Drivers Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas picked up their second consecutive GTD Pro IMSA win at Road America on Sunday, in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, with the pair adamant results reflect a season-long competitive package.
Victory in the all-GTD affair at Lime Rock Park a fortnight ago saw Gunn and Riberas eclipse a run that had seen them achieve a best result of just 4th in class, back at Long Beach in April.
Proving that Lime Rock wasn’t a fluke result, Gunn and Riberas once again started first in class at Road America and converted it into a GTD Pro victory on Sunday.
“We seem to have found something that’s working very well for us,” said Gunn after the race.
“But to be honest, throughout the whole season we’ve had a package that has been quick enough and competitive enough to be at the front, but it just hasn’t clicked.
“Now things are starting to work.”
Gunn’s statement on things clicking into place was echoed by his co-driver Riberas.
“I feel so proud for this team,” he added.
“Things are starting to click for our side.
“The weekends are just fun.”
Despite securing a back-to-back GTD Pro victory from pole, the #23 crew were made to work for their top spot in the class, having surrendered an early lead to Jordan Taylor’s #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R.
After fighting with the #3 Corvette of Taylor and Antonio Garcia and battling past the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Daniel Juncadella, Gunn and Riberas were ultimately handed victory due to misfortune elsewhere.
Gunn retook the lead with little over 20 minutes of the race remaining when the #3 Corvette re-entered pit-lane for a drive-through penalty, a result of exceeding the minimum refuelling time on its final pit stop.
Riberas was well aware that luck favoured them today, but also that luck is often the nature of things in sportscar racing.
“We obviously benefited from the Corvette getting that penalty,” he said.
“Today it was definitely very hard to beat them on track. You’ve got to be there to capitalize on these opportunities.”
And capitalize they did. The pair are now the in-form team in the GTD Pro category, but due to their early season woes, the #23 Heart of Racing entry lies fifth in the GTD Pro championship standings on 2468 points. The leaders, Vasser Sullivan’s Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Lexus Rc F GT3, are 342 points ahead, on 2810 points.
Garcia and Taylor are second in the standings on 2641 points, with Juncadella and teammate Jules Gounon third on 2594 points.
Separating Gunn and Riberas from the top three is the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet in fourth, on 2587 points.
The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin crew will have a chance of claiming a hat-trick of GTD Pro wins, whilst simultaneously fighting for overall victory, in the all-GTD round at Virginia International Raceway on 25-27 August.
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