Works drivers Ross Gunn (GBR) and Roman De Angelis (CAN) bounced back from mid-race adversity to run second on the road in the final stages before securing the result for the ultra-luxury British brand. It marked the best finish for Valkyrie in North America’s premier sportscar series since the duo and Alex Riberas (SPA) placed second in last year’s Motul Petit Le Mans season finale. 

Having set the eighth-fastest time in the top GTP class in Saturday’s qualifying session, Gunn started the race and ran competitively, but he and De Angelis – the 2022 IMSA GTD champion with THOR and the Aston Martin Vantage – were forced into recovery mode after two drive-through penalties dropped the #23 race car off the lead lap. 

Strong pace and a clever strategic call by the Aston Martin THOR Team brought the duo back onto the lead lap with 90 minutes of the six-hour race to go with both drivers contributing to a climb from 10th to seventh spot as the final hour began. 

A chaotic climax to the race, filled with incidents and Full-Course Yellow periods in the GTP class, meant De Angelis needed to employ a cool head to navigate the ever-changing picture. He did just that and moved through the field calmly, eventually finishing in fifth place. 

Valkyrie’s US campaign, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team, has shown significant performance gains compared to its debut season in 2025. The British ultra-luxury high-performance brand’s Valkyrie has achieved top-10 results in GTP in six of the seven races so far. Three races remain of the IMSA season, but only two for the GTP class; the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (18-20 September) and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans finale at Road Atlanta (30 September – 3 October). 

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. 

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. 

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “This was a promising weekend for the Aston Martin THOR Team. From opening practice onward, Valkyrie showed potential, so it’s extremely satisfying to see Ross and Roman finish in the top five for the first time in 2026. This result – which could potentially have been even stronger – is a clear indication that the programme is heading in the right direction and that Valkyrie is extremely well-suited to the classic North American sportscar courses like Road America, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. Taking this result alongside the top-five finish Valkyrie achieved in the FIA World Endurance Championship recently shows progress. We’ll aim to move even further forwards through the rest of the season.”