The new #007 and #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars were of course a new phenomenon at the Circuit de La Sarthe this year and although the differences between the ACO LM24 and direct FIA World Endurance Championship Balance of Performance parameters allowed the #009 car to feature within the Hyperpole process for the first time this season, the cars ultimate race pace was still behind were it could have been to have allowed both cars to feature more prominently in the race.
That being said, the old adage of ‘being able to finish first – first you have to finish’ was where the two cars of Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble/ Rogg Gunn within the #007 alongside that of the #009 car of Marco Sorensen/Alex Riberas/Roman De Angelis managed to do just that as the #009 completed the years gruelling edition P13 overall with the #007 just two places behind out of the twenty strong class entry.
Being the cars first live twenty-four-hour race, that will go down as a great achievement on the grounds of longevity for the more vital race components within the engine and drivetrain as well as the suspension and serviceability of the overall package although their race results today still fall short of those illusive first FIA WEC Championship points.
Within the LMGT3 class, it was a similar case for both the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 of Ian James/Mattia Drudi/Zacharie Robichon and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage of Derek DeBoer/Valentin Hasse-Clot and Eduardo Barrichello.
With the #27 car taking Pole Position after Hyperpole 2 earlier in the week, the car also broke with traditional as pole setting driver Drudi was allowed to take the start to the race (as opposed to James) as did Hasse-Clot aboard the #10 as opposed to DeBoer.
During the opening hours, both Aston Martins enjoyed time at the head of the class before technical issues aboard the #10 car consigned them to the garage for repairs – something that would cost the crew three racing laps and that proved itself to be a gap that was just too big to cross during the many hours left within the race.
As the hours passed and the rate of attrition increased (particularly during the hours of darkness, the #27 remained well placed somewhere within the top ten whilst all the #10 car could do was to climb its way off from the bottom of the timing screen as with just one hour remaining, the #10 car now sat P13 out of the remaining seventeen LMGT3 entries still running.
At the end, the #27 Heart of Racing narrowly missed out upon that coveted class podium position, finishing fourth in class and less than a lap down to the eventual class winning Porsche. The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman crew would ultimately finish P46 overall – P13 in class, five laps down to the class winner.
Double points on offer at Le Mans and a bonus point for Pole Position see the #27 crew raise up to fourth within the LMGT3 Drivers Championship with the #10 crew down in P16 as the FIA WEC now heads to Brazil for its next round in just three weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)
Double points on offer at Le Mans and a bonus point for Pole Position see the #27 crew raise up to fourth within the LMGT3 Drivers Championship with the #10 crew down in P16 as the FIA WEC now heads to Brazil for its next round in just three weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)