Aston Martin’s recent Valkyrie World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship contender has accomplished greater than 6,000km of testing since hitting the track last month.
The Le Mans hypercar, developed by the British manufacturer based on the Adrian Newey-inspired Valkyrie road automotive, covered a distance of three,700 miles over six days of testing on its home turf within the UK after which across continental Europe.
It all began with a full day of testing at Donington Park, two days after the finished Valkyrie AMR-LMH took to the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on 16 July.
This was followed by yet another day at Donington and two more at Silverstone before the programme moved to Aragon in Spain for a two-day test.
Aston Martin Endurance Racing boss Adam Carter has expressed his satisfaction with the testing to this point of the Valkyrie, which will probably be fielded by American team Heart of Racing in each the WEC and IMSA next yr.
“We have set a testing programme with ambitious and realistic targets and we are delivering on that, ticking the boxes,” Carter told Autosport/Motorsport.com.
“We have covered 6,000km so far and are very pleased with the progress, but it is still early days in what will be a long programme.”
Carter declined to disclose who has driven the AMR-LMH to this point, aside from those that got behind the wheel of the automotive during initial testing prior to the discharge of the primary photos of the automotive.
Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH
Photo: Aston Martin
Harry Tincknell, who’s contracted to Valkyrie development partner Multimatic Motorsports, took part within the shakedown at Silverstone before long-time Aston worker Darren Turner and regular HoR contributor Mario Farnbacher took the reins for the primary proper test at Donington.
Former Aston driver Stefan Mucke accomplished his first run within the automotive, with the bodywork still unfinished, at Silverstone’s Stowe circuit in early July.
Carter revealed that Aston and the HoR team are looking beyond the present group of GT Aston Martin drivers, which include two-time GTE Pro WEC title winners Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.
“We will be relying on Aston Martin Racing for support during this initial phase of testing and we have also started to look at a number of drivers from other teams,” he said.
HoR team principal Ian James stressed that no decisions have been made on who will race the three Valkyries next yr – two within the WEC Hypercar class and one in IMSA’s GTP – but stressed that “driver chemistry” will probably be key when determining the line-ups.
“There are a lot of good drivers out there but we want drivers who can leave their egos in the garage and do a solid job,” James told Autosport/Motorsport.com.
“That's what we're looking for: team players.”
Carter revealed that initial testing for the Valkyrie will likely also include a visit to the Middle East, where the WEC will feature two rounds in Bahrain and Qatar.
He said the event program has a likelihood of expanding to the United States when the second automotive goes into production in the autumn, as planned.
He declined to comment on whether the Valkyrie would make its race debut on the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA race that kicks off the season in January next yr, something that has already been teased alongside Aston Martin’s return to sportscar racing’s top division in October 2023.
IMSA has scheduled a so-called sanctioning test in Daytona for November, by which competitors for the upcoming season are required to participate.
Carter said it was debatable whether the Valkyrie would have to be homologated by then.
Last December, the Lamborghini SC63 LMDh, the brand new model for IMSA’s GTP class for 2024, took part in a correct test in homologated form, even though it was not scheduled to hitch the IMSA grid until the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH
Photo: Aston Martin
