► Aston Martin will race in 2025
► This is the racing-spec
► Joining IMSA and WEC
This is your first look at the Valkyrie AMR-LMH, the car Aston Martin will take to Le Mans in 2025. The development phase is well underway, with an initial shakedown completed last week before the car’s eventual entry into the IMSA and WEC championships next year.
‘The first runs for the Valkyrie AMR-LMH have been an immensely proud moment in the programme,’ said Heart of Racing’s team principal Ian James. ’We’re looking forward to the journey ahead – it’s a steep hill to climb for everyone involved in this project. We are at the pinnacle of sportscar racing, the competitors are formidable, and they have been doing it a long time.’
‘We know we are going up against the best, so we intend to represent Aston Martin at the same level. I believe, from what we have seen so far, and with the DNA of where this car came from, I think we have the right tools to be able to do this successfully.
And speaking of DNA, when it does hit the track, Aston Martin will become the first team to race a Hypercar that’s legitimately based on a road car.
It looks, interesting
The pictures above and below come one of the car’s first appearances on track, with drivers Darren Turner, Harry Tincknell and Mario Farnbacher all sharing duties behind the wheel.
As you’d expect, the race version of the Valkyrie features an increased amount of aero, with the road car’s prototype silhouette sprouting a few extra fins and carbonfibre pieces. Underneath, the 6.5-litre Cosworth V12 power unit remains, albeit now running leaner and more robustly to meet its new performance regulations and demands – and without the benefit of hybrid power.
What’s next?
Development will continue, and the test program will soon move from the UK to other European tracks.
Everything you need to know
The Valkyrie AMR Pro was originally designed to meet the new LMH hypercar regulations, and now Aston Martin Performance Technologies must turn it into something that fits within the aero and power performance window allowed by the rules. Homologation will also occur before it’s able to compete in the WEC and IMSA series in 2025.
In Pro form, the car exceeds the Balance of Performance envelope, so much of the development time will be spent with Aston’s engineers pairing back the AMR Pro’s capabilities: ‘It is actually quite a task to detune to every performance and into the legislative performance.’ said Adam Carter, head of endurance motorsport at Aston Martin at the team’s original announcement.
‘And that’s also great opportunity in terms of still you come down to the downfalls but how many sensitivities and so as all those opportunities come there. And so rather than just turning the dial, it’s about if we turn this dial down what else can we turn up elsewhere to get the most performance.’
Aero performance will be challenging to reduce, particularly as the road car is almost exclusively designed for aerodynamic efficiency – like the RB17, it’s an Adrian Newey-penned car after all.
The racing Valkyrie will use a carbonfibre chassis like the road car, and gets to keep its high-revving, Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 – but here it’ll be detuned to withstand the rigours of sustained racing and fit into the correct BoP envelope. To that end, Cosworth is an integral partner in the project.
Despite Le Mans’ most recent rule set push hybrid technology in some form, the track-going Valkyrie we’ll see in 2025 won’t have a battery-electric hybrid system like the road car.