Michael Satterfield
Aston Martin has ceased development of the Valkyrie Hypercar that was slated to race in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), starting this August at Silverstone. Aston Martin Racing will continue to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Aston Martin Vantage GTE and is poised to re-enter Formula 1 next year as a factory team for the first time since 1960 thanks to Lawrence Stroll’s investment in Aston Martin Lagonda. Stroll’s Racing Point F1 team will be rebranded as the Aston Martin Works team for the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Aston’s recent financial woes are not being blamed for the withdrawal from the WEC Hypercar program, instead, Aston says it is the result of a recent decision by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the International Motor Sports Association to restructure the Hypercar class with the LMDh Prototype category beginning in 2021. This means that the Valkrie will not be competing at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.
With such momentous change taking place in sportscar racing, the decision to pause our entry into the WEC Hypercar class gives us the time and breathing space to calmly assess the status of the top level of the sport, and our place within it. Competing against our closest rivals on the road in GT racing makes perfect sense. Vantage is winning in some of the most fiercely contested sportscar classes in global motorsport, and long may this continue.
Aston Martin will still be producing the 1,160hp Valkyrie, customers will see the street-legal version by fall of 2020 while the Aston Marting Racing Pro version of the car deliveries will follow in early 2021. Only 150 examples will be produced.
