The marque’s return to the pinnacle of sportscar racing with the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar announced in October and the development of an evolution version of its Vantage GT3 racer were key motivations for the Dane agreeing a new multi-year contract with Aston Martin Racing.
An extension of a factory deal that began in 2015 has been confirmed by Sorensen and Aston after it was tacitly revealed when he was listed alongside the D’station Racing Vantage GT3 on the publication of the 2024 WEC entry list late last month.
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Sorensen revealed to Autosport that “in my mind I had almost been sure to be leaving Aston” at the end of the summer and that he had “two other offers to make a change”.
The 33-year-old outlined a desire to race the Valkyrie LMH, which will be entered in both the WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship with the Heart of Racing team from 2025, but he explained that the pivotal moment in his decision had been a first test in the evo Vantage GT3 car to be introduced for next season.
“Any driver would be lying if they said they didn’t want to drive the Valkyrie,” said Sorensen, whose primary programme last season was in IMSA’s GT Daytona class with Heart of Racing.
“I would be super happy if I could race that car, but as nothing is sure regarding who is going to be picked for the Valkyrie, my main focus was the new GT3 and all the championships I am going to be able to drive in from next year.
“After the first test I did with the new car in September, I was reassured that Aston is going to come back properly on the whole international scene.”
Sorensen added that “for the past two or three years, things have been difficult for Aston”, a reference to a reduced commitment to GT racing that followed its withdrawal from GTE Pro in the WEC after he and Nicki Thiim took the 2019/20 title.
“Now things have changed and I really like the new management with Adam Carter coming in [as head of endurance motorsport],” he said.
“There are going to be a lot of opportunities to race the new car next year.
“Me racing in the WEC has been announced, but it won’t be my only programme — I can guarantee that I will be a busy boy next year and doing more than 20 races.”
The Walkenhorst and Comtoyou squads have announced partnerships with Aston to race the new Vantage GT3 from 2024 and are set to field at least one entry each in the GT World Challenge Europe with drivers from the factory roster.
Sorensen explained that the new version of the GT3 Vantage is a major improvement over its predecessor introduced in 2019.
“The old car wasn’t easy to drive, especially for the amateurs,” he said. “It was a very specific car, but we’ve fixed that now - we’ve nailed it.”
Aston is due to announce its full roster of factory drivers at a later date.
