Long Beach Grand Prix
The spectacular new Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar scored both its best race finish (and qualifying result) with a strong weekend-long performance at the world-renowned Grand Prix of Long Beach, the latest round of the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship (IMSA), last weekend.
Hot on the heels of a highly respectable ninth-place result at the 12 Hours of Sebring last month – the first points finish of any car built to hypercar regulations in the history of IMSA competition – the British ultra-luxury high-performance brand’s all-new Valkyrie went one better by finishing eighth after a competitive showing across the event.
Highlights
- Aston Martin Valkyrie takes best finish to date at the world-famous Grand Prix of Long Beach on third-ever start
- Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn finish eighth to make it back-to-back top 10 finishes for the British hypercar in IMSA
- 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 build on encouraging Sebring debut as Valkyrie continues preparations for Le Mans 24 Hours debut in June
Aston Martin THOR Team and its drivers Ross Gunn (GBR) – an IMSA GTD Pro class winner at Long Beach – and Roman De Angelis (CDN), the 2022 IMSA GTD champion, made gains in Friday practice and then achieved a best-ever 11th place in qualifying, just a tenth of a second shy of the top 10, on what was only Valkyrie’s third start and its second in IMSA’s GTP division. But a faultless and reliable run through the 100-minute race – the shortest on the IMSA calendar – was rewarded with an eighth-place finish.
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 season, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team at Sebring, has already produced an encouraging pair of top-10 finishes on circuits recognized as some of the world’s most demanding.
Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and THOR, the competition version blends a race-optimized carbon fiber chassis with a modified 6.5-liter 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.
Long Beach Highlights
Above content © 2025 Aston Martin Racing, reviewed and edited by Rex McAfee
