The Heart of Racing takes GTD class win at Sahlen’s Six Hours At The Glen
Watkins Glen, N.Y. (June 22, 2025) - The Heart of Racing Team brought home the first win of the season this weekend at Watkins Glen International during the IMSA WeatherTech SportCar Championship’s Sahlen’s Six Hours At The Glen. The Aston Martin THOR Team secured a ninth place finish in the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie after running in the top five in the final hour of the race.
Casper Stevenson, Tom Gamble, and Zacharie Robichon battled wet weather, a minor set back and ten full course yellows to bring the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage to first on Sunday. Robichon qualified for the trio on Saturday afternoon setting a fast lap of 1:44.788-seconds earning the Motul Pole Award in the GTD class.
Robichon was first behind the wheel of the No. 27 Vantage, within 30 minutes of the start of the race a rain storm came in slowing the field. Maintaining the lead through his 55 laps behind the wheel, Robichon passed the reins to Stevenson.
Stevenson kept his head down through his 50 lap stint handing the Vantage over to Gamble in seventh. Gamble brought the No. 27 Vantage to the finish line after battling his way up to second place going into the last lap. Gamble passed the leader on the final lap to secure the win.
Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis battled intense heat to finish ninth with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie. Gunn qualified on Saturday securing the Aston Martin THOR Team’s ninth place starting position, marking the team’s best qualifying effort to date.
Alternating stints, Gunn and De Angelis raced the Valkyrie in the rain for the first time within the first hour of the six hour enduro. Keeping the car clean through nine different caution periods, De Angelis was maintaining fifth place when the team called the Valkyrie down pit lane for a splash of fuel. One last unfortunately timed caution gave the remainder of the GTP field the chance to save fuel, leaving the No. 23 Valkyrie at the back of the field the final green flag laps.
The Heart of Racing will be back in action for a WEC/IMSA doubleheader weekend on July 11-13. All three Heart of Racing WEC cars will head to Brazil while the No. 27 Vantage heads north during the GT / LMP2 weekend in Canada with IMSA.
The Heart of Racing Driver Quotes :
Casper Stevenson : “I’m so happy! It was a crazy race, but it all came together there in the end. I knew we had the fuel there at the end and I thought other people had fuel as well. When we were P3 I was happy, then when we had P2 I was incredibly happy, now that we are P1 I don’t know what to say! We are just going to try to keep the momentum going.”
Tom Gamble : “Going into that last lap I definitely thought we had finished second, especially with the Porsche between me and the Lexus. The team had put together a great fuel saving strategy that worked out there at the end. I think we are all a bit stunned to have earned our first win, but we are happy about it! The Heart of Racing Aston Martin was absolutely phenomenal today and we will keep this going into the next one.”
Zacharie Robichon : “It feels like we’ve been knocked back a few times these last few races so it’s nice to get lucky. We were pretty confident from the time we rolled off the truck. Honestly, the car felt really good. I felt like we were very close to the window and the Vantage was taking temperatures changes very well. It was a great job by the team. We definitely got lucky, but ultimately we put ourselves in the right position to win there in the end.”
Roman De Angelis : “It was a good day for the entire team. Everyone executed really well and our pit stops were really strong. I felt like we were jumping cars at every stop. The race was a bit tough. Ross and I both struggled a bit with the heat, but think we were able to hold our own. We stayed on the lead lap there going into the final minutes. We did what we could and now are looking forward to Road America.”
