Another outing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Mario Farnbacher. At the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, the Franconian drove an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Heart of Racing together with Ross Gunn in the GTD Pro class of the popular racing series.
“It was an interesting weekend, I was happy to wear the colours of Heart of Racing again,” said the 32-year-old from Ansbach. “Overall, it was not an easy weekend, as I hadn’t been in the car for two months. Therefore, I needed some time to get used to the car again.”
The duo Gunn/Farnbacher started the race aboard the Aston Martin from sixth place in the highly competitive class. After a setback at the start, in which they lost several positions, the two drivers had to start a race to catch up.
“We were on the inside at the start. The rules in the IMSA stipulate that you are only allowed to change lines after the start-finish line and the outside line had more momentum and a few cars passed us,” explains the two-time GTD class champion of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
In laps that followed, Farnbacher fought his way past the cars again, but was held up by a car from another class, which meant he lost some time again. After the Franconian got past that car, he first had to close the gap to the competitors in his class, which he managed to do. Due to a caution, the team was forced to head to the pits and change drivers so Ross Gunn could take over the car. The Aston Martin factory driver finished the race in fifth place in the class.
Mario Farnbacher’s next planned outing with Heart of Racing will take place at the end of September in Indianapolis. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be holding a six-hour endurance race for the first time on the infield track of the legendary oval.
