Aston Martin Valkyrie To Race At Le Mans In New Hypercar Class

Aston Martin will enter at least two Valkyrie race cars in the 2020/2021 WEC season in an attempt to win the championship and the overall win of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Shortly after the confirmation of the Hypercar class in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which will replace the current LMP1 category, Aston Martin is ready to commit on a multi-year programme with the Valkyrie.

The new Hypercar class will essentially allow the participating race cars to look more like their production counterparts, creating a stronger marketing connection for the brands involved. The rules will also allow active aerodynamics and have set the minimum weight limit to 980kg.

Also Read: FIA Announces Budgets For 2020 Hypercar-Based Prototype Endurance Class

Aston Martin didn’t reveal any technical details about the Valkyrie race car at this point so we don’t know if the 2021 Le Mans challenger will employ a hybrid powertrain like the road car. The British car maker only said that the final race car will employ a race-prepared version of the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine.

The announcement comes on Aston Martin’s 60^th anniversary of the 1959 Le Mans win with the DBR1/300. “David Brown came here in 1959, with a car and a team of drivers capable of winning,” said Andy Palmer, Aston Martin’s CEO. “We intend to do the same in 2021. The Aston Martin Valkyrie is primed for such a challenge and sits perfectly within the ACO’s new ‘hypercar’ rule framework.”

“What could be more evocative than the wail of an Aston Martin V12 leading the charge into the night on the Mulsanne straight? ”, Palmer added.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is the result of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, with the latter’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey being responsible for its design. The Valkyrie road car is expected to be Aston’s most extreme road car to date.

Aston Martin, Toyota and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus are some of the companies to have officially announced their entries in WEC’s new Hypercar class but several reports suggest McLaren doing the same with the Speedtail and even Ferrari with the SF90 Stradale.