Aston Martin, the iconic British car manufacturer, is set to make a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025 with the AMR Valkyrie Pro Le Mans Hypercar. This announcement marks their first bid for outright Le Mans glory since 2011. Aston Martin, a Le Mans winner in 1959, aims to compete in both the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the IMSA SportsCar Championship, starting in 2025. The Heart of Racing team, partnered with Aston Martin since 2020 in IMSA and this year in WEC, will oversee this exciting venture.
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The Heart of Racing team will field at least one Valkyrie in the respective Hypercar and GTP classes in both championships. There is potential for an expanded campaign, possibly featuring two cars at Le Mans.
What’s noteworthy is that Aston Martin will be the first manufacturer with an LMH contender to take on the LMDh machinery in IMSA. Their last attempt at overall victory at Le Mans was in 2011 with the AMR-One LMP1 car.
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The Valkyrie LMH will be powered solely by a highly modified version of the bespoke 6.5-liter V12 engine developed for the Valkyrie road car.
Initial testing will utilise the AMR Pro as a platform, with the definitive car likely to hit the track in early 2024. Homologation for the Valkyrie LMH is scheduled for late autumn next year, with a race debut at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA season-opener in January 2025.
The program will be led by Aston Martin’s new head of endurance motorsport, Adam Carter, from the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies division, co-located at Silverstone with the F1 factory. Multimatic Motorsports, a key partner, will be involved in the project.
Aston Martin’s return to the Le Mans 24 Hours signifies a significant moment for endurance racing enthusiasts and reaffirms the brand’s historical connection to the sport. This move echoes Ferrari’s return to Le Mans in 2023 and adds another layer of excitement to the world of sportscar racing.
