Aston Martin keeps Vantage name for 2018 GTE car
Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Aston Martin is set to keep the ‘Vantage’ moniker for the new GTE car it plans to introduce for the 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship season.












Aston Martin conquered last month's endurance classic with the #97 trio of Jonathan Adam, Darren Turner and Daniel Serra, who came out on top of a thrilling battle with the #63 Corvette that went down to the closing laps.
For 2018, the Prodrive-run AMR team is working on a brand-new model, in line with the new Vantage road car set to be introduced next year.
“The new Vantage road car comes out next year and we’ve committed to GT racing for the foreseeable future, therefore you can infer from that that there’ll be a new Vantage race car,” Aston Martin vice president David King told Motorsport.com at the Nurburgring.
"The guys are working very hard on it. You’ll find out soon what our plans are.”
King did not disclose any details about the Vantage’s powertrain amid rumours of a higher level of Mercedes-AMG involvement in the GTE programme.
“We have a very important strategic relationship with Daimler on the OEM side and that becomes more significant with the new Vantage,” King added.
“That’s giving us access to technology that we need for the future of our road cars. It’s a good partnership but it doesn’t directly affect what we’re doing in racing.”
“We’ve proven we can also do it independently. The win in Le Mans was done independently through the expertise of Prodrive and ourselves. In some ways on the GT3 level AMG is a direct competitor."
Le Mans win 'last hurrah' for outgoing car
Aston Martin's Le Mans win couldn’t have come at a better time for the British marque, which had been chasing a first win for its Vantage model since refocusing its efforts on GT racing in 2012.
"It was a fantastic vindication of everything we’ve been working towards over the past few years with the Prodrive guys and Aston Martin Racing,” King acknowledges.
“After dabbling unsuccessfully with LMP from 2009 to 2011 we made a very conscious decision to concentrate back on GT racing.
"We got close a couple of times but it was really important to win a Le Mans class before the end of the current Vantage. It’s like the last hurrah.”
With the FIA awarding the GTE Pro category a world championship status in 2018, Aston Martin is keen to repeat last year’s WEC championship win.
"It would be a real dream to get that title,” King added. "It would be the icing on the cake on top of the Le Mans win. Despite the double points in Le Mans we’re certainly not the favourites. We need to go and win some races."
The Le Mans-winning #97 car currently trails the leading #67 Ford GT by 16 points in the GTE Pro championship after finishing seventh in class at the Nurburgring.

BMW M8 GTE completes three-day Lausitz test
Rao parts ways with Signatech LMP2 team

Latest news
Rast, Muller and Cassidy to miss Fuji WEC to focus on DTM
Rene Rast, Nico Muller and Nick Cassidy are all expected to miss the fifth round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji Speedway next month to prioritise their DTM commitments.
In the third episode on the behind-the-scenes at the Monza round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, attention turns to the pre-race preparations.
Bourdais says 2023 Cadillac LMDh “already in the window”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais says the Cadillac for the next-gen IMSA/WEC GTP/LMDh regulations has “hit the ground running” and is less raw than Peugeots he drove in their development phases.
WRT to run BMW's factory LMDh team in WEC after Audi split
Successful sportscar outfit WRT will run BMW's FIA World Endurance Championship programme in 2024 after splitting with Audi, and is expected to race the Bavarian marque's GT3 machinery next season.
The history lessons Peugeot should have learned on its return
The Peugeot 9X8 will make its FIA World Endurance Championship debut at Monza this weekend. The French manufacturer has gone radical and will be hoping it doesn’t need to overhaul its contender, as it did with its first Le Mans challenger…
How Formula E's double-duty drivers got on at Le Mans
Eight Formula E drivers made the 7,000-mile sprint from the streets of Jakarta to the fabled Circuit de la Sarthe and every one had a story to share at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours. Despite a range of triumphs and disappointments, each driver doubling up on the day job played a key role in their teams' fortunes
How junior formula giant Prema is readying for its Le Mans future
Prema remains a colossus in single-seaters, but the serial Formula 2 and Formula 3 title-winning squad has joined forces with top GT squad Iron Lynx for an attack on sportscars in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series. Ahead of its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours, its sights are firmly fixed on LMP2 glory – and a future in Hypercars next year...
The British rookies targeting a good first impression at Le Mans
Three young Britons will make their first starts in the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend in the highly-competitive 23-car GTE Am field. But how did they get here? Motorsport.com hears their stories.
The wingless wonder Peugeot hopes will restore it to Le Mans glory
Peugeot went radical with the initial plan for its Le Mans Hypercar project, and then stuck to its guns. Here’s how things are shaping up a few weeks before the debut of the 9X8 in next month's Monza World Endurance Championship round
How Toyota’s sole survivor turned the tables at Spa
After a chastening opening to the season at Sebring that ended in an enormous accident, Toyota's #7 crew got their World Endurance Championship underway with victory at a treacherously slippery Spa to make up for its sister car's Sebring defeat to Alpine, as Glickenhaus's promising qualifying turned to disaster in the race
How Toyota's WEC dominance was curbed at stormy Sebring
Toyota’s stranglehold on the FIA World Endurance Championship ended at the 2022 opener at Sebring, but all accusing eyes were on the Balance of Performance system as the key to the shake-up. Here's how it unfolded, to see Alpine celebrating under a stormy sky having blown away the defending champions...
Why Penske remains ambitious for its WEC learning year
Team Penske is gearing up for its role in running Porsche’s LMDh programme from 2023 by entering this year's World Endurance Championship with an LMP2 car. Although the team is considering 2022 as a season to learn, it is no less serious about winning than ever - which should make the already fiercely competitive class even more so