Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, Adam Carter, previews round three of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign – the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend (10-14 June) – with confidence in The Heart of Racing’s ability to pull off an upset with its pair of Valkyrie Hypercars.
Aston Martin outfit The Heart of Racing (THOR) takes on the world’s greatest endurance race off the back of its best-ever result in the FIA World Endurance Championship. In round two of the 2026 season – last month’s TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – British duo Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell piloted the mighty #007 Valkyrie to fourth place, just five seconds adrift of the race-winning #20 BMW.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys and girls behind me who have worked so hard to improve the car so much,” Tincknell said. “We are a completely different set-up now compared to this time last year.”
Speaking to fiawec.com ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, Adam Carter, praised THOR’s great execution in the Ardennes: “Spa was a difficult event for several of our competitors, which created a lot of opportunity, but the team had to be ready and capable to make the most of that, and it was.”
Had the sister #009 entry not retired in the final hour following a tussle for fifth position along the Kemmel Straight, Aston Martin would have strengthened its grip on fourth place in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.
Still, the Gaydon marque is on the up. In the last four FIA WEC rounds, one of the two Valkyries has secured points, which is a considerable achievement given Le Mans will be only the car’s 11th race in the series. “If we can continue to build upon that, it will be very satisfying indeed,” Carter mulls.
Quizzed on the monumental progress the Valkyrie project has made since its inception, Carter admits ‘the team has come a long way’. The Brit – whose background includes engineering spells in Formula 1 with teams such as Renault and Williams – discusses what it takes to build a racing programme from the ground up against international motorsport’s elite. “It’s all ultimately based upon team performance, and it’s about getting the right people and creating the right environment for everybody to perform. That’s a huge effort.”
Such an effort paid dividends as the squad shifted the expectations for its sophomore FIA WEC campaign towards extracting on-track performance. Carter underlines that Aston Martin THOR Team reviewed what had been achieved over the past year and adjusted the workings within the team. “A lot of the work we did was looking at where our deficits were – for example, out-lap performance – and finding solutions.”
At Spa, both Valkyries seemed to struggle to get their tyres up to temperature, but the roaring, stunning British Racing Green-liveried prototypes were particularly competitive and at ease through the track’s fastest sections, offering an encouraging omen for Le Mans.
Aston Martin THOR Team heads back to La Sarthe following a promising maiden outing in the twice-round-the-clock contest in 2025, when both the #007 and #009 took the chequered flag without any discernible technical issues – one of Carter’s standout memories of the first season racing the Valkyrie.
“Le Mans was a milestone moment for us,” he reflects. “The event is incredibly challenging – not just for the cars, but for the drivers and everyone working in the team – so to finish with both cars at our first attempt was very special.”
Carter acknowledges that Aston Martin THOR Team is still learning about racing at Le Mans and competing in the Hypercar category, but that does not mean the British brand will pass up the opportunity to fight for overall honours and make the Valkyrie the long-awaited heir to the 1959-winning #5 DBR1 of Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby.
“Aston Martin’s very DNA was forged through competition, and that spirit runs through every single part of the team,” he asserts. “Every one of us wants to see the famous Wings succeed again, and we are doing everything in our power to make that happen.” Carter says that Aston Martin heads to France with winning on its mind, ‘because that’s what we’re here to try and do’.
“We will continue to work on understanding and developing to improve our platform,” he urges. “If we can show by the end of the weekend that we have taken a step forward in this direction, that will count as success.”
As Aston Martin THOR Team looks to rekindle its glorious past with the Valkyrie – whose naturally-aspirated, non-hybrid V12 is a throwback in itself – Carter is adamant that today’s regulations bode well for the future of endurance racing, highlighting the strength of the Hypercar field: “We’ve always said there is only any point in racing if there is worthwhile competition. The competition in this paddock is very much worthwhile.”
Carter also hailed the FIA, the ACO and IMSA for having devised a platform that creates an opportunity for a variety of cars – including a road-derived Hypercar like the Valkyrie – to race competitively over a single event: “They deserve a great deal of credit for successfully achieving this difficult task. Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing have every faith in the powers-that-be to give us the fairest playing field possible to go racing. We are very proud to bring Valkyrie to the fight.”
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