- Aston Martin Valkyrie finishes sixth in Round 8 of the 2025 IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship at Road America
- British Hypercar extends unbroken points run with sixth top-10 finish
- Works drivers Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis shine as Aston Martin THOR team builds on promising performance through weekend
- Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world's two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, this season
4 August, 2025, Road America, USA: The spectacular new Aston Martin Valkyrie achieved its best finish yet in global endurance competition last weekend, when it placed sixth in the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) – the Motul Sportscar Grand Prix of Road America (WI).
The result marked the sixth consecutive top ten finish for the British hypercar in IMSA, extending its remarkable points run and maintaining its 100% finishing record on its debut season in North America's premier endurance series. Sunday's result was the best IMSA finish ever recorded by a car built to 'Le Mans Hypercar' (LMH) regulations, Valkyrie being 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 competition debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.
The Aston Martin THOR Team (THOR) and works drivers Roman De Angelis (CAN) and Ross Gunn (GBR), delivered a solid and competitive performance in an incident-filled two hour and 40-minute race, consistently running close enough to the leaders to pounce on rivals when they hit trouble. And in an event featuring no less than four Full Course Yellow (FCY) periods (where the race was neutralised and run behind the Safety Car), this happened on more than one occasion.
Valkyrie showed promise all weekend, having set the second fastest time in free practice on Friday. Gunn then qualified the #23 Valkyrie 10th for the race, less than 0.7s off the pole position time in a highly competitive 15-minutes GTP-only session on the long and challenging 4.05-mile circuit.
THOR opted to keep Gunn on track during the first FCY as others pitted early in the race, giving Valkyrie a competitive track position it then maintained for much of the race. In De Angelis's hands Valkyrie then ran as high as fifth as the event moved through its various FCY phases and teams deployed diverse strategies. But in the final uninterrupted 40-minute run to the flag, the British hypercar more than held its own and even extended its advantage over the chasing pack to finish a comfortable sixth, 16.5s behind the winner.
Ross Gunn, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “This was a very strong weekend for the car and the team. I'm very proud of everybody that's working hard to improve the performance. We were able to hold on to some very fast cars out there and even pass some of them. It was a fun afternoon. We're obviously still not where we want to be, but clearly now it's evident the progress that we're making. We've got quite a big break now until Indy, so for sure there is more time to keep uncovering more pace, but this was a breakout race for us.”
Roman De Angelis, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “It was a pretty good weekend for us. This was obviously our best result so far with this Aston Martin Valkyrie. Everyone did a great job in qualifying six tenths off the pole, I know we were tenth on the grid, but this is the longest track and that was the closest gap to the front so far. The race was great, I really enjoyed finally getting to race against some guys that have been at the front for years now in this class, and I can't wait to build on this performance at Indianapolis.”
Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “This was a good day all around for the Valkyrie programme. This was a landmark result for the car and the team in terms of being in the mix and racing some of the other cars. There is still work to do, but that's to be expected, and we now continue to focus on building performance with each race. I'm very happy with the crew and the drivers, who all executed amazingly, and it makes us excited to move on to the next event at Indianapolis.”
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “Following the promising performance at Watkins Glen where the car also ran in fifth position, and the encouraging test we had at Road America before we came here to race, we've known the potential was in the car to produce a result like this. To have delivered a run of six consecutive top ten finishes since Valkyrie's IMSA debut at Sebring in March is no small achievement, and now we are beginning to see the potential of the package. We've always said we're up against the world's best endurance racing manufacturers and this is why we are racing in IMSA (and the FIA World Endurance Championship); you only need to look at some of those programmes to understand how long it takes for a project to mature, and thus we are still at the beginning of that journey with Valkyrie.”
Valkyrie's next race in IMSA takes place at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, in the 6 Hour 'Battle on the Bricks' from 19-21 September.