Toughest conditions yet in WEC see the Aston Martins fall just short at a rain soaked CoTA

That obviously meant that no overtaking was possible with positions on track only changing with cars either spinning off in the conditions of with those making strategic calls into pit lane. For the two Aston Martin Valkyrie Hyopercars from the Heart of Racing team, that meant that the #009 car of Alex Riberas would move up to P6 by the end of that first hour of circulation whilst the sister #007 car of Tom Gamble would also move up to P13.

With deteriorating conditions on track plus an error on the part of Race Control regarding the swapping out of one Safety Car with another saw the race red flagged at the end of that first hour mark with crews not returning to their cars until the race clock had passed another forty-five minutes by for another Safety Car restart procedure.

Within the LMGT3 class, the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Ian James was holding second overall in class by the time the first racing laps came along just before the end of the second hour whilst the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Derek DeBoer was doing what he needed to do just to survive in nineth.

The first incident of note for any of the four Aston Martins came when Gamble hit a similar patch of flooded track to that of two other Hypercars and spun off into the tyre wall. Whilst the Porsche impacted heavily into the safer barrier, the glancing blow into the barrier to the rear of the #007 Valkyrie was enough for them needing to make repairs but not immediately like the Porsche as that incident brought out the Safety Car again.

Back to green at 3:40:00 remaining and that was the end of DeBoer two- and a-bit stint length and the end to his WEC career this season as he handed over his #10 car to Eduardo Barrichello from a then P5 position in class. DeBoer’s place within the car will now be taken by Anthony McIntosh for the remaining two rounds of the season.

Approaching the halfway mark to the race, the #009 was still comfortably within the top 10 whilst the #007 was slowly making their own way up the order whilst the #27 of (now) Zacharie Robichon was seventh with Barrichello a charging up the order P13 but that was before the #27 themselves became victim to the conditions with several pirouettes of their own on track before eventually recovering without damage.

Again, the track conditions varied according to which section of track the cars where at with some now experience a deterioration in performance with the tyres whilst others suffered from technical and mechanical defects that again warranted the need for Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car procedures.

With just over one hundred minutes of the race remaining, Marco Sorensen would get his first racing laps of the day aboard the #009 car after a Herculean effort from Riberas from the start as they now lapped a comfortable P8 with a decent points possibility now firmly upon the cards. Harry Tincknell was now also aboard the #007 car as he held a P6 position as well as the latest FCY would leave just an hour to go.

Initially seen dropping back on track, both Valkyries would come into pit lane for apparent service but clearly there were technical issues brewing within both cars as first the #007 stopped on the side of the track going into turn one before the #009 car later disappeared into its garage box with less than thirty minutes remaining for their first DNF’s of the season.

Longevity was also an issue for both AMR Vantage LMGT3 crews as they eventually dropped back to finish P6 on track for the #27 Heart of Racing entry of Mattia Drudi (elevated up to P5 post race) and P11 in class for the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman of Valentin Hasse-Clot as all now prepare for the penultimate round to the season from Japan at the end of the month.

Photo credits – Team / DPPI Images / social media