The new Aston Martin Vantage GTE made its long awaited debut on 3rd May 2018 in the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Super Season at the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE is based on the critically-acclaimed Aston Martin Vantage road car, the most performance oriented sports car to come from Aston Martin’s ‘Second Century Plan’. Powered by a 4.0-litre, V8 turbo-charged AMG engine developed and optimised by AMR, the Vantage GTE is the first all-new GT car Aston Martin has introduced to the FIA WEC GTE category in seven years. 

An extensive 10 month testing and development programme covered 35,000km and 14 different circuits. Post testing, the team is now confident that it has a competitive and reliable car capable of repeating Aston Martin Racing's 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours glory in June and contending for the overall Super Season GTE Pro title. Aston Martin Racing also boasts a world class driving line-up in 2018. The GTE Pro roster includes three-time Le Mans winner Darren Turner, who is joined in the #95 car by 2016 FIA WEC GTE Pro champions Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen. Meanwhile, 2017 Le Mans winner Jonny Adam shares the #97 entry with DTM and Spa 24 Hours race-winner Maxime Martin (B) and Formula 1 test driver and Formula E racer Alex Lynn (GB). 

The Vantage GTE replaces the highly-decorated normally aspirated V8 Vantage GTE, an example of which will be campaigned by Aston Martin Racing's reigning GTE Am champions Paul Dalla Lana (CDN), Mathias Lauda (A) and Pedro Lamy (POR) in this year. The Super Season heralds a new era for the FIA WEC. The eight-race calendar spans 14 months and is book-ended by two 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first time in history that the legendary event has appeared twice in the same championship. The series will also return to Spa-Francorchamps in 2019, having raced at iconic venues such as Silverstone, Fuji, Shanghai and the famous US sportscar circuit Sebring.