Pole for Heart of Racing at Indianapolis
Saturday, September 20, 2025
With eighteen cars out in class for the first of four qualifying sessions, the young Englishman never looked troubled eventually beating their nearest rival by nearly 0.2 of a second as the car continued their earlier pace in Free Practice 2 where he and co-drivers Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon also topped the GTD timing screen. This was Stevenson's first IMSA pole position achievement.
Also making their return to the IMSA with their Endurance Cup entry was the #19 Van Der Steur Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD of Anthony McIntosh, Eduardo Barrichello and Valentin Hasse-Clot with the former driver again taking charge of the blue and white car in the qualifying session.
With that car also having been fastest overall within Free Practice 1, McIntosh proved himself to be fastest again within his Bronze Cup class with a time 1.2 seconds off that of the pole setting #27 car to claim a P9 in class starting position – P1 within their Bronze Cup entries.
With that car also having been fastest overall within Free Practice 1, McIntosh proved himself to be fastest again within his Bronze Cup class with a time 1.2 seconds off that of the pole setting #27 car to claim a P9 in class starting position – P1 within their Bronze Cup entries.
The final session of the day was the turn of the GTP classed entries and for us, that was obviously for the #23 Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie of both Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis.
Having been running nineth and tenth fastest within the twelve strong GTP class over the course of the two previous Free Practice sessions, the #23 car was in the hands of De Angelis for their qualifying session.
Sacrificing time pitting for new tyres after the opening lap, the Canadian’s first flying lap maintained their earlier form of pace before then snatching a temporary third best time before the ‘more established’ runners soon pushed him back down.
Eventually finishing eleventh fastest on track (still just 0.8 of a second off pole position pace), the #23 car would not be able to benefit from the #24 and #63 cars losing their fastest times of the session, so the #23 car will be starting from P11 on track tomorrow.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
