Marco Sorensen says tyre warm-up points led to his dramatic crash throughout Tuesday’s Prologue check for the 2026 World Endurance Championship at Imola.
The manufacturing unit Aston Martin driver was on an outlap with round 90 minutes remaining within the morning session when he went off-track at Tamburello and smashed closely into the wall.
Though the Dane climbed out of the automotive unaided and was cleared of accidents after a go to to the medical centre, the #009 Valkyrie he shared with Alex Riberas suffered vital harm within the incident.
It left the manufacturing unit Coronary heart of Racing workforce with only one automotive for the rest of the Prologue, during which it completed twelfth among the many 17 Hypercar entries.
Aston Martin and HoR finally elected to vary the chassis on the #009, with the rebuild accomplished on Thursday morning forward of Friday’s opening follow session.
Explaining the incident, Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Sorensen joked that he “ran out of expertise”, earlier than pointing to tyre warm-up as a wider concern throughout the grid.
“It is clearly annoying that it occurred, nevertheless it’s form of considered one of these easy ones,” he advised Motorsport.com. “One of many efficiency areas that we have to work on as a complete workforce is to get faster on the outlaps, heat up the tyres and discover ways in which we are able to push – and I principally overdid it.
“So it is considered one of these outlap issues, the place you attempt to predict what is going on to occur, however when you may have a lot horsepower and the tyres aren’t heat, it’s extremely unpredictable.
“The entire paddock will say the identical factor about tyre warm-up and every little thing. It’s simply tough and everyone knows that.
“I feel it is caught us all out in some unspecified time in the future the place chances are you’ll be spinning or you are going to gravel or no matter. I feel the entire paddock has been there on the brand new tyres, if I am sincere.
“We’re a bit bit outdoors of the window. So it was in the direction of the colder aspect for the mediums. We clearly needed to attempt to push to have the temperature up on the mediums to see if we might make them work.
“We by no means actually obtained to that time as a result of then I ran out of expertise [laughs]. However it’s form of what occurs.”
#009 Aston Martin Thor Crew Aston Martin Valkyrie: Marco Sorensen, Roman De Angelis
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Photographs
Michelin has launched new tyre compounds for each the Hypercar and IMSA Sports activities Championship’s GTP class this yr, incorporating 50% renewable and sustainable supplies.
Whereas Sorensen sampled the brand new 2026-spec tyres throughout the Daytona 24 Hours in January, groups and drivers nonetheless have restricted information about their behaviour.
Nonetheless, the 35-year-old refused to level fingers elsewhere, having already taken full duty for the shunt.
“It’s going to at all times be on the driving force,” he stated. “If we’re going to begin blaming folks for… I might in all probability not crash if I went slower, however that is at all times simple to say.
“I would not say something. They did change the kerbs this yr, the place they form of moved some portray up on the kerb, which is a bit unusual. However once more, it is the identical for everybody. So I do not actually see any have to attempt to blame anybody.”
The #009 Aston had accomplished 53 laps previous to Sorensen’s crash at Tamburello, together with his earlier better of 1m33.710s leaving it final within the closing Prologue standings.
Sorensen, a three-time GT champion with Aston Martin and a Le Mans class winner in 2022, is assured his expertise will assist him bounce again from the crash.
Requested whether or not it could take him a couple of outlaps to seek out confidence once more, he stated: “100%. The great factor is that I am pretty skilled by now. I’ve raced automobiles for a few years. So it should not hurt the arrogance an excessive amount of.”
“No cause” Aston Martin can’t problem on the entrance
#007 Aston Martin Thor Crew Aston Martin Valkyrie: Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble
Photograph by: FIA WEC / DPPI
Aston Martin is getting into the second yr of its Hypercar programme, having stepped as much as the WEC’s prime class in 2025 with the V12-powered Valkyrie.
After operating reliably on its Le Mans debut in June, the British producer emerged as a a lot stronger contender within the second half of 2025, difficult for podiums at each Fuji and Bahrain. It additionally completed second behind the successful Porsche in IMSA’s season-ending Petit Le Mans.
Tom Gamble, who shares the #007 Aston with Harry Tincknell, stated the workforce can construct on that progress and battle on the entrance this yr.
“For this yr, it is undoubtedly about making an attempt to persistently be scoring factors with each automobiles and hopefully getting on the rostrum and possibly even chasing some wins,” he stated.
“We’re a couple of years behind our rivals, so it isn’t going to be a straightforward activity, and the championships normally get extra aggressive each season, so it is a bit simpler stated than completed, however I do not see any cause why we won’t be on the entrance, difficult.
“The workforce has put in quite a lot of onerous work over winter. Final yr, it was about looking for the massive good points, whereas this yr, it is the small little issues which can be actually going to make the distinction to us now. The mechanics shaving half a second or a second off a pit cease goes to make in all probability a distinction to our race.
“We now have to be on our A sport now as properly to attempt to get the perfect out of the automotive, and I feel we must always actually be difficult for some podiums.”
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