Aston Martin has made a lot of progress in developing its Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar and is prepared to field two entries in the WEC next year if the regulations demand it.
Aston Martin is “on target” with the development of the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar with the completion of its development phase with an AMR Pro test mule ahead of an unaltered second quarter release for its V12-powered WEC contender.
The head of endurance motorsport for the British brand, Adam Carter, disclosed that Aston Martin completed a two-day test at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao to wrap up the AMR Pro’s multi-month initial development phase.
This came after preliminary testing in Silverstone, with “about a thousand kilometers” covered throughout the whole schedule. With the possible exception of a few minor systems and electronics tests, Carter told reporters at the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa that the first phase of development is “all but finished.”
In regards to the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar’s launch, Carter stated that Aston Martin is adhering to its previously announced plan of shaking down the car in the latter stages of the second quarter.
“It’s on target,” he said. “Like all racing programs, it’s always tight because you push the things along. We’ll look to start running in the very back end of the second quarter to shakedown and then start track testing basically in July.”
Carter stated that initial testing will occur with a single chassis before adding a second car later in the year, but would not provide specifics about the testing plan, including dates and locations. He also added testing will eventually transition to a split setup as the Heart of Racing Team-led Valkyrie project will enter both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the WEC.
“We’ll be focusing around one test car and the program to start with in Europe and then once we get over a certain threshold milestone we’ll then start to split the cars,” he said. “So we’ll put one testing in the U.S., one in Europe.”
The WeatherTech Championship team will be based in Phoenix, while the WEC team will be based in the UK as Multimatic continues to be involved in the project through a base in Brackley, although Carter noted that the company is just a service provider.
“They are not the race team, they’re just a service provider,” Carter said. “So they’re part of the chassis program but the race team is Heart of Racing, same as in the U.S.”
Aston Martin’s debut in the WEC Hypercar category is scheduled to happen in tandem with a soon-to-be-decided regulation requiring manufacturers to field two cars starting 2025.
Considering Heart of Racing committed to enter “at least one” Valkyrie in both the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC, the implementation of such a rule would have an impact on Aston Martin.
Should a two-car mandate be implemented, Carter stated that Aston Martin will be ready to accommodate a multi-car participation in the WEC. However, the two-car rule is still pending approval by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.
“We fully support what WEC is doing,” he said. “If you look at the championship, it’s grown.
“We’re committed to the Hypercar program and we’ll review what comes in the regulations and we’ll have to adapt as necessary.”
Carter declined to provide any additional information regarding the specifics of a two-car attempt or whether Heart of Racing would run both cars stating that “it would be speculation at this point until the regulations.”
He also promised that if a two-car requirement is implemented, it won’t affect Aston Martin’s commitment to a single-car GTP effort for the WeatherTech Championship program.
