94th Le Mans 24 Hours opens Saturday

First top-class challenge since DBR1's overall win in 1959

Vantage GT3 also targets sixth class victory

The Aston Martin Valkyrie in its special livery unveiled ahead of the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours. [Aston Martin]
The Aston Martin Valkyrie in its special livery unveiled ahead of the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours. [Aston Martin]

Aston Martin's Valkyrie hypercar will compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the world's most prestigious endurance race, with the British brand aiming to reassert itself at the top of the field 67 years after the DBR1 claimed overall victory in 1959.

Aston Martin announced Tuesday that it will enter two Valkyrie hypercars under the Aston Martin THOR team in the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours, which opens Saturday at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. A total of 62 cars will take the start this year, with former professional cyclist and Aston Martin High Performance Ambassador Mark Cavendish serving as the official starter.

The Valkyrie is Aston Martin's flagship entry in the top-tier Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Le Mans Hypercar version was developed from the road-going production hypercar and is the only production-based hypercar competing simultaneously in both the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in North America.

The car is powered by a 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine co-developed with Cosworth. The unit can rev to 11,000 rpm and produce more than 1,000 horsepower, but race regulations cap output at 500 kW — approximately 680 horsepower.

The two Valkyries running at Le Mans this year will wear a special livery featuring the British Union Jack on the front splitter, which Aston Martin says is intended to celebrate the brand's British racing heritage on the Le Mans stage.

"More than a year into Aston Martin's Hypercar endurance racing program, I am confident that the Valkyrie is beginning to truly realize its potential and show real competitiveness in the WEC," Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said. "Le Mans is the most prestigious and important stage in global motorsport, and I am incredibly proud that we have the opportunity to fly the flag for Britain at this event."

He added that the Valkyrie "embodies Aston Martin's uncompromising philosophy of high-performance engineering, and the racing version carries the same spirit as the founding principles of our brand. Le Mans is the perfect stage for the Valkyrie to prove its true worth."

The driver lineups have also been confirmed. Car No. 23 will be shared by Ross Gunn, Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble, while Car No. 24 will be driven by Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis. The Aston Martin THOR team finished both Valkyries at last year's Le Mans debut, securing manufacturers' championship points in the process.

"The Le Mans 24 Hours holds a unique place in motorsport history, and it is only right that Aston Martin stands alongside the world's greatest sportscar manufacturers and battles hard against the strongest competition," said Adam Carter, Aston Martin's head of endurance motorsport. "We are proud to carry the hopes of Aston Martin fans around the world, and of British fans, in this year's race."

He said Aston Martin's DNA was forged through motorsport and that the brand has played a central role at Le Mans for nearly a century. "Competing at the top level is a natural step for us," he said. "We are here to win, and we will focus every resource we have on achieving that."

Aston Martin's Vantage GT3 will also take to the Le Mans circuit. The THOR and Racing Spirit of Leman teams will field three Vantage GT3s in pursuit of the brand's 20th overall class victory at Le Mans and the Vantage's sixth class win.

The Vantage GT3 is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine. Mattia Drudi, who took LMGT3 class pole position last year, returns to the entry, as does two-time class winner Jonny Adam, who makes his first Le Mans appearance since his 2020 victory.

The 94th Le Mans 24 Hours gets underway at 4 p.m. local time Saturday — 11 p.m. the same day Korean Standard Time.

Le Mans runs multiple car classes simultaneously, but the overall result is determined by whichever car completes the most laps in 24 hours. That makes the Hypercar class — the fastest category — the de facto contest for overall honors.


kwater@heraldcorp.com