Heart of Racing to Continue With Aston GT3, GT4 Programs

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Heart of Racing Team will continue with its Aston Martin programs in the GT3 and GT4 ranks despite the team’s two-pronged Valkyrie AMR-LMH effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year according to team principal Ian James.

The American squad, which has fielded Vantage GT3 Evos in the WEC’s LMGT3 class and the GTD Pro and GTD categories of the WeatherTech Championship, is planning to continue in both, although is would scale back to a single GT3 car in IMSA, with the class not yet determined.

James also confirmed that its Pirelli GT4 America female driver academy will also continue, although Gray Newell, who currently competes in both GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS, is set to graduate to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS next year in a Vantage GT3 Evo.

It will mean that the team, which has bases in Florida, Phoenix and in the UK, will see a net growth in terms of number of cars operated globally.

“We’ve increased our capacity quite a lot and we’re continuing to do that,” said James. “I’m not worried about that.

“The ideology of Heart of Racing is that always some place for people to go and give opportunities.

“The Hypercar program is obviously the halo program. But if you just had a halo program… Someone like Roman [De Angelis] is a great example. He came along as a Silver, moved up to Gold and it gives people opportunity to move through.

“If you get rid of those intermediaries, you don’t have those levels where people can move through and improve themselves. From working on the car, engineering it and driving it.”

James, who currently serves as the third driver in its IMSA GTD entry as well as being the designated Bronze-rated pilot in its LMGT3 entry, said it remains to be seen if he will continue driving in 2025.

The 50-year-old U.S.-based Briton previously indicated that this year would be his last as a driver in order to focus entirely on team principal duties.

“That’s up in the air right now,” he said on his driving future. “I did say [this was going to be my last year] and now loads of people are trying to push me to stay driving.

“I really love racing and driving still. In the Bronze category, I’m still reasonably competitive. I know when I stop, it’s probably for good. It’s a hard decision.

“I’ll ultimately make the decision for what’s best for the team.”

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