Roman De Angelis is one of the top drivers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competing in the GTD and GTD Pro categories. We caught up with him just prior to the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where his teammate started from pole position the previous year. It was a good year for the “Heart of Racing” team as De Angelis and Marco Sorenson won three races. In this interview, he talks about what happened at Long Beach the previous year, some of the iconic races he won, how he got started in racing, and his expectations for Long Beach and beyond. He also does a nice job of breaking down the difference between GTD and GTD Pro and the whole driver ranking system. Enjoy!

NOTE: At Long Beach, he qualified fourth and got into third during the race. Unfortunately, another competitor hit his teammate in the second half of the race which led to a DNF (Did Not Finish). Coming up is the IMSA Roar Before the 24 test, and the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on January 17-19 and January 22-26, 2025.

By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason

Roman De Angelis exemplifies The Heart of Racing Aston Martin team by his passion for racing, and is happy to be back with the team for another shot at winning races.

On a cloudy early morning practice, you can see the reflection of a Long Beach banner across the top of the windshield as the Aston Martin Vantage GTD car goes under the pedestrian bridge just prior to Turn 10.

With the Long Beach Aquarium fountain just to his inside wheels, the AMR Vantage is not riding the curb here, thereby keeping a bigger tire contact patch on the road.

Just prior to the start of the race in Turn 10, De Angelis (in fourth place) is tucked up right behind the bumper of the car in front of him while a menacing group of other racers have their own ideas of how to get to the front.

With the crowd looking on during the race in Turn 10, you can see how wide this Vantage is from the massive fender flares to the side skirt protruding outward from the bottom of the door.

Roman De Angelis prepares to cross over the red and white paint on the pavement to just miss the Turn 11 hairpin wall so he can get a great acceleration run down the long Shoreline Drive front “straight” at Long Beach.

Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)