Lawrence Stroll targets Le Mans win with Aston Martin Valkyrie

He told us before he was supposed to more than 18 months ago – but now it is official: Lawrence Stroll has pressed the green light on Aston Martin pitching for an overall win at Le Mans in 2025 with a revived bid based around its Valkyrie hypercar.

Stroll announced the plan at the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies base at Silverstone as the British sports car maker gears up for a twin attack on both the US-based IMSA series and the World Endurance Championship. That means the Valkyrie is due to make its race debut at the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours, a little more than a year from now.

Originally announced in 2019, Stroll cancelled – or as it turned out shelved – the Valkyrie racing project shortly after his consortium took a controlling interest in Aston Martin Lagonda. But now Stroll has decided the time is right to revive a racer based on the Valkyrie AMR Pro originally designed by Adrian Newey and powered by a tuned version of its Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine – free of any hybrid complications. Its aural appeal looks certain to make Aston Martin once again a fan favourite at Le Mans.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the project is the trust that has been placed in Heart of Racing, the US-based team run by British expat racing driver Ian James which will run both the WEC and IMSA programmes. James raced in junior single-seaters back in the 1990s, including Ron Tauranac’s Ronta Formula Renault, before establishing himself as a respected endurance racer Stateside. Now he has the keys to deliver Aston its first major overall wins since the DBR1 conquered Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship in 1959.