Sorensen: Making Hyperpole a “Bonus” for Aston Martin

Marco Sorensen has described Aston Martin progressing to Thursday’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole as a “bonus” for the British marque, as the No. 009 Valkyrie benefitted from the disqualification of the No. 6 Porsche to gain a spot in Hyperpole 1.

Sorensen set the 16th-fastest time in first qualifying on Wednesday, initially missing out on a spot in the top 15 to advance into the revised two-stage Hyperpole.

But that changed when the No. 6 Porsche 963, which had qualified fourth, was excluded for a minimum weight infraction, promoting the No. 009 car to 15th.

Looking back on his qualifying effort, Sorensen believes that the Heart of Racing Team-run car showed enough performance in its first ever Le Mans qualifying to make it to Hyperpole on merit, as he encountered traffic on his fastest lap.

While admitting the outcome was to a degree unexpected, he explained how he felt the Valkyrie “come alive” on Wednesday and gave him the confidence to push for a quick lap.

“For sure we came with the mentality of pushing as much as we can, but I wouldn’t say we expected to be in Hyperpole,” Sorensen said.

“I honestly I think, even though the Porsche was disqualified, with a clean lap we would have made it in if I had actually had a clear lap at the end on the second set of tires, as I was blocked by many cars at the Ford chicane.

“I was a good three, four tenths up on that lap. That would have brought us in [to the top 15] naturally. The car came alive a little bit in qualifying for sure.

“Le Mans is such an amazing track in that way, that you can extract a lot of lap time by thinking and driving differently when it comes to qualifying. Building up to qualifying was a big challenge for sure, but I enjoyed it.

“I have to say for me, yesterday was the first time I was trusting the car quite a bit, and I hope we can do even more in Hyperpole 1 and see how far we can go.

“Being in Hyperpole 1 is kind of a bonus for us, but it doesn’t mean it we aren’t going to out there and try to make Hyperpole 2. We’ll definitely keep pushing in that direction.

“We are not here just to take part; in future we want to fight for the win.”

Asked by Sportscar365 if making it to Hypercar had changed Aston Martin’s expectations for the race, Sorensen said: “I would say we still have the same approach.

“If we can stay in the mix, we’re definitely gonna be there and do it. If we see we are not on the pace, we’ll keep pushing and learn as much as we can for next year.”

Aston Martin’s No. 007 car, driven by Harry Tincknell, ended up 21st and slowest in first qualifying, although the car Tincknell shares with Ross Gunn and Tom Gamble was promoted to 20th in the final by the No. 6 Porsche’s exclusion.

The brand’s head of endurance Adam Carter said that the difference in pace between the two Valkyries was down to a different set-up approach on the No. 007 car.

Carter described Aston Martin getting one car into Hyperpole as a “good marker” for the nascent program, which had had a best result of 13th at Spa in the three FIA World Endurance Championship rounds so far this season.

But he says that expectations for the car’s race pace are higher than those of qualifying, as he reiterated the target he laid down last month at Spa of a lead-lap finish.

“It shows externally how far the program has come, and it also gives us a different mindset, a spring in our step as we approach the race,” Carter told Sportscar365.

“We have views on our race performance relative to our qualifying performance, so it’s a positive underpinning. The very first qualifying simulation we did was FP2 in Qatar. So qualifying is not something we focused on in our preparations.

“This is something we need to learn more about and get on top of, but our multiple stint pace, once the tires up to temperature, is currently reasonably good. The delta between us and the competition is better over a long run.

“But Saturday and Sunday will be a huge task. If we can stay on the lead lap, it would be phenomenal. And if you are on the lead lap, opportunity is there.”