Four Aston Martin Vantage GTD's due for IMSAs fourth round from Laguna Seca this weekend
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Having already raced at Daytona, Sebring and most recently at Long Beach a month ago, this week sees the long trek west for many crews for their second and final visit to the west coast for another one-hundred-minute sprint race around the 2.2-mile circuit.
Full season entries from the Heart of Racing team re-join forces with their base crew after several weeks away racing in the World Endurance Championship, British GT and the 24 Series in Europe for their two GTD Pro and GTD class entries for their #23 and #27 AMR Vantage GTD cars respectively.
Competing within another sizeable, mixed class grid of thirty-eight cars, the #23 GTD Pro car of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas will again do battle with four other cars whilst the #27 GTD entry of Roman de Angelis and Marco Sorenson will not be alone as the only AMR in class.
Usually an Endurance Cup entry, the #44 Magnus Racing AMR of John Potter and Andy Lally return for the first time since Sebring, but they also get joined by the series debuting #94 Andretti Autosport AMR Vantage GTD entry for drivers Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves.
No strangers to the demands of modern motor racing of course, sees the Andretti turn to the GTD for the first time in which is listed as being a selective race IMSA programme for this normally LMP3 powered crew.
Within the Championship standings, the #23 crew of Gunn/Riberas presently lie in fifth after something of a difficult start to the season at the two endurance openers in Florida but with still eight rounds to go, there is still plenty of scope to progress. The #27 crew of De Angelis/Sorenson however, come straight off the back of an impressive class win at Long Beach which lifts them into second place within the GTD class.
Official track action gets underway on Friday with the first Free Practice session with Qualifying scheduled for late afternoon, early evening on Saturday before a green flag to the race at 15:10hrs local on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams
