Valente entered single-seater racing in 2009, joining the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with SG Formula and finishing 24th in the standings. He remained in the series for 2010 with Tech 1 Racing alongside Arthur Pic and Aaro Vainio, scoring a podium of second place on the opening weekend at Motorland Aragón and ending the year 12th on 28 points.
After a sabbatical year in 2011, Valente returned to competition in the French SEAT León Supercopa. He led the championship into the final round at Circuit Paul Ricard but lost the title to Jimmy Antunes in the closing race.
Valente made his WTCC debut at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China, driving a SUNRED SR León. He qualified 23rd and finished fifteenth in race one — later demoted to sixteenth after a 30-second penalty for cutting a chicane — as one of five drivers sanctioned for the same incident.
Valente joined Campos Racing for the 2013 season alongside Fernando Monje in a SEAT León WTCC. His campaign was irregular — delayed until the Race of Hungary, and absent from the Russian and Portuguese rounds — but he remained with the team through 2015.
Valente earned a factory drive with Lada Sport Rosneft for 2016, lining up alongside Gabriele Tarquini and Nick Catsburg. The season was difficult; Tarquini and Catsburg both took victories while Valente's best results were two fourth-place finishes in Morocco and Russia. After scoring points consistently in the first half of the season, he completed only one more points finish across the final four rounds, recording five retirements. He ended the year 12th overall. At the close of 2016, Lada announced its withdrawal from the WTCC, ending Valente's factory programme.
Valente debuted in the new-for-2015 TCR International Series at the penultimate round in Thailand with Campos Racing, driving an Opel Astra. He did not finish either race of the weekend.
For 2017, having failed to secure a WTCC return, Valente joined the TCR International Series full-time with Craft-Bamboo Racing alongside Pepe Oriola and James Nash. He finished ninth in the second race of the opening round in Georgia and claimed his first TCR podium — second place — at the Bahrain round, following it with a third in the second race. However, a pointless weekend at Spa-Francorchamps and subsequent retirements left him 10th in the standings.
Shortly before the round at the Salzburgring, Valente announced his immediate retirement from motorsport, explaining that he wished to be closer to his young daughter. His seat was taken over by former BTCC driver Dan Lloyd.
Valente's career in the WTCC coincided with a period of manufacturer diversity and competitive balance in touring car racing, and his factory Lada drive in 2016 represented the peak of his professional programme. His willingness to step away from racing at the height of a promising TCR season to prioritise family placed a clear limit on what remained of his competitive arc.