Aston Martin confirms WEC Hypercar entry

Aston Martin Racing has announced it will enter the new Hypercar category set to debut at the 2020-2021 World Endurance Championship with its Valkyrie supercar.

Following the technical collaboration between Red Bull and Aston Martin which produced the Valkyrie, headed by Red Bull F1 technical head Adrian Newey, the supercar will now go racing following the confirmation of WEC’s Hypercar class. Aston Martin will enter two Valkyrie cars into the 2020-2021 WEC season, including the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours,

“In line with WEC’s newly confirmed Hypercar regulations designed to allow race-prepared derivatives of the world’s fastest road cars to fight at the forefront of world sportscar racing, the Aston Martin Valkyrie race car will draw on all the radical pillars of the road car and its track-only AMR Pro variant,” an Aston Martin release confirmed.

“The new car will feature a race-prepared version of its normally-aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine. Placed within a carbon fibre structure, and featuring F1-inspired aerodynamic technology, it forms a competitive platform capable of challenging for wins.”

David King, Aston Martin Vice President and Chief Special Operations Officer, sees the new racing programme, to go alongside its current GTE programme, as “the ultimate challenge” and is relishing the opportunity following the confirmation of the new class at the ACO Friday press conference at Le Mans.

“The FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans represent the ultimate challenge for the Aston Martin Valkyrie – the world’s most extreme hypercar,” King said. “Designed and built with the purpose of pushing boundaries on the road, it’s natural to conclude that the next stage in its development would be to measure its capabilities on the track.

“I can think of no better way to do that than to compete in a world championship and the most prestigious and famous race of all.”

Aston Martin claimed victory at the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours with the DBR1 run by David Brown Racing with drivers Caroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori.

ByKolles Racing has also announced it will enter the WEC Hypercar class with a new prototype effort, while Toyota Gazoo Racing is expected to retain its TS050 Hybrid programme which currently competes in the LMP1 class.