With a full season of racing now under its belt, the progress made by the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is clear for all to see.
As expected of any new effort, the project had a figuratively quiet start at the FIA WEC season opener in Qatar, but a solid run to a top 10 finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring showed that the The Heart of Racing Team behind the effort was on the right tracks.
By mid-season, one-lap pace had started to materialise, with Marco Sørensen sneaking into Hyperpole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, whilst a double finish at the French enduro validated the V12-powered machine’s reliability.
Things would only go upwards from here. Hyperpole appearances became the norm in the FIA WEC, with third on the grid at Fuji a particular highlight, whilst improved race pace saw Aston Martin start to challenge over a full-race distance.
The programme scored its first top five finish with fifth in Japan, before rounding out the year with seventh in Bahrain earlier this month, where the car also led laps in the FIA WEC for the first time following an impressive charge through the field by Alex Riberas shortly before the halfway mark.
Meanwhile, in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, a top six finish at Road America in August was followed up by the project’s maiden podium at October’s Petit Le Mans, as the Valkyrie came alive once the sun set over Road Atlanta and showcased the pace required to challenge for victory.
Heading into the car’s sophomore season, where The Heart of Racing will again field two Valkyries in the FIA WEC and one in IMSA, the goal is clear: Make that podium-contending form a regular occurrence, and try to challenge its more established rivals for some silverware.
“For sure, the steps are going to get smaller and smaller, like anything,” Sørensen tells DSC about the car’s development entering 2026. “But already now we have a decent package. I guess when the new season starts in Qatar, there should be a possibility of being up there and fighting, and that’s what you want. Because obviously, when you miss out on the first three, four races, until after Le Mans, where we only started to get some pace, the championship and everything is kind of gone at that point.
“For sure, next year, we need to start the first race in Qatar and get some proper points and be fighting up there for the championship. And that’s definitely what I want, and I’m sure that’s also what the team wants, is to be getting a championship for the team and the drivers.
“And then obviously you have Le Mans, which is a bit set off from everything, but I’m quite sure we’ll be better off with the car we have now at Le Mans than we what we had at Le Mans this year.”
Aston Martin THOR Team has elected not to utilise one of its five development ‘jokers’ over the off-season, in the knowledge that there is still performance to be found by maximising its current package. This especially applies on the software front, a key battleground of the current era.
Work for 2026 is already underway, with the team having attended IMSA’s Sanctioned Test at the Daytona International Speedway last weekend, and plans in place to test at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar before Christmas.
“There are things you can change within the regulations and electronics, tuning and control systems that we’re still improving all the time,” Team Principal Ian James explains.
“We’re getting a better understanding of the car for our simulations, the engineers are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to see how they can improve the ride quality, for example, which is still an area where we’re lacking a little bit. So there’s so much to do, and there is no off-season anymore, it’s flat out.”
Whilst the majority of new top-flight prototype projects aim to bring in experienced drivers to assist with early development, The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin adopted a different approach by promoting internally.
Four of its current drivers raced for The Heart of Racing in 2024, with the exceptions being former driver Tom Gamble and ex-Aston Martin works driver Harry Tincknell.
Tincknell was the only one of the sextet to possess previous top class prototype experience, from Nissan in LMP1, Mazda in DPi, and most recently Proton Competition in Hypercar.
“I think when we first announced the lineups, there was a few little question marks there,” says James. “But in general, I think everybody is surprised how well they’ve done. We’ve seen some real stellar, standout performances during the year from some of them, and put them on the radar of really being future stars of Hypercar.”
As the veterans of the team, responsibility presumably fell on Sørensen and Tincknell to take on a leadership role, especially over 24-year-olds Gamble and Roman De Angelis.
Sørensen worked particularly closely with the latter, having shared a car with the Canadian at Qatar, Le Mans and Bahrain.
“I wouldn’t say we’re team leaders,” the Dane explains. “But we’re definitely trying to do our job in the best way and be role models, for especially Roman that is quite a bit younger than us, so [we] try to give him everything we can to feel comfortable.
“It’s just been exciting so far, I would say that’s the main part of it. Alex is bringing a lot to the whole programme, and Roman can bring some stuff to this team as well. So for sure, everyone is kind of working together.”
Aston Martin THOR Team is yet to confirm its 2026 driver roster, although no major changes are currently expected.
One driver who’d like to break into the squad in the future is Mattia Drudi, who has raced for The Heart of Racing in LMGT3 this season, scored pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was given the opportunity to pilot the Valkyrie in the FIA WEC Rookie Test as a thank you for his efforts.
The 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup drivers’ champion has emerged as one of Aston Martin’s leading GT talents since joining the British marque at the beginning of 2024, taking a starring role in both its historic victory at the 24 Hours of Spa last year, and its unsuccessful defence this past June.
For the Italian, the next step he’d like to take in his career is clear: “I never deny that Hypercar is my target for the future”, he admits. “It’s a great opportunity to drive the Valkyrie, especially looking at the season they had, it’s going better and better. They show that they have great speed, and the car is performing really well.
“I really hope I can get the chance to be there with them in the near future. It’s a solid programme so I don’t have the rush to be there straight away, but I would like to, of course.
“I raced quite a bit in GT and it would be super nice to be in a top class of endurance racing. I’m not the youngest anymore, but I still feel quite young, so I hope I still have some time.”
Drudi completed 97 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit during the Rookie Test, and ended the day third fastest of those piloting a Hypercar for the first time.
For GT specialists such as the 27-year-old, the current set of regulations has come about at the perfect time, with the characteristics of the LMH and LMDh machinery which make up the top class requiring a driving style which mixes that of a GT car and a traditional prototype.
“It’s great now, because it’s quite different from the past when LMP1 and GT were complete different worlds,” he says.
“Now I see all the GT drivers can fit in Hypercar as well. They are a bit heavier cars compared to in the past, and the driving style can be adapted from GT to Hypercar. Of course, you have more power, more downforce, so you need to get used to that, but at lower speeds all the physics from the car are quite similar.
“You can see that most of the teams are using drivers coming from GT and it works well, because they want some more championships, some big races. It’s really nice because it gives us [drivers] that come from GT only, a bigger opportunity for stepping up to Hypercar.
“It’s going to be better and better in the future with Hypercar, with all the other manufacturers coming, so it’s nice. It’s a good year to be a GT driver now.”
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