Heart of Racing to Skip Monza Amid IMSA Date Clash

The Heart of Racing will miss next weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship round at Monza amid a date clash with the IMSA WeatherTech Championship race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The American squad contested the last two WEC events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans after taking over Paul Dalla Lana’s NorthWest AMR Aston Martin entry.

However, the Monza event overlaps with the WeatherTech Championship race in Canada where The Heart of Racing is due to run a pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s.

‘It is understood that the team had always intended to miss Monza as part of its agreement to run the NorthWest AMR entry.

The absence of the No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE puts the total WEC field at 36 cars and the GTE-Am class at a dozen entries.

The Project 1-AO Porsche 911 RSR-19 still has two vacant driver spots, with neither Gunnar Jeanette nor PJ Hyett named on the entry list. Hyett drives for AO Racing in the WeatherTech Championship but it is unclear whether he will race in Italy or Canada.

Other notable updates include confirmation of the Gickenhaus Racing lineup in Hypercar, which now features Nathanael Berthon in place of Ryan Briscoe.

Berthon did Le Mans in the American team’s No. 709 Glickenhaus 007 Pipo but is now part of the No. 708 crew that has entered all of the WEC rounds held so far.

Additionally, Daniel Serra is absent from the Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo because of a date clash with the Stock Car Pro Series round at Interlagos.

Ferrari factory driver Serra, who is fourth in the Brazilian series’ standings, will be replaced by Kei Cozzolino who was part of Kessel’s additional GTE-Am entry at Le Mans.

Julien Piguet is set for his second appearance in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari, as the third different Bronze-rated driver for that entry this season.

Monza will also mark the debut of the Proton Competition Porsche 963 with the previously-announced lineup of Neel Jani, Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell.

The German squad’s top-category debut brings the total number of Hypercar entries up to 13, making it the largest of the three classes.