The Six Hours of Sao Paulo was something of a mixed bag of results for the Heart of Racing team as their Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews struggled for pace whilst their Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar powered colleagues chalked up another milestone within the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Earlier rain had left the Interlagos circuit at least damp in places ahead of yesterday morning’s start as the #007 Valkyrie of Tom Gamble/Harry Tincknell had beaten the sister #009 car of Ale Riberas/Marco Sorenson into Hyperpole to qualifying P9 against the #009’s P15 but each of the LMGT3 crews were nearly at extreme ends to third grid.
Gray Newell, Kobe Pauwel and Jonny Adam had secured their first ever FIA WEC LMGT3 pole position within their #23 car whilst the sister #27 car of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi had uncharacteristically struggled to also end up no better than P15 in class.
Come the start, Newell’s inexperience at the head of the group quickly showed within the degree of racing talent around him and the #23 car quickly tumbled down the order during the opening laps as both Valkyries also slipped back as well with both Vantages then running nose to tail to one another just prior to the end of the first hour.
Just after the opening hour, the #23 car also suffered a spin as another Hypercar came around the outside and whilst no real damage was done, the time lost in returning to track was considerable. A later rearward impact from the yellow Ferrari Hypercar for the #23 car (with Pauwel then behind the wheel) would result in rear defuser damage – something that would hobble the car for the rest of the race in addition to the immediate spin.
Further up the order, the respective running positions of the two Valkyrie’s was similar to that of the two Vantage LMGT3 crews for the Heart of Racing team as nether class set were seemingly able to progress themselves up the order outside of the natural cyclic movements up and down the order as each class went through the pit stop strategies.
Beyond the halfway point, the sunshine and residential warmth of the day began to drop as both Valkyries finally both made it into the top ten in class and with the #27 Vantage still several cars ahead of the #23 despite a drive through penalty of their own for tyre pressure irregularities.
Going into the final ninety minutes, the ambient temperature had dropped to just sixteen degrees C as the mist began to drop around the periphery of the circuit leading most to believe that rain was on its way as the two Valkyries received their final stop for service with little under fifty minutes remaining as they both defended their top ten positions in class.
In the glum of the Brazilian evening, the fourth round of the FIA WEC finally came to an end with the #007 taking P7 and the #009 P9 on track at least. The #27 would eventually finish P13 and the #23 P18 in class to end what quickly became for them a very disappointing weekend and with both crews failing to add a championship point to their tallies. A post -ace penalty for the #20 BMW Hypercar, however, would see the #007 car elevate up to P6 in class – the two Aston Martin Valkyries best combined finish to date within the Championship.
The next round will be the Heart of Racing's effective home race at the Circuit of The Americas at the beginning of September.
Photo credits – Team / DPPI / social media
