WATCH: Aston Martin claims historic victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans

MANILA: Aston Martin achieved another historic triumph with its Vantage GTE as partner team TF Sport won the GTE-Am class at the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend. The win, in a year with a record-equalling 23-car GTE-Am entries, is TF Sport's second in three years at Le Mans, after its class victory in 2020.

The winning team of Ben Keating (USA), double FIA GT world champion Marco Sorensen (DEN), and Henrique Chaves (POR), all first-time winners at Le Mans, drove the #33 Vantage to victory with a near-perfect performance. The win takes Keating, Sorensen, and the TF Sport team to the top of their class in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) standings.

Aston Martin rounded out a strong weekend with a third-place podium finish for 2017 FIA WEC GTE-Am champion Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), his NorthWest AMR team-mates Nicki Thiim (DEN), and Le Mans rookie David Pittard (GBR) in the #98 Vantage, which had led the class standings ahead of Le Mans after setting the pace in both of the opening rounds — the 1,000 Miles of Sebring in the US and the 6 Hours of Spa.

The Vantage GTE has made its fifth appearance at Le Mans, and the 1-3 result marked the car's third GTE-Am victory, following the double GTE-Pro and GTE-Am victory in 2020.

The Aston Martins climbed ranks after making a safe and smooth start on Saturday. The NorthWest AMR Vantage started from P5 on the GTE-AM grid, three places behind TF Sport. The third Vantage, entered by D'station Racing with support from TF Sport for its second attempt at Le Mans, started in P19.

Both teams in the NorthWest AMR and TF Sport Aston Martins climbed into the top four as daylight turned to dusk and finally into darkness. The TF Sport #33 gained the lead for the first time just before the halfway mark, and Keating and his teammates were clearly established at the top by Sunday morning. NorthWest AMR made it an Aston Martin 1-2 at the top of the class as the full house of spectators who had returned to Le Mans this year enjoyed their breakfast.

Dalla Lana and his teammates were delayed throughout the morning following a series of slow zones and a safety car interruption, but they continued to push for a podium finish in the #98 Vantage far into the afternoon, and when a contender ahead of them had mechanical issues less than an hour and a half before the 4 p.m. finish, the car was perfectly positioned to reclaim the third place on the podium.

Meanwhile, the #33 TF Sport Vantage strengthened its lead throughout Sunday morning and into the afternoon, backed by many spins from its main rival, to claim a historic triumph.

After an on-track incident, the #777 D'station Racing Vantage, piloted by Super Taikyu champion Satoshi Hoshino (JPN), regular co-driver and team manager Tomonobu Fujii (JPN), and emerging British GT star Charlie Fagg (GBR), was forced to retire due to suspension damage.

In a statement, Keating said, “This is a great result and performance from TF Sport. We’ve had no penalties, no mistakes, no trips to the gravel or anything.”

Pittard was also ecstatic with a podium finish in his Le Mans debut, which came in Dalla Lana's 10th appearance. “We are competing in the full championship and there are a lot of guest entries here with very fast drivers,” he said. “The consistency of both Aston Martins and our driver lineups have brought us up. It’s been a roller-coaster of emotions because after half an hour I’d have been happy to even finish in the top 10. But for 20 hours we were fighting for a place in the top three. This is not the team’s first rodeo, so they have kept me calm. It’s been amazing, one of the best weeks of my life.”

Vantage is entering its fourth world championship season and is still a serious title contender. This prototype version of the GT car was all-conquering in the WEC GTE Pro category during the 2019/2020 season, fueled by a race-developed version of the four-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 engine used in the road car from which it derives. The car took Aston Martin to the FIA GT Manufacturers' World Championship title and Thiim and Sorensen to the drivers' title in five races, including both Pro and Am classes at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. So far, it has won 12 class victories in WEC.

“To enjoy this kind of success at the top level of endurance racing is testimony to the quality of the Vantage GTE, the TF Sport team and the Vantage road car that is the basis of the race car. Congratulations to Ben, Marco and Henrique on a faultless race and their first win at Le Mans. Aston Martin was born 109 years ago out of a love of racing and competing at all levels of motorsport is at the heart of Aston Martin’s DNA. It is fitting that Vantage, our most focused performance sports car is a true success with our customers on the road and track — Vantage F1 Edition, V12 Vantage, Vantage GTE — all winners.”

The Le Mans 24 Hours is the third round of the 2022 WEC, which started on March 11 with the 1000 Miles of Sebring, followed by the g Hours of Spa on May 8. After Le Mans, the series will travel to Italy for the 6 Hours of Monza on July 10. The WEC will then return to Japan for the first time since 2019 for the 6 Hours of Fuji (ITA). The series will end on November 12 with an eight-hour race in Bahrain.

Watch Aston Martin Vantage’s Le Mans performance here.

Photos from Aston Martin

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