Roman de Angelis confirmed as AMR Academy winner for 2021

The 2021 IMSA Sprint Cup GT champion Roman De Angelis has graduated top of the class of the 2021 Aston Martin Racing Drivers’ Academy. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driver, along with Ross Gunn, was part of the first crew to record multiple class wins in the premier US endurance racing category – the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – for the British luxury sportscar brand, last season.

De Angelis’s on-track performances were not the only area where he impressed the judging panel comprising AMR Managing Director John Gaw, Head of Customer Racing Huw Tasker, four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam, De Angelis’s team-mate Gunn and the previous AMR Academy winner Valentin Hasse-Clot. He was also measured on his ability to manage strategy, fitness, teamwork as well as his awareness of commercial and public relations. All this allowed him to come out on top of a strong 15-driver intake of candidates.

De Angelis, who will now receive financial support, as well as assistance and guidance from the factory towards his 2022 race programme, will continue with The Heart of Racing this season.

“It’s an honour to have been recognised by Aston Martin for my achievements last season,” said De Angelis, “and I’m proud to have been chosen among such an exceptional group of drivers. Graduating from the Academy is a good flag marker for my career, and now it’s important to build on this in 2022 with the Vantage GT3 in IMSA and pay back the faith AMR has placed in me.”

Gaw added: “Roman has impressed us for a number of years, but in 2021 he really matured into an exciting driver for the future. His pace continues to build, and we watched him grow rapidly through the season, allowing him to demonstrate a championship-winning mentality and a calmness under pressure that tends to underline genuine talents in our sport. The level was high in last year’s AMR Academy and it’s a testament to his rival candidates that Roman emerged successful. He fully deserves to join previous winners Ross Gunn, Tom Canning and Valentin Hasse-Clot as exciting examples of talent grown from within the AMR GT racing family.”

The Aston Martin Racing Academy will return in 2022, with entries already being accepted from drivers aged between 17 and 26 who have a confirmed race programme in either a Vantage GT3 or GT4 this year. More details on the 2022 AMR Academy will follow in February.

Source Material - AMR