Ross Gunn has the honor of being the first driver to take the brand-new Aston Martin Valkyrie onto the IMSA grid, making history in the process.

As the first team to bring an LMH car to IMSA, Heart of Racing is ushering in a new era of “convergence,” a concept that has been in the works since the series merger in 2023.

“A massively proud achievement not only for myself, but the team,” Gunn said. “For me to be a part of this program is incredibly exciting. I have been with Aston Martin now for almost 10 years, at Heart of Racing for my fifth year, and it’s become my home. When I got the opportunity to test the car in the summer of last year, I grabbed it with both hands and tried to do the best job I possibly could. Then off the back of a successful season in GTD Pro, it was a very, very proud moment to get the call to drive this car full-time in IMSA and to be drafted in for the long races in WEC.”

Gunn is new to prototype racing.

After achieving significant success in GT machinery, he now faces a fresh challenge with the V12-powered Valkyrie. A unique car compared to anything else on the GTP grid, Gunn continues to refine his skills and adapt to its distinct characteristics.

“I would say just trying to get all the software and systems to talk to each other and be reliable as well,” Gunn said when asked about his biggest learning challenge. “I think that’s been an area that we’ve been working hard on, and as I said, bit by bit, we’re understanding everything more and more from a driver’s perspective. Traffic management is quite a big thing. I think when you drive and when you’re looking in your mirror constantly, you get a feel of approaching the traffic situation in a better way. Whereas now, you’re coming from a different perspective, and it’s so, so difficult to get a clear lap. So, I think I never really appreciated that. Also, cold tires are a big, big topic for everybody, but in particular us because we knew here it should be a bit easier with a medium tire and the temperature, but I think it should be good.”

While the car’s systems present challenges, the absence of a hybrid powertrain eliminates an extra layer of complexity for Gunn and his teammates.

With no prior race data on how a non-hybrid GTP will perform in IMSA, Gunn sees both advantages and drawbacks to the Valkyrie’s unique setup.

“Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons. I think from our point of view, not having a hybrid definitely makes everything slightly simpler and probably easier to, I guess, not make mistakes and fall down rabbit holes. With reliability, I think a lot of the teams that run the hybrid or all the teams that run have really got on top of it. But that’s 2-3 years into their program. So, right now, I don’t really see it as that much of a disadvantage for them. But there’s definitely a different philosophy, to be honest.”

As Gunn completes his first competitive stint in the car, he and the Heart of Racing team are paving the way for greater “convergence” within IMSA.

Now that they’ve broken new ground as the first LMH team in the series, they hope to spark a chain reaction—one that could see more LMH entries follow, with Aston Martin setting the benchmark for those to come.