Aston Martin aims for Le Mans crown in 2025

Aston Martin is no stranger to the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race, having participated in its earliest days and intermittently over the decades. In fact, more than 240 drivers have raced Aston Martins at Le Mans over the past 95 years in 27 different chassis and engine combinations, through virtually every era.

In 2025, the British brand will aim for overall victory with a racing prototype version of its upcoming hypercar, the Valkyrie. It will do so partnering Heart of Racing, with at least one Valkyrie racing car entered by Aston Martin in the top Hypercar class of each of the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championships [IMSA] from 2025.

This means that the prototype Valkyrie will participate in three of sportscar racing’s most prestigious events: Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

“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,” said Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda.

“In addition to our presence in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Aston Martin’s return to the pinnacle of endurance racing will allow us to build a deeper connection with our customers and community, many of whom found their passion for the brand through our past success at Le Mans. And of course, 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 racing car at Le Mans, in WEC and IMSA,” he said.

The Valkyrie AMR Pro was originally designed and developed to meet the LMH hypercar regulations and now Aston Martin Performance Technologies has begun the task of developing a competition prototype version for racing within a pre-defined aerodynamic and power performance window that gives it parity with its direct competition in WEC. It will then be homologated for the WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP classes ahead of the 2025 season.

The race-optimised carbonfibre chassis Valkyrie will use a modified version of the Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine which, in standard form, revs to 11,000 rpm and develops over 1000 bhp. The power unit will be enhanced further to incorporate the critical Balance of Performance requirements of the Hypercar class, and developed to withstand the rigours of top level long-distance competition.

As with the Valkyrie AMR Pro track-car, the battery-electric hybrid system that features on the road-specification Valkyrie is absent from the racing car.

Once homologated, the Heart of Racing team will spearhead Aston Martin’s programmes in both WEC and IMSA as the Valkyrie racing car becomes the first purebred hypercar to participate in both championships. It will also be the only one among its rivals that can trace its origins back to an existing production car.

Aston Martin’s entry into the Hypercar class means that the British sportscar manufacturer will have a presence in all aspects of endurance racing from the gentleman racer through to the very pinnacle of the sport. Indeed, from 2025, Aston Martin will be the only manufacturer competing at all levels of sportscar and GT racing (from Hypercar to GT4) and F1.

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