Aston readies Valkyries for Le Mans

It's 24 Hours week! Epic V12 aims for glory with a pair of three-driver teams

By Matt Bird / Monday, 8 June 2026 / Loading comments

Now, look, we know that the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH has a challenging task ahead at this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours. At last year’s running neither car made it into the top 10, and there was only one top five finish in the entire WEC season. But already this year, just two races in, the #007 has made it to fourth place at Spa, and we all know that anything can happen at Le Mans weekend. Aston is only too keen to remind us of 1959, too…

With an 18-car Hypercar grid, boasting entries from Peugeot to Genesis and Cadillac to Alpine, competition is of course going to be tough for the pair of Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries. Ferrari has the form at Le Mans, while Toyota and BMW have wins under their belt this campaign. But anyone who was fortunate enough to witness the Valkyrie race last year, or those who’ve simply seen one on video, can’t fail to have been totally beguiled by it. V12s in sportscar racing feels (and sounds) so right, evoking such past icons as the McLaren F1, Maserati MC20 and the Prodrive Ferrari 550. Don’t forget Aston Martin’s recent history with the configuration, too, with the glorious DBR9 and GT3-spec V12 Vantage. The theatre that a V12 brings to a grid is unrivalled. And as the only car on the grid based on a production car (one of the wildest production cars ever made, yes, but a road-legal machine nonetheless), it’s easy to have a soft spot for the Aston.

The #007 machine will be driven by an all-Brit lineup this weekend of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn. In Valkyrie #009 is Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis. Both will be sporting a special Le Mans livery, complete with Union Flag for the travelling British legion (don’t forget about Friday Service!) to cheer on. Whatever happens in terms of the race, the Valkyries at Le Mans will be a truly spectacular thing to witness.

“More than a year into Aston Martin’s hypercar endurance racing programme, we can say with certainty that Valkyrie has begun to realise its potential and is continuing to gain competitive impetus in the WEC,” said Aston Martin CEO, Adrian Hallmark. “Le Mans is perhaps the most important standalone race in global motorsport, and we are of course fiercely proud to carry British hopes of glory into this year’s 94th running of this prestigious event. Valkyrie wholly represents Aston Martin’s uncompromising approach to performance engineering, and the racing interpretation carries with it the very spirit of our founding principles. You could say that Le Mans is Valkyrie’s perfect natural habitat.” Not long to go now…