After its global debut at the Qatar 1812km back in February, Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Hypercar returns for its second FIA WEC outing – this time on Italian soil, at the legendary Imola circuit, for the 6 Hours of Imola. The hypercar, which also raced in the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring in March, remains the only LMH machine in the FIA WEC grid derived from a road-legal hypercar.
This weekend, Aston Martin fields two entries once again – the #007 and #009 Valkyries – but this time with two-driver line-ups due to the shorter six-hour format, compared to the 10-hour opener in Qatar.
In the #007 car, it’s an all-British crew. Harry Tincknell, 2016 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) champion and 2020 Le Mans LMGT3 winner, returns to the circuit where he claimed his first sportscar win back in 2014. He teams up with Tom Gamble, another rising British name who took a podium at Imola in 2022 and the ELMS LMP3 title in 2020.
Over in the #009 Valkyrie, Danish GT ace Marco Sørensen – a three-time FIA WEC GT class champion – is joined by Alex Riberas. The Spaniard was part of The Heart of Racing’s victorious LMGT3 line-up at COTA last season and took fourth in class at Imola in 2024.
But Aston Martin’s charge at Imola doesn’t stop at LMH level.
In LMGT3, the all-new Vantage GT3 returns to action with two entries – one from the seasoned US-based The Heart of Racing outfit, and the other from Racing Spirit of Leman. Based on the ultra-luxury Vantage road car, the GT3 challenger shares the same twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 and bonded aluminium chassis. And it already has silverware on its résumé – winning the 2023 24 Hours of Spa, the world’s toughest GT3-only race.
The #27 The Heart of Racing crew will look to build on their sixth-place finish in Qatar and aim for a strong result in Italy. Team Principal Ian James returns to the cockpit alongside Canadian driver Zacharie Robichon – the 2021 IMSA GTD Champion and 2023 ELMS GTE title winner – and the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Champion local hero Mattia Drudi. The Italian will race in front of his home fans for the first time in a WEC round, and it’s a special homecoming – Imola was the track where he scored his first ever car racing victory back in 2014.
The sister Aston Martin, fielded by Racing Spirit of Leman, made a strong WEC debut in Qatar and arrives in Imola with a potent driver line-up. The Aston Martin works driver Valentin Hasse-Clot leads the #10 crew alongside American Derek DeBoer and Brazilian talent Eduardo Barrichello. Hasse-Clot and DeBoer have fond memories of Imola as the duo took a P2 finish in LMGT3 class last year in the ELMS with Vantage.
As green flag for the 6 Hours of Imola on the horizon, Aston Martin prepares to compete on two fronts, aiming for strong results in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes.
#007 Aston Martin Valkyrie driver Harry Tincknell shared his thoughts ahead of the race: “I’m looking forward to Imola. It’s an iconic track and one at which I’ve had some good successes – including my first sportscar win. It’s been a steep learning curve since Qatar, as we knew it would be with a brand-new programme, but we’ve had some good tests since, learned a lot and the car finishing where it did at Sebring [on its IMSA debut] was really encouraging. Testing has shown that we’ve improved our processes and I’m sure that if we can have a good, reliable race then we’ll learn even more and put ourselves in an improved situation for the run-in to Le Mans.”
Aston Martin THOR Team Principal Ian James added: “Valkyrie has now completed three race weekends and each session we have run has given us more valuable information about the car and how it behaves. Of course, as a team, we are learning all the time about the car and operationally, so the objective this weekend is to minimize mistakes, maximise potential and come away with both cars finishing the race. Imola is a very different track to the ones we have raced on so far, and it offers new challenges, which at this stage of the programme is most welcome as we begin to build towards Le Mans.”
How to Watch 2025 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Imola
The 6 Hours of Imola will begin at 13:00 local time (+2 Hours GMT) on Sunday, 20 April, 2025. Final practice, qualifying and the race will be broadcast live on FIA WEC TV online with a choice of English or French-language commentary and via selected broadcasters at a national level.
