WEC Interlagos
Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar set for "full-blown test programme"
Aston boss encouraged with initial tests for new Le Mans Hypercar, leading to a "full-blown programme" ahead of planned 2025 WEC and IMSA entries
Gary Watkins
Edited: Jul 25, 2024, 7:31 PM
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The maiden runs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar have been billed as a “great foundation” for the test programme leading into its competition debut next season.
Adam Carter, Aston’s head of endurance motorsport, made the claim after the Valkyrie AMR-LMH undertook its first two days of circuit testing at Silverstone and then Donington Park last week, as the British manufacturer builds up to its entry into the respective Hypercar and GTP classes of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship.
“We set an ambitious but achievable target and we completed our aims,” he told Motorsport.com.
“It has been a long journey with a lot of commitment from a lot of parties to get to this milestone, but it just marks the beginning of the next stage of the journey. It was a great foundation to take the car forward into a full-blown test programme.”
That will begin imminently, Carter explained. “Between now and going into competition next year we have a very sizeable test programme planned and we will be active every few weeks,” he said.
“We have a very solid target and our first running in the shakedown has given some cautious optimism of being able to achieve that.”
Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH
Photo by: Aston Martin
The car was run over the course of the two days by a mixture of personnel from the US-headquartered Heart of Racing team, which will field the Valkyrie in both WEC and IMSA, and the Aston Martin Performance Technologies group leading the programme.
It completed more than 300 miles over last week’s test outings at Silverstone on Tuesday and Donington on Thursday.
The test at Silverstone was undertaken by Harry Tincknell, who is contracted to Multimatic Motorsport, a key partner in both the development and running of the Valkyrie. Longtime Aston driver Darren Turner and HoR regular Mario Farnbacher then took over driving duties at Donington.
Carter wouldn’t be drawn on whether Aston and HoR would give the AMR-LMH its race debut at next January’s Daytona 24 Hours, the opening IMSA round of the season.
That was put into doubt by Aston’s press statement on the release of photographs of the Valkyrie running at Donington in camouflage livery. It talked of a “competitive debut early in 2025” without mentioning Daytona, which suggests its first race could be delayed until the 10-hour WEC season-opener in Qatar at the end of February.
“The first milestone was to get the car running, the next one for me is the homologation date,” Carter told Motorsport.com. “There is a lot to be learned between now and the homologation — that is my key focus. Let’s get to the homologation point and see where we are.”
HoR will field a single Valkyrie in IMSA, while it will make a pair of entries in WEC in line with the new rule mandating that manufacturer teams in Hypercar run two cars.
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