{"id":6614,"date":"2023-10-11T15:33:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T19:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=6614"},"modified":"2023-10-11T15:33:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T19:33:56","slug":"winning-weekend-for-heart-of-racing-at-indianapolis-motor-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/11\/winning-weekend-for-heart-of-racing-at-indianapolis-motor-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Winning Weekend for Heart of Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three victories from four races as SRO closes out season at the Brickyard.<\/em><\/p>\n

Indianapolis, Ind. (11\u00a0October 2023) – It was a strong weekend at the Brickyard, as the Heart of Racing (HOR) team scored back to back wins in the Pirelli GT4 America AM class as well as taking a third triumph on the weekend with a Pirelli GT4 America\u00a0PRO-AM category victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).<\/p>\n

The HOR team also scored a third place finish in GT America powered by AWS on Friday as the SRO championship closed the year at IMS.<\/p>\n

No. 26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage Pirelli\u00a0GT4 America AM class<\/u><\/p>\n

Hannah Grisham and Rianna O\u2019Meara-Hunt teamed up for the final Pirelli GT4 America event of the year to close out their rookie season together. Having won the Friday race for their first-ever victory, Grisham and O\u2019Meara-Hunt returned on Sunday to double that win tally in an impressive run to another Pirelli GT4 America AM class victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis weekend was amazing,\u201d said O\u2019Meara-Hunt. \u201cObviously a double win is exactly what you want. We came into Indy not ever been\u00a0here before. First time ever and only one practice session before qualifying. So you could say that expectations weren\u2019t as high as normal. But Hannah and I have both had a really strong qualifying, which set us up well for the race. Friday\u00a0was amazing, Hannah drove it off the line and we stayed in \u2018P1\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur second race was a little bit more challenging,\u201d said O\u2019Meara-Hunt. \u201cThe team has provided us with such a good car this weekend and so proud to be a part of the Heart of Racing. They’ve done an amazing job. I’m glad that we could finally bring it home for them in the last rounds of the season. Hopefully we can do it again for them next year, but being teammates with Hannah, Roman and Gray has truly been amazing. They’re like family, a big thanks to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having enjoyed the podium vista at the fabled facility, the all-female lineup was able to shake off a challenging start to the second race to earn a second shower of champagne on the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cRianna had a super strong qualifying, so we were in a great position for Sunday’s race,\u201d said Grisham. \u201cShe did a really good job avoiding the incident at the start and then was able to make up a few positions. When Rianna handed it over to me the Aston felt really good and I just kind of got in the zone and just kept chasing the gold. I\u2019m really happy that we could not only win one Friday, but then to be able to back it up on Sunday\u00a0just to prove we did it and we can do it again. I’m so happy and it’s really amazing to be teammates with Rianna and a part of the Heart of Racing Team.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage Pirelli\u00a0GT4 America PRO-AM\u00a0class<\/u><\/p>\n

The SRO weekends are busy ones for the Heart of Racing, with campaigns in multiple championships as the team also competes in the\u00a0Pirelli GT4 America ProAm championship\u00a0with Gray Newell and Roman De Angelis.<\/p>\n

Newell was first up to qualifying for the No. 24 Heart of Racing team, landing a fourth place starting position for Friday\u2019s evening race. De Angelis set the second fastest lap time of the session on the way to securing a second place grid spot for the Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

Newell was first to take the green flag, he was able to maintain his position through the full course caution before handing the Aston Martin over to De Angelis with just over half of the race remaining. De Angelis was able to make a pass for the lead within the first ten minutes of being behind the wheel as the duo combined for their third win of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely our best weekend of the season,\u201d said De Angelis. \u201cBest weekend probably so far in GT4 America. There was no commotion or chaos really this weekend, which is really nice. Car was fantastic, the cooler weather suited it. I’m really happy that Mother Nature helped us there and that aspect, fantastic job by the Heart of Racing, especially with the No. 26 car winning both races in the AM class. Gray and I were able to get a win and a third place, a great way to finish off the season. I think we finished the season with four podiums and three wins, so definitely a good season.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Angelis made a pass for the lead as soon as the race started, but an incident in turn one forced a caution. Going back green De Angelis was able to start building a gap on the remainder of the field. With just under thirty minutes to go, Newell took over the Aston Martin and was able to hold the lead until the last ten minutes of the race when damage to the Aston Martin forced him back to take the checkered third.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of our sister car,\u201d said Newell. \u201cHannah and Rianna have worked so hard for this. They have had miserable, miserable luck this year. And it\u2019s just so awesome to be able to share this win with them. That\u2019s what this win really means to me, it’s being able to do this as a family, the Heart of Racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 25 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage\u00a0GT America\u00a0<\/u>powered by AWS<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Newell also competed in the GT America powered by AWS series where he scored his second pole award in the series this year, the first one being at VIRginia International Raceway.<\/p>\n

Newell was able to maintain his pole position for the first few laps of Friday\u2019s afternoon race on his way to third in the opening event of the weekend.<\/p>\n

In another all green forty minute race on Sunday, Newell started from third on the grid. The first lap in turn one Newell was spun by an SRO3 car, forcing him to rejoin at the rear of the field. With no cautions to help bunch the field back up, the Washington native put his head down and started charging through the field making his way to take the checkered in fourth.<\/p>\n

The IMS outing marks the final chapter\u00a0for Heart of Racing team\u2019s SRO program this year, while the team still has the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (October 14) and the World Endurance Championship (November 5) season finales ahead.<\/p>\n

Pirelli GT4 America
\nNo. 26 – Race 1 – started 1st finished 1st
\nNo. 26 – Race 2 – started 3rd finished 1st
\nNo. 24 – Race 1 – started 4th finished 1st
\nNo. 24 – Race 2 – started 1st finished 3rd<\/p>\n

GT America powered by AWS
\nNo. 25 – Race 1 – started 1st finished 3rd
\nNo. 25 – Race 2 – started 3rd finished 4th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three victories from four races as SRO closes out season at the Brickyard. Indianapolis, Ind. (11\u00a0October 2023) – It was a strong weekend at the Brickyard, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-feature","category-the-heart-of-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6616,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6614\/revisions\/6616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}