The Heart of Racing will expand to a two-car operation in GTD for the remaining rounds of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
Alongside the full-season #23 car, driven by Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn, the Seattle-based outfit will now field a second car starting at next month’s round at Laguna Seca.
The #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will be driven by the pairing of Ian James and Alex Riberas.
For Riberas, it marks a return to American competition, having last raced with the team in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Spaniard was then scheduled to be part of the team’s full-season line-up alongside De Angelis before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Riberas was on vacation in New Zealand during March of 2020, which eventually turned into an extended stay as travel restrictions to combat the virus were deployed worldwide.
During his stay, he played a major role in setting up Heart of Racing’s New Zealand operations. The team enjoyed success in the country’s national Endurance Racing Championship, where Riberas won the title alongside Darren Kelly.
The pairing will see action in Laguna Seca, followed by the remaining Sprint rounds at Long Beach and Virginia International Raceway.
Whether or not Riberas and James will play a role with the team during the season-closing Petit Le Mans in November is currently unclear.
