Detroit, MI
There’s something special about racing in your own backyard. For Roman De Angelis, the Detroit Grand Prix is about as close to a home race as it gets — and this past weekend, the Windsor, Ontario native brought the fight to the streets of Motor City, just across the river from where he grew up.
Ross Gunn took the wheel for the opening stint from ninth on the grid, pitting about 15 minutes into the 100-minute sprint race to turn the car over to Roman.
Unfortunately, a pit-lane penalty earned the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie a drive-through penalty, which erased any chance of a strong result before the team had a chance to make its mark on the race. Then, near the halfway point, contact with a fellow GTP competitor forced the Valkyrie into the wall. The car sustained minor damage but held together, and Roman — characteristically — held on too.
Two late cautions scrambled the field in the closing stages. After the third yellow, Roman had clawed back to eighth for the restart with 13 minutes left on the clock. A clean run from there and a points-paying finish in the top eight was on the cards. But contact from behind in the dying laps dropped the No. 23 back to tenth, where it ultimately crossed the line.
“We came into the weekend knowing that this was going to be a tough race for us,” Roman said after the checkered flag. “It’s not a track that we did well at last year, so we knew it was going to be a rough weekend, and one we would have to fight pretty hard for. We made a lot of progress throughout the weekend. Our race pace was quite good compared to how we’d been running all weekend. Everyone did a great job pushing through.”
With Detroit behind him, Roman barely has time to catch his breath. Next weekend, the spotlight shifts to the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France, for the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
