With the second half of the WEC season now upon us, in terms of hours of racing (36 hours gone, 36 left assuming the almost-certainly-relocated Middle Eastern races run to 8 and 10 hours), it's time for a very different challenge compared to Le Mans: the bends and banking of Interlagos, the classic Brazilian circuit.
And we are asking a very important question: Could Interlagos be the venue of Aston Martin's best FIA World Endurance Championship race with the Valkyrie Hypercar?
It certainly seems possible based on the two free practice sessions from Friday. It's even possible they could win the race, although that may be getting ahead of ourselves.
When looking at per-manufacturer pace charts, the two Valkyries combined have the quickest 20% average pace across both sessions, with a 1:25.839.
This is just 0.064 faster than the three Ferraris combined, which together set a 1:25.904. Keep in mind, though, that the #83 AF Corse Ferrari had a significant amount of laps deleted for pit lane speeding infringements in the first practice session. Not that this affects their actual lap times.
It appears to be incredibly close in the midfield between Cadillac, FP2 session toppers Genesis, and Alpine, with 0.021 separating all three on average across both sessions.
Peugeot are less than a tenth back. BMW and Toyota, the current championship leaders, are the last two, with Toyota 0.631 on average adrift of Aston Martin.
It's key to note that Aston Martin have been impressive in Friday practice in the past in WEC, but when it comes to qualifying and the race, have dropped back. The difference here is Aston have rarely been amongst the fastest, or even outright fastest, in long run or average pace on Friday. Add to that the consistency, which we'll come to in a minute, and things may look promising for the Anglo-American squad.
Either way: it's all very close. When looking at individual cars the British manufacturer is even further ahead, with the #007 0.173 ahead of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Toyota are once again slowest in this metric, with the #8 just over a second off the leading Aston Martin. The sister #7 car fares slightly better, 0.733 off.
But we all know by now that Toyota can never be counted out. We saw at Le Mans how the #7 car battled through the race with a recurring sensor problem causing the car to go into 'safe mode', limiting power output until the team found a workaround, going onto win despite leading the least laps of any of the five cars.
Long run-wise, it's actually Alpine who have the quickest long run over both practice sessions, a 1:27.298 on median average.
BMW and Aston Martin are within a tenth of that, while Ferrari are just over a tenth on average out.
Even Peugeot are only just over two tenths off on average, while Toyota again sit last, around half a second off Alpine's average pace.
However, while others may have a slight edge, Aston Martin appear to be more consistent over the practice session in general.
Ferrari sit significantly more inconsistent as runs progress, while Aston may be able to keep the tyres alive for longer.
So it's a bit of a toss up, and seems anyone could take this. The field is incredibly tightly packed - just over 6 tenths between 8 manufacturers on 20% average pace is a very very tight field spread whichever way you look at it - so even Toyota, winners of two races so far this year and championship leaders, could leave Brazil victorious.
Back to Aston Martin: #007's Harry Tincknell, who set the fastest time in FP1, a 1:25.457, was positive about team's Friday performance, even if he's not feeling so good personally.
'It's not bad day,' said the Briton.
'I'm feeling a bit under the weather to be honest. Anyway, we were quickest in the first session and third in the second session, which was really good.
'The car is, more importantly on the long runs, looking strong compared to last year. We made some really good improvements so we're really proud of all the team. We were confident coming in that the car was going to feel better.
'But yeah, was really nice to drive the track today. We seem to be really good in the traffic as well. Plus a short track, that's going to be vital come the race. All very positive.'
In closing: it does appear to be anyone's game at Interlagos, but Aston Martin will leave Interlagos feeling happy with the day's work, and confident for the weekend. As ever at the classic Brazilian circuit, weather could mix things up, with rain potentially expected on Sunday for the race. I'll leave you with a quote from Tincknell's teammate in the sister #009 car, Alex Riberas.
'Obviously it's great to start the session in FP1 with one of the cars on the top of the charts,' said the Spaniard.
'So I think it's very optimistic and everybody is very enthusiastic for what's to come this weekend.
'There's obviously some rain coming potentially on Sunday which might make everything exciting but I think we have a good shot tomorrow to be at the front, and the car feels really good,' he concluded.
These long, in-depth posts take a lot of time and effort to put together. If you'd like to show you like these posts and want more, the best thing you can do is support us. We're fully independent and are committed to not running Google ads. You can support us for £1/$1/€1 a month. Thank you!
