Aston Martin THOR Team Hammers Home First Podium Finish
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Take a walk trackside at almost any IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event and you’ll quickly realize which car in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class instantly captures the attention of fans.
“Wow! That thing sounds AWESOME!”
There’s no arguing that the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie created waves from the moment it made its IMSA debut in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – in large part to the sonorous song of its Cosworth-built 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12 engine.
Being the newest car to the GTP class, it took a few races for the Valkyrie to find the pace and results of their established competition that had two years’ experience in IMSA’s modern-era GTP formula. But by the car’s fifth race (the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International), drivers Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis found they were able to hold their own in the midfield pack. Next time out at Road America, the Valkyrie was even more impressive before the Aston Martin THOR Team settled for a sixth-place finish. If anything, the front of the GTP field could hear the Valkyrie getting closer.
It all came together in the season-closing Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta where De Angelis, Gunn, and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup co-driver Alex Riberas were genuine podium contenders and were rewarded with a second-place finish. The Valkyrie showed real pace throughout the weekend, and – true to the drivers’ predictions – really came to life in the cooler nighttime conditions toward the end of the race for De Angelis to turn in a stirring final stint.
“A great day at Road Atlanta,” said Ian James, Team Principal of The Heart of Racing. “The first podium for the Valkyrie is just a testament to all the hard work from everybody involved in the project – not just this year but in the lead-up to it, both the group back in the UK and the race team here on the ground. It was a perfect execution today, and the drivers really excelled.
“It’s been a really great year here in IMSA, and I can’t wait to roll into Daytona next year.”
Gunn, the longest-tenured Aston Martin factory driver of the group, ran in the top five in each of the three 90-minute practices and was quickest overall in the night session before qualifying a season-best fifth. But the opening half of the 10-hour race didn’t look promising as the Valkyrie ran for a long time in 10th or 11th place.
Once the race settled into a caution-free rhythm (there was only one safety car intervention in the final six hours and 50 minutes), the Valkyrie, The Heart of Racing, and the drivers showed their class. When Riberas handed the car to De Angelis with just over an hour remaining, the No. 23 ran third. How would the young Canadian withstand the pressure of the last stint?
Brilliantly, it turned out. De Angelis maintained third place until Aston Martin THOR made the gutsy call just 14 laps into his driving time to be the first GTP contender to make a final fuel-only pit stop with 52 minutes to go.
Competitors and spectators were on pins and needles in the closing laps, wondering whether a late caution would affect fuel strategies. It never came, meaning everyone had to make a splash-and-dash in the final stages. When the dust cleared, De Angelis crossed the line in second place, just 5.182 seconds behind the dominant No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
Only 24 years old, De Angelis demonstrated why the Aston Martin THOR Team put its trust in him for the pressure-packed final stages of the race.
“It was pretty special to cross the line for the first podium for the Heart of Racing and Aston Martin,” he reflected. “It’s kind of interesting to be in the top class racing against guys that have raced in Formula 1 or IndyCar, where I didn’t really come from that background. Definitely pretty special to be involved in this program and to have the trust from The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin as well to put the faith in me this year – to think that I was ready to be in this position, finishing a race, let alone to be on the podium.
“I’m honored to be a part of it and super fortunate to be in a position where they put their trust in me,” he concluded. “Just a very surreal moment, and hopefully many more of these.”
Though he’s only 28, Gunn has been an Aston Martin factory driver since 2016. Like De Angelis, he proved himself in The Heart of Racing’s Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO class Aston Martin Vantage GT3s before getting the call to be part of the marque’s prototype effort – which also encompasses a two-car entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Valkyrie is the first car built to the Le Mans Hypercar (LMh) formula to compete full-time in both the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC.
“This is huge for everybody,” Gunn said. “Over the season, there were the teething problems you expect from a new program, but we worked super hard at the start of the year on the reliability. We didn’t really focus on anything performance-wise until after (the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-June). Then finishing two cars at Le Mans was a huge, huge achievement for everybody.
“It’s been a privilege to be a part of something that’s been continuously improving,” he added. “The main thing for us was we wanted to be fighting for something a bit more than just a fifth or a sixth by the end of the championship. I think this weekend is definitely something that we can be proud of and hopefully use that going into next year – and be hopefully fighting for more.”