Over a year after Heart of Racing Team became the first IMSA team to sweep both GT classes in an IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship race, the team’s two Aston Martin Vantage GT3s did it again, holding on for a double victory in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.
The #23 Aston Martin of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas maximised the balance of speed and economy to take the overall and GTD Pro class win from pole position, their first of the season. In the GTD class, the #27 of Roman de Angelis and Marco Sørensen capitalised on a rare misstep from the Paul Miller Racing team to take their second win of 2023 – and gained crucial ground in the championship standings.
The race for the win in this two-hour, 40-minute, GT-exclusive effectively event boiled down to a 48-minute sprint after Brendan Iribe crashed out of the last corner in his #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Though the #23 Aston Martin made one fewer pit stop than its GTD rivals at this stage, Gunn was able to take care of his tyres and save as much fuel as he needed to maintain supreme track position – and Riberas was able to hold off his pursuers to secure the win in the closing stint.
In second place was the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 (Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat) which extended its sizeable lead in the GTD Pro championship. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet) finished third, ahead of the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD (Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor). The top four ran tail-to-nose to the chequered flag.
The GTD-class #27 Aston Martin of De Angelis and Sørensen inherited the lead after a pit lane incident for the #1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 (Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers) resulted in a drive-through penalty for the car that was leading its class at the time. Sørensen kept his closest challengers at bay and won, followed by the #92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche (Alec Udell/Julian Andlauer) and the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche (Alan Brynjolfsson/Trent Hindman).
Rounding out the rest of the overall top ten was the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW (Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley), the #78 Forte Racing by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Misha Goikhberg/Loris Spinelli), and #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 (Sheena Monk/Katherine Legge).
Sellers and Snow finished 13th overall and eighth in class after the penalty given to the #1 BMW, just behind the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon), which also received a pit lane penalty for driving away with its fuel rig attached.
De Angelis and Sørensen now trail Sellers and Snow by 86 points in the GTD standings.
All classes will be back in action next time out as IMSA comes to Road America on 6 August.