St. Petersburg, FL. (27 February 2023) – Gray Newell’s No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is set to race the streets of St. Petersburg this weekend for the first event of the GT America powered by AWS season. The pair of street sprints will kick off the 2023 SRO season for Heart of Racing (HOR).
Florida’s 1.8-mile street circuit will mark Newell’s third career season with HOR. 2022’s St. Petersburg Grand Prix launched Newell into the SRO season with two top ten finishes in the double-header weekend. Newell will be looking to bash his 2022 standings of fifth and eighth place in the 40-minute sprint races to contend for the 2023 championship, which will take place over eighteen rounds of intense sprint races.
While St. Pete is SRO’s opening weekend for 2023, Newell has already kicked his year off with a strong podium finish in his GT3 debut at the 24 Hours of Dubai with HOR in January.
The Washington native has raced with HOR since his debut season of SRO competition in 2021, where Newell finished on the podium six times between GT America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America competition.
Newell shared his expectations from himself for the year and where he will be looking to improve. “Heading into my third season, my focus is on refinement. My first two years of racing were filled with absorbing information and chasing as much experience as I could. Several podium finishes have made me more confident in my racing abilities so I am looking forward to the next stage in my development: the fine-tuning, the finesse.” he said.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race weekend will feature a double-header event with the first race set for 5:55 pm ET on Friday, March 3rd. The second race will begin at 12:15 pm ET on Saturday, March 4th. Watch both races live through SRO Motorsports Group’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@GTWorld/featured) or SRO Motorsports Group’s Twitch channel, with delayed broadcasts airing on CBS Sports.
About The Heart of Racing
The Heart of Racing races to raise funds and awareness for Seattle Children’s Cardiology Research. The team competes internationally with concurrent campaigns in IMSA, SRO, Formula Drift and the 24H SERIES. Last season The Heart of Racing won the IMSA GTD Championship title in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The Heart of Racing team hosted their first all-female driver shootout in November of 2022, bringing to the team Hannah Grisham and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt for the 2023 SRO GT4 America season. To contribute to The Heart of Racing’s fundraising efforts please visit: https://give.seattlechildrens.org/fundraiser/3642390
