It’s another transatlantic flight for Ross Gunn this week as he rejoins his North American based Heart of Racing team-mates for the latest round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Challenge this weekend from Watkins Glen.
For him, the last few weeks have been extremely busy starting with the last sprint round of the IMSA series at Detroit before moving back to Europe for the Le Mans Test Day, the Le Mans 24Hr itself and at Spa Francorchamps last weekend for the British GT Championship.
Pairing up again with Roman De Angelis (who also raced at Le Mans 24Hr with the Heart of Racing team) within the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP, it will be another full house for the championship as the GTP class, and the two GTD classes again compete alongside the LMP2 class for the Sahlins Six Hours of the Glen.
For this event, that means that we will welcome back Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD powered crews from the Heart of Racing team (as full season entrants) with their #27 car as well as the #19 Van Der Steur AMR and the #44 Magnus Racing one as well.
Last time at Detroit was a just a GTP and GTD Pro class event that saw the Valkyrie again struggle for pace (even before the side-to-side contact with another GTP car) whilst the last time the #27 HoRT car was out before that was from Laguna Seca back in early May where the crew secured a P2 finish in class. The #27 car will again be driven by Eduardo Barrichello, Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon.
The #19 Van Der Steur AMR team again run with a TBC amongst their driver roster as just Rory Van Der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot have been confirmed.
The #44 Magnus also make a return to the series as only having attended the season opener at the Rolex 24 so far with a driver line up of Spencer Pumpelly and Mario Farnbacher joining John Potter behind the wheel.
Results going into this weekend see the #23 Valkyrie thirteenth within the GTP class having scored within five rounds so far whilst their sister #27 AMR Vantage GTD team still sees Barrichello leading the GTD Drivers Championship table – albeit by a narrower margin from the chasing BMW powered crew.
Track action with Practice 1 will begin on Friday before Qualifying on Saturday before a 12:10hrs wave off (local) for this six-hour race.
Photo credits – Teams / social media