De Angelis: Heart of Racing “Needed a Reset” After Struggles

Photo: AMR

Roman De Angelis says The Heart of Racing is hoping this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will serve as a much-needed “reset” after a challenging start to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The two-car Aston Martin Vantage GT3 squad, which won last year’s WeatherTech Sprint Cup title and finished third in the season-long GTD standings, has largely battled mechanical gremlins so far this year.

Suspension failure for De Angelis’ GTD class No. 27 entry in the Rolex 24 at Daytona resulted in a ninth place class finish while an alternator issue caused havoc for the car in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Its GTD Pro-entered Aston, featuring full-season drivers Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas, meanwhile, has yet to finish a race after most recently retiring due to brake issues at Sebring.

De Angelis, who will share driving duties with Aston Martin factory driver Maxime Martin beginning this weekend, is optimistic that their fortunes will turn around with the start of the Sprint Cup season.

“I think as a team we kind of needed a reset,” he told Sportscar365.

“We struggled quite a bit the first two rounds — both cars — nothing internal or anything we really could have avoided. It was just a lot of mechanical issues, to be honest.

“You never want to say it was time for it but we had two seasons of no issues at all.

“Hopefully our bad luck is behind us now. It’s a good reset. I think we’re all coming in pretty positive.

“It’s a new start with the Sprint Cup starting up here. We’re just looking to do what we did last year.”

Having scored three class wins and three additional podium finishes in last year’s campaign with co-driver Gunn, De Angelis is set to undertake the Sprint Cup season with Belgian ace Martin, who started the season in the team’s No. 23 GTD Pro entry as a third driver.

Despite Long Beach marking their first race as co-drivers, the 21-year-old Canadian said he expects a smooth transition, having already worked together since the start of the year, albeit in different cars.

“When you have a two-car team, even if you’re not in the same car, they’re still your teammates,” De Angelis said.

“We’re in debriefs together, we’re talking about setup, goofing around and having fun together all the time. It’s not like I have a new teammate. 

“Obviously Max is a very, very achieved guy. He’s done very well in motorsports and is still obviously mega fast. I’m really looking forward to it.

“For myself, I’m still pretty young. I think I’ve done a pretty decent job but there’s always more to learn.

“I think you can’t find a better guy in the sports car field to learn from than Max.

“I’m really looking forward to that as well as improving myself as a driver and hopefully learning a few tips from him.”

While entering the season as defending Sprint Cup champion, De Angelis said he’s set to take a “race by race” approach instead after admittedly missing out on some opportunities in 2021.

“Last year we had a lot of really great results but I think I focused a bit too much on the sprint championship, I think,” he said.

“I want to take this year race by race. Obviously I’m not out here to wreck the car or do anything stupid. 

“Just thinking on a race-to-race basis, if you do the best you can with the equipment you have, that’s what you can do. ‘

“As long as you’re safe and stay out of trouble, you optimize what you can do in the car with your equipment, there’s nothing wrong with that.

“I think a few times last year I didn’t take some very safe chances or opportunities just because I was too focused on [winning] the sprint championship. 

“Like in the starts, I wasn’t as aggressive as I wanted to be.

“I definitely need to focus on getting good results all the time. I’m really looking forward to [the rest] of this year for sure.

“There’s still ten races left. I think we’re still in it for the hunt.”

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