Round 7 of WEC set for Barcelona on Sunday

Aston Martin has scored points in eight straight races, sitting sixth in manufacturers' standings

Valkyrie powered by 671-horsepower V12 engine

Two Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercars (green) and two Vantage GT3s (blue) line up side by side on a circuit ahead of Round 7 of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, to be held in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday. [Aston Martin]
Two Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercars (green) and two Vantage GT3s (blue) line up side by side on a circuit ahead of Round 7 of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, to be held in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday. [Aston Martin]

Aston Martin's Valkyrie hypercar will make its debut at a world endurance race in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend, as the team looks to extend a run of eight consecutive points finishes and climb to fourth in the manufacturers' standings.

Aston Martin announced Thursday that it will enter two Valkyries in Round 7 of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday (local time).

The race marks the first time in WEC history that the championship has visited Barcelona. The event runs for six hours around the approximately 4.7-kilometer circuit and is the seventh of eight rounds this season.

Aston Martin has scored points in eight consecutive races, including fourth-place finishes at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Austin, Texas. The team currently sits sixth in the manufacturers' standings with 54 points, 42 points behind fourth place.

At last month's Fuji round in Japan, both Valkyries qualified in the top six. The No. 007 car, driven by Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble, led the race at one point, while the No. 009 car of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen also competed near the front.

Riberas, who is Spanish, will race in his home country at a WEC event for the first time. "Racing in Barcelona was the most surprising and exciting news of the season for me," he said.

The Valkyrie race car was developed from the road-going production model. It features a carbon-fiber body and a 6.5-liter V12 engine, with output capped at 500 kilowatts (about 671 horsepower) under championship regulations.

The Valkyrie also competes in IMSA, the North American sports car series. At the Petit Le Mans season finale in the United States on Oct. 3, the car finished fifth overall, matching its best result in that series this year.

Meanwhile, Aston Martin's Vantage GT3 will also compete in Barcelona. The THOR team, which runs the Vantage, currently sits second in the WEC LMGT3 Teams' Championship with 62 points, 24 points behind the leader, and will look to overturn the deficit over the final two rounds.

The Barcelona six-hour race begins at 7 p.m. Sunday Korean Standard Time.


kwater@heraldcorp.com