Aston Martin “very satisfied” with the first run of the Valkyrie during the Prologue

That's it, Aston Martin spent his baptism in the top category of theEndurance. Gaydon's brand successfully debugged the Valkyrie during the Prologue of WEC, held last Friday and Saturday in Qatar. The British manufacturer, associated with the Heart of Racing team to support its Hypercar effort, had two productive days with a total of 549 laps completed over the four test sessions. The two Valkyries collected a lot of valuable data, and even if the time was not very flattering (a best time of 1'41″089, 2″118 from the reference set by the BMW n°20), the essential was elsewhere for Aston Martin.

The main concern of the Anglo-American clan was obviously the reliability of its two Valkyries with naturally aspirated V12 engines. On this point, despite a few minor glitches and "little things here and there", with in particular two track exits without consequences for the n°007, Aston Martin got off well with 2953 kilometers covered. "We are very pleased with the number of laps we have completed and the mileage we have covered here, said Ian James, Heart of Racing Team Principal, from Sportscar365. Obviously we are still in the learning phase. A few little spins, exploring the limits and some system settings, but we are very happy with the progress we have made. We are working day by day on the programme so that all the drivers are happy in the car and we are gradually finding a little bit more performance here and there.

Aston Martin aims for double arrival in Qatar

While reliability was a given during this Prologue, Aston Martin still has a long way to go to perform well in a competitive and much more experienced Hypercar field. The Prologue was also an opportunity for the British manufacturer to observe the competition and draw inspiration from the best. “Even though we did the tyre tests in Bahrain with everyone, when you are here in the fervour for the first race of the year and you do the Prologue, you learn a lot, Ian James stressed. You see the characteristics of the other cars and you can observe what they do a little bit more closely. We know we have a long way to go and we are going to be reasonable about it and do it at our own pace."

"But we're very proud to have this car, it's running and everyone seems to like it, so that's positive, adds the American-British leader, realistic about Aston Martin's objectives during the first race in Qatar. I think at this stage of the programme we should be happy with where we are, but it would be a dream to get to the end of the race with both cars. So we have 20 hours to go to achieve that, but the car has been running reliably and the team is working really well for this first round. Seeing the checkered flag will be the goal of the two Aston Martin Valkyries on Friday, at the finish of the 1812km of Qatar. The trios Tincknell – Gamble – Gunn and Riberas – Sørensen – De Angelis will be keen to accomplish this mission for the Gaydon firm.

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