A bruising encounter for one Heart of Racing entry but another credible achievement for another at Road America

Monday, August 04, 2025

The new Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie achieved its best finish yet in global endurance competition at the weekend, when it finished sixth in the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Motul Sportscar Grand Prix of Road America.

The result marked the sixth consecutive top ten finish for the British hypercar in IMSA, extending its remarkable points run and maintaining its 100% finishing record on its debut season in North America’s premier endurance series. Sunday’s result was the best IMSA finish ever recorded by a car built to 'Le Mans Hypercar' (LMH) regulations, Valkyrie being the only car in IMSA's premier GTP category derived from that ruleset and an actual road going car.

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 simultaneously, having made its competition debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.

Heart of Racing and Aston Martin Racing works drivers Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn, delivered a solid and competitive performance in an incident-filled two hour and 40-minute race, consistently running close enough to the leaders to pounce on rivals when they hit trouble. And in an event featuring no less than four Full Course Yellow (FCY) periods (where the race was neutralised and run behind the Safety Car), this happened on more than one occasion.

Valkyrie showed promise all weekend, having set the second fastest time in free practice on Friday. Gunn then qualified the #23 Valkyrie 10th for the race, less than 0.7s off the pole position time in a highly competitive 15-minutes GTP-only session on the long and challenging 4.05-mile circuit.

The team opted to keep Gunn on track during the first FCY as others pitted early in the race, giving Valkyrie a competitive track position it then maintained for much of the race. In De Angelis’s hands, Valkyrie then ran as high as fifth as the event moved through its various FCY phases and teams deployed diverse strategies. Into the final uninterrupted 40-minute run to the flag, the hypercar held its own and even extended its advantage over the chasing pack to finish a comfortable sixth, 16.5s behind the winner.

The sister Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD entry, however, endured something of a bruising encounter in the same event as British drivers Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson, qualified second in the GTD class for the 160-minute race, and ran well early on but their #27 car, which won its class at Watkins Glen last month, was damaged avoiding a rival’s accident while running second, being sent airborne as Gamble swerved onto the grass along with another car.

Despite the damage and loss in ultimate performance, the #27 recovered to finish the race ninth in class ahead of both its nearest championship rivals. The car is now third in the standings, 117 points behind the series leader with a victory counting for 350 points and three rounds left to run.