Aston Martin Returns to Le Mans in Style

If Formula One is about glitz and glamour, Le Mans is all grit and determination. Part of the World Endurance Championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s toughest race, and one that all thirteen manufacturers who have entered want to win. It is also one of the world’s longest-running races. F1 might be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, but Le Mans has played host to 24-hour racing since 1923, a full 27 years before the first F1 race at Silverstone. 

Fast forward a century, and the racing at Le Mans has never been better. This is largely thanks to the great resurgence of brands entering. It is notoriously difficult – and expensive – to enter F1, but the regulations surrounding entry to WEC are far less strenuous. It still isn’t easy to turn up and build a car, but the cost and barriers around the series seem to be more attractive to many manufacturers. For this season’s top Hypercar category, which sits above the GT3 class, Ferrari competes alongside Porsche, Toyota, Alpine, Cadillac, BMW and Peugeot. By 2027, McLaren, Genesis and Ford will join in the action. This year’s newcomer is particularly exciting, though. Developed alongside its F1 programme, Aston Martin joined Hypercar, and in June raced at Le Mans in the top class for the first time since 2009. 

It did so in one the 20th century’s best looking, and sounding, cars. The Valkyrie AMR-LMH, as it’s known, is unique among its competitors as it’s based on a road car. The road-going Valkyrie itself is one of the most remarkable supercars ever built. Co-developed with Red Bull Racing and with input from aerodynamic mastermind Adrian Newey, its 1,000bhp, 6.5-litre V12 combines with the car’s unique ground effect design to devastating effect.

For the AMR-LMH, the Valkyrie’s basic underpinnings were utilised, but additionally optimised for endurance racing. The carbon fibre chassis was tweaked for race use, while the hybrid system was removed, meaning the Cosworth V12 powered the car’s rear wheels without electric assistance. Its power had to be reduced to around 680bhp to appease the FIA rulebook, while the weight sits at around 1,000kg. It is this combination of the high-revving V12 – and the car’s dramatic looks – that have already made it a fan favourite this season. 

Aston Martin’s road cars are fan favourites, too. I drove one of them, a DB12 Volante, from London to Le Mans, and it got plenty of positive attention on both sides of the Channel. This is largely down to its design, which is among the most elegant of any road car on sale today. It retains the long-bonneted proportions that have defined the DB series since the 1960s, combining that now classic silhouette with a contemporary large raked grille and a slim, pincered rear. The colour helps too; Liquid Crimson, in this case.

To drive, the DB12 is every bit as elegant as you’d hope. It’s immensely powerful, with its Mercedes-AMG-sourced 4.0-litre, twin turbo V8 producing 680hp. This is enough for a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds, despite its heavy, 1,796kg dry mass. It glides along the smooth, French country roads in “GT” mode, ironing out bumps and crevices with ease. Dial it up to ‘Sport’ and the V8 comes to life, pulling you along with purpose like a muscular hound does a subservient owner. It is a weapon, and makes light work of the 400 mile journey. 

Arriving at the Circuit de la Sarthe, one of the first things I hear is the Valkyrie AMR-LMH. It’s easily distinguishable as the only twelve cylinder car on track, with its screaming crescendo audible before the car is visible. It aggressively cycles through the gears, sounding like a quicker revving, quicker shifting version of an early ‘90s F1 car. In a world of ever muted, turbo-charged performance vehicles, it’s an incredibly refreshing change of tact.

It didn’t win the race. That honour went to the Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye driven Ferrari. But the Aston was never going to win, not this early in its life. 

“It’s important to keep in mind that Le Mans represents the first competitive 24-hour event for Valkyrie and that the Circuit de la Sarthe throws up its own unique set of challenges that are hard to replicate anywhere else,” said team principal, Ian James. “For Valkyrie’s debut at Le Mans, finishing with both cars would represent a supreme success for a programme in its infancy. We are still only scratching the surface of Valkyrie’s potential, but with every race that passes we improve our systems on and off track and gather more vital data that feeds back into the development process.”

When the chequered flag hit, both cars did indeed finish, with the #007 car in 14th, and the #009 car in 12th. While outside the points, it’s an impressive result and the team will now have a huge amount of data to help them improve further. Aston Martin last got overall victory at Le Mans in 1959, with a 1-2 finish with two DBR1s beating Ferrari. Nearly 70 years later, it’s a feat that will be driving the entire marque once again in what has become the 21st century battle of the manufacturers.