Aston Martin Valkyrie returns to Road America as IMSA begins final phase of 2026 season

Manal Saleh 

·        Aston Martin Valkyrie aims for strong points finish as IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship moves on to Road America

·        Aston Martin THOR Team refocuses on IMSA after first double-points finish in 6 Hours of São Paulo in the FIA World Endurance Championship

·        Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, in 2026

·        After five top-10 finishes, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis target further progress in penultimate round of IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup

29 July, 2026, Watkins Glen, USA: Aston Martin’s spectacular Valkyrie hypercar is all set to return to the iconic four-mile Road America circuit this weekend (31 July – 2 August) as the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] enters its home stretch, with just three races remaining in the GTP Class schedule.

Following a strong showing in the 6 Hours of São Paulo in Brazil earlier this month, where both Valkyries finished in the FIA World Endurance Championship points for the first time, the Aston Martin THOR Team sets its sights on a strong IMSA race finish to underline the potential it’s shown in North America’s premier sportscar championship all season long.

The Motul Sportscar Endurance Grand Prix, Round 8 of IMSA’s 11-race series has a new format this year. For the first time in modern IMSA history, the race near Elkhart Lake will run to six hours; as it did historically in the 1950s when based on public roads. This means that it is not only a round of the regular IMSA season but also counts as the penultimate event in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup [IMEC], which culminates in the season finale at the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on 3 October.

IMEC is comprised of the five long distance events that run for six hours or longer during the regular IMSA season.

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 five of the six races run so far (GTP cars do not contest two races on the calendar), 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 competition debut at Sebring in 2025, Valkyrie has finished in the top ten 12 times from 15 starts.

Drivers Roman De Angelis (CAN) and Ross Gunn (GBR), took Valkyrie to one of its most competitive showings when it made its Road America debut in 2025, finishing a strong sixth. Both men have extensive experience of the circuit. Gunn is a former winner there in the GTD Pro class with Aston Martin’s Vantage, while De Angelis has won events at Road America in other GT series with Vantage.

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.

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