Aston Martin will race Valkyrie hypercar at Le Mans in 2025
Aston Martin to join Le Mans hypercar grid with Valkyrie
The Valkyrie was originally designed and developed by Aston Martin, Cosworth, and Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey with the intent of racing it in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Le Mans Hypercar rules. It took them quite a while, but now it's finally coming true.
Aston Martin and its endurance racing partner, Heart of Racing (HoR), have a prototype of the Valkyrie hypercar that they are sending to the three most prestigious endurance races of motorsports: the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
“It’s a privilege to be able to bring Aston Martin back to the top of endurance racing with the Heart of Racing. This HoR team has big ambitions in endurance racing and this is absolutely the right time for us to step into the top classes of WEC and IMSA and challenge for overall honors. This is not an easy target, but between our partners and the support of Aston Martin Performance Technologies, it is one we have all the tools and capabilities in place to hit the bullseye with,” said Ian James, Team Principal of Heart of Racing.
The competition prototype of the Valkyrie has a race-optimized carbon-fiber chassis powered by a Cosworth-built 6.5-liter naturally-aspirated V12 engine, which in standard form revs to 11,000 RPM and develops over 1000 BHP. However, the engineers will tweak it to match the performance requirements of the Hypercar class so it can withstand the rigors of an endurance race. After homologation, the Valkyrie will first purebred hypercar to participate in both the WEC (World Endurance Championship) and IMSA (International Motor Sports Association), and the only one that can trace its origins back to an existing production car.
Aside from the Valkyrie, Aston Martin is building an all-new GT3 and GT4 cars based on the Vantage platform. The GT challengers are expected to compete in WEC, IMSA, and SRO-run (Stéphane Ratel Organization) GT World Challenge Series as well as various internationally-based regional championships. It will be available for existing Aston Martin Racing partners and prospective customers to purchase and compete with for the beginning of the 2024 racing season.
By entering the Hypercar and GT class, Aston Martin ensures their presence in all aspects of racing and will be the only manufacturer competing at all levels of sportscar and GT racing (from Hypercar to GT4) and the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
“Performance is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Aston Martin, and motorsport is the ultimate expression of this pursuit of excellence. The complex knowledge base we are building through our F1 team is data that Aston Martin Performance Technologies can harness to further enhance the capabilities of the Valkyrie racecar at Le Mans, in WEC and IMSA,” said Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda.
