Heart of Racing continue their podium winning success at IMSA's return to Watkins Glen

Saturday, July 03, 2021

 


Better late than never but our congratulations extend over the Atlantic tonight and to the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing team for another podium winning achievement at last night’s return visit to Watkins Glen for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.

Having competed there only last weekend in the Endurance Cup, this week’s return leg was in lieu of yet another year of not being able to get across to the Canadian Tires Motorsport Park over the border to the New York Sate circuit because of continuing COVID related travel restrictions.


With a full set of three drivers at last week’s event (Roman de Angelis, Ross Gunn and a return to the cockpit for team manager Ian James) saw the #23 car claim a much deserved P3 GTD Class podium by the end of that six-hour race.

Yesterday’s race was again part of the Sprint Cup so was back to a shorter race length of two hours and forty minutes for the now usual driver partnership of De Angelis and Gunn.

Like the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series before it, Thursday’s Free Practice and Qualifying was hampered by thunderous downpours that affected the event programme as well as lap times and for last night’s race, the #23 car would start from P6 in class.


During the opening laps, de Angelis would hold position as the weather around the circuit decided upon what it was going to do. With the #96 BMW going behind the wall early on with technical issues that lifted the #23 to P5 and again up behind the #1 Lamborghini that has been a season long ‘problem car’ to pass so far but soon enough, the young Canadian was up to P4.

At about the hour mark, the race however would finally get rudely interrupted by the weather as lightning around the circuit forced Race Control to throw a red flag in order to let those around the circuit take cover. As with IMSA rules, the race clock would keep counting down leaving just over half an hour to go but the time the weather front had passed safely by.


By now Ross Gunn was in the car and had already made his way up to P3 in class, pushing hard to catch the closest of two Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars ahead but at the end of the day, the #23 car was there to claim another P3 finish to go nicely with their P3 of last week and their class win of the week before.

The Championship now takes a little break ahead of their next scheduled round from Lime Rock Park in the middle of July but for Ross Gunn, he flies back to Europe this week for a GTE/GT3 double header in both the European Le Mans Series AND the Le Mans Cup Series for TF Sport. That additional task has come about with Ben Keating wanting to race at the Italian venue before the next round there of the World Endurance Championship.

Photo credits – HoRT / CSJ Motorsport.
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