The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is alive: V12 hypercar prepares for Le Mans
A pair of Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH racers will compete at the World Endurance Championship in 2025 – including Le Mans
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 in fact race in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Competing under the Heart of Racing team, two Valkyries will take part in every WEC round in 2025, including the Le Mans 24 Hours. Not long since the announcement, Aston has provided a glimpse at early prototypes testing on track.
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.
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. The latest announcement confirmed it would be a ‘lean-burning’ version of the road car’s power plant, adapted to meet the performance and longevity requirements of the Hypercar class.
Due to Le Mans Hypercar regulations, the V12 will 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 of 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.
Given the strict regulations, it should come as no surprise that the Valkyrie AMR-LMH has seen some significant design changes. The curved endplates of the AMR Pro's front splitter have been removed, with more conventional brackets and aero elements to be seen throughout its design. While its enormous rear diffuser remains, the biggest change has been applied to its rear wing, with the sculpted, full-width AMR Pro unit swapped for a more conventional, angular wing with more vertical elements.
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 onwards. 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 sports car manufacturers, and we are doing all we can to ensure that we can fight at the front of that space.’
Prototypes have already begun testing at Portimao Circuit and Aston’s Silverstone test facility, with these latest images coming from initial shakedown and evaluation tests this week. The racer will now undergo a full development schedule to prepare it for FIA homologation this 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 in the coming months ahead of its first WEC outing next year. 2025 is looking like a big one for endurance racing…
