Another bizarre and frustrating outing in IMSA for all three Aston Martin powered entries

Another very frustrating round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship last night from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had left us thinking that a trio of good class finishes were this time upon the cards for the two Heart of Racing and one Car Blanche Aston Martin entries, only for another elongated caution throwing all that to the wind for all cars to come home with nothing.

The change within the norm came during Qualifying when an untimely weather front brought rain and lightning to the circuit which meant that the GTD and GTD Pro Qualifying session was cancelled meaning that starting positions for Sundays grid would be determined via the respective car’s championship position.

Whilst the LMP2 and GTP sessions did run after all with the #23 HoRT Aston Martin Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis securing P10 in class, the #68 Car Blanche Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD of Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen would be starting last within their GTD Pro class (seeing that the team only ventured into that class at the mid-season mark) whilst the #27 HoRT AMR Vantage GTD of Edurdo Barrichello and Tom Gamble would be starting from the second row of their class in P4.

 

At the start of this two hours and forty-minute affair, the forty-four cars of the GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes soon found out that sometimes there is only enough room for one car at a time as two GTP entries came together into only the second corner of the first lap and for one of those to be speared by at least three other LMP2 cars. Safety Car no.1.

Getting back to green after something of a fifteen-minute clean-up operation and Gamble was soon able to take the lead within GTD and did close up upon the rear of the #68 Car Blanche entry as Sorensen this time took the start. As what has become the norm within their partnership, Gunn again took the start within the #23 Valkyrie and was able to miss the carnage at turn two to move up as high as sixth overall.

This time it was Gamble’s turn to run a short race stint length as he pitted the #27 car from the class lead at the hour mark to hand over to class title contender Barrichello to the end. With an hour and a half left on the race clock, Gunn would pit from sixth to hand over to De Angelis whilst the Dane would continue for what would be become a double stint and as the differing pit strategies would cycle through, he would at times find himself running as high as third in class.

 

Just before the final hour mark, all was looking good with the three Aston Martin powered runners for at least a healthy points scoring finish as the #23 was still running just outside the top five whilst the #27 was then still in a podium contesting position too. Whilst the #68 did still owe a final stop and driver change, maybe their best GTD Pro finish to date was on the cards for them too.

Then things all changed as an innocuous looking contact between two other GTD cars left part of a rear fender on track for another Full Course Yellow to be called which seemed to upset everything. Invoking full yellow flag procedures, a simple clear up operation for one track worker turned into a full wave around, pit lane closed and circuit clean-up operation that lost more race minutes than the lap one turn two incident ever did as each class was forced to wait until each were then allowed into pit lane for service without penalty.

It was then back to green with just forty-eight minutes to go but all were bunched back up together where in the inevitable contact was made – this time with the #25 BMW GTP on the #23 Valkyrie which spun both cars around. Whilst the #25 was given a penalty for that move, the result was that the #23 was now down to P9 in class with not enough time or performance to do much about it other than to eventually finish P8 overall.

 

The #68 of Hasse-Clot would also get a drive through penalty for unseen contact with the #14 that would see the Frenchman drop from P6 in class to last – compounded further by getting pinged for speeding within pit lane. That was their day done too.

Finally, Barrichello seemed unable to hang onto his GTD class rivals as his #27 slowly faded over the final laps for them to finish a disappointing P31 overall – P5 in class which means that they have lost further ground in the championship with only the visit to Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to come in a few weeks’ time.

The only good news that did come out on Sunday was confirmation that the Car Blanche AMR team have been accepted into next season’s GTD Pro class entry with drivers Hasse-Clot and Sorensen behind the wheel.

Photo credits – Teams / social media