Door Flying Off Is The Least Of Aston Martin's Worries In Last Place Competitive Debut For Valkyrie
The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH's debut this weekend was far from a roaring success, especially after a door was ripped from the car at speed during the FIA World Endurance Season Opener in Qatar. The startling incident shows just how far behind the Valkyrie is from the front-running Ferrari and Porsche prototypes. The signs were clear to anyone that the newest Le Mans hypercar suffered from a lack of pace, despite the enchanting sound of its naturally aspirated V12 engine.
The No. 009 Valkyrie's passenger-side door flung open on Lap 32 of the Qatar 1812km, the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener. Marco Sørensen was behind the wheel, and race director Eduardo Freitas immediately ordered the Danish driver over the radio to return to the pit lane so the Heart of Racing team could fix the door. Instead of cautiously making his way around the track, Sørensen drove as if he didn't have an open gullwing door as a solid sail. The air pressure ripped the door right off its hinges.
The Valkyrie has been a problem for some time.
The track marshals now had to recover the loose door sitting in the run-off area. The team's mechanics fitted a replacement door to the No. 009 Valkyrie and the car eventually rejoined the race, finishing 23 laps behind the winning Ferrari 499P. Its sister No. 007 car didn't even see the checkered flag, retiring after 181 laps of the 318-lap enduro race due to a transmission issue.
Despite contesting a single-car IMSA campaign alongside its two-car WEC effort, Aston Martin decided to skip the Rolex 24 at Daytona to dedicate more time to developing the Valkyrie. The British racing green machine still appeared at IMSA's pre-season test and turned the fewest laps of any car in the top class. However, the Aston Martin was still two seconds off the pace at the WEC pre-season test in February. The next competitive outing for the Valkyrie AMR-LMH is IMSA's 12 Hours of Sebring in two weeks. One can only hope that the Valkyrie can live up to its exhaust note.