Aston Martin Vantage Records IMSA Double Victory With Heart of Racing at Lime Rock Park

The Aston Martin Vantage recorded a landmark tenth-class victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier endurance racing series in the United States of America, with a brilliant double-class win for the Heart of Racing team in the GT-only race at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut, on Saturday.

The North America-based squad, the reigning IMSA GTD class champion and the Rolex 24 Hours class winner with Vantage dominated the race in the GTD Pro category with drivers Ross Gunn (GBR) and Alex Riberas (ESP). Starting from the pole, the duo led 146 laps of the 168-lap race and set the fastest lap on the path to their first win of the season.

The victory was an emotional one for the team, which did an incredible job of build-up and shipped a brand new #23 Vantage GT3 to Lime Rock in less than a fortnight, following Gunn’s high-speed accident in the previous round at Mosport when a rival made contact with the Briton. The crash underlined a sequence of misfortune for the GTD Pro entry, but Saturday’s victory emphasised the pace and competitiveness present all season.

“We needed this win,” said Gunn. “The team deserves it after all the hard work we’ve put in, especially after the past two weeks, and this one is for all the guys that spent so much time in the workshop building up a new car. It’s proof of how resilient this team is. We’ve had the pace all season long, but we’ve been searching for a clean race when everything fell into place, and it’s happened here. The Vantage was awesome in qualifying, and I knew we would be strong if we carried that pace into the race. I’m very happy for Heart of Racing, Aston Martin, and my team-mate Alex, and I know we can win again this season if we can take this momentum on into Road America.”

The Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD class winners – reigning champion Roman De Angelis (CAN) and co-driver LMGTE Am world champion Marco Sørensen (DEN) – driving the #27 Vantage GT3, recorded HoR and Vantage’s tenth win since introducing the car to the IMSA series fulltime in 2020.

It was the first victory for the #27 since Daytona and was achieved after the car took the lead in the second hour, following a penalty for the championship-leading BMW. Sørensen then soaked up the pressure from two Porsches to see out the win. The victory brings the crew within 86 points of regaining the GTD class lead with four races in 2023.

It was the second GTD class win for Heart of Racing at Lime Rock, with the team having finished at least second in the last three years on the 1.5-mile circuit. The triumph also marks its second IMSA double – the first at Watkins Glen in 2022.

Huw Tasker, AMR Head of Partner Racing, said: “The Heart of Racing deserves this result. Not only after the difficult race in Mosport and the long hours put in to recover and build up a new #23 car but also because it demonstrates what a hugely competitive and resilient force it has become in IMSA. Vantage is an established GT champion around the world, and it’s fantastic to see it on top in both classes for a second time and this time in IMSA’s ‘GT-only’ event.”

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship moves to Road America for the IMSA Sportscar weekend, 3-6 August.

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