The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing team continued their fine start within the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship after a consecutive podium finish in class at the end of last night’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Coming off the back of a their class pole position and P3 finish at the end of the opening round to the season at the Rolex 24 at the beginning of February, the Zacharie Robichon, Eduardo Barrichello and Tom Gamble driven #27 GTD car went one better this time after converting the Brazilian pole position into a P2 finish to take an early lead in the GTD Drivers Championship.
There was also an improvement in racing fortunes (albeit just) compared to last season efforts for the #19 Van Der Steur Racing Vantage GTD entry for Rory Van Der Steur, Valentin Hasse-Clot and (this time) Sebastian Baud after they converted their P8 qualifying position into a P13 class finish. Their finishing position upon the timing and scoring board was however, despite the #19 coming to a halt upon track with apparent gearbox failure just before the ten hour mark with the #19 car being placed 79 laps down to the GTD class winner.
For the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP entry of Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas, however, there were further trackside issues for the V12 normally aspirated powerhouse that again (like Daytona) that took the car behind the wall for repairs.
Determination both on and off track eventually aw them again take the flag ninth in class but an overall twelve laps down to the eventual winners which co-incidentally equals their debut event into the series with the all-new platform last season.
The next round for the ISMA Series for the GTP and GTD’s at least will be around the streets of Long Beach California in just over three weeks’ time – a venue where both Heart of Racing entries have struggled before.
Photo credits – Teams / AMR / social media
