Aston Martin will cancel plans to field its new Valkyrie hypercar in the 2020-2021 World Endurance Championship and Le Mans, according to Racer.com. The news comes just weeks after Formula 1 team owner Lawrence Stroll’s $239 million investment into the company.
Details are scarce, but Sportscar365 reports the project’s cancelation stems from Stroll’s plan to make Aston Martin a factory F1 team in 2021, therefore moving funding away from Red Bull Racing, the company’s development partner for the Valkyrie. An official announcement is expected on Wednesday.
Aston Martin’s alleged withdrawal from the upcoming WEC class means that Toyota and Glickenhaus are the only confirmed entrants at this time. Peugeot initially planned to join in as well, but announced it would be re-evaluating its plans following the launch of the joint-series LMDh platform. Sportscar365 says a handful of other manufacturers, including Porsche, McLaren, and Ferrari, are said to be evaluating entries into the LMDh category, so we shouldn’t be too worried about the new class falling flat… yet, anyway.
Still, it’s sad to see such a cool car get canceled before it ever got the chance to race. Hopefully this won’t be the last we’re hearing about a V-12-powered Aston racing at Le Mans.
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