The Heart of Racing Valkyrie secures its best finish to date around the Circuit de La Sarthe

Aston Martin’s stunning Valkyrie Hypercar achieved its best finish yet at the Circuit de la Sarthe, with British trio Tom Gamble, Ross Gunn and Harry Tincknell bringing the Aston Martin THOR Team #007 Valkyrie home eighth in the 94thedition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on Sunday.

The result marked the fifth consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship points finish for the British-built hypercar, following the #007 crew’s strong start to the 2026 season where they finished ninth in Imola, and followed that up with Valkyrie’s best WEC finish yet; fourth at Spa-Francorchamps, last month.

“To get a car home in P8 is a big step forward for the programme,” said Ian James., Team Principal of Aston Martin Racing THOR Team. “It just shows how much progress we are making with the car, every race. We knew it would be a difficult for us to race against such strong opposition here at Le Mans but we worked hard and executed on all levels. It was great to see the #007 rewarded for the team’s hard work.”

Developed by Aston Martin and THOR from the Valkyrie production model, the Le Mans Hypercar version, eighth place was also the best finish at Le Mans for a car derived from a road-legal hypercar. Valkyrie is unique as the only car built to Hypercar homologation competing simultaneously in WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

The Valkyries impressed through the build-up to the race, setting the fastest time of all in the official test and then proved a force in Hypercar qualifying. The #009 Valkyrie, driven by Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis, placed seventh and the #007 11th.

The 62-strong field, waved away from the start line by Aston Martin High Performance Ambassador Sir Mark Cavendish (the former professional cyclist who holds the record for the most stage wins of the Tour de France), in front of 350,000-strong crowd, set a blazing pace in the early running. But by nightfall both Valkyries, emblazoned in special liveries featuring Union Jack, were into their stride and racing inside the top ten.

Ultimately it was the #007 which achieved the best result of the two; the #009 had been heading for its first points finish of the season until a technical issue in the final hour caused the team to pit, dropping the car from 10th in the WEC Hypercar class to 14th in the final order.

“This year’s Le Mans provided another encouraging step in Valkyrie’s WEC journey,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance, Adam Carter. “Valkyrie’s pace on low fuel during the early part of the week was nice to see but also a little unrealistic when it came to the race, as a straightline speed deficit hampered us more once we switched to race trim. That said the team executed without fault as always, and this played a significant factor in us achieving a well-earned points finish in one of the toughest endurance races in the world.”

Source Material - HoRT