Tincknell: Valkyrie’s Continued Improvement “Incredible”

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Harry Tincknell has praised the efforts of Aston Martin Racing and Heart of Racing Team after what’s been deemed a better-than-expected first year for the Aston Martin Valkyrie in global sports car competition.

The LMH-based prototype, which competed in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship seasons with the American squad, achieved significant milestones, including a podium finish at Motul Petit Le Mans for Ross Gunn, Romain De Angelis and Alex Riberas.

Over in the WEC, the pair of Hypercar entries topped practice sessions and led a portion of the season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain, with Riberas and Marco Sorensen claiming a season-best finish of fifth in the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Tincknell told Sportscar365: “I don’t know really any other race programs that have come from, not far off a standing start in terms of the amount of time to put together the program, and race by race, just basically in a straight line progression, get to scoring a podium at Petit Le Mans and being in position to do that in WEC as well.

“The most pleasing thing for me about the whole program is that continued improvement race by race.

“Usually you have a good race and then you have a bad race and you learn from the bad race and you hope over the course of a season that your average goes higher.

“Whereas this has literally been every single race. That’s very promising.

“When we look at our long-term goals, and trying to win championships and trying to win Le Mans, the fact that we’re progressing like we are is really good.

“I honestly didn’t think we would be in a position where we are now where we’ve now had two WEC races in a row where the Aston has topped a session in practice and has been much more [competitive] in the races as well, and obviously the podium in IMSA.

“That was our ultimate goal, to try and get a podium out of the car this year, so it’s incredible that it was achieved.”

When asked about their targets for next year, Tincknell stressed the mantra of continued improvements for the V12-powered machine.

“Ultimately the philosophy has been that let’s just learn and continue to progress and let’s see how far that takes us,” he said.

“I think as long as we continue to do that, we’ll naturally put ourselves in position to win races and to be competitive.

“Of course the big one is Le Mans and we all want to be fast there and have a shot. It was amazing to finish with both cars with zero issues this year.

“That puts us in a good place to unlock more performance and try and get to the front.”

Gunn added: “I think we need to stay humble. I think realistically we just want to keep improving the package. I think that’s the main thing.

“Petit Le Mans was a huge highlight for us. But I know it’s not likely to happen every weekend. I think that was relatively unexpected for us.

“The car really performed well on that track. If we can have a few of those next year, that would be a good step.”

Valkyrie Could Have Early Edge in 2026 With No Major Updates

Gunn, meanwhile, believes that the Valkyrie could have an advantage, at least in the early portion of the 2026 seasons, by not opting to upgrade the car through Evo jokers.

It’s understood that cars except for the Aston, Peugeot 9X8 and world championship-winning Ferrari 499P have undergone updates, largely in aero changes for next year.

“When you take a big change to the car, whether its an Evo joker or whatever, it’s another period where you have to find your feet,” explained Gunn.

“With our package, we’re very happy with the progress that we’ve made and the understanding that we have.

“We just need to keep that going in the direction that we want.

“Realistically next year, if we can turn up to Daytona and we have a car that’s challenging in and around where we were at Petit Le Mans, that would be a great start to the season.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John