Daytona, FL
Roman De Angelis and The Heart of Racing Team were at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend for the first significant motorsports race of the year. De Angelis was joined by Ian James, Marco Sorensen and Zach Robichon in the #27 Aston Marting GT Vantage.After a mechanical issue forced the team to retire the car early in qualifying, Ian James started the race on the 18th row. James got the car into eighth position before turning the car over to De Angelis on lap 95. De Angelis took over and put in a stellar stint where he was first in class for 30 laps. Roman handed the car to Zach Robichon for his first race action behind the wheel of #27 The Heart of Racing car. After this strong start, the team was looking good to defend their 2023 race win when an electrical issue struck on lap 329. Marco Sorensen was forced to return the car to the pit lane so the team could troubleshoot the issue. Unfortunately, after bringing the vehicle back to the garage to try and diagnose the problem, a decision was made to retire the car from the race.Although it was not the start of the season De Angelis and the team envisioned, it gave them valuable experience and information on the car. De Angelis and The Heart of Racing will be back in action in Sebring March 13-16th, where they will look to make up for lost points and start their charge for the 2024 championship.“The time I was in the car was fun, it was my first race stint of the year. I had a bit of a break since the last time I was in a race so I really enjoyed that. I had a really fun stint battling with people and we were in a pretty good place at that time but had some misfortune with the issues with the car and had to retire. It is kind of a shame but we learned a lot about the car. It’s unfortunate to miss out on some points that hopefully, we won't be missing later on in the year but just keep working from here at Sebring.” - De Angelis
