After his podium winning successes last weekend up in the north of England, Ross Gunn will very quickly be making his way back over the Atlantic to pair up again with his co-driver Roman De Angelis for the latest round of the America IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.
Round five of the season sees perhaps the smallest IMSA grid take to the improvised street circuit layout in downtown Detroit for this weekend’s one hour forty-minute sprint.
The duo will reconvene within their #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP car within a class size of eleven cars that will race with the ten strong GTD Pro class around the 1.7mile circuit.
Street circuits tend not to favour the normally aspirated V12 Aston Martin engine against those of its hybrid-based rivals, but pace was looking good two rounds ago around the streets of Long Beach California – or at least it was until the #23 car got shouldered checked into the tyre upon a restart.
This year is also second time around for the Valkyrie GTP car and its crew so comparisons can now be made after the crew finished eighth in the race last season. Last time out at Laguna Seca would see the crew secure their best qualifying performance to date in P6 before eventually finishing eighth overall.
A short and sweet event sees the IMSA grid take to the track early on Friday morning for Practice 1 before Practice 2 just two hours later with Qualifying rounding off the day. The race will be waved off at 11:10hrs local on Saturday.
Photo credits – Team