The stunning British hypercar, prepared and operated by the works Aston Martin THOR Team, is midway through its second WEC season in 2026. Having achieved its first double-points finish at the previous race in Brazil, it arrives at the fifth round of the championship in a state of growing competitiveness. The fact that the team has claimed points in every race in 2026 – and maintains a streak of six consecutive points finishes since the 6 Hours of Fuji last year – means Aston Martin THOR is locked in a fierce battle for fifth place in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship with Alpine, with four races left to contest.
Tom Gamble (GBR) and Harry Tincknell (GBR) are riding high on a consistent run of four consecutive points finishes stretching back to the season-opening race at Imola. The British duo – Tincknell, a double 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, and former European Le Mans Series champion Gamble – also claimed Valkyrie’s best result in WEC, with fourth place at Spa-Francorchamps in May, as well as Aston Martin’s best Hypercar finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where they finished eighth.
Meanwhile their team-mates, multiple WEC and IMSA GT class race-winner Alex Riberas (ESP), and triple WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen (DEN), who achieved points finishes (Drivers’ or Manufacturers’) on three occasions in 2025, claimed their first points of 2026 in the 6 Hours of São Paulo – finishing sixth.
Now both crews head to COTA, whose high-speed sections should play to the strengths of Valkyrie, which shone on its Texas debut in 2025. Indeed, last year’s race provided the first clear marker for Valkyrie’s true potential in WEC as the car raced comfortably in the top five at various points in the race. Aston Martin THOR, with 12 months’ additional data, now aims to convert that potential into another significant haul of points.
The competition variant of Valkyrie – the pure racing expression of the world’s ultimate road-going hypercar – is developed from its production sibling by Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing [THOR] and blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kW (680bhp) power limit as per the WEC’s hypercar rulebook and IMSA’s GTP regulations.
Harry Tincknell, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie (WEC): “This was probably our best race last year in terms of being consistently quick throughout the weekend, and then even in the rain racing the car all the way up to third position. Good memories. It’s obviously the home race for the Heart of Racing Team as well, so there is a lot to be positive about. The team is coming off the back of a top-six finish in São Paulo, which is a track that we know doesn’t really suit us. Austin is a circuit that complements the Valkyrie a lot more, especially the first sector, which is nice and quick. We want to keep scoring points, but obviously we want to aim for the podium, and I think there is a realistic chance we can do that.”
Tom Gamble, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie (WEC): “I’m excited to be returning to COTA. This race marked a turning point for us last year, in terms of switching on Valkyrie’s performance, so with a year’s additional experience it will be interesting to see what pace we can bring this weekend. We’ve been consistently in the points this year, so I think the goal now has to be to try and finish on the podium!”
Alex Riberas, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie (WEC): “The summer break felt like an eternity so everybody in the team is looking forward to getting back on track. There is no place better than COTA – a home race for us. Austin is a very special place, also for myself because I used to live there and I have great memories from this time. I expect Valkyrie to be quite competitive, and I am very much looking forward to delivering a strong performance and repeating some of the success that we had in the past.”
Marco Sørensen, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie (WEC): “It’s great to be heading back to the USA, and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of the #009. We’ve had a productive summer break, with plenty of work going on behind the scenes, and the whole team is ready to get back on track. Austin is always a special event, and we’re looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of racing and fighting for a strong result.”
Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “COTA is very important for us, with The Heart of Racing being an American organisation. It’s also the circuit where we first really began to see the Valkyrie’s racing potential last year. Clearly, we understand the car a lot better, and how to extract performance from it 12 months on, and that gives us some confidence going into the weekend. At the last race in Brazil, we managed to place both cars in the points and I see no reason why we can’t achieve similar this time out, as a minimum. But now that we have reached a level where we are regular points finishers, it would be good to tick a podium off the to do list!”
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “What we’ve seen from Valkyrie this season is a sustained level of performance that has achieved consistent points-scoring results in every round, sometimes at circuits that do not play into its natural strengths. This was always the stated aim, but we must not be complacent. We’ve achieved these results through the team working closely together as a unit to extract the maximum from the entire package, and drivers delivering strong performances while understanding Valkyrie better. Now we arrive at COTA, a circuit where Valkyrie was competitive last year. With an additional 12 months’ data, it will be interesting to see how far we’ve come in that time.”
Aston Martin Vantage targeting return to WEC COTA glory
The Heart of Racing Team returns to Austin, scene of the current Aston Martin Vantage’s maiden WEC LMGT3 class victory in 2024
COTA historically a happy hunting ground for Aston Martin’s Vantage
Dudu Barrichello steps back into the #23 THOR Vantage GT3 after latest IMSA GTD outing at Virginia International Raceway
24 Hours of Le Mans podium finishers Jonny Adam and Gray Newell join the Brazilian in #23 Aston Martin
Newell set to start first home race as a WEC THOR Vantage driver
Team principal Ian James, a former COTA winner and polesitter, teams up with Mattia Drudi and Zach Robichon in the #27 Vantage
Aston Martin’s most successful racing car, Vantage, returns to the Circuit of the Americas [COTA] for Round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC]. The 3.426-mile circuit, home of the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans race, has proved a consistently happy hunting ground for Vantage which has claimed no less than 10 class victories from 13 podium appearances – including four double-class wins.
One of those victories was with Aston Martin Racing partner the Heart of Racing Team, which returns to its home race determined to repeat that success. The win, in 2024, marked the first WEC success for THOR and team principal Ian James, who also claimed his first world championship pole position on the same weekend.
James will be joined in the #27 THOR Vantage GT3 by regular co-drivers Mattia Drudi (ITA), the double 24 Hours of Le Mans pole-winner, and former IMSA GTD champion Zach Robichon (CDN). The trio have been competitive in the class everywhere they have visited in 2026, and yet only have a second place at Spa-Francorchamps in May to show for their efforts – thanks to an uncharacteristic spell of misfortune.
As usual, THOR brings two ultra-strong Aston Martin Vantage GT3s to the fight, with the sister #23 THOR Vantage driven by its regular lineup of Gray Newell (USA), Dudu Barrichello (BRA) and Jonny Adam (GBR) which finished third at La Sarthe. For Newell, COTA marks a first opportunity to compete on home turf at world championship level – and one of the few venues on the schedule where he has prior racing experience. Adam, meanwhile, returns to COTA for the first time since 2020, when he was a GTE-Am class winner.
Sharing the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury Vantage road car, the Vantage GT3, is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.
How to follow
The Lone Star Le Mans will begin at 1300 local time (-6 Hours BST) on Sunday, 6 September.
