Aston Martin to field Vantage GT3 cars in 3 classes in 24 Hours of Nürburgring

MANILA: The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will make its ADAC TotalEnergies 24H Nürburging debut this weekend with multiple title-winning and 24 Hours of Le Mans class-winning partner team TF Sport. The luxury British sportscar brand returns to the top classes of the 24-hour race for the first time since 2018.

The event will also mark the largest contingent of the current generation Vantage sports cars entered in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, with German teams Dörr Motorsport and the locally-based PROsport Racing entering three Vantage GT3s each to make seven GTs in total.

Powered by a four-liter turbocharged V8, the Vantage GT3 has been gathering miles and records around the legendary 15.8-mile Nordschleife circuit in Germany’s Eifel region in preparation for the world’s most gruelling 24-hour race.

It made its competition debut at the track in standard specification when it finished fourth with Maxime Martin and Darren Turner in 2018. Aston Martin then brought the Vantage back for the NLS8 race last year where Martin and Nicki Thiim triumphed over several rival manufacturers, which became the first win for a British marque at the circuit in the modern era.

Since then, TF Sport has been contesting rounds of the venue-based Nürburgring Langstrecken Series, as well as the 24 Hour Qualifiers, to ready itself for the 24 Hours race.

Now, TF Sport bids to add to Aston Martin’s wins with an all-star driver lineup: Double FIA GT World Endurance champions Thiim and Marco Sørensen, Le Mans and Spa 24 Hours winner Martin, and Nürburgring specialist David Pittard will be at the helm of the Vantage GT3 cars. 

Aston Martin GT cars have been competing in the Nürburgring since 2005, when Aston Martin Lagonda made its debut in the VLN (now NLS) and Nürburgring 24 Hours with an almost standard V8 Vantage that spawned the ultra-successful GT4 version.

Since then, the marque has enjoyed many notable class successes including victory in the SP9T class in 2018, when Martin, Thiim, Turner and Sørensen finished fourth overall, amid the final hours in heavy rain behind the wheel of the final  V12 Vantage GT3. This result still stands as the marque’s best finish in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

In recent years, the brand shifted its focus on developing the customer-spec Vantage GT4, which won the SP8T class in 2019 with Jamie Chadwick, Alex Brundle, and Peter Cate. In 2020, AMR partner team Garage 59 finished third in the same class with an upgraded GT8R. 

As in 2021, PROsport Racing has maintained an Aston Martin presence in the NLS series, and the team will bring three Vantages to the 24 Hours race, one SP8T class car and two in SP10 , having won the class qualifying races earlier in May. 

Dörr Motorsport is contesting the race for the first time with Aston Martin and was also a double class winner in the Qualifiers. It will have two cars in SP8T and one in SP10. 

Practice for the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring begins on May 26. The race begins on Saturday, May 27, and can be viewed live on the official event website and YouTube channel. 

Photos from Aston Martin

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