Mercedes Benz : Aston Martin Valkyrie Successor Could Race At Le Mans

It's being nicknamed the "son of Valkyrie."

Next year, Aston Martin will unleash the most extreme road car it’s ever built: the Valkyrie. Developed in collaboration with Red Bull, the Valkyrie is being billed as a race car for the road. Best of all, it isn’t a one-off project, as Aston Martin has confirmed it will be the first of several “incredible” new hypercars that will launch as part of the automaker’s partnership with Red Bull.

One of them will be a mid-engined supercar rivalling the Ferrari 488 GTB and McLaren 720S that will revive the Vanquish name. And now there’s talk of a separate mid-engine hypercar being developed by the two companies as a successor to the Valkyrie.

According to Autocar, the hypercar has been nicknamed the “son of Valkyrie.” Originally, the plan was to build a race car based on the Valkyrie to compete in Le Mans as the regulations are being changed to allow road-derived and concept hybrid cars to compete in the top category from 2020. However, since the Valkyrie has already sold out and its successor is due to arrive the same year, it makes more sense for Aston Martin to use the “son of Valkyrie” to attempt an outright victory at Le Mans.

“I’m hesitant to confirm we will race at Le Mans before the final regulations have been confirmed, because our experiences in Formula 1 have taught us that in motorsport ideas that begin optimistically can ebb away, but we have a great deal of interest in the new regulations at Le Mans,” said Palmer, referring to plans to let road car-based cars compete in the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans' top class. "The underlying fact is that ‘son of Valkyrie’ will drop at exactly the right time," Palmer added, "and if that means it would be able to go into the event and race LaFerraris, Porsche 918s and Sennas, then I cannot think of anything better."

Like the Valkyrie, the new unnamed hypercar will be co-developed by Aston Martin and Red Bull engineers. It will target McLaren Ultimate Series cars such as the Senna and upcoming Speedtail and will likely be produced in limited numbers.