Aston Martin Valkyrie back at the Brickyard as IMSA prepares for penultimate round of 2026 season |
• Aston Martin THOR Team returns to IMSA after competitive showing in the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit of The Americas
• Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, in 2026
• After its first top-five finish of the season at Road America, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis target more progress in penultimate IMSA round
Following an excellent showing in Round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC in the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans, held at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, in Texas, where the works Aston Martin THOR Team narrowly missed out on taking Valkyrie’s first pole position and finished fourth, three seconds off the podium, the team returns to North America’s premier endurance series, where Valkyrie also carries strong competitive momentum.
Valkyrie’s US campaign, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team, has continued to build on the lessons learned in its debut season in 2025. The British ultra-luxury high-performance brand’s Valkyrie has achieved top-10 results in six of the seven races run so far, including an eighth-place finish at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (CA) and a sixth-place qualifying result at the same track. This means that since making its IMSA competition debut at Sebring in 2025, Valkyrie has finished in the top ten 13 times from 15 starts.
In its previous IMSA race, at Road America in early August, regular-season drivers Ross Gunn (GBR) and Roman De Angelis (CAN) produced a sparkling performance with the car running as high as second before ultimately finishing fifth – its best series result of the season.
The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, Round 10 of IMSA’s 11-race series (GTP cars do not contest two races on the calendar) now returns to its traditional two-hour, 40-minute format for 2026, having run as a six-hour race 12 months ago. The shorter format places an increased emphasis on preparation, consistent execution and a flexible strategic approach.
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 (671bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.
Ross Gunn, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: ‘I am excited to be back in the Valkyrie GTP car after a short break in the IMSA calendar. Indianapolis is a circuit that holds a significant amount of history and always creates entertaining races. The Aston Martin THOR team have been going from strength to strength recently, and we want to secure our first podium of the season after losing it post-race at Road America.’
Roman De Angelis, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: ‘Indianapolis is always an event that I look forward to because of its place in American motorsport history. Indy was quite a strong track for us last year even if the results didn’t match the potential. I’m very much looking forward to hopefully closing off the year with a few more great results and carrying the momentum from Road America onwards.’
Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: ‘Recent results in WEC and IMSA are a welcome reflection of the work taking place behind the scenes and at every event. They are also the product of the approach we have maintained since the beginning of the programme: continuous improvement and growth in every area of the team. Our focus remains on preparation, execution and minimising time loss. The more consistently we deliver those fundamentals, the better placed we are to make the most of every opportunity.’
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: ‘We have continued to make useful progress with Valkyrie into the second half of this year’s endurance racing season, as witnessed by the positive results at COTA in WEC and Road America in IMSA. Indianapolis provides another important opportunity to build on that work. It is a demanding circuit and the level of competition is exceptionally high. This is only Valkyrie’s second visit to Indy. Our priorities, as ever, will be to leave as little to chance as possible, prepare thoroughly and extract the best possible result from the package available to us.’
Photo credit: Aston Martin Racing
Posted on Autotech-plus.com
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