Story By: HALEIGH JORDAN / THE HEART OF RACING – BOWMANVILLE, ONT – The Heart of Racing (HOR) team will head to Canada this weekend to defend its 2022 victory at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP), for the sixth round of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. The Chevrolet Grand Prix will air live on NBC at 12:00 pm ET on Sunday, July 9th.
The No. 27 Heart of Racing GTD driver Roman De Angelis, who hails from Windsor, ON., will look to defend his win alongside his 2023 co-driver Marco Sorensen as he targets a win on home soil.
“I always look forward to going to Mosport, not only as a Canadian with it being our only Canadian race, but it’s also such a great track,” said De Angelis. “I’m sure everyone who’s driven there before would agree. Obviously going to a track where we know that the Aston Martin is strong a, as we showed last year with a victory is a good thing. I look forward to hopefully putting together a good result for the Heart of Racing as we’ve had a few tough weekends in a row and a win in Canada will be the best place to get back on the right track.”
At the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, De Angelis and Sorensen were joined by team principal Ian James. After a late race penalty, the No. 27 Aston Martin crossed the finish line sixth following a dramatic six hours of racing. De Angelis and Sorensen will head to CTMP, formerly known as Mosport, sitting third in WeatherTech championship points standing, just 145 points behind the leaders. The duo opened the season by scoring a win at the 24 hours at Daytona and backed that up with a run to a second place finish at Long Beach.
“I’m ready to head to Mosport,” said Sorensen. “This is another new track for me, but I’m ready to get back racing in such a short amount of time. We had some bad luck at Watkins Glen, but I think we can turn it around and grab more championship points this weekend.“
The No. 23 Heart of Racing GTD PRO entry with co-drivers Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas are looking for a turning point as the team enters into the second half of the WeatherTech Championship season.
“Mosport is a really challenging race track,” said Gunn. “I went there for the first time last year and it took me quite a while to get up to speed. The nature and bumpiness of the layout really throws a really unique challenge. I’m looking forward to taking that on head first and try to turn our fortunes around.”
Last year the duo placed third at CTMP, scoring the No. 23 team’s third podium of the season. This season has not gone to plan for Gunn and Riberas as the pair has battled a variety of elements throughout the season and are currently fifth in WeatherTech championship point standings.
“I’m really happy to be going back racing in such a short amount of time, especially after a tough weekend in Watkins Glen,” said Riberas. “To be able to go back to the action next week at Mosport is exactly what the doctor ordered. Mosport is a great track for us. We’ve had success there in the past and on a more personal level, Mosport is my favorite track in the world. I’m definitely excited to go back there. We just have to keep doing our job and keep on executing and at some point, sooner or later it will click for us. We are just staying positive and excited to get back on track.”
The Chevrolet Grand Prix will take the green flag at 12:05pm ET on Sunday July 9th.