Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar has broken cover at the start of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship contender’s test programme ahead of its 2025 debut.
The first Aston to challenge for outright Le Mans 24 Hours victory since 2011 ran on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit last Tuesday and then at Donington Park on Thursday.
Aston and the US-headquartered Heart of Racing team that will field the Valkyrie AMR-LMH in both WEC and IMSA billed the two runs as “a shakedown and initial evaluation testing”.
The tests were undertaken by long-time Aston Martin driver Darren Turner, Heart of Racing regular Mario Farnbacher and Harry Tincknell, who is contracted to Multimatic Motosport, a key partner in the Valkyrie project.
Official photographs of the non-hybrid AMR-LMH, which is powered by a bespoke Cosworth-developed 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12, running in a camouflage livery have been released by Aston from the Donington test.
The first proper track testing followed an initial systems check for the car running without its full bodywork earlier this month on the Stowe school circuit at Silverstone with former Aston driver Stefan Mucke at the wheel.
More than 300 miles were covered by the Aston over two tests that will precede an intensive development programme in Europe through the summer with a single chassis and then an expansion into North America with a second car in the autumn.
Adam Carter, head of endurance motorsport at Aston, expressed satisfaction with the Silverstone and Donington runs: “While it is very early in the testing cycle, from what we have witnessed so far, we are satisfied that the AMR-LMH is achieving the criteria we have set out for it to accomplish.”
HoR team principal Ian James described the tests as “an extremely proud moment for the programme”.
“The birth of the project has been a couple of years in the making, so to get it on track and to see the car going around in the flesh feels momentous for Heart of Racing,” he said.
“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, we have the right tools to be able to do it successfully.”
Aston’s communication after last week’s testing states that the car will make its “competitive debut early in 2025” without mentioning the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA season-opener in January.
The line hints that Aston and HoR could decide against giving the Valkyrie its debut in a 24-hour race and instead delay its first race until the start of the 2025 WEC in Qatar at the end of February.
Its target for homologation of the car was given by Aston in its statement as the autumn of this year, which would allow it to compete at Daytona.
HoR will field a pair of AMR-LMHs in the WEC in line with the rule change for 2025 demanding factory teams run two cars and a single entry in IMSA.
