Braselton, Ga. (13 October 2023) – Ian James and the Heart of Racing scored the team’s fifth Motul Pole Award of the season during Friday’s qualifying session for the IMSA season finale Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The No. 27 Heart of Racing GTD entry of James, Roman De Angelis, and Marco Sorensen look to bookend the season with a victory after having won the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.
The Heart of Racing Team made progress through the three opening sessions of the event, which has featured changing weather conditions throughout. The pace had been promising, with the No. 27 Aston Martin posting the fourth fastest lap time in the opening practice session ahead of a dry second practice session, as the team worked on adjustments on the No. 27 Aston Martin before moving into the final practice session Thursday night.
James made his fourth qualifying run for the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin team this season. The Heart of Racing Team left the decision between dry and wet tires up to James as a steady light mist fell ahead of the session. Tapping into his experience, James made the call for dry Michelin tires, which proved to be the right call as he took his third career IMSA pole with a 1:23.116 second lap time to claim the overall GT field pole position.
“This Heart of Racing Team, we like to take a gamble now and again,” said James. “It looked pretty wet to start with, I thought, ‘hey, nothing to lose here. Let’s try slicks and keep it on the island,’ and then it got faster and faster every lap. Every lap we run we raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital, so I enjoy every lap I drive. In the twilight of my career, it’s just fun to get out there and have a chance to finish. To get pole here is actually pretty special because it was pretty dicey the first few laps not to crash. This Heart of Racing program means a lot to me. We had some exciting news this week, added some good results for our female program last weekend and we hope to keep the momentum going.”
The sister car of the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team GTD PRO entry with Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, and David Pittard qualified sixth.
The 26th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans ten hour race will take the green flag Saturday October 14th at 11:40am ET with live coverage on the Peacock App. Catch the end of the race on USA Network starting at 6:30pm ET.
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
