For the first time in the FIA World Endurance Championship, both Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars placed inside the top ten in FP2 in Brazil yesterday (11 July), raising hopes of a more competitive display for the famous British manufacturer in tomorrow’s Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo.
Since debuting in FIA WEC back at the start of the 2025 season, the pair of Aston Martin THOR Team prototypes have yet to trouble the scorers, but on the evidence of their form thus far at Interlagos, that could be set to change this weekend.
In FP2 on Friday afternoon around the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Harry Tincknell put the #007 entry fifth on the timesheets amongst the 18 high-calibre Hypercars, with team-mate Alex Riberas barely a tenth-of-a-second further in arrears behind the wheel of the sister V12-engined Valkyrie in eighth.
In FP3 this morning, Riberas was less than 0.1sec shy of sealing a spot inside the top ten again in the #009 car – and heading into qualifying later today (14:45 local time / 19:45 CEST), the mood inside the camp is bullish, with the feeling that a Hyperpole berth or two could just be on the cards.
“Coming to a track we’d never driven on before – both as a team and myself personally – FP1 was really tough,” reflected Tincknell, “but while the car was difficult to drive in that session, we still weren’t that far away, so I was thinking, if we can make it a bit easier to drive, we should be quite near the top, which rung true in FP2.
“To be in the top five for the first time was amazing, but even more encouraging was the feeling in the car. The Valkyrie seems to be very reactive to the changes round here, we’re learning a lot and we’re making really good progress.”
“We knew that on paper, this is a track that should suit us and be good for the Valkyrie, but you never know until you try it,” added Riberas. “It’s been a monumental effort from everybody to continue to make strides forward all season, and our form here so far is just another example of how hard this team is working and the quality of everybody involved. The feeling overall is very optimistic.”
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