Aston Martin Valkyrie reaches climax of debut world championship campaign

• Aston Martin Valkyrie set to conclude groundbreaking debut FIA WEC season with Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain
• Aston Martin THOR Team aims to maintain competitive momentum with spectacular V12-powered British hypercar in season finale
• Works Aston Martin IMSA drivers Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis rejoin WEC line-ups
• Works driver Mattia Drudi to make Hypercar debut in Rookie Test on Sunday following season conclusion
• Valkyrie the only ‘Hypercar’ to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship

3 November, 2025, Sakhir, Bahrain: The spectacular Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar will conclude its debut season of global competition this weekend when it participates in the climax of the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain (Saturday, 8 November).

Valkyrie is the first Le Mans Hypercar (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 global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February. This unique, ambitious and trail-blazing programme has grown in competitiveness at every turn through a gruelling season that has already covered nearly 22,000 racing miles, and seven WEC rounds (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans) for the two stunning, green Aston Martins.

“Aston Martin entered Hypercar in 2025 to compete on the world stage in endurance racing and at the highest level of competition,’ said Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport. “In WEC, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] in North America, we have found that level of competition to be extremely high, full of great talent with some well-established and deservedly respected programmes to race against.

“This is a worthy testament to the sanctioning bodies, the ACO, FIA and IMSA, who jointly created a set of regulations to allow cars of different architectures to compete against each other on the world stage. They took on a noble challenge and it is one they should be complimented on achieving.”

Valkyrie’s sporting momentum continues to grow after a highly promising September in which it fought for a podium position in the 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN) before recording its best WEC finish with fifth position overall. This, after the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar ran as high as fourth position in the rain-affected race in Austin (USA), earlier in the same month. Then in the IMSA finale – the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta – in mid-October, Valkyrie clinched its first podium in global competition, coming home within five seconds of a famous maiden victory.

This all follows an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans (in June) where both Valkyrie hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue to finish 12^th and 14^th, and the Aston Martin THOR Team registered the cars’ – and Aston Martin’s – first Manufacturers’ World Championship points in the Hypercar class.

The three works drivers responsible for the podium in Atlanta, Roman De Angelis (CDN), Ross Gunn (GBR) and Alex Riberas (ESP), all return to action in Bahrain as the eight-hour race length requires that each car is shared by three racers.

Gunn will re-join his British compatriots Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble in the #007 Valkyrie, having shared the car with them in Qatar and again at Le Mans. The same goes for De Angelis, who will drive the #009 entry alongside Riberas and three-time WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen (DEN).

Developed from the Valkyrie production car, the competition version blends a race-optimised 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) power limit as per hypercar regulations.

DRUDI STEPS UP TO HYPERCAR FOR ROOKIE TEST
The 2024 Spa 24 Hours winner and Aston Martin works driver Mattia Drudi (ITA) will get his first chance to sample WEC-specification Hypercar class machinery when he drives the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in the official Rookie Test in Bahrain on Sunday 9 November – the day after the 2025 season concludes.

Drudi, who shares the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with The Heart of Racing Team Principal Ian James and Zacharie Robichon (CDN), has been given the opportunity after consistently delivering world-class performances in LMGT3; notably his breathtaking class pole position for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Of course, I’m super excited to drive a car that is already iconic in the Hypercar Class, even though it is only its first season racing in WEC,” said Drudi. “I’ve been closely following the progress of Valkyrie throughout the championship and it was fantastic to see it record a strong result at Fuji.

“It will be interesting for me to drive straight after a race weekend so I can compare my data with what’s been collected during the event. It will also be a challenge to get used to a car that will be completely new for me. I must thank The Heart of Racing team for giving me the chance to drive the Valkyrie in the Rookie Test. It will be the perfect way to end my first WEC season with Aston Martin.”

James added: “Mattia thoroughly deserves this opportunity. Having raced alongside him all season, I’ve been able to witness his exceptional talent and I’m really interested to see what he makes of Valkyrie.”

TEAM QUOTES

Tom Gamble, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I can’t wait to get on track in Bahrain for the final race of the WEC season. We’ve gradually improved race by race and hopefully we can keep going on that trajectory and finish the season with a strong result.”

Ross Gunn, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “Bahrain is always a special place to end the season and I had some good results there in 2019 and 2020. It’s always a circuit that rewards the patient. The tyre degradation is huge and hopefully, with the work we are continuously doing to understand the car, that will play into the strengths of Valkyrie. My key task for the weekend is to try and support Harry and Tom as much as possible as well as the rest of the Aston Martin THOR Team. The aim, of course, is to try and get a double points finish and end the season on a high!”

Harry Tincknell, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “It’s one of the few circuits that we have a little bit of previous track data to work with as we did the test after the race last year. Obviously there has been a huge progression this season and we’re aiming to finish it off in style. The car is coming off the back of a podium from Petit Le Mans and at every race we have seen continued improvement – which is pretty magical. I don’t know of another programme that has had such consistent improvement race by race. It’s super-exciting to be a part of. Bahrain is very different to Fuji; it’s generally hot and the circuit is pretty low-grip these days, so traction and tyre wear will be at an absolute premium. I’m also looking forward to having Ross back in #007 and Roman in #009.”

Roman De Angelis, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m really looking forward to closing off the 2025 season. I haven’t driven on the Bahrain track in a long time, and we’ve yet to race our Valkyrie there so we have a big challenge ahead. But with the forward progress we have made all season, it would be great to close the year to get the best result yet in WEC.”

Alex Riberas, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m super-excited to go to Bahrain and race one more time in this magical 2025 season. It feels like only yesterday that we were struggling with the car and now we are coming off an historic first podium at Petit Le Mans. Now I can’t wait to culminate the season with a strong performance. The tyre degradation will be the biggest factor when it comes to the result, but I think we could be strong. We already had a pretty strong performance in Fuji with a top-five finish, which was incredible for everyone in the team, so let’s just keep this momentum going and go all-in for the season finale.”

Marco Sørensen, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I have many great memories from Bahrain including championship wins and race wins that mean a lot to me. This time things are a bit different. We know we’re not in the fight for the championship, but everything is still in our hands to deliver a strong result to end the season with. It’s a tough track for tyre wear, and the learning curve from FP1 will be completely different. I’m confident we have the tools now to find the right direction. I’m also really looking forward to having Roman back with us in the #009 car.”

Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “This has been a strong first season for Aston Martin THOR Team in the Hypercar class of WEC. The level of competition in WEC is extremely high, but we have worked hard, reacted to the learnings through the data we’ve gathered and built gradual performance into the car at every race. We hope to continue to do that in Bahrain and forward into 2026. It’s been hugely gratifying to experience the reception Valkyrie has had from the fans. As a team, it has been fantastic to race in the Hypercar class and we’re excited for what the future holds.”

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “We can be very satisfied with the progress of Valkyrie in year one of the programme, particularly in the latter half of the season where the sporting efficiency has taken an upward trajectory. That said, we are still very much at the beginning of the learning curve of Valkyrie, so for us to have achieved a top-five finish at Fuji was very pleasing. For now, our focus is on maintaining our competitive position through the final round of WEC and continuing to build on our knowledge and understanding of Valkyrie so that we can give ourselves a solid foundation going into 2026.”