Alex Riberas of the GTD Pro winning-#23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage regarded his recent victory at the chaotic Six Hours of the Glen as ‘one of his proudest’ after triumphing the rain-soaked affair.
The sixth round of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship marked #23 duo Riberas and Ross Gunn’s first win of the season.
It was also the pair’s second GTD Pro victory at the Watkins Glen International venue, and Riberas’ seventh in his 50 career starts.
Speaking at the post-race press conference, he said: “I mean, this race never fails to deliver a good show. This edition was not going to be an exception.
“We saw from the beginning that it was going to be a chaotic race where surviving was going to be probably the most fundamental ingredient in the race, especially through the mid-part where there were so many opportunities for things to go wrong.
“Today I would say, without a doubt, it’s one of my proudest wins because it was such a big team effort.”
After Gunn qualified third, he started the race with promising pace as the GTD Pro order changed very little during the opening portion of the race.
By the halfway point, in which the rain first arrived momentarily, the #23 duo were fifth after both Corvettes as well as the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 showcased better pace and drove more consistently.
When the rain appeared again in the final hour, it caused a red flag due to its severity as many who were on slicks were not able retain their pace, as others slid off the circuit and into the barriers.
At the time of the red flag, the #23 was ninth and opted to hold out on slick tyres. Parc ferme rules apply during a red flag, which means that tyres could not be changed if desired.
As the track dried up and the circuit’s sweepers parted the areas of standing water, a full-course-caution let competitors pit for more fuel before it became a 16-minute sprint to the finish.
Gunn stayed out and fought for the lead with Tommy Milner (#3 Corvette), who observed that the #3 driver was saving fuel into Turns 1 and 9 as he put the pressure on him.
Eventually Milner pitted one lap prior to the chequered flag for a fuel stop, putting the tense battle to a close.
Riberas continued: “We were down for a bit. We did some mistakes. I would say that really is a test for the team.
“I would say it’s never the first mistake that is the costly one, it’s always the second and the third mistake.
“Today we didn’t let the first mistake dictate our faith for the rest of the race. We stayed together. We didn’t point fingers or panic. We stayed focused on controlling what we could control and making the most out of it.
“Ultimately that ended up leading to making a decision that had a big impact in the outcome of the race.
“With luck on our side, we ended up in Victory Lane, which is really amazing.
“Especially for Ross, being in the championship hunt, today was I would say instrumental for the rest of the season.”
