The Valkyrie AMR-LMH is set to make its debut at the 2025 Qatar 1812 km.[5][6]
History
Initial plans
Aston Martin was one of the first manufacturers to commit to the Le Mans Hypercar class in 2019, with plans to start competition with at least two factory cars in the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship. The car was planned to compete without a hybrid system, despite the road car containing one.[7] Alongside the factory entries, two further cars were planned to be fielded by R-Motorsport.[8]
In February of 2020, Aston Martin announced that they would be cancelling the project, following the decision of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest to allow LMDh vehicles to participate in the Hypercar project. The brand also joined Formula One around this time, meaning they had limited finances to support their Hypercar programme. The manufacturer stated to still be open to joining in the future.[9]
2023 revival
In October of 2023, Aston Martin officially announced the return of the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar project. They planned to enter at least one car in both the FIA WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2025, run by The Heart of Racing.[2][3] This would make Aston Martin the first Le Mans Hypercar manufacturer to enter the IMSA series, which up to that point only had LMDh cars participate.[10]
On the 21st of November, Aston Martin announced that the Valkyrie AMR-LMH would make its global racing debut at the 2025 Qatar 1812 km, opting to skip the 2025 24 Hours of Daytona to perform further testing and development.[6] They also announced that both cars that would be racing in the FIA WEC would be using numbers #007 and #009, both taken from their Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR9. Tincknell and Alex Riberas were also announced as the first two drivers to race the car, driving the #007 and #009 respectively.[14]