble quickly moved his way to race in second at the start of Saturday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Brit handed the Aston Martin Vantage to Stevenson after just 28 laps from second place. After suffering contact from a passing prototype, the team lost track position but was able to recover to finish a disappointed ninth at the finish. 

The Heart of Racing will be back on track April 18-20 with the World Endurance Championship. The team’s IMSA program will have a month off before heading to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca May 9-11. 

The Heart of Racing Grand Prix of Long Beach Driver Quotes : 

Ross Gunn : “Super happy with our P8 in Long Beach. It was a difficult Friday for us with a couple of issues that we had to overcome, at this stage of our program it’s completely normal.  Everybody did a great job figuring out and fixing what had arisen. The main positive for us is that we improved throughout the weekend. We improved on our last race result in Sebring and kept it clean and completed another race. Many boxes ticked and I’m very happy.”

Roman DeAngelis : “It was a tough race but we kept the car clean. I think we had a tough start to the weekend with FP1 and FP2, having some issues. I was only in the car for about 10 laps before the race, so all in all happy that the car is in one piece. We are looking forward to getting closer to the other manufacturers. I’m excited to see what Laguna brings us.”

Casper Stevenson : “Unfortunately the weekend didn’t go as well as how Daytona and Sebring went, so I’m a little bit disappointed after such an amazing start to the year. Thankfully we were able to still get some points and I think we are still in the championship mix. I think this circuit is probably the least suiting for us, so I hope we will get back to our stronger ways in Laguna.”

Tom Gamble : “Bit of a tricky race for us. Started pretty well, gaining a place and getting into second. We started to struggle a little bit towards the end of the first stint with a little bit of tire degradation compared to the others around us. We knew we were going to struggle a little bit, the full course yellow didn’t really do us any favors, as it kind of bunched the pack back up again. Nevertheless it was still a solid top-10 result and still positives to take from the weekend.”