Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar Debuts at Rolex 24 2026
Aston Martin’s stunning Valkyrie Hypercar starts an exciting new chapter in its groundbreaking motorsport story this weekend as it makes its debut at the world-famous Rolex 24 at Daytona, the opening round of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA].
The Aston Martin THOR Team-run Valkyrie competes in the 64th running of the event in Florida, USA. This entry marks the first time in more than 40 years that the British ultra-luxury performance brand has challenged for overall honours with a works car in the top GTP class.
The competition variant of the Valkyrie delivers the pure racing expression of the world’s ultimate road-going hypercar. It begins its second season of competition this weekend after an encouraging debut year in 2025. Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing [THOR] developed the race car from its production sibling. The package combines 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. At the same time, it adheres to a strict 500 kW (680 bhp) power limit under hypercar and GTP regulations.
Valkyrie is the only V12-powered car entered in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. It also stands as the only entry derived from a road-going hypercar competing in either North America’s premier endurance series or the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC]. When it takes the green flag at 1340 EST on Saturday, it will become the first car of its kind to do so at Daytona.
Full-season works IMSA drivers, and IMSA GT champions Roman De Angelis (CAN) and Ross Gunn (GBR), join the driver line-up alongside works FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] Valkyrie racers Alex Riberas (ESP) and Marco Sørensen (DEN). All four drivers make their Rolex 24 at Daytona GTP class debut.
Valkyrie enters its second season of international motorsport after a maiden campaign that ended with a brilliant second place overall in the IMSA finale, the 2025 Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The programme also secured strong points finishes in WEC, including fifth place at Fuji and a race-leading performance at the Bahrain finale that ultimately delivered seventh position.
The Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie exceeded expectations in IMSA as it completed more than 4,600 miles of hard racing across eight of North America’s most iconic motorsport venues. The car made its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March. Valkyrie and Aston Martin claimed their best IMSA result with second place in the Road Atlanta finale, and the car saw the chequered flag inside the top 10 seven times from eight starts.
Alex Riberas, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “It’s a privilege to be back at Daytona. This time I’m racing in the top class for the first time. This will be Valkyrie's debut in the Rolex 24, and while Daytona might not be the most demanding race track, it is an extremely tough event for teams, drivers and machinery – especially for the first event of the year. It is always a challenge to begin the season with a 24-hour race, and it is easy to get tripped up. We are going in with no real expectations, but plenty to look forward to. There is a lot to learn, and getting back together with Marco, Roman and Ross, it feels like the first day back at school.”
Ross Gunn, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “It’s awesome to be back starting the year at Daytona; the first Rolex 24 for Valkyrie. Of course, we have our eyes on a finish and on understanding a bit more how the race flows in GTP on this track. I can’t wait to work with the Aston Martin THOR Team again. It’s been a short winter, but there’s been a lot of work going on in the background. I’m eager to see how all the learning we’ve gained over the winter comes to fruition in practice. Daytona is always a great start to the year, with a brilliant atmosphere. It sets the tone for the rest of the season.”
Roman De Angelis, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m looking forward to starting the second year of the Valkyrie programme in IMSA, as well as the debut of the car in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. It is always such a great event and one of the season's highlights. There’s no better way to begin the 2026 campaign, with all my friends at the Aston Martin THOR Team, and we look forward to keeping the progress rolling on from last year.”
Marco Sørensen, driver #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “The Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the toughest and most prestigious races in motorsport. We know how demanding it is, but we’re ready for the challenge and fully focused on delivering the best possible result. For me, 2026 is off to a great start with my debut in the top class of the Rolex 24, and I’m really looking forward to racing with the whole Aston Martin Team THOR again.”
Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “While this will be the Rolex 24 at Daytona debut for the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, we are not coming in unprepared. We’ve tested the car comprehensively around Daytona, and The Heart of Racing has an excellent track record in the event. It isn’t easy to know where we will be in the competitive order, but we will, as always, focus on the aspects of the event we can control. That means error-free execution, good pitwork, focused driver performance, precise and agile strategy, and, of course, extracting the maximum performance from the car. In a 24-hour race, these are often the key components to success. In IMSA, the name of the game is staying in the fight to the end, so let’s see where achieving these goals puts us on Sunday afternoon.”
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “We’re a year into the Valkyrie programme,mme and we’ve seen a great deal of progress in this time, not just technically, but also with how the drivers, personnel and the programme as a whole have developed culturally. A successful international programme obviously takes time to grow into one that breeds consistent success, and we are still in the early stages of this process. There is more ground to cover before we achieve our objectives, but we can also see that we are clearly travelling in the right direction. The Rolex 24 at Daytona is the most famous and important endurance event in North America, and as such presents another key milestone for Valkyrie, and one that will provide us with more valuable data that we can use to feed that understanding and growth of Valkyrie’s performance.”
