Much of the focus at this week’s IMSA Sanctioned Test at Daytona will centre around Heart of Racing’s stunning new-for-2025 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH, and rightly so. This is the first IMSA appearance for the hotly-anticipated prototype, which is nearing the end of its developmental phase and edging closer to its global race debut next year.
DSC caught up with Heart of Racing team principal and driver Ian James in Daytona ahead of the car’s first run at the Speedway, which he will oversee along with Multimatic’s George Howard-Chappell and Julian Sole.
“It’s an exciting test for us, it’s the first time showing off the car to others here in North America,” James said. “There’s an awful lot of work going on to prepare both programmes, but this is a chance for us to see where we are on track right now.”
A single Valkyrie is entered for the Sanctioned Test. It will be operated by a combination of Heart of Racing, Aston Martin and Multimatic staff and driven by Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis.
Is this the trio that Heart of Racing will compete with stateside in 2025? While nothing is fully confirmed, senior sources in the team – when asked by DSC about the status of the drivers at the test – explained they are expected to form part of the IMSA GTP programme going forward.
As for the chassis itself, it’s brand new one, which recently visited the Windshear Windtunnel in preparation for its final homologation. It is not the car which ran in the Michelin Tyre Test in Bahrain after the Rookie Test earlier this month. That car is set to become the team’s spare for the FIA WEC Hypercar programme.
Regarding the Valkyrie AMR-LMH’s homologation, there’s no news to report just yet, though it’s expected to be completed soon.
Something which shouldn’t be overlooked is that the homologation process for the car is set to be particularly complex. Because it is will the first LMH-spec prototype to compete in IMSA GTP, it will become the first (and likely the last) LMH-spec prototype to visit both the Sauber and Windshear wind tunnels ahead of sign-off, with the focus of both processes in the future set to utilise the US facility.
As a result, the team is still very much in the weeds of fine tuning the car and not yet ready to reveal whether or not it will make its global race debut in Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona next January.
One thing is for sure, aside from confirming the driver squads for both the IMSA and WEC efforts, the team has yet to reveal their final racing livery, the ‘camo’ effect colour scheme shown thus far is for testing only!
