De Angelis Hoping for End-of-Season Valkyrie Rebound

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Roman De Angelis is hoping that he and co-driver Ross Gunn can turn around their year of misfortune and bad luck in the final three-race stretch of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The Heart of Racing team duo in the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie have so far scored a season-best finish of eighth, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, after a challenging sophomore campaign with the V12-powered LMH-based prototype.

De Angelis, Gunn and Alex Riberas ended last year with a podium finish at Motul Petit Le Mans, but has yet to deliver on what had been high hopes for this season, despite continued progress being made with its sister FIA World Endurance Championship program.

“I have to be honest, with the season we’ve had this year has been really tough,” De Angelis told Sportscar365. “Obviously Daytona and Sebring were technical issues.

“Long Beach, that incident on the restart, we were doing quite well and kind of got moved into the wall softly there.

“Laguna was okay but it’s not been a good year for us. We haven’t gotten a result. Last year, I think we were in a position where we ended the season quite confidently and ended with a podium.

“We kind of thought we’d carry that momentum into this season and haven’t really been able to put one together.”

The most recent setback came in last month’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen when De Angelis checked-up to slower cars under a safety car period and ended up making contact with the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Colin Braun, ending both GTP entries’ days.

The 25-year-old Canadian, who made a cameo appearance in the GTD class at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, is hoping this weekend’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America could serve as a reset of sorts.

“I’m hoping to carry momentum into Road America, which is a good track for us last year,” he said. “Indy and then Petit, I think the boys and girls have been working pretty hard and haven’t gotten rewarded for it yet.

“I think it’s really important to give them a result, as well as for myself and Ross, who’ve been working hard on both sides of the pond. It would be nice to get a gift for our work.”

Regarding Road America in particular, De Angelis said: “I feel we had a strong car [there] last year, so I’m really looking forward to pushing for a good result.”

Gunn added: “Last year Road America represented the first big performance gain for the Valkyrie stateside, and we are hungry to replicate that transition.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John