Aston Martin confirms 'son of Valkyrie' will race at Le Mans

Aston Martin has confirmed its forthcoming Valkyrie hypercar will not compete at the 2019 Le Mans, despite changes to the regulations that will allow road-derived and concept hybrid cars to compete in the world's most famous endurance race.

Instead, according to Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer, the sports car maker will enter the Valkyrie's replacement in the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hour.

Originally, it was thought a race car based on the Valkyrie AMR Pro would provide the ideal basis for Aston to launch a Le Mans challenge. But since the wild new hypercar is sold out it makes more sense, Palmer told Autocar, to use the Valkyrie's replacement to chase down an outright victory at Le Mans.

Confirming that the second-generation Valkyrie would once again be designed and engineered in cooperation with Red Bull Racing and legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, Palmer said he relishes the opportunity of seeing the 'son of Valkyrie' do battle with the race version of the LaFerrari, as well as Porsche's 918 Spyder and McLaren's Senna.

“I’m hesitant to confirm we will race at Le Mans before the final regulations have been confirmed, because our experiences in Formula 1 have taught us that in motorsport ideas that begin optimistically can ebb away, but we have a great deal of interest in the new regulations at Le Mans,” said Palmer, who says he is lobbying FIA officials to reduce the budgets for competing Le Mans teams by at least a quarter.