Next stop Sebring and the Mobil 1 12hrs of Sebring for the three Aston Martin Vantage GTD runners

As expected, three Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTD cars have again been confirmed ahead of next weekend’s second round of the 2022 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship and its second endurance event of the year with the iconic Mobil 1 12Hrs of Sebring.

The Championship’s opening round of the season at the Rolex 24 from Daytona back in late January saw the Heart of Racing team step up to a two-car effort for the first time with a car figuring in each of the available GTD and (new for 2022) GTD Pro classes.

They in turn were backed up by the Magnus Racing team and their brand-new AMR which they will be entering into the endurance rounds only of the IMSA season of which are always comprised at the outset with the Daytona and Sebring rounds from Florida.

Today’s provisional entry list suggests no changes to any of these three cars, but each will reduce their driver line to just three from the four previously required for the Rolex 24.

Daytona of course wasn’t kind to the Heart of Racing team with their #23 and #27 entries with Alex Riberas being involved in race ending contact with both the outside retaining wall and other cars in his #23 GTD Pro car just as the sun was setting in front of them. That was followed with contact for Tom Gamble on his out lap that saw the #27 car further delayed after something of a difficult race weekend to be classified as P9 overall in class by the end.

That strife was thankfully contrasted by the debuting success from the #44 Magnus Racing AMR team as drivers John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Jonny Adam overcome challenges of their own to come home second overall in class at the chequered flag.

Today’s entry list confirms the Potter/Lally/Pumpelly combination aboard the #44 GTD car with Roman De Angelis and Ian James re-joining Gamble aboard the #27 car. Riberas will again partner Ross Gunn and Maxime Martin aboard the #23 GTD Pro car.

This year’s Mobil 1 12Hrs of Sebring IMSA race features a total of fifty-three DP1/LMP2/LMP3/GTD Pro and GTD cars of which there will be eleven GTD Pro cars and seventeen GTD cars.

Photo credits – IMSA / Teams