The 2013 – 2015 lead works Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE entry
In its 2015 Le Mans Art car livery by Tobias Rehberger
Multiple GTE Pro wins with works drivers Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke
Eligible for Le Mans Classic and Peter Auto WEC support races

By the end of the 2010s, it was clear that Aston Martin’s return to international endurance racing had been a considerable success, mainly thanks to the championship-winning DBR9, and the B09/60 program. With the FIA announcing the new 2012 World Endurance Championship and the formation of the GTE class as the top and only GT class, Aston Martin had the opportunity to use their already proven V8 Vantage GT2 and upgrade it to the more competitive GTE spec. The resulting V8 Vantage GTE became the spearhead of their racing program, a lightened, easily serviceable, and more powerful car with full carbon fibre bodywork, X-trac 6-speed sequential gearbox and 500 bhp.

With AMR having worked so closely with Prodrive since 2005, it was only logical that David Richard’s team be entrusted with the build of the new GTE car. Aston Martin also secured sponsorship from Gulf for what would undoubtedly make the best-looking livery on the grid! For 2012, just one car was rolled out by the factory to take part in the WEC season, finishing 2nd in the GTE-Pro championship and taking one class win in Shanghai with AMR’s stalwart factory drivers Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke. Not bad for the car’s first racing season, although the team felt “unlucky to take just one win in 2012”.

The following year, Aston Martin announced a 4-car team effort, with 2 cars in GTE-Am and 2 factory-backed cars in GTE-Pro. Chassis 002, the car presented here, was the lead factory-backed GTE-Pro effort, bearing #97 and benefitting from all the 2013 upgrades, to be driven by AMR’s star drivers Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna, and is regarded today as the most successful Vantage GTE of all!

The car was fast straight out of the box, with its first victory coming at its first race outing, at Silverstone. Ferrari won at Spa for the 2nd round, with #97 coming in 4th. For Le Mans, Gulf orchestrated a livery design competition for chassis 002 to wear, with the art livery selected representing the change in atmosphere as day gives way to night at Le Mans. The car finished on the GTE podium, securing valuable points for the championship. Back in Gulf livery for the remainder of the season, the crew of #97 eventually managed to clinch 2nd place in the GTE Pro championship, after a further 2 wins at Fuji and Shanghai and a podium in Sao Paulo.

For 2014, Aston Martin Racing was back out with 4 cars including 2 GTE Pro teams, with Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke once again attributed to the #97 car. The car would score two wins that year in Austin and Sao Paulo and two further podiums at Silverstone and Bahrain, although better results for the Ferrari team meant the overall championship win once again eluded AMR.

2015 would be chassis 002’s last racing season as an Aston Martin Racing works car. Darren Turner was once again entrusted with the #97 car, partnering with Stefan Mücke for the first half of the season, and Jonny Adam for the 2nd half. The now slightly ageing 2013-spec GTE had a tough season, with just 3 podiums in total for Aston Martin, one for each of the 3 GTE-Pro cars run that year. Once again, the lead works car #97 was elected to wear an art livery at the Le Mans 24 Hours, with the idea behind this year’s livery by Tobias Rehberger being to give the impression of speed even when the car was static. A 3rd place in the last race of the season in Bahrain sealed a rather disappointing last season for the 2013-spec AMR before the upgraded 2016 GTE cars rolled in.

002 was then shelved at Prodrive’s headquarters right up until it was acquired by the current owner in 2024. Today, chassis 002 is back in its striking 2015 Le Mans art car livery and once again ready to go racing with the announcement of the new WEC Legends of Le Mans support races, as well as the extension of Le Mans Classic eligibility to 2015.

The 2013 Aston Martin Vantage GTE is a worthy member in the very highly regarded lineage of Aston Martin racing cars over the past 100 years. Chassis 002, a 5-time race winner across three World Endurance Championships, is without a doubt the most important Vantage GTE, being the lead works car driven by Aston Martin’s very best drivers throughout its illustrious career.

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