The British manufacturer will remain involved in the GT3 and GT4 classes for the foreseeable future, it was announced on the launch of the Valkyrie programme on Wednesday.
To that effect, Aston will be producing new versions of its GT3 and GT4 customer cars on the Vantage platform in conjunction with Prodrive under the Aston Martin Racing banner in time for next season.
These will be homologation evolutions of the existing cars, Aston Martin head of endurance motorsport Adam Carter explained, while adding that the “naming of the cars remains a work in progress”.
The current-generation Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars were released to customers in 2019, one year after the introduction of the GTE version of the car that will stop racing at the conclusion of this year.
Customer GT racing will remain central to the marque’s motorsport strategy going forward, according to Carter.
“It goes back to Aston Martin building racing sportscars being part of our DNA,” Carter told Autosport.
“GT3 and GT4 are absolutely the places for our cars to be raced. Our customers love racing Aston Martins: they love the cars and they love the brand.
“By also confirming Aston Martin’s commitment to a new GT3 and GT4 challenger, we signal our intent to compete for victory at all levels of sportscar racing now and well into the future.”
Aston will continue to work with Prodrive, which has had a sequence of rolling contracts with Aston Martin since 2004 when it began development of the DBR9 GT1 car that started racing the following season.
“The product Prodrive has delivered for Aston Martin over the years has been great: it has been performant and reliable,” said Carter.
“They have done a great job and there is no reason to move away - success should be rewarded.”
He explained that there will be input for the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies operation, which will be centred on getting the GT racing programme “cross-pollinating more” with the road car division.
Carter also re-iterated Aston Martin’s desire to be on the grid in the new LMGT3 class that will replace GTE Am in the World Endurance Championship next year.
He said that he hoped the FIA and WEC promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest would look favourably on a brand that has been involved in the GTE Pro and Am divisions from the establishment of the series in its current guise in 2012.
“Aston Martin has got a very long history with WEC and has supported the championship and GT racing at Le Mans previously,” he said.
“We absolutely hope to be at Le Mans and in the WEC next year in LMGT3, but we also respect that there is a selection committee and respect the position of the FIA and the ACO.”
Space for LMGT3 entries will be limited next year with the growth of the Hypercar class even with the disappearance of LMP2 from the championship, and WEC bosses have stated that those manufacturers also involved in Hypercar will have priority.
Successful manufacturers will get two entries and will have to select the team they want to represent them.
Carter said it remains too early to name the team Aston will put forward to take up any entries, but Heart of Racing boss Ian James outlined a desire for the team that will run the Valkyrie LMH from 2025 to remain in the series next year.
“We would like to be there in the WEC and would hope that we would be one of Aston’s favoured teams,” he said.
It joined the WEC this year at the Spa round in April when it took over the NorthWest AMR entry run by Prodrive on the retirement of team patron Paul Dalla Lana.
