Aston Martin THOR Team’s WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP driver roster and liveries for 2025 have been revealed ahead of the Valkyrie AMR-LMH’s global race debut at Qatar later this month.
In the FIA WEC, Harry Tincknell, Aston Martin’s most recent British 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, will be joined by former McLaren factory driver Tom Gamble (below) in the #007 for the full season.
“Harry Tincknell was heavily involved in the development of the Valkyrie, so we wanted to incorporate him early on into the test programme, he has other GTP experience (with Proton Competition). He very quickly identified himself as a good team player, and his track record speaks for itself,” team principal Ian James said.
“And I rate Tom (Gamble) very highly as a natural talent and he deserves a chance in the spotlight at the highest level of sports car racing.”
The sister #009 will see longtime Aston Martin factory driver Marco Sorensen and Heart of Racing regular Alex Riberas team up.
“Marco (Sorensen) is among the most experienced and successful drivers to ever race for Aston Martin and he’s waited a long time for his chance at the top class,” added James. “Having worked with him, having seen his ability and how cool he is under pressure, I think he’s a perfect fit for this programme.
“Alex Riberas has been proving himself in GTD Pro in IMSA the past couple of years, is an established race winner in IMSA and WEC, and excelled throughout the whole of WEC with us last year. He’s definitely part of the fabric of The Heart of Racing and deserves his seat.”
Over in North America, for Aston Martin THOR’s single-car IMSA GTP effort run out of a base in Phoenix Arizona, the driver pairing has been finalised too.
28-year-old British racer Ross Gunn and 2022 GTD class champion Roman De Angelis will drive the #23 entry and will join the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the first time at Sebring next month. There, the Valkyrie AMR-LMH will become the first LMH-spec prototype to compete in the championship alongside LMDh entries.
“Ross has been with us for the past four years and has become, without doubt, one of the best GT drivers in the world,” James expressed. “He proved it last year in the GTD Pro title race, just narrowly missing out. He’s a team player, is naturally gifted and has a feel for a race car that not many drivers have.
“As for Roman, I first drove with him in 2018 and he’s gone from strength to strength. He’s won the AMR Academy and the GTD championship, which is a unique achievement, and he’s become an out-and-out performer. He’s also a key ingredient in our sim programme in Phoenix.”
For the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, both Gunn and De Angelis will join the FIA WEC team to complete the driver line-up. Gunn will make it it an all-British crew in the #007 while De Angelis will add to the #009’s attack.
Third drivers will be utilised for some of the other longer races too. Aston Martin’s endurance racing boss Adam Carter confirmed to reporters ahead of this reveal that its IMSA drivers will compete in the WEC races in Qatar and Bahrain.
The IMSA crew will also be bolstered by a member of the WEC line-up for some of the Endurance Cup rounds, though there is no confirmation yet of who has been given the nod.
The Valkyrie itself looks stunning in the brand-new colour schemes shown off today for the FIA WEC and IMSA. It will sport a British racing green livery (featured) in the Hypercar and Heart of Racing’s familiar blue design in GTP.
With the homologation process about to come to an end, the V12-powered non-hybrid challenger from Aston Martin is now ready to race after its “comprehensive” global test programme.
The car has completed over 15,000 kilometres since last July, when the first chassis was shaken down in the UK with runs at Donington Park and Silverstone. Since then the car has also run in anger at Vallelunga, Jerez, Bahrain, Qatar, Road Atlanta, Sebring and Daytona.
“You can always be further up the road, but I’m happy with how the programme has progressed and with the reliability we have shown,” Ian James commented. “The whole team, from design to AMPT, from the manufacturing element to the race team, I couldn’t be happier in terms of how everything is integrated.”
Adam Carter added: “As with every competition Aston Martin, ultimately we are taking an extremely performant vehicle and tailoring its characteristics and capabilities to the requirements of the regulations, and within that optimising the performance opportunities.
“We have undertaken all of this work hand in hand with Aston Martin’s world-renowned design studio and with Aston Martin Performance Technologies taking a principal role in development.”
Images courtesy of Aston Martin
