Ross Gunn, Aston Martin Look to Close the Gap in GTD PRO at Road America
The Heart of Racing’s Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas look to close the gap to AO Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO class this weekend at Elkhart Lake’s Road America. (Photo credit: IMSA/Geoffrey M. Miller/LAT Images)
It’s been a good run of late for Ross Gunn, co-driver of the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Gunn and co-driver Alex Riberas scored the win in GTD PRO at the recent Sahlin’s Six Hours of The Glen, while the team’s No. 27 car took honors in the GTD class recently at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
The Aston Martin factory driver is now within 98-points of the AO Racing Porsche with four races remaining, including Sunday’s 2-hour, 40-minute event at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.
“It's been a very good period of time,” said Gunn. “The last few months have been very, very good for Heart of Racing and also Aston Martin. Aston Martin won the Spa 24 hours a month ago. And then, we've had several wins in the WeatherTech championship. The 27-car that competes in WEC (World Endurance Championship) also had a podium. So it's been an awesome period for Heart of Racing.
“For sure, I think everyone's feeling that. I think the energy is really positive right now. On the 23 side, we’re in a very good position in the championship. We're not quite where we want to be. But we've gradually been progressing throughout the year. We were fourth at the start of the year, then third, and now second. There's a little gap to the Porsche in front, but we're gonna give it everything we can.
Gunn and Riberas finished first in class at the recent Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. (Photo credit: IMSA/Jake Galstad/LAT Images)
AO Racing recently lost co-driver Seb Priaulx, whose commitments to Multimatic Racing will prevent him from finishing out the season for the team. Priaulx will be replaced by Porsche-contracted driver Julian Andlauer this weekend at Road America. As far as the championship chase goes, Gunn doesn’t think it changes anything for Heart of Racing.
“The AO guys have been really strong all year already. And I'm pretty sure Andlauer did some IMSA races last year, so I don't think there'll be any sort of time for him. getting up to speed. Obviously he’s a very experienced Porsche guy and very quick. So to be honest, I don't think there's any change on that front for us. It's just about focusing on our job and making sure that we we execute in the best possible way. Those guys have been phenomenally quick this year and also done a very good job in getting podiums consistently. And yeah, I think they're going to probably be the guys to beat going forward.”
While Gunn believes this weekend will be business as usual, there’s a chance the Aston Martin team can take advantages of the changes at AO Racing.
“Andlauer is a very experienced Porsche guy, and very, very quick. Of course, there are some things that a driver will need to get used to. And obviously, there's only two practice sessions to get used to the way of communicating with the team, get used to the style of racing, and also the pitstops and the ruleset as well.
“It's a big change from, say, Europe and the WEC. But, you know, I've raced him quite a few times. (Co-driver Laurin) Heinrich is obviously a very, very quick driver as well. And I'm sure they're going to be the guys to beat so our main focus is focusing on doing our best job we possibly can. They still have a pretty big gap and looking at the last few races, have also been very quick. So I think really, if we just focus on ourselves and do the best job we can I think that will open some doors.”
(Photo credit: IMSA/Geoffrey M. Miller/LAT Images)
With four rounds of the championship remaining, Gunn believes Road America is a critical one for the team.
“Yeah, I think Road America is probably a relatively critical round for us. I think it's definitely a circuit that we probably need to make the most of. I think VIR (Virginia International raceway) we were quicker a few years ago, we struggled there last year, but there were a couple of changes on the on the BoP that definitely hurt us quite a lot there. But I think probably the best one I think is probably going to be Road Atlanta.
“Out of the remaining three I think Road America is probably the best one and then Indy seems to be suited to probably mid engine cars a bit more than us so you can probably expect Corvette and Porsche to be quick there.
“So yeah, just making the most of the tracks that we expect to be quick at but also the ones that we don't expect to be quicker. You know, it's not an excuse to have your head down and just complain and cry about it. You need to get on. There's been tracks early on in the year where we turned up not expecting to be fast but we managed to just keep our heads down and do everything we needed to do and that's what helps you build momentum and championship.”
Riberas (left) and Gunn (right) celebrate their GTD PRO class win last year at Road America. (Photo credit: IMSA/Geoffrey M. Miller/LAT Images)
As Gunn looks to repeat his GTD PRO win at Road America from a year ago and claw his way to the top of the class standings, as a factory driver, he’s also involved in testing Aston Martin’s new Valkyrie AMR-LMH Hypercar. For some, it may be difficult to maintain focus on the immediate task at hand. But not for Gunn.
“Yeah, from the outside it can probably look quite difficult with everything that's going on. But the Hypercar program is separate to the IMSA program which is also separate to the WEC program and there's different teams of people on each team. From my side, I will be driving the car pretty soon but other than that, my main focus is fully on the IMSA program and it has been from the start of the year.
“It's probably very easy for for people to think that they're trying to achieve everything and do everything. But I think everyone at Heart of Racing has got really good control of making sure that everyone knows what their job is and what they need to do and trying to get the best out of people. And so far, it's working fine.”
Gunn knows what his job is this weekend, and that’s to narrow the gap to the AO Racing Porsche.
“We've got some really positive momentum right now. So that's something that we're definitely going to hope is helping us this weekend.”