Heart of Racing secure back to back podium finishes in IMSA after the 12Hrs of Sebring
Coming off the back of a their class pole position and P3 finish at the end of the opening round to the season at the Rolex 24 at the beginning of February, the Zacharie Robichon, Eduardo Barrichello and Tom Gamble driven #27 GTD car went one better this time after converting the Brazilian pole position into a P2 finish to take an early lead in the GTD Drivers Championship.
For the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP entry of Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas, however, there were further trackside issues for the V12 normally aspirated powerhouse that again (like Daytona) that took the car behind the wall for repairs.
Photo credits – Teams / AMR / social media
Sunday, March 22, 2026 |
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More milestones met for Valkyrie and another class podium in LMGT3 rounds off the WEC season
The Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar concluded its debut season of global competition with a second-straight points finish, at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, on Saturday, after leading a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship for the first time.
The seventh-place result for Aston Martin THOR Team’s #009 entry, driven by three-time WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis, added to the fifth-place finish the team had taken last-time out in Japan on a weekend of notable landmarks for the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar.
A magnificent performance in Hypercar qualifying was the highlight of Saturday’s on-track action as the #007 entry of British trio Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn led the #009 in an all-Valkyrie one-two; ensuring that both Aston Martin THOR Team cars would progress to the Hyperpole session and challenge for pole position for the first time. Sixth and ninth positions on the grid marked the first time two Valkyries had qualified inside the top 10 in the WEC.
Aston Martin’s first ‘Le Mans Hypercar showed more potential during the eight-hour race as, following a mid-race safety car period that bunched the field, Riberas charged from fifth place into the lead – the first time Valkyrie has headed a WEC race. It was a fitting end to a trail-blazing debut season that featured the car’s maiden podium finish in North America’s IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in October’s gruelling Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Raced by the works Aston Martin THOR Team, it is the only car in WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar and made its global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February over a grueling season that has covered more than 22,000 racing miles, and eight rounds of WEC (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans) for the two stunning, green Aston Martins.
“The aim for Aston Martin in Hypercar in 2025 was to compete in endurance racing at the very highest level of competition, both globally in WEC and in North America in IMSA,” said Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport. “Both are magnificent series with manufacturers, teams and drivers that have been at the pinnacle of the sport for, in some cases, decades. To have brought such a unique car as Valkyrie to the stage, to start where we did, and to consistently improve our performances to the point where we’ve come to the WEC finale in Bahrain and perform the way we have, shows the ability and desire of everybody that is a part of this programme. We have made satisfying progress in 2025 and will continue to build on this next season.”
Aston Martin’s most successful sportscar of all time, the Vantage meanwhile finished the FIA World Endurance Championship season with a podium finish in the LMGT3 class in Bahrain.
The Heart of Racing Team drivers Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi finished third in an action-packed race to claim the team’s first top-three finish of the season for the ultimate racing version of Aston Martin’s most focused sportscar.
The Heart of Racing Team drivers Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi finished third in an action-packed race to claim the team’s first top-three finish of the season for the ultimate racing version of Aston Martin’s most focused sportscar.
The trio ran inside the top six throughout the race with Aston Martin works driver Drudi closing down a 30-second gap to the leaders with two hours to go to put himself in the hunt for victory in the closing stages.
THOR’s result was the second WEC podium finish of the season for Vantage, after Racing Spirit of Léman finished third in Brazil during the summer. It was also a 14th WEC rostrum finish for Vantage in Bahrain; those results scored across the LMGT3 class and its predecessors, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am. RSL’s Anthony McIntosh, Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot finished 14th in LMGT3 aboard their #10 Vantage.
“The ultra-close nature of the competition in WEC means that to fight at the front, you must have first-rate machinery and partner teams capable of delivering when it counts,” said Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport. “In The Heart of Racing Team and Racing Spirit of Léman we have two outstanding partners, who have both scored pole positions and podium finishes this year. This is a testament to the strength of both organisations, to the accessibility and robustness of Vantage to drivers of all levels of experience, and to a set of regulations that keeps the competing machines close. We are already looking ahead to a 2026 season.”
Source material – Aston Martin
Sunday, November 09, 2025 |
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The difference as season makes for the Aston Martin Valkyrie
Since those early days of first just wanting to finish and to literally keep the doors on the car, many things have changed and so going into tomorrow’s seasonal finale in Bahrain, the fruits of that progress and development has been very apparent.
Running of course parallel race programs with their IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship sister car, recent results have seen at least one of these Valkyries first break into Hyperpole qualifying within the WEC before securing their first ever podium finish at the season finale of the IMSA Championship.
Having had many of the team and crew get in some last minute R&R on the Galapagos Islands before this week’s finale, that investment have proved worthwhile for the team as the #007 Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn topped the qualifying timing screen for the first time, narrowly beating the sister #009 car of Marco Sorenson, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis for a well-deserved 1-2 in class.
Moving into the later Hyperpole session, the fairytale season ending wasn’t quite there unfortunately as the #009 eventually finished sixth fastest with the #007 nineth ahead of tomorrow’s eight-hour race. Compare and contrast that to the distant P18 and P16 positions at the opening round in Qatar!!
It was harder work for the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3 crews however, as both the #27 Heart of Racing AMR of Ian James, Mattia Drudi and Zacharie Robichon and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Anthony McIntosh, Eduardo Barrichello and Valentin Hasse-Clot struggled within the mid table of their class during the three earlier Free Practice sessions after another swathe of Balance of Performance adjustments across the class.
As always, one hot lap is never enough for any endurance race as (like all), both crews will have another eight hours to improve upon their P4 and P15 qualifying positions (for the #27 and #10 cars respectively) after their own Qualifying and Hyperpole sessions.
The final race of the FIA WEC season will be waved off at 14:00hrs local before finishing under the veil of darkness (although the circuit is mostly floodlit) where all four crews could seriously improve upon their final championship positions in class with thirty eight points being again on offer to each class winner.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Friday, November 07, 2025 |
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More to come says Gunn after the #23 Valkyrie secures its first ever podium finish at Petit Le Mans
The result, accomplished by Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team, was the best result yet by Valkyrie – the pure racing expression of the world’s ultimate road-going hypercar – and was secured after 10 hours of white-knuckle competition at the iconic circuit near Braselton, GA. It was the first outright podium for an Aston Martin in IMSA, and the first for a hypercar derived from a road-going counterpart in the top tier GTP class.
Valkyrie had already made headlines on Thursday by topping the timesheets in an official IMSA session for the first time as Ross Gunn went fastest in night practice followed by Gunn taking the hypercar’s best qualifying result to date with fifth place on Friday.
De Angelis and Gunn, THOR’S regular IMSA season drivers, were joined at Petit Le Mans by Alex Riberas; part of Aston Martin THOR Team’s FIA World Endurance Championship line-up and a multiple race winner in IMSA’s GTD classes.
All three drove magnificently and backed up by some clever strategic calls from the pit crew, raced Valkyrie #23 into a podium spot with two hours to go. An inspired decision to make a final pitstop with 50 minutes left, rather than speculatively staying out in case of a Full-Course Yellow period which could have allowed the car’s energy reserves to be stretched without an additional stop, meant that De Angelis ran at full attack to the end of the race.
Despite dropping to seventh, 50 seconds behind the leader, he charged back into contention while gaining positions as the track remained ‘green’ and others made their final fuel stops. The Valkyrie slotted into second with less than 10 minutes remaining. De Angelis closed to within six seconds of the victory while securing the best result for Valkyrie in all competitions, completing an IMSA season in which the car finished every race and completed over 4,300 miles of hard racing around eight of the most iconic North American motorsport venues.
Despite dropping to seventh, 50 seconds behind the leader, he charged back into contention while gaining positions as the track remained ‘green’ and others made their final fuel stops. The Valkyrie slotted into second with less than 10 minutes remaining. De Angelis closed to within six seconds of the victory while securing the best result for Valkyrie in all competitions, completing an IMSA season in which the car finished every race and completed over 4,300 miles of hard racing around eight of the most iconic North American motorsport venues.
The only entry derived from a road-going hypercar competing in either IMSA or the WEC, Valkyrie is developed from its production version by Aston Martin and THOR. The competition example blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.
Valkyrie has positioned Aston Martin in the top division of US sportscar racing for the first time since 2011; a season in which five outright victories and seven podiums were achieved in the American Le Mans Series.
“What a day! To score the first podium for Valkyrie and finish second at Petit Le Mans is a testament to the hard work everybody’s put in, not just this year, but across the whole project from the group in the UK and the Aston Martin THOR Team here on the ground. The execution was pretty much perfect, and the drivers excelled. It’s been a great year in IMSA for Valkyrie, and I can’t wait for the new season to start at Daytona in January” said Team Principle Ian James after the chequered flag.
Source material – Aston Martin
Sunday, October 12, 2025 |
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Best result yet for the new Heart of Racing Valkyrie Hypercar in its debut WEC season (updated)
The works Aston Martin The Heart Of Racing Team, and drivers Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas finished sixth in the 6 Hours of Fuji, marking a new high in the programme, having delivered front-running pace throughout the weekend in Japan.
Aston Martin is one of three manufacturers to have competed in every WEC race since the series’ inception in 2012. Having claimed 53 class victories and 11 world championship titles in that time, it was fitting that the brand should achieve its best result so far for the Hypercar programme at the series’ centennial event.
“While finishing sixth in the 6 Hours of Fuji is a commendable result, given the fact the programme is still so young, the highly competitive performance delivered by the Aston Martin THOR Team, Valkyrie, and both the drivers, was hugely encouraging,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance, Adam Carter.
“Just as in the Lone Star Le Mans at The Circuit of The Americas earlier in the month, Valkyrie was able to race near the front of the field. And in Fuji it demonstrated enough pace to make it a genuine podium contender. Had we not witnessed such an eventful race, I don’t believe it is unrealistic to think we could have claimed one of the top positions in the race. That is a huge testament to the team and another example of the positive momentum we are building within the programme.”
Never out of the top five in all three free practice sessions, three-time GT world champion Sørensen qualified fastest for Saturday’s prestigious Hyperpole session before ultimately securing a place on the inside of the second row of the grid for Sunday’s race.
The Dane was tasked with starting what proved to be a chaotic race neutralised no less than six times because of lengthy full course yellow periods. The #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie ran a comfortable third initially, shadowing the leaders with pace in hand until the first of those FCYs. He then dropped to the back of the Hypercar Class pack with a drive-through penalty, before unleashing a breathtaking charge to rise again through the order.
Riberas was faced with a similar task as frequent FCYs put the Valkyrie out of track position through no fault of the team, but the Spaniard delivered an exceptional performance to calmly navigate all the drama and climb as high as fourth.
When Sørensen returned to the car for his final stint, he was often the fastest driver/car combination on track, but a final stop to take on four fresh tyres while those around him settled for two, ultimately put a maiden podium tantalisingly out of reach as he raced past the #7 Toyota and the 6 Hours of São Paulo-winning Cadillac to finish sixth.
“When you look back to Qatar at the start of the season a result like this would have seemed like a dream,” said Aston Martin THOR Team principal Ian James. “Now we’re a little frustrated not to have achieved a podium finish. We have become more and more competitive and we will keep pushing. We are racing against the best sportscar teams in the world and we can hold our heads high after that performance.”
The result meant that Sørensen and Riberas became the first Aston Martin drivers to claim world championship points in WEC’s top class. It was the second points finish for the team, which scored two points for finishing 12th in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
“That was one crazy race,” said Sørensen. “There was so much going on, with so many FCYs and Safety Cars, it made the race very difficult to manage in a lot of areas. I think we did the most we could in the circumstances. We made a few mistakes, but in the end, we had good pace and it kind of feels like we were fast enough to be on the podium. I think the pace we showed today, where we were fighting right at the front, just showed how far the whole programme has come since Qatar. I’m sure that we’re going to keep building on this, as we have all season and we will try again in Bahrain.”
Riberas added: “This does feel a little bittersweet, as crazy as it sounds. Firstly, huge congratulations to the team. To say we are not completely happy to have finished sixth, when you think back to where we were at the beginning of the programme, is definitely a very good sign. But today was one of those races where everything was just so unpredictable, when all we needed was just a clean run to have a shot at the podium!”
Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and THOR, the competition version blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per regulations.
The final round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place in Bahrain, on Saturday, 8 November.
UPDATE - A late post race penalty for another competitor sees them given a post race time penalty in lieu of a drive through penalty and that now lifts the #009 car up to P5 in class.
Source material – Aston Martin
Source material – Aston Martin
Sunday, September 28, 2025 |
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The World Endurance championship rides into CoTA town for round six of the season
The FIA World Endurance Championship arrives in Texas, for the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans, as momentum continues to build through the trail-blazing debut season of the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar. Valkyrie is the first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ to be produced by Aston Martin. Raced by the works Aston Martin The heart of Racing Team, Valkyrie is also the only car in WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar.
Many US-based motorsport fans are familiar with Valkyrie, which is the only LMH to compete in both the FIA WEC and in North America’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and has scored top 10 finishes in every race it has contested in the USA – including Road America most recently, where the US-based version of the Aston Martin THOR Team finished in an encouraging sixth place.
In WEC, where Aston Martin competes against seven of the world’s most prominent endurance sportscar manufacturers, Valkyrie is also growing in competitiveness. This was evidenced by its combined best qualifying performance (11th and 12th) in the most recent Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, in July. The car also raced deep into the top ten in the early hours of the event. This follows an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans (in June) where both Valkyrie Hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue, finishing 12th and 14th, and the UK-based ‘WEC’ arm of the Aston Martin THOR Team registered the cars’, and Aston Martin’s first Manufacturer’s World Championship points in the Hypercar Class.
Valkyrie made its global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February. The British machine has subsequently demonstrated outstanding reliability, having finished 14 times from 15 starts in all competitions.
The Aston Martin THOR Team will keep to its two regular WEC Valkyrie line-ups for the Lone Star Le Mans, with the #007 driven by Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell and the #009 by Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen.
There are few circuits on Earth more suited to showcasing the breathtaking prowess of Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 than the Circuit of the Americas – the venue for Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the scene of unprecedented glory for the British brand’s most successful racing car.
In its various iterations, Vantage has claimed no less than 10 class victories derived from 13 podium appearances – four of which were double-class wins – as well as seven class pole positions. Its credentials were cemented further in 2024, when the latest iteration – Vantage GT3 – underpinned The Heart of Racing’s (THOR) and team principal Ian James maiden victory in the LMGT3 Class, along with his co-drivers Alex Riberas who now forms part of the Valkyrie works line-up, and Daniel Mancinelli.
James returns this year as a regular class frontrunner, alongside Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi looking to repeat the team’s home race heroics of 2024 with of the #27 Vantage.
The Racing Spirit of Léman crew, returns to its original 2025 driver line-up of Derek DeBoer, Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #10 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The team arrives in Austin still on a high from its first WEC podium finish in LMGT3, after Barrichello raced to a dramatic third place in the closing stages of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in July. RSL will be looking to maintain that momentum in Texas this weekend.
The Racing Spirit of Léman crew, returns to its original 2025 driver line-up of Derek DeBoer, Eduardo Barrichello and Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #10 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The team arrives in Austin still on a high from its first WEC podium finish in LMGT3, after Barrichello raced to a dramatic third place in the closing stages of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in July. RSL will be looking to maintain that momentum in Texas this weekend.
“It seems as though we have been competitive all season long in WEC,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter. “And yet for one reason or another, it’s taken until the second half of the season for Vantage to achieve its podium potential. A winner last year in COTA, we see no reason why both cars are not capable of competing for similar results this year in the Lone Star Le Mans. We wish both our partner teams (The Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Léman) well in pursuit of this goal.”
Source material – Aston Martin (Racing)
Tuesday, September 02, 2025 |
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Will the four Aston Martin powered crews be able to impress at the six hours of São Paulo?
With the cars and equipment having been packed and shipped straight almost immediately after the flagship ACO event, this weekend sees the team personnel having already made their way down to Brazil for the six hours of Sao Paulo, the fifth round of the season.
Whilst we (like many) may have thought that full season entries, three Heart of Racing and one Racing Spirit of Leman entries and all was tickety-boo – that is apparently not quite the case within the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3.
Whilst Valentin Hasse-Clot and local hero Eduardo Barrichello remain constant within the car, Derek DeBoer steps aside to allow fellow American Anthony McIntosh his first WEC encounter with the pairing then apparently splitting the remaining races of the season between them.
In the other Vantage LMGT3 from the Heart of Racing team, we will again see the familiar faces of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi behind the wheel of the #27 car.
As the race is also down to its more familiar six-hour time distance, we are also back down to two drivers apiece within each of the #007 and #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars from the Heart of Racing team as Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell pair up again within the #007 and with Marco Sorenson and Alex Riberas doing likewise within the #009.
Despite early promises of speed and their first elevation into Hyperpole for the #009 Valkyrie of Sorensen, the longevity of the new platform during the race failed to materialise in comparison to their peers BUT both cars did manage to complete the gruelling 24 hours at the first time of asking which was a tremendous achievement. Then within the LMGT3 class, it was a class pole position for the #27 car, but they just missed out on a class podium finish as they finished fourth in class. The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman meanwhile, saw their race hopes disappear early on with technical issues where necessary repairs saw them return many laps down.
With that disappointment behind them, the #59 car will be one to watch with both Hasse-Clot and McIntosh race ready after other recent racing commitments both in Europe and the USA keeping them sharp.
It’s a similar case for the Heart of Racing contingent after many of them participated within the recent Spa 24 and 25-Hour Fun Cup races around Spa Francorchamps.
Off track, there have also been plenty of adjustments within each of the Aston Martin powered classes with the Vantage LMGT3 getting power/energy/base weight adjustments and with the Valkyrie getting the biggest positive adjustment in class which should see it run faster for longer per stint but only time will tell on that one!
Track action begins on Friday with the first of three Free Practice sessions before Qualifying and Hyperpole on Saturday before the six hours of Sao Paulo being waved off at 11:30 hrs local.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)
Wednesday, July 09, 2025 |
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Le Mans 24 Test Day completed by the four Aston Martin (Racing) powered runners today
Having already taken to the streets of Le Mans old town yesterday evening for the now traditional car parade, today saw the two new Valkyrie Hypercars from the Heart of Racing team tick off another first to finally realise that initial hope and desire of racing a true road to racetrack hypercar at the hallowed circuit.
Two, three-hour sessions were again available to all the Hypercar/LMP2 and LMGT3 crews – split either side of an hour lunch break but as usual, there was little to no time to do anything other than prepare both the car and the crews for the start of the officially timed sessions which begin on Wednesday.
For the rookie drivers, that included attaining their minimum ten laps to advance into night qualifying and from what we can make out from the timing results is that both Derek DeBoer and Eduardo Barrichello aboard their #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Vantage LMGT3 as well as Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi did as well aboard their #23 Heart of Racing Vantage LMGT3 across the two sessions.
Track activity didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts, however, as the #007 Valkyrie of Tom Gamble was pinged for speeding within the pit lane at the start of the session 1 which saw him and the team get a fine as well as the loss of all his lap times up until that point. Fortunately, that was the only transgression (other than track limits) that any of the four crews suffered within the test although the #009 car of Marco Sorensen did have an off at Indianapolis which did reduce its overall lap count in session 2.
Between the four cars, we calculated that they covered just over two thousand miles between them with two hundred and forty-two laps of the 8.467-mile circuit being ticked off with their early setups and systems checks and preparatory works.
Like usual to any FIA World Endurance Championship round, pushing the envelope of performance is never on the agenda for Aston Martin powered teams but all cars sat comfortably within the time spread between all cars in each class – 4.8 seconds in hypercar and 4.3 seconds for LMGT3 in session one and 3.1 seconds and 4.9 seconds respectively in session 2.
Whilst this was the first time that anyone could see the new Valkyrie perform at Le Mans within its LM24 specific Balance of Performance, the old tradition with all classes with ‘sandbagging’ is a usual point of caution. Only with the start of Free Practice 1 will we start to see and understand the true situation with performance across all classes.
Tomorrow sees no track or paddock activity before rolling into the autograph/pit walk and pit stop challenge sessions on Tuesday before the cars get back on the track later on Wednesday.
Photo credits – Kelvin Pope (Red Firecracker)
Sunday, June 08, 2025 |
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A busy week for the Heart of Racing Valkyrie on both sides of the pond
Meanwhile, at Laguna Seca, on the first competitive weekend where all three Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries were in action on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean at the same time, the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship entry achieved a third consecutive points finish and maintained its 100% finishing record in the series with tenth place.
“The performance of all three Valkyries was encouraging this weekend,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Adam Carter. “That both WEC entries were able to run on the lead lap throughout the six hours, on a fast and challenging circuit such as Spa, demonstrates the progress we’ve made with our performance development of the car. The upwards trajectory of Valkyrie’s pace in comparison to our WEC Hypercar class rivals is positive as we look ahead to the most important race of the season – the 24 Hours of Le Mans [14-15 June].
“In America, Valkyrie ran well and deep in the points-scoring positions until it was struck by an unfortunate tyre issue after contact. Despite this, the car was able to collect points for the third race in succession which is satisfying. Across the two championships Valkyrie has achieved eight finishes in nine starts, which is a strong record for a brand new Hypercar programme. This robust reliability is a strong asset as we look to continue building performance into Valkyrie through its debut season.
Both the #007 Valkyrie, driven by British racers Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell, which finished 13th, and the sister #009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen which placed 14th, ran without issue throughout an eventful, Safety Car-interrupted six-hour race at Spa. Indeed the #007 was running 10th (having placed as high as fourth through the stop sequence in the final hour) with four laps to go when it became necessary for a ‘splash-and-dash’ energy stop.
“Step by step everything is improving all the time,” said Tincknell. “We were legitimately fighting for a point at the end of the race, but unfortunately, we needed to box for some energy. We just needed one more Full Course Yellow for half a lap, but there was no way anyone was going to pass me on track. We’re flying now, and at the end of the stint the car is coming back to us more and more. From Qatar, to Imola, to here, we’ve made huge steps and this is fantastic.”
At Laguna Seca, another challenging track for drivers and cars Aston Martin THOR Team drivers Ross Gunn – an IMSA GTD Pro class winner at Long Beach – and Roman De Angelis, the 2022 IMSA GTD champion, delivered on another solid, competitive run to bring Valkyrie home in tenth and finish in the points again. This follows on from tenth place on the car’s debut at Sebring in February, and then eighth place at Long Beach last month. Yesterday’s result extends a record-setting run of points finishes for a car built to FIA-homologated Hypercar Regulations.
“We had another progressive race at Laguna Seca,” said Gunn. “Unfortunately, in the race we suffered a puncture when we were within 20 seconds of the leaders after 45 minutes. From then on it was just about bringing it home to the finish, which we did. In general, it’s been a positive weekend in terms of the steps that we have made and how we managed to get closer to the midfield of the GTP class. Now we can take everything we have learned and build it into Detroit in three weeks’ time.
The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ to be produced by Aston Martin, Valkyrie is the only car in IMSA’s premier GTP category derived from a road-legal hypercar. The British contender is also the first LMH car of any kind to compete in IMSA, and the only one contesting both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship simultaneously, having made its debut in the Qatar 1812km in February.
Source material / photo credits – AMR
Monday, May 12, 2025 |
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Front row FIA WEC start for the Racing Spirit of Leman AMR at Spa tomorrow
Glorious weather has so far benefitted the thirty-six strong Hypercar and LMGT3 grid which of course again features two Aston Martin powered Valkyries within the top-flight class and two Aston Martin Racing Vantage LMGT3’s in the other – all fielded by the Heart of Racing and the Racing Spirit of Leman teams.
Inter-round Balance of Performance changes within the Hypercar class saw the #007 and #009 cars benefit from a low-end power increase and weight decrease all at the expense of a reduction within their maximum available power stint parameters which the team had hoped would put them in good stead at this speed circuit and in full dress rehearsal for next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Free Practice had kind of realised those expectations with both cars not featuring at the wrong end of the timing screens although a late off for the #007 at the end of the protracted FP2 session last night saw their preparations take on some emergency repairs after Tom Gamble backed the car into the tyre wall at turn ten.
Going into this morning’s final Free Practice session, there were no obvious ill-effects from that incident last night with both cars completing the full hour-long session.
Qualifying this afternoon was, however, another matter as despite progressive improvements from both Harry Tincknell in the #007 (with Tom Gamble) and Alex Riberas in the #009 (with Marco Sorensen), the teams progressive steps so far with their new chassis saw both cars again feature at the tail end of the class come the end of the session.
With a best lap time of 2:02:282 for the #007 and 2:02:403 for the #009, tomorrows race will start again from P17 and P18 respectively, but with both cars running to within one second of nearly half their class over a one lap stint – tomorrows race could still be very interesting for them.
Then in LMGT3, it was a role reversal for the two AMR Vantage LMGT3 teams as the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman car of Derek DeBoer finally made good on his earlier ambition to getting through to both stages of qualifying as the American dug deep within his final qualifying lap to produce a lap time of 2:19:736 to take his car into Hyperpole for the first time with a P8 finish.
The #27 Heart of Racing AMR of Ian James had been looking comfortable within his new for Spa Vantage LMGT3 after his previous car was written off in that Imola crash last time out as he then handed the car over to their silver grade driver Zacharie Robichon.
Taking charge of the #10 car for Hyperpole was Eduardo Barichello who too left matters to the last minute before posting his fastest lap to go second, just a quarter of a second off the pole position pace from the #78 Lexus. That final lap trumped the efforts of the #27 as Zacharie had to make do with a P6 starting position tomorrow.
Valentin Hasse-Clot and Mattia Drudi complete the two Vantage LMGT3 crews for Racing Spirit of Leman and Heart of Racing respectively.
The weather for race day appears like that of the last two days with the possibility of it being slightly warmer again which will certainly help those initial laps of cold new tyres. This time around, the start of the six-hour race will not be until 14:00hrs local, making for something of a late finish on site – but it’s Spa, and who cares about that!!
Friday, May 09, 2025 |
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