Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello voiced frustration following Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge, calling a crucial late-race drive-through penalty against co-driver Tom Gamble “a bit too harsh” after contact while battling for the GTD class victory.
With just six minutes remaining in the GT-only feature at Virginia International Raceway, Heart of Racing’s #27 Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was locked in an intense duel for the lead with Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Ellis made a deep dive into Turn 3 to briefly claim the lead, but found himself on the outside of Gamble through the next complex of corners, where the two GTD contenders collided.
Although Gamble surrendered the position back to Ellis a few corners later, IMSA Race Control issued a drive-through penalty to the the #27 entry. After the race, the 24-year-old Brazilian reflected on the frantic final minutes and the tire degradation conditions.
“It’s difficult to tell because the deg is so high and the cars get really tricky to drive in the end,” Barrichello said. “Of course at the end of the race, you’re really trying to go for it. It’s elbows out.
“I think Tom realized his move was probably not the best, so he gave up the position, which means he tried to do a fair play. But we still got a drive-through, which I think is a bit too harsh. The other car didn’t even go off track. I know it wasn’t the right move but when you’re trying to do a fair play and you let the other car by, I think you should just continue racing because the #57 would have probably just pulled away anyways because they were a bit too quick. I don’t agree with the penalty.”
The penalty relegated Barrichello and Gamble to a fourth-place finish, delivering a heavy blow to the championship campaign. Barrichello entered the weekend as the GTD points leader, but leaves VIR third in the championship standings, now trailing new leaders – and two-time defending class champions – Ellis and Russell Ward by 56 points.
The result marks a continued rough patch for the Heart of Racing crew following an impressive start to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. The group haven’t stood on the podium in the last five rounds, with a runner-up in early May at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca the most recent.
“It’s obviously difficult at the minute,” Barrichello said. “We’ve been struggling just to find a rhythm again. At the beginning of the season we did a good job and got a couple of podiums at Daytona and Sebring and Laguna, whatnot.
“We’re struggling at the minute with a lot of penalties coming our way. It’s difficult to say what’s wrong, really, because a lot has been wrong the last few rounds. We thought that this round could have been it. Not even a win, but a podium would have been nice to finally get back into a rhythm. It’s not our time and we’ll just have to regroup and try next time.”
