After taking a sabbatical in 2011, Valente returned to racing for 2012 in the French SEAT León Supercopa.
Valente made his debut in the WTCC at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China, driving the SUNRED SR León 1.6T previously driven in the 2012 season by Tiago Monteiro and Hiroki Yoshimoto [REF].