Consistent Results for The Heart of Racing at Battle on the Bricks

Stevenson secures first IMSA Motul Pole Award ahead of IMSA’s penultimate race of 2025

Indianapolis, IN (September 21, 2025) –It was a weekend of good pace and continued development for The Heart of Racing at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After taking the GTD pole and showing strong race pace with both Aston Martin entries, the team brought home a pair of hard-fought eleventh-place finishes in the GTP and GTD classes in the Battle on the Bricks.

The trio of Casper Stevenson, Tom Gamble, and Zacharie Robichon piloted the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage in the GTD category. The No. 27 team was able to maintain its provisional second-place position in the championship points standings, although it now trails the current leader by 224 points.

Stevenson, Gamble, and Robichon all made their Indianapolis Motor Speedway debuts this weekend. After two practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Stevenson qualified the No. 27 Vantage on Saturday afternoon. The Brit set a fast lap of 1:23.088 seconds, securing the fastest lap of both GTD and GTD Pro categories.

Stevenson drove the No. 27 Vantage for the first 58 laps through two full-course caution periods before passing the reins to Robichon. The Canadian battled for the lead until lap 90 when contact with an LMP2 caused Robichon to spin. Unfortunately, a second LMP2 hit the rear end of the No. 27 Vantage, damaging the rear bumper and diffuser. Robichon was called down pit lane to fix the damage, putting the Vantage a lap down. Over the next 51 laps, Robichon passed the Vantage to Stevenson in eighth after restarting from 14th.

With just an hour and a half remaining, Gamble took over the No. 27 Vantage. Unfortunately, the No. 27 team was unable to regain the lead lap and ultimately finished 11th.

“Some days you love multi-class racing and some days you hate it,” said Robichon. “Today, I think the answer to that is pretty obvious. We had a strong Vantage, and the team did a great job. We lost a lap that was out of our control, and we just weren’t able to get it back. I don’t think anyone here could have done anything better. Everyone did a good job and I’m proud of the whole team.”

“For the most part, it was a good week,” said Stevenson. “We have many positives to take away, and the car was flying. Like any race, you can get very lucky or very unlucky. This weekend, we were just unlucky. It’s a shame at the end of the season, when everything is starting to shape up. Unfortunately, it was just one of those races, to no fault of our own, we were not able to capitalize on our speed and abilities.”

“It was a bit of a tricky race,” said Gamble. “We had a very strong car as well, which made it even more frustrating. The team did a fantastic job all weekend. We just got caught out with an LMP2 that wiped Zach out. That puts us in a difficult situation, especially without any yellows at the end to help us fight back through. Nevertheless, we had some positives to take from the weekend and on to Petit Le Mans.”

The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie was driven by Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn. Though the pair had their fair share of podiums at IMS, it would be their first time at the Brickyard in the Valkyrie. De Angelis qualified the No. 23 Valkyrie, securing a tenth-place starting position.

De Angelis worked his way up to seventh during his first hour and 20-minute stint. Gunn was next behind the wheel, where the Brit continued the momentum, taking the No. 23 Valkyrie to sixth for a 20-lap run. After a trip off track on lap 87, the No. 23 team fell back to 19th before De Angelis took over at the halfway mark.

Gunn had one more stint bringing the No. 23 Valkyrie up to sixth before De Angelis brought the Valkyrie to the finish. The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team was on course to finish in fourth until the final caution, which meant most GTP cars in front avoided a final pit stop. The No. 23 Valkyrie crossed the finish line in eleventh. 

“We just hit a bit of bad luck there at the end of the race,” said Gunn. “The timing of the last yellow and our fuel level at the time didn’t play out well for us. We made good progress again throughout the weekend. It’s a track that we’d never tested at before, and we were making strong progress, running at times in the top five on merit. That’s another step in the right direction.”

“Not the best race for us,” said De Angelis. “The race was very tough. I feel like we were back and forth a lot at one point at the top, which looked promising. You win some and lose some on the strategy side, but it was definitely a good weekend. We executed well and didn’t really make any mistakes. I’m looking forward to building on this one.”

The Heart of Racing’s World Endurance Championship team will be in action next weekend at Fuji Speedway (September 26-28). The IMSA squad will have its season finale on October 11th at the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.