- The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH race car has already begun track testing
- Aston Martin plans to race the Valkyrie AMR-LMH in the 2025 motorsports season
- The Valkyrie AMR-LMH will put Aston Martin in the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship
Aston Martin on Monday provided a first look at its Valkyrie AMR-LMH race car being developed in time for the 2025 motorsports season, including an entry in that season’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
As the name suggests, the car is being developed to meet LMH rules, which will make it—together with cars built to meet LMDh rules—eligible for the top classes of the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship, the Hypercar and GTP classes, respectively.
An initial shakedown test in the U.K. has been completed and over the remainder of the year the car will be taken to major racetracks around Europe for further evaluation. Aston Martin factory driver Darren Turner, a Le Mans veteran, is helping with the testing.
Handling the development is Aston Martin Performance Technologies, the consulting division of the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. Heart of Racing is also involved in the project, and will field a two-car assault together with Aston Martin. The Phoenix, Arizona-based team, which races to raise funds for the Seattle Children’s Cardiology Research Fund, already successfully competes with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the GT classes of the World Endurance and SportsCar Championships.
Aston Martin Valkyrie production in Gaydon, U.K.
The Valkyrie AMR-LMH will be the first LMH car to compete in both the World Endurance and SportsCar Championships. It’s also the first derived from a road car.
The Valkyrie AMR-LMH is a very different beast to the Valkyrie road car, though. It features a unique chassis thought to be both longer and wider than the chassis in the road car. It also retain the road car’s 6.5-liter V-12, but feature modifications to meet Balance of Performance rules as well as durability to last the length of a 24-hour race. The mild-hybrid system of the road car was also removed for the race car.
FIA homologation for the Valkyrie AMR-LMH is scheduled for the fall.
With the car’s competition debut next year, Aston Martin will become the only automaker competing in F1 as well as at the top level in the World Endurance and SportsCar Championships. The automaker also plans to retain its current GT program, making its racing program one of the most diverse in the world of motorsports.
