Aston Martin Valkyrie set for street-fighting sprint debut as IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship moves to Long Beach

April 9, 2025 by Aston Martin Racing

• 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.

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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.

Partner team news – Vantage GT3 chasing glory all over the globe

The Heart of Racing aims for another podium at Long Beach in the GTD class

No less than six Aston Martin Vantage GT3s to begin the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Paul Ricard

D'station Racing, the first team to win with the new Vantage GT3, returns to the prestigious AUTOBACS SUPER GT series aiming to fight for the title

It's not just Valkyrie in action in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Long Beach (CA), as the latest iteration of Aston Martin's most successful racing car – the Vantage GT3 – begins a massive weekend that will also include a battle for supremacy in the GTD category on the streets of California.

The latest version of the Vantage GT3, fielded by former series champions The Heart of Racing (THOR), has finished on the podium in both of the opening IMSA rounds; finishing third in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. These outstanding results mean that regular British drivers Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson are second in the standings, just 41 points off the GTD class championship lead.

This weekend also marks the beginning of the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS at Paul Ricard (FRA), where six Aston Martin Vantage GT3s, run by three teams with entries that span all four of the series' classes, participate in the world's most fiercely contested GT-only endurance series.

The three-hour race, which also marks the beginning of the five-round GT World Europe Endurance Cup, features an impressive 59 entries from 10 of the world's leading manufacturers, including Aston Martin. The 2024 Spa 24 Hours-winning team Comtoyou Racing returns to the PRO class with Aston Martin works drivers Mattia Drudi (ITA), Marco Sørensen (DEN) and Nicki Thiim (DEN) in the #7 Vantage GT3. The Belgian squad also fields a Silver Class #21 Vantage for Nicolas Baert (BEL), Kobe Pauwels (BEL) and Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy winner Jamie Day (GBR). Completing the team's line-up is the Bronze Class #270 car which will feature Aston Martin Aramco Formula One® Team Driver Ambassador Jessica Hawkins (GBR) in her series debut alongside Belgian duo Alexandre Leroy and Antoine Potty.

Walkenhorst Motorsport also returns to the championship with two Aston Martins. The German squad has an all-works driver line-up in its #34 Pro car, consisting of David Pittard (GBR), Henrique Chaves (POR) and Christain Krognes (NOR). The team's #35 Silver entry includes Romain Leroux (FRA), Mateo Villagomez (ECU) and Oliver Söderström (SWE).

Finally, the Aston Martin Vantage fleet includes a new team name – Verstappen.com – run by 2 Seas Motorsports, which will run a Gold class #33 car for Thierry Vermeulen (NED), Chris Lulham (GBR) and Harry King (GBR) this season.

Meanwhile in Japan, D'station Racing returns to the AUTOBACS Super GT Series for 2025, in the GT300 class with its Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The Fuji-based team became the first to record a class victory in the prestigious Japanese GT championship for Aston Martin, when it gave the new Vantage its maiden international victory at Suzuka last June. Driver and team principal Tomonobu Fujii (JPN) returns with 2024 teammate Charlie Fagg (GBR) as the duo aim to become the first crew to win a Super GT class title with Aston Martin. The first round takes place at Okayama, on Sunday.

'In its second season of competition, Vantage GT3 is a highly competitive platform, both in terms of performance and driveability as is evidenced by the depth and quality of our partner teams across the world,' said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter. 'Comtoyou Racing came close to clinching the new Vantage GT3's first international title on its debut season. Now that we have a full season's worth of understanding across a broad range of international championships, that will help us extract even more performance from an already outstanding car in its second year.'

Sharing the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury performance brand's most focused sportscar, the Vantage GT3, which triumphed at last year's 24 Hours of Spa, is built around Aston Martin's proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.

How to follow

The Grand Prix of Long Beach will begin at 1400 local time (+8 Hours GMT) on Saturday, 12 April, 2025. It will be broadcast live globally on IMSA TV and on the IMSA YouTube channel and and via selected broadcasters at a national level. The opening round of the GT World Challenge Powered by AWS begins at 1800 local time (-1 Hours GMT) on Saturday, and can be accessed by the official website and YouTube channel. The AUTOBACS SUPER GT series round 1 race from Okayama begins at 1310 local time (-8 Hours GMT) on Saturday 13th April.