Long Beach, Calif. (14 April 2023) – Returning to the streets of Long Beach, The Heart of Racing team (HOR) qualified to roll off from pole position for Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas placed the No. 23 Heart of Racing GTD PRO entry at the top of the leaderboard for the first practice of the day. The Grand Prix of Long Beach reigning victors continued to lay down fast laps in the afternoon sun for second practice, ending the second practice with the fourth fastest lap.
Gunn qualified for the duo earning a top spot early on in the qualifying session. Just after his fastest lap was eclipsed, the session went to red flag conditions for an incident on track, and did not restart as Gunn will open the 100-minute race from the front row of the GTD PRO grid.
Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis are teamed in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 entry in the GTD class. The duo are making their IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup start together, and worked through a balance issue in the opening session to start the day eighth in first practice.
After a few changes, the car had more stability in the second practice session landing the No. 27 Aston Martin with the third fastest lap in that session.
Sorensen qualified for the first time on a street circuit in an Aston Martin and quickly went to the top of the leaderboard and earned the Motul Pole Award for the No. 27 Heart of Racing entry. Sorensen topped both the GTD and GTD PRO classes with a 1:17.811 – second lap time.
The Acura Grand Prix at Long Beach will take the green flag on Saturday at 5:05 pm ET with live coverage on USA Network starting at 5:00 pm ET. Live race IMSA Radio coverage will be broadcast on SiriusXM Ch. 207.
The Heart of Racing Quoteboard
Ross Gunn No. 23 GTD PRO : “It’s a great result for the team because Marco was P1 and I was P3 overall, P2 in class. Everyone wants to be on pole but Marco delivered the lap and delivered the performance, he did an amazing job. Qualifying wasn’t very smooth for me – I really under-achieved, to be honest. I made a mistake which upset the rhythm a bit but having said that, we’re at the front, close to where we need to be to start getting points to come back in the championship. So at least we’re up at the sharp end. Tomorrow is about trying to pick up some good points because we are quite a long way behind in the championship, having had some bad luck so far this season. But we’ll be out there pushing tomorrow.”
Marco Sorensen No. 27 GTD : “I think coming here for the first time on the street circuit, I was definitely a bit uneasy. When I came out on the track the first time it was something you had to build up to during the day today. It was nice when we actually made the decision that I was doing the qualifying, though it was not fully the plan. It was good to actually go out and just get the job done. The car was really good.”
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
