The newest Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which will represent the British automaker in the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, has been revealed.
The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 evolution model, which will be available to customer teams in time for the 2024 racing season, was captured on camera for the first time during this week’s open test at Silverstone.
The revival of the Valkyrie Le Mans project was the headline-grabbing aspect of last week’s Aston Martin announcement, but there was also an intriguing detail regarding the Vantage. A new version of the GT3 and GT4 race cars would be released in tandem with the road car’s full renovation.
The announcement was made as part of a statement by Prodrive, which has been its partner since 2004, reiterating its dedication to customer racing in the GT categories.
Aston Martin director of endurance racing Adam Carter has announced that the 2019 season’s GT3 and GT4 models will be homologation evolutions of the current models.
Final tests of the Vantage GT3 are currently under way before the 2024 World Endurance Championship, where Aston Martin will race in the new LMGT3 class which replaces GTE and where McLaren has also expressed interest.
Given that the new Aston Martin Vantage is an evolution of the preceding GT3 car, there still remains potential areas of improvement. Aerodynamics was the main point of focus on the new car, with a much larger rear spoiler, a more sharply strangled bonnet with wheelarch vents, and a reworked back end with what appears to be an even wider diffuser with vents on both sides.
Additionally, the new scooped-out section of the front wings has the appearance of being one of the design cues that might find its way onto a road car.
The DB11’s evolution into the DB12 makes it very evident that Aston is serious about these race car upgrades. The concealed headlamps indicate a front end update is in the works, perhaps in line with the ’12, even though there isn’t much to tell from the GT3 car for a road-going model.
Five years after the release of a Vantage that wasn’t widely acclaimed, the actual 10/10 sports car may finally be here.
Aston Martin has not provided any further information regarding the two days of testing that took place this week at Silverstone on Monday and Tuesday.
However, it is known that Aston Martin Lagonda’s Darren Turner and factory driver Jonny Adam, who drives for Aston Martin Lagonda rather than AMR, were among those who tested the latest model.
It is also believed that Phil Keen drove the car on behalf of a potential buyer, along with Tomonobu Fujii, who drives for the D’Station Aston team in the WEC. This means all FIA GT3-compliant series will be open to race the Evolution Vantage.
This includes events held under the GT World Challenge banner by the Stephane Ratel Organization, GT Daytona Pro, and GTD in IMSA, as well as the new LMGT3 category that will take the place of GTE Am for the 2024 WEC and European Le Mans Series campaigns.
Although Aston Martin has not yet made its choice over which team will represent its factory project in the WEC, the outfit is anticipated to be one of the manufacturers that will be allocated entries in LMGT3 category.
Fans are anticipating the GT3 Evo in the US IMSA WeatherTech Championship even if the 2024 WEC season doesn’t start until Qatar in March.
