Aston Martin are ramping up their testing programme ahead of their entrance into the World Endurance Championship.
The British manufacturer will join the WEC in the Hypercar class, as well as the IMSA with their machine that was inspired by Adrian Newey’s Valkyrie road car.
Aston Martin will run two cars in the WEC as the manufacturer will become the only one to compete in all levels of sportscar and GT racing, as well as Formula 1.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the Valkyrie has been put through its paces with numerous tests in the UK and in mainland Europe.
Speaking with Autosport, Heart of Racing – who will run the Valkyries – team principal Ian James discussed their search for their drivers next year.
Aston Martin chiefs discuss their 2025 driver search
Since taking to the track in testing, Aston Martin’s new Hypercar and IMSA machine already racked up more than 6000km.
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The tests took place at Donnington, Silverstone and Aragon in Spain, with the likes of Harry Tincknell, Darren Turner and HoR regular Mario Farnbacher piloting the new Hypercar machine.
While there is a decent pool of drivers already at their disposal, Aston Martin’s head of endurance racing, Adam Carter, revealed that the team are also looking outside of their existing GT drivers.
“Through the initial testing phase we will be leaning on the Aston Martin Racing roster to support us and we have started to have look at a few drivers from elsewhere as well,” he said.
HoR team principal Ian James also commented on the type of driver they are looking for: “There are a lot of good drivers out there, but we want drivers who can leave the ego in the garage and do a solid job.
“That is what we are looking for, team players.”
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The WEC 2024 season returns with Austin
The WEC returns to action at the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
Toyota comes into the event off the back of a dominant victory at Interlagos as they look to challenge Porsche in the manufacturers’ championship.
Several teams have been affected by the Balance of Performance adjustments at Austin as the WEC hopes to create a level playing field amongst the differing cars.
Toyota have been hit hard by the BoP changes and will be hoping that it does not affect them too much as they fight for the title.