The Heart of Racing Team enjoyed their first top-ten finish of the 2020 season in their newly returned-to-IMSA Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Drivers Ian James and Roman De Angelis were behind the wheel, and continued to prove the team as a competitive entry in this season’s GTD lineup.
Starting in tenth, Ian James was behind the wheel. Within the first 20 minutes, James moved into ninth position, which he held until the race’s half-way point, then jumping to seventh position. Incidents on course meant a drop back to ninth. De Angelis switched in with about an hour to go, navigating the windy track to hold onto ninth.
Following a successful test on Tuesday at Road Atlanta, the team made their way to VIRginia International Raceway feeling positive about the race weekend ahead. Practice yesterday was productive; little tweaks here and there, as the team gathered more information on the car and worked on the set up for today’s race. James qualified in yesterday’s qualifying in tenth with a time of 1:46.391.
The team looks forward to the next race at Road Atlanta, September 4-6, 2020.
Quoteboard:
Ian James:
Firstly I need to thank the team. They’ve worked so hard, we’ve made some great progress and we’re making some great steps forward with the car. Thank you to Gabe and Yahn who make this possible, I know they were watching, and that just adds to the team optimism. We look forward to getting faster as the season continues.
Roman De Angelis
Awesome work and super stoked for the whole team. Learning continues and so do the results. Only forward from here.