Aston Martin has announced that it will return to top class endurance racing in 2025 and tackle the Le Mans 24 Hours with a race-spec version of its Valkyrie Hypercar.
The legendary British marque will partner with The Heart of Racing outfit to run at least one Valkyrie in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship and in the GTP class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Aston Martin originally announced plans to race the Valkyrie at Le Mans in 2021, but the project was put on hold in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the new LMH regulations now in place and proving a massive success with manufacturers, Aston has decided to revive the Valkyrie program and challenge for overall victory at Le Mans for the first time since 2011.
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“Performance is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Aston Martin, and motorsport is the ultimate expression of this pursuit of excellence” said Lawrence Stroll, Chairman of Aston Martin.
“We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavours we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years.
“Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs aiming to write new history with a racing prototype inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built.”
Heart of Racing team principal Ian James added that it is “privilege to be able to bring Aston Martin back to the top of endurance racing”.
The Valkyrie is powered by a Cosworth-developed 6.5-litre V12 engine that produces around 1,150 horsepower. However, in contrast to its Hypercar rivals the Valkyrie LMH will not feature a hybrid component.
Aston Martin’s new head of endurance motorsport, Adam Carter, will oversee the Valkyrie LMH program from the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies division at Silverstone, alongside the new F1 factory.
Aston Martin’s return to Le Mans is sure to be one of the most anticipated events in the 2025 motorsport calendar.
The Adrian Newey-inspired Valkyrie is one of the most advanced and exotic racing cars ever built, and it will be fascinating to see how it performs against the competition from other manufacturers such as Toyota, Porsche, and Ferrari.
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