Canadian Has Captured Multiple Wins, Championships Along the Way
By Tony DiZinno
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Perhaps the most impressive part of how long Roman De Angelis has been a member of the IMSA community is realizing he’s only just turned 24 years old in mid-February.
Because the accolades have stacked up along the way as he prepares for his debut in the top class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).
De Angelis will share Aston Martin THOR Team’s No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie with Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas at Sebring International Raceway, marking the culmination of a years-long rise through the IMSA ladder.
One of the key notes in GTP since the class introduction in 2023 has been a push by manufacturers to promote their GT talent into prototypes, a trend Aston Martin has followed. De Angelis is no exception to that.
But where in some cases the GT talent has come from abroad, racing in European or other global championships, De Angelis’ rise has been homegrown throughout various IMSA series for nearly a decade.
It started when the then-16-year-old won his first of an eventual three titles in IMSA’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series, the forerunner to today’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America. De Angelis took GT3 Canada titles in 2017 (Gold class) and 2019 (Platinum class) and added a USA title in 2019 (Platinum class).
He also quietly had his first IMSA prototype appearance in the non-points Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore at Sebring in 2018, co-driving the winning Ligier Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) entry with another at-the-time under-the-radar star: eventual IndyCar Series race winner Kyle Kirkwood.
A key turning point for De Angelis came at the 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona, a race remembered largely for guest star appearances from two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso in a Wayne Taylor Racing-entered Cadillac DPi-V.R and two-time IndyCar champion Alex Zanardi in a hand-controlled BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE and a deluge of rain.
De Angelis, quietly, captured a podium in his WeatherTech Championship debut in a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class Audi R8 LMS GT3, run by Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar, a Canadian operation.
That was where he met Heart of Racing Team Principal Ian James, and the rest is history. By 2020, the pair were racing together in an Aston Martin Vantage. It seems natural for De Angelis to reflect on it all, which he did at the IMSA-sanctioned Sebring test in February.
“A lot of drivers in WEC and IMSA have come from open wheel backgrounds or European backgrounds. I think I’m one of the few who have done it from random opportunities in my career, largely through the IMSA ladder,” De Angelis explained.
“I’m a big advocate for IMSA. I’m fortunate to have been in my position to have people sponsor me in (Porsche) Cup early on, then did some LMP3 races which went well, and that opened doors to Daytona the first time with WRT in Audi Canada where I met Ian James for the first time. Of course, he’s now the program manager and team principal of The Heart of Racing. He’s given me the opportunity to compete the last six years in GTD .”
The progression began straightaway after his rookie season in 2020 due to that year’s unusual back-loaded calendar from July through November. The team’s first podium achieved at the Charlotte Motor Speedway “Roval” – another rain race, coincidentally – only served to build De Angelis’ confidence.
“It was myself and Ian driving and we were just a one-car program and small team,” he said. “We got a podium at Charlotte in the wet. It was our first podium. We were ecstatic. It’s one of my greatest memories of my career. Then we got another podium in Sebring (second place).
“I’m not overly self-confident, because results would come and fade away, and I’d be humbled again. But looking back… it’s so cool to be in this position now. I need some time to look at it from the outside. Sometimes it’s surreal to realize the position you’re in.”
The 2021 season was a breakout year for De Angelis, winning three times with Gunn en route to third place in that year’s GTD full-season championship and winning that year’s WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship.
De Angelis won the GTD championship solo in 2022, with all cars in GTD PRO and GTD now running to GT3-specifications. He won twice with Maxime Martin, who he raced alongside for most of the season, including on home soil at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July. De Angelis completed his three-year run of form in 2023 with a runner-up finish in the GTD standings with two more wins, including his first Rolex 24 At Daytona triumph.
Last year saw the end of De Angelis’ GTD tenure, but for good reason. As preparations increased for 2025 with the Valkyrie program, De Angelis got more pro-class experience when promoted into the team’s GTD PRO-class entered second car for two races to cap off the year. He extended his number of consecutive years winning a race to four, with another win at CTMP, and now has eight career IMSA WeatherTech Championship wins.
He also had his first tests in the Valkyrie, building towards 2025. Perhaps the biggest adaptation for him, beyond the car, is the physical strength needed to handle it.
“There’s a lot going on with the buttons, knobs, paddles, switches, as I’m sure a lot of drivers have said that have made the jump!” he laughed. “With every test we go to, (the challenges) slow down and I understand it more. It’s just getting used to different functions, different electronics, driver aids, performance. That’s been the biggest eye-opener.
“The car is physical on the neck. I’ve been working on that from the day they said they’d have a Hypercar program. It’s still not easy. It’ll take some time.”
Like the GTD program, De Angelis is looking at the Valkyrie program as a multi-year progression.
“It goes back to 2020 going in with new program and a new car, let’s try to get some results. You may want trophies and results. But if you follow the stepladder of what to do right… I knew what I needed to do and be positioned for this,” he explained.
“That’s helped me get to this position, and the team as well. In 2020 we started with one car and a couple podiums… then last year was winning massive races and contending for the GTD PRO championship.
“Now it’s a couple GT cars, WEC and the Hypercar program. They’ve ticked the boxes. If we keep that mindset, we’ll be in a good position later this year and next year.”
The Valkyrie is part of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, set for its North American race debut. The green flag at Sebring will fly just after 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 15, with live flag-to-flag streaming coverage on Peacock and internationally via YouTube.com/@IMSAOfficial.