Aston Martin is returning to the highest flight of endurance racing, having revived its Valkyrie LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) venture.

The carmaker has confirmed it’s going to subject a racing prototype model of the Valkyrie in each, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the USA-based IMSA SportsCar championship from 2025. With this, Aston Martin can be making a bid for outright victory on the fabled Le Mans 24 Hours race for the primary time since 2011.

1.    Aston Martin to compete in high flight of WEC, IMSA

2.    LMH prototype primarily based on Valkyrie AMR Pro

Aston Martin revives Valkyrie Le Mans venture

Aston Martin had initially introduced plans to race the Valkyrie at Le Mans again in 2019. However, that venture was later shelved and now almost three years later, it has been formally revived.

The prototype can be primarily based on the Valkyrie AMR Pro monitor car, which was initially developed to satisfy LMH rules. It will use a modified model of the Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine, which in normal type develops over 1,014hp. Total energy can be capped at 680hp for the prototype, consistent with the championships’ Balance of Performance necessities.  As with the Valkyrie AMR Pro, the battery-electric hybrid system that options on the road-spec Valkyrie received’t characteristic on the race car.

Aston Martin says a minimum of one Valkyrie racecar can be entered within the high courses of the WEC and IMSA from 2025. This means the prototype will compete in a few of sportscar racing’s most prestigious occasions like Le Mans, Daytona 24 Hours and even 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,” mentioned Lance Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda.

This will make Aston Martin the one producer confirmed to compete in all ranges of sportscar and GT racing, in addition to F1. Stroll says the agency will use all of its F1 learnings to “further enhance the capabilities of the Valkyrie racecar at Le Mans, in WEC and IMSA. Just as the learnings we gain through endurance competition will feed directly into our road car programmes, further improving the ultimate performance of our products.”

Aston Martin groups up with Heart of Racing

USA-based sportscar squad Heart of Racing will spearhead Aston Martin’s programme in each championships. “Our team has grown exponentially since we began racing with those famous wings at Daytona in 2020,” mentioned Ian James, Team Principal of Heart of Racing.

“We understand and are aligned with the ethos of the brand and we have developed our own systems and technologies to extract the maximum performance of the cars we compete with. Our understanding of Valkyrie is strong and we have worked closely with it through our customer activation programmes for two years now.”

Aston Martin will compete towards the likes of Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot in each championships. All these Hypercar rivals may also battle it out towards LMDh entries from Lamborghini, BMW, Porsche, Cadillac and Alpine.

Also see:

Lamborghini SC63 hybrid Le Mans racer revealed

Ferrari wins Le Mans 24 Hours for the primary time in 58 years

Toyota to race hydrogen engine prototype at Le Mans 2026