24-04-2025
Mail Sport Extreme: Aston Martin add a touch of class to endurance racing as Tincknell targets another 'rockstar' moment
Sometimes, the journey is just as important as the final destination. Sometimes, it's worth being there from the start.
The FIA's World Endurance Championship may have been around for 13 years now, but it's still finding its way in the sporting world.
Last weekend, they hosted their second event of the season at arguably the most famous track on the calendar — Imola.
While a sea of red formed for Ferrari and Italians packed out the stand to see Valentino Rossi compete for the BMW LMGT3 team, many others were on site soaking up the experience, whilst also looking to catch a glimpse of the likes of Jenson Button, Kevin Magnusson, Mick Schumacher, Paul Di Resta and other notable former Formula One drivers, who were representing various teams in the hypercar division.
With access F1 fans can only dream of, the WEC puts on a motorsport show like no other. Entry to the paddock, pit lane and garages gives the 65,500 or so fans at the track daily a view and insight like nothing they can experience with their 'big cousin' in F1, with autograph sessions with every driver held over the course of a four-day festival of motorsport.
For now, eight races across the year varying in length — with the shortest being six hours, and the main event being the Le Mans 24-hour race — are enough, with Imola, Mount Fuji and Le Mans itself on the schedule, though there are plans to incorporate other tracks too, should an agreement be found between all parties involved.
Currently, there are two classes of car — hypercar, a high-performance supercar, and the LMGT3, modified cars based on grand tourers — held to regulations set by the FIA and ACO (Automobile Club de le'Ouest). With cars being sent out with one driver as part of a team of three for the duration of the race, tactics and decision-making play a huge role in the sport. Not to mention the skill of the driver.
Of course, it is not just the sport that is in its adolescence. Some teams are just getting started. Though Aston Martin have been competing — very well, in fact — in the GT divisions for years, they are taking the initial steps in the hypercar division, pushing the boundaries with their Valkyrie car, the first of its kind which is based off a production car but built for racing.
Driver Harry Tincknell has been racing for 25 years, following a similar pathway into the sport as most drivers through karting, but after having his first taste of endurance racing at Le Mans in 2014, he never looked back.
'I was at this sort of crossroads, finished fifth in the F3 European Championship, tried to go to F2 — GP2 as it was known then,' he says.
'I got an offer to go and do Le Mans Series and Le Mans with an LMPT2 and one was needing to find a lot of money, one wasn't. In the end, I ended up doing the sports car deal and haven't really looked back.
'I debuted at Le Mans, ended up winning the class (LMPT2), and finished second in the European Championship. Ever since then, I've had factory deals, first with Nissan then Ford, Aston Martin in 2020 — which we won (at Le Mans) — Mazda in the states, back to Ford, then Porsche and now at Aston Martin. Hopefully I'm here for a while.'
Having debuted with Aston Martin in 2020, winning at Le Mans in the GTE class, Tincknell has a brief history with the manufacturer, but it is one which is borne out of passion for the journey the car can take you on.
Though Ferrari took the glory in the hypercar division, it is the potential for what there could be to come in the future with Aston Martin — and the V12 engine — that excites everyone involved in the project.
'Being back at Aston now, I'd only raced with them once — at Le Mans in 2020, which we ended up winning — so even though it's only a short history, it's a strong history,' adds Tincknell. 'I've competed against them a lot, they're very competitive in the GTE cars. The car, this set-up and this team really drew me it and got me excited.
'The car looks exceptional, it sounds exceptional. The V12 adds something different to the championship. A British driver, iconic British manufacturer, in the 007, it's pinch-yourself stuff.
'Of course, it's not easy coming sort of three years behind some of our competitors, and there's going to be that sort of period which we're in now where we're learning and improving every time. But it's really exciting.
'It's also nice to be part of a journey right at the start, and be able to put your mark on something, help develop it and really take it from the ashes and turn it into the phoenix, hopefully.'
The journey for Tincknell may just be starting at Aston Martin, and even though the 33-year-old has been on podiums for the majority of his life, nothing could have prepared him for that Le Mans debut.
It was a true rockstar moment, one that he'll cherish for the rest of his life.
'Winning the LMPT2, the first time you're at Le Mans, I remember the scrutineering,' he says. 'You walk out and there's six (rows) deep on either side, with fans wanting autographs and you think: 'This is different from normal'.
'The wait now is big on all races, but back then the Le Mans series didn't have that many fans; so to go to 300,000-400,000, it was a massive step up.
'Sometimes, when you're naïve and don't know things, it can help. The team were really good at keeping me on the ground during the week, not getting lost with all the razzmatazz that's going on.
'The race went as well as it could have possibly gone. We passed the car with two hours to go for the lead and you walk out on the podium and you feel like a rockstar at Wembley the moment you look out on the track. It's 100,000 people, as far as you can see. It's the most incredible view I've ever seen in my life.
'Afterwards, I remember the team being like: 'You're supposed to go through the pain of having failures and problems'. To come in the first time and win, it's not really how it's usually done but I got a nice touch that time.'
