Aston Martin Valkyrie Shines at Spa and Laguna Seca
Aston Martin's Valkyrie hypercar delivered its strongest FIA World Endurance Championship showing yet at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, claiming 13th and 14th overall and battling for points until the chequered flag on Saturday. At Laguna Seca, where all three Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries raced on both sides of the Atlantic for the first time, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entry secured a third successive points finish. It protected its perfect reliability record with a tenth place.
“The performance of all three Valkyries was encouraging this weekend,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Adam Carter. “Both WEC entries were able to run on the lead lap throughout the six hours on a fast and challenging circuit such as Spa, demonstrating our progress with the performance development of the car. The upwards trajectory of Valkyrie’s pace compared 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 collected 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.”
British duo Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell steered the #007 Valkyrie to 13th. At the same time, Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen guided the #009 sister car to 14th after an eventful, Safety-Car-interrupted contest at Spa. Tincknell ran as high as fourth during the pit-stop cycle and still held tenth with four laps remaining before a late ‘splash-and-dash’ energy stop.
“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 needed one more Full Course Yellow for half a lap, but there was no way anyone would pass me on track. We’re flying now, and at the end of the stint, the car is returning to us more and more. From Qatar, Imola, to here, we’ve made huge steps, which is fantastic.”
On another demanding circuit, Laguna Seca, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis kept Valkyrie inside the IMSA GTP points, despite a puncture, and finished tenth. The result followed tenth on debut at Sebring and eighth at Long Beach, extending the FIA-homologated Le Mans Hypercar’s run of points in every IMSA appearance.
“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. We can take everything we have learned and build it into Detroit in three weeks.”
Valkyrie is Aston Martin's first Le Mans Hypercar and the only road-derived hypercar competing in IMSA’s premier GTP category. It is also the sole LMH contender racing in both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, debuting at the Qatar 1812 km in February. Aston Martin and THOR developed the competition version from the production model, combining a race-optimised carbon-fibre chassis with a re-engineered 6.5-litre V12 that revs to 11,000 rpm. Although the unit produces more than 1,000 bhp in standard form, Hypercar regulations cap output at 500 kW (680 bhp).
