Gunn, De Angelis Step Up from GTD PRO to Valkyrie GTP Program
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As part of its global launch, the Aston Martin THOR Team has revealed the lineup that will share the Aston Martin Valkyrie within IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.
Team veterans Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis will step up from the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class ranks into the team’s No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP). The new car is set for its North American race debut at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, March 15.
Both Gunn and De Angelis have eight career IMSA wins apiece, with De Angelis having also captured the 2022 WeatherTech Championship GTD class championship after also winning IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge USA and Canada titles on his way up the ladder.
“Ross has been with us for the past four years and has become, without doubt, one of the best GT drivers in the world,” said Ian James, team principal. “He proved it last year in the GTD PRO title race, just narrowly missing out. He’s a team player, is naturally gifted and has a feel for a race car that not many drivers have. As for Roman, I first drove with him in 2018 and he’s gone from strength to strength. He’s won the AMR Academy and the GTD championship, which is a unique achievement, and he’s become an out-and-out performer. He’s also a key ingredient in our sim program in Phoenix.”
They’ll share the No. 23 Valkyrie, developed by Aston Martin Performance Technologies and THOR and derived from the road car. The carbon-fiber race chassis version features a Cosworth-built, 6.5L naturally aspirated V12 engine, which in standard roadgoing form revs to 11,000rpm and develops more than 1,000bhp. The race car version, within the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) regulations which it’s built to, features a power limit of 500kW (680bhp) and a heavy focus on fuel efficiency.
With testing having taken place since July, the Valkyrie has racked up more than 15,000km across continents and running at a mix of both European and North American tracks.
Gunn, De Angelis, Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas shared the team’s No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in GTD PRO at the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona. Gunn (No. 007) and De Angelis (No. 009) will also join the team’s respective entries in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class as part of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Heart of Racing continues in GTD with its No. 27 Aston Martin, which was driven to a podium finish at Daytona by Casper Stevenson, Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi.