The latest thrilling chapter in Aston Martin’s great sporting story continues this weekend, as the British ultra-luxury sportscar brand’s Valkyrie hypercar makes its European race debut at the second round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 6 Hours of Imola.
The first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ (LMH) to be produced by Aston Martin, Valkyrie is the only car in the WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar. Its global debut, masterminded by the works Aston Martin THOR team in at the Qatar 1812km of Qatar in February, began an historic season for the British machine. Valkyrie is the only LMH to compete in both the FIA WEC and in North America’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and scored a top-10 finish on its US debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring – renowned as North America’s toughest endurance race – in March.
Highlights
- Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar set for European race debut as FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) continues in Italy
- Valkyrie is the only hypercar to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, the WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in 2025
- The Aston Martin THOR Team continues preparations to take the Wings back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans to fight for its first overall victory since 1959
- All-British line-up, Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble will race Valkyrie #007
- Three-time FIA WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas will drive Valkyrie #009
Developed by Aston Martin and THOR from the Valkyrie production model, the LMH version blends a race-optimized 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) regulation power limit.
Valkyrie positions Aston Martin – present in the FIA WEC every year since the series’ inception in 2012 and one of its most successful manufacturers with 11 championship titles – in contention to challenge for a first outright victory at the world’s greatest race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since Carroll Shelby (USA) and Roy Salvadori (GBR) triumphed in the Aston Martin DBR1 in 1959.
As Imola’s race lasts six hours – the traditional length for an FIA WEC event – rather than the 10 of the Qatar event, both the #007 and #009 Valkyries will feature two-driver line-ups rather than the trios that competed at the opener. The #007 Valkyrie comprises an all-British line-up as Harry Tincknell, the 2016 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) overall champion and 2020 Le Mans LMGT3 winner, is joined by rising star Tom Gamble, the ELMS LMP3 title-winner in 2020. Tincknell’s first sportscar victory came in the ELMS at Imola in 2014, while Gamble was a podium-finisher there in the same series in 2022.
Marco Sørensen (DEN), three times an FIA WEC title-winner in GT classes, is joined in the sister #009 Valkyrie by long-time THOR racer Alex Riberas (ESP); part of the team’s FIA WEC LMGT3-winning line-up at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) last year and of the crew that finished fourth in the class at last year’s Imola race.
Above content © 2025 Aston Martin Racing, reviewed and edited by Rex McAfee
