Aston Martin capped off Sunday night with the simultaneous reveals of the new 2025 Vantage sports car and its GT3-spec racing counterpart, plus the new contender for the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship, the AMR24 F1.
The 2025 Vantage enters production shortly and should be in showrooms by the middle of the year. However, its Vantage GT3 racing counterpart is already in action. Some early examples already took to the track during last month’s 24 Hours of Daytona, the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Like the car it replaces, the new Vantage GT3 will represent Aston Martin in a number of the top GT race series, including the FIA World Endurance Championship and Fanatec GT World Challenge, as well as the SportsCar Championship, and more. Aston Martin also plans to take its V-12-powered Valkyrie hypercar racing in both the World Endurance Championship and SportsCar Championship, though not until 2025.
The Vantage GT3 is closely related to its road-car counterpart, with a bonded aluminum chassis structure and twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 common to both. This is important for Aston Martin, as the GT racing program serves as a development lab that will lead to knowledge transfer into future road cars, according to Adam Carter, who heads Aston Martin’s endurance program.
Crucially, the Vantage GT3 represents the first collaboration between the Aston Martin Racing (AMR) division, which handles motorsports operations for automotive side, and Aston Martin Performance Technologies (AMPT), which is the F1 team’s consulting division. AMPT is also helping with development of the upcoming Valhalla supercar.
AMPT was charged with setting the performance targets for the race car, which were then implemented by AMR. Production of the Vantage GT3 is also handled by AMR.
For F1, the AMR24 F1 is the race car to be piloted by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in the new season. It has big shoes to fill as its predecessor managed nine podium finishes and 280 championship points.
Fernando Alonso (left) and Lance Stroll
The design rules for 2024 are largely unchanged from 2023. One minor change is the addition of an additional scoop to help keep the cockpit cool in hot races like those in West Asia.
The chassis consists of a carbon-fiber composite honeycomb structure, in which sits a hybrid power unit combining a turbocharged 1.6-liter V-6 and two motor-generators, one on the driveline and another integrated with the turbo. Aston Martin uses Mercedes-Benz AMG power units at present but plans to switch to Honda power units in 2026, when new power unit regulations requiring increased electrification are introduced.
The AMR24 will start pre-season testing on Feb. 21 at the Bahrain International Circuit before the first race of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, takes place at the same location on March 2. This year’s season will feature a record 24 races, including three in the U.S.