Riberas to Complete Season in Heart of Racing Porsche With Farnbacher

Photo: IMSA

Alex Riberas will complete the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season in the No. 23 The Heart of Racing/AJR Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside Mario Farnbacher, the team announced Tuesday.

The Porsche Supercup ace has swapped roles with Ian James, who will now be the third driver for both the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Riberas and Farnbacher head into this weekend’s Continental Monterey Grand Prix third in the GT Daytona points standings, looking to make further gains after a strong start to the 2016 season.

“It’s clearly something different for me, but I’m really excited to start this part of the season,” Riberas said. “In the shorter races, drivers are more aggressive and at the same time mistakes are much more expensive.

“The biggest challenge for me will be to learn all these new race tracks which I have never driven before. Hopefully Mario and Ian will give me a few tips and we will be competitive enough to fight for the victory at Laguna.”

The Spaniard said he’s most excited about driving with Farnbacher for the season.

“Mario is like the brother I never had,” he said. “We get along extremely well and it’s a dream for me to race alongside him this entire season.

“He is one of the quickest drivers I have ever seen and he already has some experience in the USA. I hope I can learn a lot from him and hopefully that helps us to get on top of our game.”

Team owner Alex Job added: “Mario and Alex are two of the youngest drivers in the series.

“Alex will have to do his homework and be open minded to input from Ian and Don Kitch on learning all of the new tracks he is going to run.

“But, he has proven to be a great team player and I think we are in for an exciting year in the Heart of Racing Porsche.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John