Heart of Racing will replace Northwest AMR at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Spa this coming weekend, as Northwest bronze driver Paul Dalla Lana calls time on his amateur racing career.
An Aston Martin customer team, Heart of Racing are an established IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship team headed by Ian James and co-owned by the founder of the gaming company, Valve, Gabe Newell.
The team has competed in IMSA for a number of years, and will now make its debut in the WEC. The campaign will run for the rest of the season and will feature owner-driver James, plus IMSA GTD Pro race winner Alex Riberas and Daniel Manichelli, from Italian GT, behind the wheel.
The Anglo-American squad applied for a WEC entry for this year but did not get one, instead being put on the reserve list. But with Dalla Lana retiring from racing with immediate effect, the team were granted an entry. This means Heart of Racing will also make its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
“The Heart of Racing team has had ambitions to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the FIA WEC for some time,” said James.
“We are an ambitious group and to add WEC to what we have been fortunate to achieve in our other programmes over the past three years is an honour. Going for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona/24 Hours of Le Mans double is very exciting.
“I’d like to take the opportunity to wish Paul well in the future, and to thank him for giving us the chance to take over his entry for the rest of 2023. It will be a baptism of fire in Spa, but we hope to continue the successful heritage of the #98 plate in WEC.”
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