Aston unveils Valkyrie as Le Mans Hypercar

Aston and Heart of Racing will compete with V12 Valkyrie in WEC and IMSA this year - including Le Mans

The Aston Martin Valkyrie saga has been a fascinating one to follow. As far back as 2019 it was going to Le Mans, then it wasn’t thanks to the changes in sportscar rules to Le Mans Hypercar spec. Officially it was on pause, then came the AMR Pro version of the road car, which was track-only and felt like the closest there’d ever be to an actual Valkyrie racer. That was revealed in 2021, and by the time of Valkyrie drives in 2023 - with a Spider reveal as well - the idea of a motorsport version seemed to have slipped away. Aston had enough to think about, both on the road car and race car side.

But they plugged away undeterred, and in October 2023 it was confirmed that the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar would compete at Le Mans in 2025. Now the real thing has been revealed, set to be raced in both the World Endurance Championship and IMSA this season. Created through a collaboration between Aston Martin Performance Technologies and Heart of Racing, the Valkyrie LMH will be the first Aston to target overall victory at La Sarthe since the DBR1 in 1959.

The Valkyrie is notable for a few other reasons, too. It’s the first car competing under the Le Mans Hypercar rules that has a foundation in a production model; all others - think Ferrari 499P, Porsche 963, Peugeot 9X8 - are bespoke racecars. Now, of course, the Valkyrie is a road car like Noah Lyles is a jogger - it pushes the definition to the absolute extreme - but the point still stands. It’s a modern-day McLaren F1 almost, with a wonderful V12 in the middle and very few made, though the Aston was certainly always designed with racing in mind more than the McLaren. The Valkyrie is also going to be the only Le Mans Hypercar - i.e. one with a bespoke chassis, like the Ferrari and the Toyota GR010, rather than an LMDh car with a spec chassis - to compete in both WEC and IMSA. So there’ll be plenty of chances to see it.

And hear it, of course - the fact this is a V12-engined Aston Martin racing car is surely the most exciting aspect. Plenty of the latest generation sound cool - the 5.5-litre, V8 Cadillac, most noticeably - but the 6.5-litre Valkyrie promises another level again. The Cosworth V12 has been detuned from the standard 1,000hp to somewhere in the region of 680hp because of the regulations, but the work has allowed Aston Martin to better configure the unit for the travails of top-level endurance motorsport. Because it doesn’t need to make as much power, it doesn’t need to rev as high, and a reduced engine speed should decrease frictional losses. The torque curve has been tweaked as well with fuel efficiency in mind. It certainly promises to be an intriguing matchup against the hybrids, Aston suggesting that the V12 ‘had robustness built in from its inception to match its high duty-cycle as a road car.’ There’s a hint of the sound in the teaser clip - safe to say it'll leave you wanting more.

Aerodynamically, the Valkyrie race car is of course altered from the roadgoing equivalent but not totally transformed. Motorsport was always, really, part of the plan. As Adam Carter, Aston’s Head of Endurance Motorsport, says: “It would be almost unimaginable for Adrian [Newey], one of the greatest racing car designers in history, to design a car and not think about it going racing at some point.” So the major changes are those required for racing, including quick change bodywork, pneumatic jacks and rapid refuelling coupling. Certainly the rear wing is more extreme, with a single central spine recognisable from other Hypercars leading into a two-element wing.

Power reaches the rear Michelins - identical for all competitors - via a seven-speed XTrac sequential; braking is by Alcon calipers and AP Racing carbon discs. Aston says the double wishbone suspension benefits from ‘optimised geometry’ as well as pushrod actuated torsion bar springs at both ends.

With the Valkyrie competing in two championships, the Aston will need plenty of drivers, with two cars in WEC and the Thor blue car in IMSA. Driving the former pair of green cars will be Henry Tincknell, who won his class at Le Mans in an Aston five years ago, Tom Gamble, Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas. Expect more names to be announced ahead of Le Mans. The four already announced are down to race all eight rounds - Qatar, Imola, Spa, Le Mans, Interlagos, COTA, Fuji, Bahrain - of the 2025 WEC. Racing a Valkyrie for GTP honours in the 11-round IMSA campaign will be Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis. Since testing began last summer, 15,000km has been racked up across the globe, from Donington Park to Daytona. “You can always be further up the road, but I’m happy with how the programme has progressed and with the reliability we have shown,” said team principal Ian James. “The whole team, from design to AMPT, from the manufacturing element to the race team, I couldn’t be happier in terms of how everything is integrated.”

Exciting times ahead, then, for Aston Martin fans, sportscar racing fans, and anyone who loves a high-revving V12 (so all of us). The current ruleset for the World Endurance Championship has already made for some glorious racecars and great motorsport, and everything would suggest that the Valkyrie will only bolster that reputation. The prospect of a racing Aston Martin that looks and sounds like this, going wheel to wheel with Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and the rest, is one to savour. With Genesis to follow next year, and Ford the year after.

Aston CEO Adrian Hallmark said: “This is a proud moment for Aston Martin. To be returning to the fight for overall honours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans exists at the very core of our values and marks a key milestone in our motor racing heritage. As the only hypercar born from the road to challenge at the top of sports car racing in both the WEC and IMSA, the Valkyrie is an embodiment of our enduring sporting ethos, one that has defined the brand for more than a century.” It’s not clear yet whether the Valkyrie will be ready for Le Mans, or an earlier race; IMSA’s season opener was Daytona last month, and WEC kicks off in Qatar later in Feb. Whenever it arrives, though, there seems little chance of missing Aston’s latest racer.

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