MOTORSPORT – THE Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar concluded its debut season of international competition with a second-straight points finish at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain last weekend, after leading a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the first time.
The seventh-place result for Aston Martin Thor Team’s #009 entry, driven by three-time WEC GT champion Marco Sorensen, 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.
Aston Martin’s first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ (LMH) showed its 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 headed a WEC race. It was a fitting end to a trail-blazing debut season.
Valkyrie is the first LMH to be produced by Aston Martin. 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 international debut in the Qatar 1,812km in February. This unique and ambitious programme has grown in competitiveness at every turn through a gruelling 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,” said Aston Martin endurance motorsport head Adam Carter.
“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.”
Developed from the Valkyrie production car, the competition version blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1,000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per Hypercar regulations.
Said Sorensen: “We should be proud of what we have achieved this year for sure. If you look at the last three races, we have had a car that had the pace to finish on the podium.
“Now we have to take these learnings into next year and build on the progress. Now we go into the winter with a lot of motivation, and we just want to push everyone so that we are ready to fight from the start of next season.”
The 2026 WEC campaign kicks off in March, with Bahrain’s race set to be the season-ender once more on November 7 next year.
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