The Heart of Racing Team hopes to continue podium streak at VIR
Alton, VA (20 August 2024) - The Heart of Racing Team heads to southern Virginia for IMSA’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway this weekend (August 23 - 25). The team has developed a lot of momentum through the challenging middle stretch of the season, with podiums in the previous four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races (Detroit, Watkins Glen, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Road America) and looks to continue the trend heading into the GT only weekend.
Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas will continue to fight for the GTD PRO championship in their No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The pair sit just 76 points behind the current championship points leader going into the final three races of the IMSA season.
The Gunn / Riberas duo will make their third start together at VIR after previously scoring fourth in both 2022 and 2023. The pair of fourth place finishes mark the highest finish for both the English and Spanish drivers at the 3.27-mile track.
“We are getting into the business end to the season, so getting points is a massive priority for the weekend,” said Gunn. “I always love racing at VIR, it’s uphill esses is my favorite part of the track. It always makes for a great race as well, especially with the race being GT only. We’ve been on a good run recently, where we were able to close a bit of the gap in the championship. The aim is to keep closing that gap this weekend. I’m sure the team and Alex are also looking forward to it, I’m ready to get out there.”
Most recently Gunn and Riberas scored a third place finish at Road America earlier in the month after driving through the GTD PRO class from eighth. The duo has a second place finish and a win at Watkins Glen so far this season.
“I’m excited to head back to Virginia,” said Riberas. “We are expecting a hard weekend ahead of us. VIR has such long straights that might not be our strongest area, but we have a great team with some of the best in the business. We are going to try to over-achieve with the tools that we have and ideally come back with a strong result to keep Ross in the hunt for the championship.”
The No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will see Roman De Angelis and Zacharie Robichon back behind the wheel in the GTD category. The No. 27 Heart of Racing entry currently sits sixth in the championship points standings. The VIR weekend also marks the second sprint race for the Canadian duo.
De Angelis goes into the weekend with a highest finish of second in 2022 with Maxime Martin at the Virginia track. De Angelis looks to rebound from his 12th place finish with Marco Sorensen last season during the GT only weekend.
“I’m very excited to get back to VIR with the Heart of Racing and Zach,” said De Angelis. “VIR is always such a special event with only GT3 cars at such an iconic track, which always seems to produce an amazing race. We’ve had some success with a podium there in 2022, but would love to grab our second win of the season.”
Robichon will head into the two hour and 40 minute race with just two starts at the Virginia course. His first start was in 2019 where he finished just one spot short of the podium. Robichon’s second start was in 2021 where he took the win in GTD with Pfaff Motorsports.
Robichon qualified the Aston Martin Vantage second to start the Road America sprint race just three weeks ago. The No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage ultimately finished eighth.
“After a strong start at Road America our end result didn’t show our true result,” said Robichon. “We’ve been able to show good pace and strategy so far this season, we just haven’t had luck on our side. If we can keep the car clean, VIR is a chance for us to get back to the front where we’ve shown we can be.”
The Michelin GT Challenge will take the green flag on Sunday August 25th at 12:10pm ET with live coverage on USA Network and Peacock.
