No big changes as the three IMSA Aston Martin Vantage GT3 crews gear up for 12Hrs of Sebring
Saturday, March 09, 2024
Having already endured the opening 24-hour race of the season from Daytona at the tail end of January, the Endurance Cup rounds continue with another gruelling twelve hours of racing around the notoriously bumpy and challenging Sebring International Raceway.
The provisional entry list confirms a fifty-eight-car entry spread amongst the GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes with both the Heart of Racing and Magnus Racing teams featuring within the latter two classes.
Whilst the Rolex 24 from Daytona can with disappointing conclusions for both the #27 Heart of Racing and #44 Magnus Racing GTD entries, the #23 GTD Pro effort from Heart of Racing did at least recover from their tail end qualifying position to finish just off the podium in P4 at the end. This race did of course represent the first competitive contest for the new 2024 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.
The only difference within crews competing this time around is within the #27 Heart car as Marco Sorensen will be pre-disposed in Japan where he will be testing along with the D’Station Racing AMR team at their final Japanese Super GT test at Okayama. That means that the #27 car will be piloted by just Roman de Angelis, Ian James and Zacharie Robichon.
The #23 GTD Pro effort from Heart of Racing meanwhile, well they will remain with their season opening group set of drivers including Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Mario Farnbacher so far as the endurance rounds are concerned and for as long as Riberas’ World Endurance Championship commitments allow.
Finally, but certainly by no means least, the Magnus Racing AMR effort will also drop back down to their usual trilogy of drivers as Nicki Thiim again takes a back seat leaving just John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly and Andy Lally to guide the #44 AMR around the bumps of the former wartime airbase.
Technically speaking, the Vantage GT3 sees an increase to its available engine power as sweeping Balance of Performance changes are mandated across the GTD Class. Thats offset however by three less litres of fuel capacity whilst others like the Porsches and BMW see wholesale weigh increases plus loss of power.
Track action for these guy starts next Thursday with the first Free Practice session before Qualifying on Friday and a 09:40am (Local) race start on Saturday.
Photo credits – D Gibson / J Price / Teams
