Aston Martin Valkyrie to Compete in IMSA Laguna Seca Race
Aston Martin's Valkyrie hypercar will race at Laguna Seca in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It is the only road-legal hypercar competing in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA, with drivers Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis aiming for a strong finish.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 2, 2026 at 03:26
- 🔍 Collected: May 1, 2026 at 19:02
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 1, 2026 at 19:47 (45 min after Collected)
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Next Round Heads to Laguna Seca, Home of the World-Renowned 'Corkscrew'.
Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis Lead the Battle in California.
Valkyrie is the only road-legal based hypercar competing in two of the world's highest-level sports car series, the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA.
April 28, 2026, Laguna Seca (USA):
Aston Martin's sensational Valkyrie hypercar will once again compete this weekend. The stage is the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA), North America's premier endurance series, at the notoriously challenging Laguna Seca circuit in Monterey, California.
Just two weeks ago, the Aston Martin THOR team and drivers Roman De Angelis (Canada) and Ross Gunn (UK) secured their 10th IMSA top-10 finish (out of 11 appearances) on the streets of Long Beach. Now, they return with a roar to the fiercely undulating, dusty, and overwhelmingly demanding 2.238-mile track, famous for its "Corkscrew" downhill section where cars descend 55 meters in elevation while turning left and right.
This marks Valkyrie's second appearance at the 2-hour-40-minute Laguna Seca race, and this time they re-challenge with abundant performance data and a full season's worth of invaluable knowledge.
While De Angelis and Gunn haven't finished outside the top 10 since the start of 2026, they might have achieved even better results if not for a string of misfortunes dating back to the season-opening Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in January. In fact, at the previous Long Beach race, the Valkyrie was running strong in 4th place, reflecting its true capabilities, but unfortunately suffered a collision with another car with less than an hour remaining.
Considering that Laguna Seca's high-speed, rhythmic layout and the smooth asphalt surface, now in its second year since resurfacing, will allow the Valkyrie to better utilize its strengths than the bumpy street course of Long Beach, IMSA fans can be confident that they are yet to witness the full potential of the British-born Valkyrie hypercar in 2026 (though, even at Long Beach, the Valkyrie qualified 1.4 seconds faster than in 2025, and the gap to pole position was a mere 0.37 seconds).
The racing version of the Valkyrie, a pure race-bred derivative of the world's ultimate road-legal hypercar, was developed by Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing (THOR) based on the production model. It features a race-optimized carbon fiber chassis and an improved 6.5-liter V12 engine. The standard engine boasts a maximum rev limit of 11,000 rpm and an output exceeding 1,000 PS, but under IMSA's GTP regulations, the output is strictly capped at 500kW (680 PS).
As the only V12 car in IMSA, the Valkyrie is also the only vehicle in both IMSA, North America's premier endurance series, and WEC, that is based on a road-legal hypercar.
Ross Gunn, Aston Martin Valkyrie Car #23 Driver: "Laguna Seca is one of the best racing circuits in the world, in my opinion. I've experienced it over the last five seasons in IMSA. At Long Beach, we didn't get the result we should have, but we definitely saw a big step forward in performance. We are all working incredibly hard to bring that competitive momentum into this weekend."
Roman De Angelis, Aston Martin Valkyrie Car #23 (IMSA) Driver: "I'm really looking forward to Laguna Seca. It's a track that the Valkyrie responded well to last season, and it was comfortable to drive. Now, with a year of experience and growth, I sincerely hope we can achieve our first strong result of 2026 and turn the situation around for the summer. The team did a fantastic job with everything at Long Beach, so I'm confident this race will be a good one."
Ian James, Aston Martin THOR Team Principal: "The result at Long Beach didn't reflect the potential of the drivers, the team, and the car, but we still managed to finish in the top 10. Both drivers were comfortably running within the leading pack, but unfortunately, they were hit with bad luck just as they were steadily building a foundation for a strong finish."
Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis Lead the Battle in California.
Valkyrie is the only road-legal based hypercar competing in two of the world's highest-level sports car series, the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA.
April 28, 2026, Laguna Seca (USA):
Aston Martin's sensational Valkyrie hypercar will once again compete this weekend. The stage is the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA), North America's premier endurance series, at the notoriously challenging Laguna Seca circuit in Monterey, California.
Just two weeks ago, the Aston Martin THOR team and drivers Roman De Angelis (Canada) and Ross Gunn (UK) secured their 10th IMSA top-10 finish (out of 11 appearances) on the streets of Long Beach. Now, they return with a roar to the fiercely undulating, dusty, and overwhelmingly demanding 2.238-mile track, famous for its "Corkscrew" downhill section where cars descend 55 meters in elevation while turning left and right.
This marks Valkyrie's second appearance at the 2-hour-40-minute Laguna Seca race, and this time they re-challenge with abundant performance data and a full season's worth of invaluable knowledge.
While De Angelis and Gunn haven't finished outside the top 10 since the start of 2026, they might have achieved even better results if not for a string of misfortunes dating back to the season-opening Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in January. In fact, at the previous Long Beach race, the Valkyrie was running strong in 4th place, reflecting its true capabilities, but unfortunately suffered a collision with another car with less than an hour remaining.
Considering that Laguna Seca's high-speed, rhythmic layout and the smooth asphalt surface, now in its second year since resurfacing, will allow the Valkyrie to better utilize its strengths than the bumpy street course of Long Beach, IMSA fans can be confident that they are yet to witness the full potential of the British-born Valkyrie hypercar in 2026 (though, even at Long Beach, the Valkyrie qualified 1.4 seconds faster than in 2025, and the gap to pole position was a mere 0.37 seconds).
The racing version of the Valkyrie, a pure race-bred derivative of the world's ultimate road-legal hypercar, was developed by Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing (THOR) based on the production model. It features a race-optimized carbon fiber chassis and an improved 6.5-liter V12 engine. The standard engine boasts a maximum rev limit of 11,000 rpm and an output exceeding 1,000 PS, but under IMSA's GTP regulations, the output is strictly capped at 500kW (680 PS).
As the only V12 car in IMSA, the Valkyrie is also the only vehicle in both IMSA, North America's premier endurance series, and WEC, that is based on a road-legal hypercar.
Ross Gunn, Aston Martin Valkyrie Car #23 Driver: "Laguna Seca is one of the best racing circuits in the world, in my opinion. I've experienced it over the last five seasons in IMSA. At Long Beach, we didn't get the result we should have, but we definitely saw a big step forward in performance. We are all working incredibly hard to bring that competitive momentum into this weekend."
Roman De Angelis, Aston Martin Valkyrie Car #23 (IMSA) Driver: "I'm really looking forward to Laguna Seca. It's a track that the Valkyrie responded well to last season, and it was comfortable to drive. Now, with a year of experience and growth, I sincerely hope we can achieve our first strong result of 2026 and turn the situation around for the summer. The team did a fantastic job with everything at Long Beach, so I'm confident this race will be a good one."
Ian James, Aston Martin THOR Team Principal: "The result at Long Beach didn't reflect the potential of the drivers, the team, and the car, but we still managed to finish in the top 10. Both drivers were comfortably running within the leading pack, but unfortunately, they were hit with bad luck just as they were steadily building a foundation for a strong finish."