Heart of Racing Confirms Aston Martin in GTD Pro

Photo: Peter Burke/IMSA

The Heart of Racing has confirmed that it will enter Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in both the GTD Pro and GTD classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year.

The Ian James-led operation announced Wednesday that Aston Martin Racing factory driver Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas will team up in the No. 23 entry for the GTD Pro season, joined by AMR factory ace Maxime Martin for the Michelin Endurance Cup races.

Roman De Angelis, who paired with Gunn this year, will remain in the GTD class spearheading the No. 27 entry alongside Tom Gamble, Darren Turner and team principal James for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Martin, meanwhile, will serve as De Angelis’ co-driver for the WeatherTech Sprint Cup races.

The team, which won last month’s Motul Petit Le Mans, expanded into a two-car operation during the second half of the Sprint Cup season, which was won by Gunn and De Angelis.

“After the momentum and lessons we learnt in 2021 we are ready to expand the adventure, the obvious next step for our program was to expand into the new IMSA GTD Pro class,” said James.

“We are excited to push our limits as a team and continue to challenge ourselves against the best teams and drivers.”

The effort marks the first Aston Martin entry in IMSA’s new-for-2022 class, which is now expected to feature at least eight GT3 manufacturers for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

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