Sorensen Explains Aston’s Fall Down the Order in Bahrain

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Aston Martin driver Marco Sorensen has explained that an enforced early switch to new tires caused the lead Valkyrie to drop out of contention in the Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship season finale.

The No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston that Sorensen shared with Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis had grabbed the lead at the mid-point of the race after taking four new tires during the first virtual safety car period and then moving into the front as rivals didn’t change tires.

But Sorensen explained that the new rubber was only taken amid fears that the tires were under pressure and the team would be hit with a penalty.

While Riberas was handed a drive-through penalty for a virtual safety car infringement soon after taking the lead, the Aston’s tire allocation had been compromised and the crew had no new rubber for the end of the race – resulting in the No. 009 car falling to seventh in the final classification.

Nevertheless, Sorensen still enjoyed seeing the Valkyrie lead a race for the first time in the WEC since its debut at the start of the season.

“It was not so long lived,” he said of Riberas’ brief spell in first place. “It’s nice to see that the car’s up there but obviously there were some other things with our strategy where we actually had to come in and change our tires.

“In the middle of the race, we had to put new tires on, which is not ideal for the end of the race.

“In the end of the race we had no new tires left and I was just going backwards. We would’ve gotten some penalties for having the tire pressures too low so that’s why we had to change and put new tires on and, at the end of the race, it wasn’t so fun anymore.”

Sorensen also said the drive-through penalty that Riberas was handed ultimately had little impact on the final position.

“We had a little penalty, which everyone makes mistakes in all of this,” he said. “I think it was mainly the tire pressure stuff that did us over a little bit.”

Aston had enjoyed its strongest WEC weekend to date in Bahrain, topping Free Practice 1 and then finishing 1-2 in the opening segment of Hypercar qualifying.

While the No. 009 lined up fourth for the race, Sorensen was uncertain the car would remain so high up the order.

“Honestly, it was in my head that this could go both ways,” he said. “To not really drop any positions throughout the whole first stint, I was really happy with that.

“Even double-stinting into the next stint it was a good feeling to see that even on deg we were OK. Honestly, the first two stints were really promising.

“It’s been great over the whole weekend here to see we’re consistently up there and having two cars into Hyperpole this time.”