After ten hours in the desert of Qatar and a further six hours around a wholly different circuit that was Imola just over three weeks ago, the two Aston Martin powered Valkyrie Hypercars from the Heart of Racing team as well as the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 from (again) the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Leman team now look ahead to another six hour round that will quickly lead them all the Circuit De La Sarthe and the twenty four hours of Le Mans in just over a month’s time.
For the two Valkyrie entries, everything is of course new, and each circuit presents the team with a new set of conundrums to sort their way through and with the benefit of both the WEC and IMSA programmes, that process is being undertaken much quicker than it otherwise would have.
So far and obviously lacking on its available power to help it compete against the more powerful hybrid counterparts, the Valkyrie has already become a fan favourite thanks to the sound from its V12 engine but otherwise its global debut season has proved (so far) to be progressive and liable.
With an established grid of eighteen Hypercar and LMGT3 entries, the driver line ups within both the #007 and #009 Valkyries will remain the same as they were in Italy with Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble aboard the #007 and Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas aboard its sister car.
Although both cars finished at Imola with a gap much deuced to its peers compared to Qatar, both cars were still losing nearly three seconds per lap in comparison but that was around that tight an twisting circuit that would never have benefitted its non-hybrid powertrain but Spa Francorchamps is much different to that and the latest round of Balance of Performance changes by the technical side of the FIA might have addressed at least part of that mismatch.
Compared to Imola, the Valkyrie loses 18kg’s of weight and receives a 15kw in power availability below 250kph plus an 8MJ increase in its Maximum Stint Energy allowance but at the cost of a 2.7% decrease in Power Gain after 250kph.
Like always, what these changes will look like with the performances of the cars, we will have to wait and see in the opening Free Practice sessions and Qualifying before the start to the race on Saturday.
Whilst the Valkyrie cars are still climbing up their development curve with this brand-new adventure, those competing within the LMGT3 class are using more substantive data and experience to drive their championship ambitions.
At Imola, the #27 Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James was inadvertently taken out of the race after slight rear end contact going into the heavy braking zone of Rivazza to (luckily) spin around after the initial contact with the tyre wall to rear end heavily into the protected guard rail at the bottom of the corner. Whilst the car was heavily damaged, James was able to remove himself from the car and (after a compulsory check up at the circuit medical centre) was deemed otherwise OK but for his bruises. Due to the timing of that incident, neither co-driver Zacharie Robischon nor Mattia Drudi got to show off their abilities.
That left the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage GT3 of Derek DeBoer, Eduardo Barrichello and Valentin Hasse-Clot to fly the AMR flag in class however, they were unable to replicate the initial pace of its stablemate entry to end their second round P11 in class.
Results from round two still sees both Valkyrie crews with zero championship points but still do another five crews in class and at the end of the day, winning the championship is presently not on the radar of the Heart of Racing team this season. Then in LMGT3, that DNF for the #27 crew has dropped them down to P12 with the #10 crew nine points off in P16.
From a personal point of view, we can’t wait to get back to the circuit and to hear that noise from lunchtime on Thursday. It’s just a pity that we are not allowed to record and post that ‘music’ as part of our media accreditation application.
Whilst all of this is going on in Spa, the Heart of Racing team will also be supporting their other Valkyrie GTP and Vantage GTD entry within the next round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship from Laguna Seca this weekend.
Photo credits – Teams / DPPI Images / social media
Photo credits – Teams / DPPI Images / social media