The evolution version of the Vantage GT3 under development ahead of a release to customers in time for the 2024 season was photographed for the first time during general testing at Silverstone this week.
It follows last week’s announcement that Aston is developing new versions of its GT3 and GT4 Vantages at the launch of its graduation to the top divisions of the WEC and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar in 2025.
The news was part of a reaffirmation of its commitment to customer racing in the GT ranks with Prodrive, which has been its partner since 2004.
New Aston Martin head of endurance motorsport Adam Carter has confirmed that the new cars will be homologation evolutions of the existing GT3 and GT4 cars introduced for the 2019 season.
No other information has been forthcoming about the cars developed at Prodrive under the Aston Martin Racing banner, including their names.
The revised GT3 racer is understood to be in the final stages of development ahead of its homologation, while the new GT4 version of the Vantage is also known to be up and running.
No details of the two days of testing at Silverstone on Monday and Tuesday this week have been released by Aston.
But it is known that factory driver Jonny Adam and marque stalwart Darren Turner, who is contracted to Aston Martin Lagonda rather than AMR, were among those to get behind the wheel of the new car.
Phil Keen is also understood to have driven the car on behalf of a potential customer, along with Tomonobu Fujii, who races for the D’Station Aston squad in the WEC.
The evolution Vantage will be eligible for all the series run to FIA GT3 rules.
That means those run under GT World Challenge banner by the Stephane Ratel Organisation and GT Daytona Pro and GTD in IMSA, as well as the new LMGT3 category replacing GTE Am for next season in the WEC and the European Le Mans Series.
Aston is expected to be one of the manufacturers to be granted entries for LMGT3 in the WEC next year, though it has yet to reveal which team it will choose to be its representative.
