Rule changes could let Aston Valkyrie race at Le Mans

Aston Martin's Valkyrie and the McLaren Senna could one day soon go head-to-head at the world's most famous endurance race, thanks to new regulations being considered for the 2020 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Responding to calls from fans and car-makers to change the rules to entice new entrants to the dying LMP1 class, the FIA yesterday met to discuss radical rule and regulations changes.

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has been most vocal in calling for a rule change that would allow road-biased hypercars to race in the WEC.

“My personal perspective is very clear: Aston Martin will never compete in a prototype category because it has no relevance to us,” Palmer announced last December.

“But if they allowed racing derivatives of road cars, that would be very interesting to us and, I suspect, the fans."

Following the withdrawal of Porsche, Audi and Nissan from the sport, leaving just Toyota as the sole works team in the top-flight category, the rule-change is being heralded as a way to tempt back lucrative revenue generated by car-makers participating.

In what could lead to a new category dubbed "hypercar concept", the biggest change to LMP1 would be the freeing up of strict rules that govern a racer's design.

Reducing the costs involved in entering a works team is also said to be on the FIA's radar, which should please any car-maker considering racing in WEC.

An announcement on the new hypercar class is expected on the weekend of this year's Le Mans 24 Hour (June 16-17).