Aston Martin has revealed its new FIA World Endurance Championship challenger, the Vantage GTE, the racing version of the British marque’s biggest-selling road car.
Although the new Vantage road car was only launched this morning, Aston Martin says development of the GTE version is well advanced, with more than 13,000km of testing completed.
It will replace Aston Martin Racing’s most succssful competition car, the multiple Le Mans-winning V8 Vantage GTE.
The current model has won 37 of the team’s 51 international race victories, including two Le Mans 24 Hour class wins. However Aston Martin Racing says drivers report thenew car is easier to control on the limit than its predecessor, something likely to make it attractive to competitors in the GTE Am class, where top-level amateurs race alongside professinal teamates.
“Together with Aston Martin Racing’s engineers, the factory drivers have worked hard to optimise the drivability and performance of the base Mercedes-AMG 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 engine, that has been developed for use in the Vantage GTE application by Aston Martin Racing,” says the company.
Aston Martin Racing was working with new technical partners: Alcon for the braking system, Öhlins for the suspension and Michelin for a bespoke tyre programme to maximise the performance of the Vantage GTE. Also, the in-house Aston Martin Design team, led by Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman had taken their knowledge of the road Vantage styling and amplified it for the WEC version.
This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro class winners Darren Turner and Jonny Adam have been retained, as have the Danish duo and 2016 FIA WEC GTE Pro world champions, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen. In addition, AMR has recruited ex-GP2 race winner and now Formula E racer Alex Lynn.
The company says further driver appointments would be announced soon.Aston Martin Racing Technical Director, Dan Sayers said designing and developing GTE car has been an extremely satisfying process.
“We’ve collaborated closely with Aston Martin’s Gaydon headquarters to develop the road and race cars in parallel. Attention to detail has been a priority at every step of this process and we’ve made big improvements in each area of the car,” he said.
“We’ve spent every second optimising the design right until the build of our test car, which has paid dividends during our current testing schedule. This project has been one of the most intensive but also rewarding of my career so far”.
The president of Aston Martin Racing, David King said motorsport was fundamental to the DNA of Aston Martin and the team’s commitment to the FIA World Endurance Championship was stronger than ever.
“This is a golden era for GT racing and the launch of the new Vantage GTE will ensure that Aston Martin Racing remains at the forefront of the world’s greatest endurance series,” he said
