Mars Looking to Bring GT4 Expertise to Van der Steur Squad

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Luca Mars said it felt “great to be back” in the SRO America paddock after it was announced he would join Van Der Steur Racing’s mid-season switch to Pirelli GT4 America beginning at Sebring International Raceway this weekend.

The 19-year-old GT4 ace was drafted in to team up with Max Hewitt, who moves his Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo over from a GT America powered by AWS campaign.

Mars was part of Racers Edge Motorsports’ GT World Challenge America powered by AWS effort last year in its Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, and will run in GT4 America in tandem with his current IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge effort with RS1.

“It’s great to be back,” Mars told Sportscar365. “I love racing in this series. The competition is really nice. It’s a different format than IMSA with the two races, so you go about the races in a different way. I liked the series a lot. There’s just more track time and experience.

“But I’m loving the Aston. It’s my first time in it. Van der Steur is doing great with it. We’re learning a lot. We’ve been fast so far, so I think we’re gonna have a really good car for the races this weekend.

“I watched the GT4 America races last year. They’re a lot of fun, with a lot of good racing, so I’m looking forward to joining some of that this weekend.”

While Mars has made a single previous Pilot Challenge TCR class start with the team, this will be his first with the Maryland-based organization in GT4 machinery. However, he said it was his previous relationship with Rory van der Steur helped the drive come to fruition.

“I used to race karts with him, and we’ve been friends for a while,” he explained. “We used to race against each other. We know Chris [Deely, the team manager], so when Max came to them about wanting to move to GT4 America, they reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be the co-driver.”

Mars has a growing list of GT4 racing experience and accomplishments, including an IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GSX class title with KohR Motorsports last year and says this opportunity also allows his to “get more seat time and more experience in different cars.”

Despite having never driven the Aston Martin prior to his first testing and practice laps in Sebring this weekend, Mars said he already feels confident about his and the car’s capability in qualifying trim.

“We’re just working on the long run pace right now,” he said. “We’ve got our qualifying one lap pace, pretty much dialed in, so we’re  just going to go out there and try some stuff, so we’re ready for the race.

“This weekend, it would be great to get some podiums. I think we have a fast car. For the season, just continuing to learn and work on being the finishing, second driver in the car. And work on trying to progress as a driver, getting better at setup, and just being a better driver all around, so like when the time comes for something, hopefully in GT3 or something like that, I’m ready for that.”

Mars Credits Heylen for Bringing Veteran Know-How

The Pennsylvania native has credited his Pilot Challenge co-driver Jan Heylen for providing knowledge that he can now apply to his GT4 America campaign.

“I’ve learned a lot of strategy,” said Mars. “Jan, because he has a lot of experience, seeing the way he goes about each practice session and what he does before. That stuff helps me there. Just qualifying, getting open track space, and setting up the car.

“He’s helping me with so much of that over there that I’m able to bring over here and use here.”

Mars and Heylen currently lead the GS class points standings after the first three rounds, having most recently won at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last weekend.

“When I’m with RS1, I kind of want to be more conservative now,” said Mars of his championship approach. “I don’t want to get it too risky over there.

“[In GT4 America] we’re not in the points, because we’re coming in late over here, so maybe we can just go for wins.”