The Heart of Racing finishes third in Sunday’s GT World Challenge America race
Elkhart Lake, Wisc. (August 18, 2025) - After a tough start to the weekend, the Heart of Racing Team made its way to a third place finish in the second GT World Challenge America race at Road America. The team’s all-female duo secured their second-best finish of the season with fourth in SRO’s Pirelli GT4 America race.
Piloting the No. 24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in GT World Challenge America were Gray Newell and Darren Turner. Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t go as the duo had hoped. During Friday afternoon’s practice session, Turner made contact with a curb heading into The Kink corner and lost control of the Vantage, ending with the rear of the car in the wall.
The crews from both the No. 24 and No. 26 Heart of Racing GT4 team came together, working until 4:30am to prepare the car for qualifying on Saturday morning. The crew returned to the track at 7:45am to finish the final touches for qualifying at 9:25am.
Saturday morning’s qualifying session turned into a shake down for the No. 24 Heart of Racing Vantage, Newell ultimately qualified with a ninth-place starting position in race one. Turner took the wheel for the second qualifying session, securing the seventh fastest lap.
Newell was in the driver’s seat for the first race on Saturday afternoon, completing a total of 14 laps, making his way to sixth in class before a rainstorm brought the race to a halt. The lightning in the area ran the remainder of the GT World Challenge America race clock down to zero before Turner could get a chance to drive in the race.
Turner started race two on Sunday from seventh in class and, through a green flag stint, made his way to third before being called down pit lane for a driver change, fuel, and four fresh tires. Newell left the pit lane in third, maintaining position until the only caution of the race came out with just six minutes remaining in the 90-minute race. The field went back to green in a one-lap shootout, and Gray was able to defend his third-place position while crossing the finish line.
“What a surprise to end the weekend,” said Turner. “After where we were Friday evening, after the incident I had in second practice, I certainly didn’t think any podium was possible this weekend. Bringing home a P3 after a long weekend is just amazing. The team did a super job during their all-nighter on Friday. I’m just really happy for the team, especially after doing all that work. Gray did a great job in his stint in the second half of Sunday’s race.”
“It was a huge roller coaster of a weekend for us,” said Newell. “After Darren had an unfortunate off in The Kink, the team worked all night to get the car fixed up for us, which is really incredible and really demonstrates their faith and ability to perform with what they gave us. It was gratifying to be able to make good on the faith that they had in us to get the job done. I feel like I’m finally starting to be more consistent with the car and get in my groove.”
Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier felt positive going into the weekend at Road America after testing the No. 26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 at Road America on Thursday. The duo finished Friday’s first practice session with the fourth fastest lap in the Silver category.
Both Grisham and Greenemeier qualified eighth in class during their respective 15-minute sessions on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the same storm that ended the GT World Challenge America race also forced Pirelli GT4 America to reschedule the first race of the weekend to be announced at a later date.
Grisham drove the first half of the 60-minute race, maintaining eighth position before Greenemiere took over for the remainder of the race. With just ten minutes left, the Silver class leaders were involved in an accident, moving Greenemeier to fourth in class. Greenemeier was going for a pass to third when the caution slowed the field for the final six minutes. The No. 26 Heart of Racing Vantage ultimately crossed the finish line in fourth under yellow conditions.
“Overall, it was a good weekend,” said Grisham. “Between Thursday and Friday’s practice sessions, we were able to get the car in a good spot for qualifying Saturday morning. Unfortunately, Saturday’s race was cancelled because of a storm coming through. Sunday, Hannah had a great stint, and we were able to come away with our first top-five finish overall and fourth place in class. Thank you to the team for bringing a great car. We will see what we can take from this weekend and apply it to Barber in a few weeks.”
“I think we had a pretty good weekend considering the storms,” said Greenemeier. “We were able to show some great pace and made some good developments throughout the weekend. Race one was unfortunate because of the rain; we look forward to making it up later on. Race two was a bit chaotic, but we made it through. Thank you to the team for a great effort this weekend. On to Barber!”
The Heart of Racing will be back in action August 22-24 with the IMSA WeatherTech Championship at VIRginia International Raceway. The SRO squad will be at Barber Motorsports Park September 5-7, the same weekend as the Heart of Racing’s WEC crew heads to Circuit of the Americas.
