The Heart of Racing finishes fourth in Indianapolis 8 Hour debut
Indianapolis, IN. (October 19, 2025) - The Heart of Racing finished the SRO America season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, closing with a Pirelli GT4 America double header and the GT World Challenge America Indianapolis 8 Hour.
Gray Newell and Darren Turner were joined by Zacharie Robichon for the Indianapolis 8 Hour, the only endurance race on the GT World Challenge America schedule, which also serves as the final round of the global International GT Challenge. Going into the season finale weekend, the No. 24 Heart of Racing Team was fourth in the Pro-Am championship points standings.
Qualifying for the trio differed slightly from the normal GTWCA qualifying rules; each driver had 15 minutes to set a fast lap time. The average of their fastest lap times set the field as the trio secured a fifth place in class, which translated into a 15th overall starting position.
Newell was first up behind the wheel of the No. 24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Turner took his stint in the Vantage when it was discovered that rain was coming earlier than planned. A strategy change put Newell back behind the wheel in fourth to make sure minimum drive time was met before Robichon took over. Just three minutes before the race hit the halfway mark, the field came to a halt for severe weather in the area. Robichon parked the Vantage in the pit lane in fourth.
The field went back to green while it was still raining, with just under 40 minutes remaining as the clock had continued to count down through the weather stoppage. Robichon was behind the wheel of the No. 24 Vantage, maintaining a fourth-place position in the Pro-Am category. Not long after the green flag flew, the field was back to caution for a car stopped at the entrance of the pit lane. The eight-hour enduro finished behind the safety car, and the No. 24 Vantage crossed the finish line in fourth.
The season finale event was another busy weekend for the Heart of Racing team. Piloting the No. 26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 were Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier. The Hannah duo qualified on Friday afternoon after four on-track sessions starting Wednesday morning. Greenemeier piloted the Vantage for the first 15-minute session, securing the pair’s season-best qualifying position of fifth. Grisham qualified sixth, tying the second-best qualifying result of the season for the duo.
Starting from fifth in class and ninth overall, Greenemeier narrowly missed an incident that brought the field to caution for over 20 minutes in the first half of the race. The field went back to green with just 37 minutes remaining in the sixty-minute race. Greenemeier restarted from seventh, but quickly made a pass for sixth before diving to the pit lane for a driver change with 35 minutes remaining. Grisham kept her head down and set consistent lap times to bring home the Vantage seventh overall.
A damp Sunday morning race for Grisham and Greenemeier saw Grisham starting from sixth. Just over 20 minutes into her stint, Grisham passed for fifth, maintaining position until passing the No. 26 Vantage to Greenemeier just before the halfway point. Greenemeier was closing the gap to fourth when a drive through for a car ahead solidified her position.
The Heart of Racing has one more race remaining in the 2025 campaign, the World Endurance Championship season finale in Bahrain on November 8th.
Driver quotes:
Gray Newell : “We struggled a bit this weekend getting the car where we like it. I had a pretty good battle with (Justin) Rothberg, but was able to pass him on pace. Congratulations to him for winning the championship! It’s a shame we could finish under green, but the series did everything they could to get us back. If we could have gone green we had a chance to make it to the podium, but that’s racing. Fourth is pretty good and we’ll be back next year.”
Darren Turner : “We finished P4 at the end, it was just attrition really, in terms of keeping out of trouble. Zach did a good job. I know most of it was under a safety car, but some of those conditions even staying behind the safety car would have been hard work. Gray has been fantastic to drive with this season. I really enjoyed being part of this championship and the Heart of Racing team. It was Gray’s first full season in GT3, and he did a fantastic job. It was great to come to Indy for the first time to finish off the season.”
Zacharie Robichon : “The team did a really good job. We took a great step this weekend. We had a bit of help from the series, but the car really kind of came alive in the race. We did what we could with tire pressure limitations that we had. Gray drove a great race and Darren a super solid stint. If we would have had one or two green laps before the red flag, I think we could have finished third. The red flag was unfortunate with the storm and rain at the end. I think the series made the right decision because it was pretty crazy out there.”
Hannah Grisham : “Overall in our first year in Silver, there were definitely some challenges, but I think we learned a lot. I think Indy was a good way for us to end our season. A massive thank you to the Heart of Racing team and everyone who helped out. I feel very grateful to be a part of this team. Thank you to Hannah, she’s been an amazing teammate.”
Hannah Greenemeier : “It was a really good weekend in Indy and a great way to end the season. A huge thank you to the entire team, the whole year they worked so hard to give us the best car possible. I’m super grateful for each and every person on the team. Hannah was amazing. I felt like we made incredible progress, not just from the start of the year but throughout the weekend as well. Thank you to Gabe, Yahn, Ian, Paul and everyone at the Heart of Racing for the opportunity.”
