• IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship concludes at Road Atlanta as Aston Martin Valkyrie aims to end season on a high
• Aston Martin THOR Team returns to IMSA after leading the 6 Hours of Fuji in the FIA World Endurance Championship
• WEC racer Alex Riberas rejoins IMSA regulars Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis for Petit Le Mans finale
• Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, in 2026

Aston Martin’s spectacular Valkyrie hypercar returns to the scene of its most competitive result yet, as North America’s most important endurance racing series – the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] – concludes with the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta this weekend.

Aston Martin’s pioneering Valkyrie race programme, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR Team, achieved second place in last year’s 10-hour race, narrowly missing out on a maiden win. Now, 12 months on, the team seeks to emulate that performance, aided by a real sense of momentum through the second half of the 2026 campaign.

Following another excellent showing in Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] in the 6 Hours of Fuji, in Japan last weekend, where the works Aston Martin THOR Team once again narrowly missed out on Valkyrie’s first pole position, and then went on to lead the race, Valkyrie returns to IMSA where it also carries strong competitive momentum.

The British ultra-luxury high-performance brand’s Valkyrie has finished in the top 10 in six of the eight races run so far this season, including fifth at Road America (having run second on the road) and two eighth-place finishes. This means that since making its IMSA competition debut at Sebring in 2025, Valkyrie has finished in the top ten 14 times from 16 starts.

In its previous IMSA race, at Indianapolis, regular-season drivers Ross Gunn (GBR) and Roman De Angelis (CAN) were challenging in the top five when contact with another car delayed the #23 Valkyrie’s progress. The crew recovered to finish eighth. This weekend they will be joined by Alex Riberas (ESP), fresh from his second WEC points finish of the season, where he and teammate Marco Sørensen finished ninth.

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 (671bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.

Roman De Angelis, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m sure I’m not the only Aston Martin THOR Team member excited to return to the event where Valkyrie scored its first podium. The last few events have been frustrating, but they have only increased our motivation to secure a result for the team. We are looking forward to ending the IMSA season strongly.”

Ross Gunn, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “Heading to Atlanta to complete the IMSA season always feels special. The Petit Le Mans race is one of the most important events for both the team and the drivers, and it’s incredible to put Valkyrie through its paces in front of a capacity crowd. This was also the scene of our first podium with the car, and we are pushing to go one better this year!”

Alex Riberas, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m very excited about Petit Le Mans. It’s obviously the only race where Valkyrie has finished on the podium so far, and even though it’s been a bit of a tough season for our IMSA team so far, what a perfect place it would be for us to turn the year around and deliver another strong result in Atlanta. I think the car can be competitive there and we know how to race, how to operate and how to execute that race to achieve a good result. We are going to give it all we have to finish the season on a high.”

Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “At Petit Le Mans, the key is to make sure you’re on the lead lap when the sun goes down, then when the final hours of the race come about, you’re in a position to take advantage of whatever strategic possibilities the race offers up. We’ve had some bad luck recently, but we’ve also seen that if we can execute without error and focus on maximising any possibilities, Valkyrie should be in position to make the most of the chances that come our way.”

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “Valkyrie ran well at Road Atlanta in 2025 and given the progress we have made in understanding the car over the past 12 months, there is no reason to expect that it can’t do so again. But of course, we are up against tough opposition with considerably more experience of the championship, the circuit and these cars than we have and they will also have improved. We will bring all our focus to bear to ensure Valkyrie has the best chance possible to end the season on a high.”