Story by
This Is Aston Martin’s Bonkers New Le Mans Hypercar
- Story by
- This Is Aston Martin’s Bonkers New Le Mans Hypercar
(Aston Martin)
Aston Martin is coming back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year and hoping to win the event outright for the first time in more than 65 years. To achieve that lofty goal, it will race a V-12-powered hypercar based on its Valkyrie . On Wednesday, Aston unveiled the car's livery, a sleek green paint job inspired by the history of British car racing.
The Valkyrie hypercar first began testing in July of last year and has since put in over 9,300 miles of testing on tracks in the U.K., Qatar, and Bahrain. Aston Martin also tested the Valkyrie hypercar in the U.S., at Atlanta, Sebring, and Daytona. The hypercar's V-12 makes over 1,000 hp and was developed with help from legendary Formula 1 car designer Adrian Newey , who will officially join Aston in March to help its F1 efforts.
Advertisement
More from Robb Report
Aston is particularly proud of the fact that the Valkyrie hypercar is the only car competing that is based on a road-legal car.
"To be returning to the fight for overall honors at the 24 Hours of Le Mans exists at the very core of our values and marks a key milestone in our motor racing heritage," Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said in a statement . "As the only hypercar born from the road to challenge at the top of sports car racing in both the WEC and IMSA, the Valkyrie is an embodiment of our enduring sporting ethos."
Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar
The Valkyrie hypercar will compete at 24 Hours of Le Mans in the FIA World Endurance Championship and in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, where it will race in the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Aston Martin is also the first car to compete in both racing series, which speaks to Aston's competitive ambitions.
Advertisement
Those ambitions might be tempered by the field, which includes seven other manufacturers in the FIA World Endurance Championship. All have race-winning credentials of their own and many have vastly more recent experience. Aston said that the British drivers Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble will pilot the Valkyrie hypercar for Le Mans and a sister Valkyrie hypercar will be piloted by Marco Sørensen of Denmark and Alex Riberas of Spain. Two other drivers, Britain's Ross Gunn and Canada's Roman De Angelis, will also drive at Le Mans and compete in IMSA.
"Of course, we only do it because we want to win," Adam Carter, Aston Martin's head of endurance motorsport, said. "However, we respect the challenge of the events and the competition. They are at a high level, and that's why we want to compete against them. Fundamentally, it is only worth winning if it's against strong competition."
Car manufacturers have been saying win on Sunday, sell on Monday since almost the time racing began, but for an Aston team competing at Le Mans for the first time since 2011, they would probably just be happy with the win part.
Click here for more photos of the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar.
Best of Robb Report
Advertisement
Sign up for RobbReports's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .
