- Aston Martin Valkyrie set to embark on its first IMSA ‘sprint race’ in the world famous Grand Prix of Long Beach
- Former IMSA GTD champion Roman De Angelis and 2023 Long Beach GTD Pro winner Ross Gunn to race Valkyrie at Long Beach
- Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, in 2025
- The Aston Martin THOR Team continues to build Valkyrie performance with testing and simulator programmes after encouraging Sebring debut
The spectacular new Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar is set to take another important step on its historic journey when it makes its sprint-race debut in the world famous 100-minute-long Grand Prix of Long Beach (CA), round three of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA), this weekend.
Hot on the heels of a highly-respectable top-ten finish in the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring last month – the first points finish of any car built to hypercar regulations in the history of IMSA – the British ultra-luxury high performance brand’s all-new Valkyrie now takes on the challenge of one of the world’s most legendary street circuits.
The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ (LMH) to be produced by Aston Martin, Valkyrie is the only car in IMSA’s premier GTP category derived from a road-legal hypercar. The British contender is also the first LMH car of any kind to compete in IMSA, and the only one contesting both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) simultaneously, having made its debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.
Valkyrie’s US debut, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team at Sebring, produced an encouraging result (9th overall) running solidly on a circuit recognised as one of the world’s most grueling racetracks. Canadian Roman De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD champion, and Ross Gunn (GBR), a regular race winner in the GTD and The Heart of Racing’s first GTD Pro winner at Long Beach in 2022, who were both part of the driving strength, will race the #23 Valkyrie this weekend and for the rest of the season. They shared the Valkyrie with Alex Riberas (ESP) who now moves back to the WEC line-up before returning to IMSA in the season finale at Road Atlanta in October.
Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and THOR, the competition version blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.
Valkyrie positions Aston Martin in the top division of US sportscar racing for the first time since 2011; a season in which five outright victories (including one at Long Beach) and seven podiums were achieved in the American Le Mans Series.
Ross Gunn, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “Long Beach is always a special race. It’s going to be the first for Valkyrie on a street course. Hearing the V12 echo against some of the buildings is going to be insane. I always enjoy the race. It’s obviously the shortest race of the season so it is likely to be action-packed. For Roman and I in The Heart of Racing it’s important to keep building on the last two events and keep trying to get closer to the ultimate pace and by continuing to learn and understanding the car.”
Roman De Angelis, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I always look forward to Long Beach not only being a massive fan of the event and the track, but it also marks the first sprint race of the year. That’s even more exciting in the GTP class. I’m looking forward to sharing the car with my teammate Ross, whom I’ve had some great success with in the past, and hopefully we can continue our constant forward progression with Valkyrie.”
Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “We are making incremental improvements to Valkyrie every day. We stayed on at Sebring for an extended test after the race and this proved hugely valuable. It feels like we have learned so much since we began the Sebring race weekend! Of course we’re still very much on that learning journey, and Long Beach presents a completely different challenge again, but we are working flat-out in the simulator, and the team and the programme is moving forward all the time.”
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “Long Beach is another fascinating test for Valkyrie. A completely different technical challenge for the car, and the drivers, this street circuit makes new demands on Valkyrie’s driveability and dynamic range in a much more constrictive racing environment. We are under no illusion that this phase of the programme is about gathering data, but that’s why races like Long Beach are vital to the process. We are making enormous progress with every competitive outing the car makes.
