After making its official race début at the Qatar 1812 Km, the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, the Valkyrie took up the mammoth challenge of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar. The bumpy surface of the Sebring International Raceway and the extreme difficulty of the event, the legendary race has earned a fearsome reputation.

But despite the daunting conditions, the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie driven by Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas crossed the finish line in ninth place, three up from its grid position. Adam Carter,  Aston Martin Head of Endurance, was delighted with the performance. “Sebring is well renowned for being a tough test on any racecar, let alone a new hypercar,” he said. “But we were confident in the car’s ability to go the distance, and the fact that it did it so well is a huge testament to everybody working on the programme and a good indicator of the inherent potential of the car. We are right at the beginning of this journey with Valkyrie, and of course there will be opportunities for improvement, but we have learned a huge amount and gathered an enormous amount of data that we can now take away and digest.”

Aston Martin THOR Racing team exploited every lap to hone the development of the British hypercar. The data gathered at Sebring and in Qatar offer a solid basis on which to fine-tune the Valkyrie’s setup and maximise its performance.

De Angelis, one of the #23 car’s drivers, said: “It is a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. It’s one of the hardest races I’ve had [...] and we have clearly made good progress here.” Teammate Riberas agreed: “It’s an amazing feeling. We came here with really no expectations because we knew that Sebring was going to be one of the toughest challenges we would face as a team with a new car. We really didn’t think we could come here and do what we just did – to finish the race, and not just that but in the top ten as well. It’s unbelievable.  It’s a great start and this is only the beginning.”

The Valkyrie’s performance at the 12 Hours of Sebring marked a watershed in Aston Martin’s Hypercar programme. Ian James, Aston Martin THOR Team Principal, emphasised its importance: “Twelve hours around this place is momentous for us in terms of the programme. Every lap we do we learn something and we are going to come back stronger every time.”

Next up for the Aston Martin Valkyrie are the Long Beach Grand Prix (12 April) in IMSA and the 6 Hours of Imola (20 April) in the FIA WEC. These races will offer a further opportunity to rack up experience and collect precious data with a view to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Aston Martin’s supporters and endurance fans everywhere can expect the performance of the Valkyrie  to continue its upward trajectory.