Turner: Aston Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar Will Be “Incredible”

Darren Turner believes the Aston Martin Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar will be “incredible” after recently sampling the British manufacturer’s road-going counterpart that’s currently in development.

The Aston Martin factory driver has been involved in the early testing phases of V12-powered 1000 horsepower hypercar, a joint project between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing.

While few details have yet to emerge on the race program, expected to debut in the 2020-21 FIA World Endurance Championship season, it’s known the Le Mans Hypercar will be directly based off the yet-to-be-released road car.

“I’ve only been introduced to it recently,” Turner told Sportscar365. “I’ve done four days with the car, most of those were at Silverstone on the Stowe circuit. 

“It’s still early in its development phase. From my perspective, I loved it. I enjoyed every minute of driving that car.

“The team of engineers at Aston have to just keep going through the process of developing it.

“It is ultimately a road car with huge performance but there’s all the things that probably get taken for granted within road car development because we’re all used to cars just being cars. 

“There’s a process to get them to that level. That’s what the team back at Gaydon and Red Bull and all these guys are working on, just the fundamentals of it being a road car.”

When asked how he thinks how the race-prepped version of the car, which will not feature a hybrid powertrain, will stack up now having driven the road version, Turner said he’s been left with a great level of optimism.

“I could only imagine it’s going to be amazing,” he said.

“My feeling from those days I had with the car were, ‘This has got huge potential.’ It’s very enjoyable to drive from behind the wheel. 

“If that’s on a cold ambient temperature around Silverstone on road tires, then what’s it going to be like as a race car? It will be incredible.”

No further updates have come from the British manufacturer during last weekend’s 8 Hours of Bahrain although an AMR spokesperson told Sportscar365 that the project is still “full steam ahead”.

Factory GTE-Pro Program Extended Until 2021-22 WEC Season

Aston Martin Racing managing director John Gaw confirmed, meanwhile, that its factory GTE-Pro effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship has been extended through the 2022 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Previously, Aston’s five-year commitment to the class had only been through the end of 2021, prior to the WEC’s shift to a two-year calendar that started with the 2018-19 ‘Super Season’.

It will theoretically result in parallel Aston Martin programs in both Le Mans Hypercar and GTE-Pro for at least the next two seasons.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John