Three Aston Martins gather at Daytona for three day IMSA test
Thursday, November 14, 2024
The biggest news coming out of the build-up to this weekend has been the confirmation from the Heart of Racing team of their three driver line up who will run certainly within the test weekend and probably for most (if not all) the 2025 season moving forward within their much-anticipated GTP entry.
Their #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie will see Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis aboard the team’s new V12 powered beast amongst eleven other GTP class entries.
Scrolling down the entry list, this time we see no GTD Pro entries running out of the AMR stables, but the test is optional for the declared full season entries but Heart of Racing have already declared a second GTD entry for next season.
In the GTD class however, we see the return of the #44 Magnus Racing AMR Vantage GTD of John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly but (as per previous posts) that team will only be there for the Rolex 24hr from Daytona early next season before they all take an enforced sabbatical from IMSA racing due to Potters business commitments next year.
Where we lose one – we do gain another as the Van Der Steur team move up from the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series and into the Endurance rounds of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship with an AMR Vantage GTD of their own.
Having sourced two new cars from the Flying Lizard team when Elias Sabo swapped over to the BMW M4 GT3 halfway through the GT World Challenge America Series, that gave the Van Der Steur the opportunity to acquire the required race chassis and spares to commit early to the main IMSA series.
Today’s entry list confirms both last year’s racers in Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot as they are joined aboard the #19 car by both American racers Eric Filgueiras and Brady Behrman alongside Frenchman Maxime Robin.
Where we lose one – we do gain another as the Van Der Steur team move up from the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series and into the Endurance rounds of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship with an AMR Vantage GTD of their own.
Having sourced two new cars from the Flying Lizard team when Elias Sabo swapped over to the BMW M4 GT3 halfway through the GT World Challenge America Series, that gave the Van Der Steur the opportunity to acquire the required race chassis and spares to commit early to the main IMSA series.
Today’s entry list confirms both last year’s racers in Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot as they are joined aboard the #19 car by both American racers Eric Filgueiras and Brady Behrman alongside Frenchman Maxime Robin.
With up to four drivers required for the opening 24hour round at Daytona next year swiftly followed by a further twelve hours just weeks later at Sebring, that car could easily be one to watch but with just seven entries this weekend, a true picture will be difficult to take.
With the test this weekend sadly not open to the public, we will be wholey reliant upon the teams and series for information flow and images again.
Let 2025 begin.
Photo credits – Teams / series / social media
