Aston Martin Valkyrie Leads WEC Race for First Time

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Aston Martin driver Alex Riberas was on a charge as the eight-hour FIA World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain reached its mid-point to grab the lead.

A safety-car period in the fourth hour had bunched the Hypercar pack but it was the No. 009 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie that was flying on the restart as it was the only one of the lead cars to change tires shortly before the caution and soon grabbed the first place having been fifth upon the restart.

Although Riberas was under investigation for a possible virtual safety car infringement.

The safety car period was triggered when Jenson Button’s No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R tipped the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thomas Flohr into a spin out of Turn 3 – the Ferrari making a heavy impact with the barriers.

Button had been battling with the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde at the time of the clash, for which the Briton – in his final race as a professional driver – was handed a 30-second stop-and-hold penalty.

Toyota had maintained its advantage prior to the caution with the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid swapping places with the No. 7 car shortly before they were both passed by the Aston.

The points-leading No. 51 Ferrari 499P had split the two Toyotas earlier in the race as the No. 8 Toyota dropped back when Brendon Hartley did not have new tires fitted at its first stop.

But an alternate strategy of subsequently putting earlier gave the No. 8 car an undercut and restored the Japanese manufacturer’s 1-2 at the time.

The No. 51 Ferrari was therefore fourth while the second Aston had also been charging up the order to move into fifth place as the second of the Ferraris – the No. 50 entry of Miguel Molina – dropped back.

But it was a tough first half of the race for the No. 83 satellite Ferrari, which was only seventh, leaving its title hopes hanging by a thread.

The Akkodis ASP squad was enduring mixed fortunes in the LMGT3 class. While the No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 that had led early on in the hands of Arnold Robin was sent into the garage with electrical woes, the sister No. 87 car has held the lead.

The pick of the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, the No. 61 car now in the hands of Maxime Martin, continued to hold second, while the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was up to third.

Also making steady progress was the points-leading No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R, which had been running towards the back of the LMGT3 pack but had subsequently climbed to fourth.