It's confirmed: the Aston Martin Valkyrie is racing at Le Mans in 2025
Two Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH racers will compete at Le Mans and all WEC rounds in 2025
While the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s Le Mans Hypercar dreams were cut short at its inception, the British marque has now confirmed that it will race in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year. Competing under the Heart of Racing team, two Valkyries will take part in every WEC round in 2025, including the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Should its entry be accepted for the 2025 season, Aston Martin will be gunning for outright victory at Le Mans with the Valkyrie hypercar. The move will mark a return to top class endurance racing for the firm, making it the only manufacturer competing in every level of sports car racing, GT racing and Formula 1.
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Full details on how the Valkyrie AMR-LMH will differ from the road car are yet to be confirmed, but we do know that it will use a ‘race-optimised’ version of its carbonfibre chassis and retain its incredible Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12.
Due to Le Mans Hypercar regulations, the V12 will have to be knocked back from the 1000bhp output of the road car to a maximum of 630bhp. While electric motors can enable a raised system output to 671bhp in this class, the Valkyrie will go without the hybrid system of the road car – just like its track-only AMR Pro relative. Whether or not this restriction (and the requirement for improved reliability) will also reduce its current 11,000rpm redline is yet to be seen.
Due to a recent change in regulations, Aston Martin will run two Valkyries in the series as opposed to one, with all manufacturers required to run two cars in the top class from 2025. Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: ‘In 2025, with our works team the Heart of Racing, we intend to put two Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH hypercars on the grid, to compete alongside a fantastic array of the world’s best sportscar manufacturers, and we are doing all we can to ensure that we can fight at the front of that space.’
Valkyrie prototypes have already begun testing at Portimao Circuit and Aston’s Silverstone test facility, proving the car is well on the way to its race debut. Carter said: ‘The Valkyrie AMR-LMH programme is on schedule with a significant amount of development taking place behind the scenes and ahead of the car’s track debut later this summer. We then anticipate an intensive period of testing to put miles on the car and learn all we can ahead of its planned homologation in the autumn.’
Aston Martin works team Heart of Racing has built its UK headquarters near the marque’s Silverstone facility, overseeing the development of the Le Mans Hypercar. There are also plans to run a US-based IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Programme for the Valkyrie AMR-LMH in the GTP class with Heart of Racing.
The Valkyrie AMR-LMH is set to make its official track debut later this year before it hits the circuit in its first WEC outing next year. 2025 looks to be a big one for endurance racing…
