IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: MOTUL PETIT LE MANS

October 11, 2025

Jack Aitken

Earl Bamber

Roman De Angelis

Ross Gunn

Alex Riberas

Frederik Vesti

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's get started with our GTP class race winners to Motul Petit le Mans. In the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, from your left to right, it is Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken, and Frederik Vesti.

Earl, congratulations. Why don't you start us off. What did it take to bring it home tonight, and how nerve-wracking was the last hour at least?

EARL BAMBER: We had a great car all day. I mean, I guess it started to get nerve-wracking when we got the puncture in the middle of the day. The guys did an amazing strategy. We had a really fast car in the middle of the day.

Everyone sort of caught up on pace a little bit in the night. Fred probably set it up really, really well to give us a six-to eight-second gap at the last pit stop. Then we were sort of in the last two stints probably carrying the others on strategy with the fuel save, just making sure we stayed one or two laps ahead of them on the fuel.

Then when the others in the alternate strategy were sort of out front just covering both options on strat, got close with the 63, but I have to say the cars in the timing standard did an amazing job to keep me updated.

We had a car with enough pace where we could manage the fuel and sort of cover the people sprinting behind us that have already stopped and the people fuel saving.

Huge credit to the team. Huge credit to the guys on my left. They just did an amazing job in the second race, where we haven't touched a single thing.

And the guys just in the pit lane have done an amazing job.

So we had a couple of races that we definitely should have won or we should have probably won a couple more this year, but we learned from those and we're built from this, and now to go back-to-back, it's something very special for the whole team, and what we've managed to build up this 2025 season.

And I think Jack finished second in the championship as well.

JACK AITKEN: Somehow.

EARL BAMBER: Somehow.

JACK AITKEN: That's -- I was shocked.

THE MODERATOR: We'll pick up where Earl left off, second in the championship. Jack, could you have imagined finishing the season second in the championship kind of based on how things had gone maybe the first (indiscernible)?

EARL BAMBER: Yeah, I mean, it would be hard to sit here and say that I expected or would have predicted a back-to-back win to close out the season.

On the other hand, I think, like Earl has said previously, we've been knocking on the door quite a lot this season. We've put ourselves in the position to be up the front quite a lot, especially in the second half of the season.

All that happened these last two events. Stuff has gone our way a little bit. Yeah, we didn't make mistakes, and we had a quick car. We made the right calls on strategy, but we've done a lot of that in the first half of the season and kind of got nowhere as well.

It's kind of vindicating to see those wins come through.

Yeah, pretty special to see the team have that weight lifted off their shoulders because I think they're really deserving of those results, and it's been a true pleasure the last couple of weekends, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: As mentioned, this is your second win here at IMSA, and you're into your first season here. I guess what are your takeaways from racing here?

FREDERIK VESTI: Well, I'm just super proud of the whole team. As mentioned, we had a lot of bases this whole year, but struggled in the beginning to get the results.

At Indy, we won, and yeah, today we had a great car, but we had a big setback with that puncture. Yeah, it was quite nerve-wracking all the way.

We managed to win it, which is huge for me. My second win in IMSA, and to do it here at Petit Le Mans is very special.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks. We'll slide over. We'll get questions for our second pole finishers, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas had joined us in the No. 23 car. Roman, take us through that last stint. Obviously pretty exciting, but I can imagine it was even more so in your seat down from your perspective.

ROMAN DE ANGELIS: I think stressful is probably a better word. Yeah, just obviously we kind of knew what position we were in. I was told before I got in the car that that P3 is where we were fighting based on fuel strategy. 31 and the 6 were quite a bit ahead of us and had a lot less fuel to put in.

So kind of just thought that I was managing P3 and hopefully getting our first podium of the Valkyrie program, which obviously an exciting day for all of us on the IMSA side as well as the WET [phonetic] side. Honored to be part of that.

Yeah, the last stint I don't think I realized until 15 minutes to go that we were kind of in the shot for the win. Obviously we had a few cars that were locked down between us and the 31, which is unfortunate.

It would have been fun to at least have a chance to fight, but I think based on where we've been all year and the progress that we've made from the start, obviously we're racing against manufacturers that have been in the top category for two or three years now. Lots of experience at every track.

Obviously it's been a tough year from our position, but yeah, I think if you would have told me this morning that we were going to be second, I probably would have laughed. Not because the effort wasn't there, but just, I mean, based off Indy, which was a pretty hard weekend for all of us, yeah, I mean, to be second in our first season at Petit Le Mans, which is normally one of the hardest races of the season, is pretty special. Honored to be part of that.

THE MODERATOR: Alex, watching Roman there from the pit box, tell me about the nerves as you guys were watching this thing play out.

ALEX RIBERAS: Yeah, we were basically saying with Ross how much worse it is to be being in the pit stand versus than being in the car. It's so much easier to handle the stress when you're the one in control behind the wheel, for sure. I have to take my hat off for Roman. Finishing a race like Petit Le Mans in GTP at 24 years old, that is a lot of responsibility.

So I was just, you know, witnessing history in the making and just being so proud of what Roman and Ross have achieved this year. They both progressed, and I'm just proud of the whole team.

THE MODERATOR: We'll slide over to Ross. What does this mean for the Aston Martin Valkyrie program?

ROSS GUNN: First of all, sorry I was late. It's incredible. There are so many people here today supporting. It was just a very, very special day for us. We came in a year ago testing for the first time in the U.S., and I think really we were expecting to be back markers at the start of the year and really learning as much as possible.

We always had the aim that come Petit Le Mans, we would hopefully be at least fighting and be in the shot of the podium, and I think we achieved that.

Incredibly proud of everybody. For Aston Martin to have a car in the top class in the podium is a huge achievement. For me, I'm just so proud to be a part of it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you explain the puncture? The car came into the pits twice, I believe. It was during a yellow. Was the puncture after that first stop?

EARL BAMBER: Yeah, we did the first stop, and then actually we were just cruising around. Out of turn five, one of the blowers just blew, like, a load of crap into -- basically into the side of the car from the right-hand side.

We were coming around the next lap, and the guy said, Start to warm up. Then I saw the right rear at 1.22. And then I was like, That's not great. Then it was 1.2 and then 1.1, .18, .17. Then I was like, yeah, okay, I think we have a puncture.

So we just took the precaution. It was the right call because we had a giant hole in the tire.

That's racing. You know, at the end of the day I think the team knew how to rebound from that. Everyone was calm. We did the right strategy. It took us a stint to gain a fuel advantage, and then we could manage to jump in the pit cycle, and then we had the car pace.

It's a shame because it probably would have cost us the cup because I think we missed out by a point, but at the end of the day that's racing. I think other cars had the same issue, and that's sort of part of it. I think there was massive debris everywhere after that accident. It could have been earlier, but that's sort of the moment where it happened to us.

Q. Roman, what did it mean for the team to give faith to have you finish the race, and especially considering the position you guys were in fighting in the podium position and ultimately fighting for a win at the end?

ROMAN DE ANGELIS: Yeah, it was pretty special to cross the line for the first podium for the Heart of Racing and Aston Martin.

I think for myself it's kind of interesting to be in the top class racing against guys, you know, that have raced in Formula 1 or INDYCAR and things like that where I didn't really come from that background.

Yeah, definitely pretty special to be involved in this program and to have the trust from the Heart of Racing, everyone involved on that side, and Aston Martin as well to put the faith in me this year to think that I was ready to be in this position, let alone finishing a race that, yeah, we were on the podium.

It was pretty special, and honored to be a part of it and super fortunate to be in a position where they put their trust in me. So, yeah, just a very surreal moment, and hopefully many more of these.

Q. Ross, when you consider how the Valkyrie's racing life starting with doors flying off, the learning curve that this car had from the start of the season to the very finish and the fact that the Valkyrie itself was on the cutting room floor, not even all that long ago, how gratifying is this result?

ROSS GUNN: It's huge for everybody. I think as you touched on, (indiscernible) you expect from a new program, but we worked super hard at the start of the year on the liability. We didn't really focus on anything performance-wise until after Le Mans.

Then to be finishing two cars at Le Mans was a huge, huge achievement for everybody. I think that was, again, our aim at the start of the year was to try and achieve that.

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it's been a privilege to be a part of something that's been continuously improving. I think for us the main thing was that on the end of the season, as I already mentioned, we wanted to be fighting for something a bit more than just a fifth or a sixth.

Yeah, I think this weekend is definitely something that we can be proud of and hopefully use that going into next year and be hopefully fighting for more.