Aston Martin has unveiled the racing version of its fastest and most driver-focused Vantage, the Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The car debuted at the 24 Hours of Daytona last month, and now it has its official premiere.

Basically, this is a standard Vantage modified for the WEC (World Endurance Championship). It is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine with about 535 hp (399 kW). All cars in the GT3 class must weigh between 1,200 and 1,300 kg.

This purebred racer with the unmistakable design language of the Vantage road car takes your breath away. Compared to the standard Vantage, it is equipped with a new front part made of carbon fiber with a wider aperture that allows more air to cool the brakes, full-width laser light, shorter splitter, large louvres in the top of the front wheel arches.

Marco Mattiacci, Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer of Aston Martin said: “These new generation GT3 cars are more dependent than ever on aerodynamic downforce, so we wanted to make the car more stable under braking. The old car would dive a lot under braking, so we had to try and control the pitch with the rear suspension set-up. But this meant it was stiff, which made it quite snappy and, also over-worked the tires. Working heavily on damper tuning, we have found a much better balance with the new car so we can generate the downforce without compromising the suspension set-up. The result is much-improved progression and greater stability in all conditions. It also works its tires much more evenly, so teams have more options on strategy. The feedback from drivers who’ve tested it has been overwhelmingly positive. Especially the amateur racers, who have been able to achieve lap times that are much closer to the Pros. Now we need to go racing!”

The Vantage GT3 is very popular with racing car buyers, and the company believes it will have 30 cars on tracks around the world by the end of this year’s season. This is partly due to the fact that Aston already has many teams using its car, but also because it can be used in different series.

Source: Aston Martin