The Heart of Racing Enters 24H Spa With TF Support

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team The Heart of Racing will make its TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa debut next month with an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

The American squad run by Ian James is set to compete for overall honors with the Pro-class lineup of Alex Riberas, Charlie Eastwood and Ross Gunn.

Recent 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE-Am class winner TF Sport will provide technical support to the entry, which occurs in the middle of The Heart of Racing’s two-car IMSA campaign with single Aston Martins in the GTD Pro and GTD categories.

Sportscar365 understands that TF Sport will provide a U.K.-based Vantage chassis for The Heart of Racing’s first appearance in European competition.

“The Spa 24 is one of our bucket list races,” said James.

“Logistically, it was impossible for us to do it alone this year. Joining forces with a top-caliber team like TF Sport in the hunt for one of endurance racing’s crown jewels is a great opportunity all around.

“We are under no illusions of how challenging this race is.

“The GT3 teams we’ll be up against are the best in the world and their knowledge of the cars and championship is as deep as it gets.

“We hope to be in the mix and we trust Alex, Ross, Charlie, and the Aston Vantage GT3 will get us there.”

A Garage 59-entered Aston Martin Vantage GT3 finished third in last year’s 24 Hours of Spa with the factory lineup of Gunn, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim.

Two of those drivers, Sorensen and Thiim, form two-thirds of the Beechdean AMR crew that will contest the race next month as part of a Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup full-season alongside Maxime Martin.

The addition of The Heart of Racing’s entry brings a second Pro-class Aston Martin into the mix for the Belgian enduro, which also counts as a round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season.

The official pre-event test for Spa takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday and is set to be accompanied by the reveal of the first entry list next week.