The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will fight for honors in three classes of the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa in July 31. The luxury sports car brand and its partner team Garage 59 aims for an outright victory in the famous Belgian endurance event for the first time.
The Spa 24 Hours is among the most grueling of endurance races, and is only open to Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-homologated GT3 specification racing cars.
Adding to the challenge is a huge 60-car field, the unpredictable nature of the Ardennes weather, and the fact that Spa-Francorchamps track tests drivers’ skill.
Garage 59 comes to the event as the reigning GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Pro-Am Team and Drivers’ champions. The team has added a brand-new four-liter V8 turbocharged Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to their regular two-car squad.
That's after it worked closely with the Aston Martin Racing factory to build all three cars and to prepare the crew.
The familiar number 95 returns to the Pro class, and so will the "Dane Train" drivers, FIA GT world champions Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen, both from Denmark. They will race alongside IMSA GT Daytona championship leader Ross Gunn.
“Competing in the Spa 24 Hours is a big tick on the bucket list, and one I have wanted to do for a long time,” Sørensen said.
“To be rejoining Nicki in the car will almost feel like there hasn’t been a break since Bahrain when we won the world championship. I know Ross will get the job done, so this feels like a really strong team," he added.
Alongside the Pro car, the reigning Pro-Am champions in the number 188 Vantage, Alexander West and Chris Goodwin, will be joined by another 2019 Spa 24 Hour Pro-Am winner, Charlie Eastwood.
The number 188 entry has been in contention for the past two seasons, and recorded Garage 59’s first podium in the race last year with third in Pro-Am.
The silver 159 entry is comprised of Aston Martin Racing Academy graduate Valentin Hasse-Clot, as well as academy candidates Nicolai Kjærgaard and Tuomas Tujula. The crew is completed by the experienced GT racer and team regular Alex MacDowall.
Garage 59 team principal and co-owner Andrew Kirkaldy said: “The 24 Hours of Spa is the hardest race of the season, on the people and the cars, but I’m very happy to be running the extra car in the Pro class this year.
The support we are receiving from Aston Martin Racing began at the official Spa test a few weeks ago and the full team gelled very quickly so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do together as one team in the race.”
Photos from Aston Martin
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