A round weekend of seventh place finishes for The Heart of Racing at Sebring
Sebring, Fla (May 18, 2025) - The Heart of Racing battled in the Florida heat to finish in seventh place in all four GT World Challenge America and Pirelli GT4 America races at Sebring International Raceway this weekend.
Gray Newell and Darren Turner teamed up in the No. 24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. During a warm Saturday morning qualifying session, Newell secured his best GT World Challenge America qualifying, securing a fifth place starting position for Saturday’s race. Turner qualified immediately afterwards, setting the ninth fastest lap time in the Pro-Am category.
Newell started from fifth during Saturday’s 90-minute race. Unfortunately when taking the green flag, Newell suffered as a gear issue held the No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage back to seventh from the start. At the halfway mark, Turner took over for Newell as the Heart of Racing Team executed a perfect pitstop to gain a position. Turner was battling to maintain sixth place with 20 minutes to go when he was hit from behind forcing a seventh place finish.
Turner was quick to jump from ninth to seventh in class at the start of Sunday’s afternoon race. Turner’s stint remained under green flag conditions when he handed the Aston Martin Vantage to Newell in sixth place. Newell continued to battle for sixth place throughout the remainder of the race before ultimately finishing seventh.
“I feel like we’re a bit closer to where we need to be,” said Turner. “Outright pace and the general drop off we have through the stint is working against us at the moment, but it’s a work in progress. It’s just two solid results. We continue to learn a lot and can move forward with that. Gray had a good scrap at the end of race two, we just got a bit unlucky with the single AM car getting involved. It’s been hot. It’s been interesting. Roll onto Virginia.”
Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham piloted the No. 26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage in Pirelli GT4 America’s Silver category. Both Greenemeier and Grisham qualified on Saturday morning securing a pair of eighth place starting positions.
Greenemeier took the green flag from eighth, but the field slowed quickly after an incident at the start. The field restarted with 45-minutes to go and remained under green flag conditions for the rest of the 60-minute race. Around the 30 minute mark, Grisham took over in seventh where the No. 26 Heart of Racing Team gained the position on pitlane. The California native crossed the finish line in seventh.
Grisham was first in the driver’s seat for Sunday’s second Pirelli GT4 America race starting from eighth. Midway through the 60 minute race, Greenemeier took over the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage in seventh. Greenemeier was able to contend for sixth place, but ultimately finished seventh.
“It was a bit of an up and down weekend,” said Greenemeier. “The team did a great job getting the car back together after an incident on Thursday. A huge thank you to them for all their hard work. This weekend couldn’t have been possible without them. The races were difficult and hot, but Hannah and I tried our hardest. We have quite a few positives to take out of the weekend. I feel like our technique is getting better and now we just wait for the results to come in. We’re looking forward to VIR in a couple months.”
SRO America will take a summer hiatus until July 17-20 where it will reconvene at VIRginia International Raceway, but the Heart of Racing will continue to compete in several World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech Series races with the next round at the Detroit Grand Prix before the team heads to Le Mans, June 7-15.
