Aston Martin at the grand prix with Heart of Racing put the Vantage on the rostrum at the Long Beach Grand Prix

• Aston Martin at the grand prix with the Vantage GT3 takes the third podium of the IMSA season in Long Beach

• Marco S. rensen and Roman De Angelis finish second for Heart of Racing

• FIA WEC GTE LM champion S and Rensen fly to the GTD pole with a record lap

• ORT by TF best of three Vantage GTEs in 6 hours from Portimao

• Aston Martin customer teams look forward to the opening of the European Le Mans Series in Barcelona next weekend

Aston Martin’s Vantage racing team has lived up to its reputation with three podium finishes in the first three rounds of the ultra-competitive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCarionship in North America. Their performance continued at the Long Beach Grand Prix in California, where they earned three stands.

Meanwhile, GTD class champions Heart of Racing saw their dynamic duo of Roman De Angelis (CAN) and Marco S’rensen (DEN) finish second on Saturday. Additionally, three other AMR partner teams took part in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Portimao, Portugal.

Aston Martin at the Grand Prix

The demands of the Long Beach street circuit, with its tight turns and rough edges, were very different from those of Daytona International Speedway. However, Heart of Racing drivers De Angelis and Sorensen were part of a winning line-up that secured a one-two finish for Vantage in the GTD class last January.

Despite these differences, the grand prix Aston Martin proved to be the perfect machine to take on the Long Beach Coastal Circuit, with three-time FIA GTE World Endurance Champion Sorensen taking pole position with a time which broke the previous record by 0.2 seconds.

Sorensen took the opening stint and drove for 37 minutes before handing the wheel over to De Angelis to meet their mandatory driving time. The two cars run side by side for the remainder of the race, with the 2022 GTD champion in contention for victory until the end. Ultimately, they finished in second place.

The result moved the duo of De Angelis and Sorensen to second place in the GTD drivers’ standings, with Heart of Racing second in the teams’ standings and Aston Martin second in the constructors’ championship.

Aston Martin worked with driver Ross Gunn (GBR) to qualify second in the GTD Pro class. In the race, Gunn drove the No. 23 Heart of Racing car he shared with Alex Riberas (ESP), and they finished fourth. This pair now has fifth place in the GTD Pro points standings.

Less than 24 hours after their previous race, the three partner teams competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) battled it out in a field of 14 LM GTE Am cars at the 6 Hours of Portimao.
The highest-placed Vantage GTE was that of Team ORT by TF, led by TF’s 2022 GTE Am World Champion. Oman’s trio Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan (USA) and Charlie Eastwood (IRL) finished eighth.

The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) season continues with the 6 Hours of Spa, which will serve as a final warm-up before the 24 Hours of Le Mans on April 27-29. Meanwhile, the IMSA season continues with the Laguna Seca event on May 12-14.

Before either race mentioned, attention will be focused on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which will host the first rounds of the European Le Mans Series and the Le Mans Cup next weekend (21- April 23).

Three Vantage GTEs are taking part in the ELMS, including two for the TF Sport team. The team’s car, the 95th edition, is driven by an all-British line-up of Ben Tuck, John Hartshorne and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Jonny Adam. The number 72 is driven by a French trio, with Aston Martin factory driver Valentin Hasse Clot alongside Arnold and Maxime Robin.

AMR’s new partner team GMB Motorsport has expanded its operations after winning the Le Mans GT3 Cup crown last year with Danish trio Jens Moller, Gustav Birch and Nicki Thiim. The latter is a true WEC GT world champion and driver for Aston Martin.

In Spain, Hasse Clot and Arnold Robin will pull double duty as drivers of the Racing Spirit team’s Le Mans Cup Vantage GT3.

Huw Tasker, Head of AMR at Partner Racing, said: “Heart of Racing’s form in the IMAStherTech SportsCar Championship is a shining example of Vantage’s continued potential in the world’s most prestigious endurance championships. Our teams in the WEC endured a difficult day, you will have those kinds of days in motorsport. We now move on to Barcelona, where we are excited to see what Vantage can achieve in this year’s European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup. »