Aston Outlines Factory Support for Customer Programs

Aston Martin has outlined its factory support of customer GT racing operations including the squad of factory drivers that will represent the manufacturer’s partner teams.

Aston has moved to integrate its works-affiliated drivers into customer racing programs following the termination of its WEC factory team.

Customer race operations will be housed at Prodrive in the U.K, where a “strategic and engineering support hub” has been established.

FIA World Endurance champions Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim have been named as part of the factory driver lineup alongside Maxime Martin, Jonny Adam, Darren Turner, Ross Gunn and Charlie Eastwood.

Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy winners Valentin Hasse-Clot and Tom Canning will also be available to support teams running Vantage GT race cars this year.

24 Hours of Le Mans GTE-Pro winner Alex Lynn was not named on the list of drivers, but it’s understood that the British driver remains available to Aston teams depending on his Formula E commitments with Mahindra Racing this year.

Lynn, Martin and Harry Tincknell won Le Mans driving the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE while Thiim and Sorensen clinched the WEC drivers’ title in the No. 95.

AMR Head of Performance Gustavo Beteli, who was the technical lead in Aston’s factory WEC squad, will be in charge of the remote support center at Prodrive.

“We are still able to fully support our customers, wherever they are racing in the world, as was the case in Daytona recently,” said Beteli.

“In many of these cases, we are using the remote-support hub, where we are able to collect live data from the cars, timing and keep a direct link with the teams to be able to provide the best service and guidance possible.”

Aston Martin’s factory support of customer programs will extend to teams running the GTE, GT3 and GT4 versions of the current-generation Vantage.

This includes three Vantage GTEs in the WEC GTE-Am category for TF Sport, D’Station Racing and Paul Dalla Lana who continues to compete under the AMR banner.

“This year is about our partners and their continued success, and through them we intend to demonstrate why Vantage is an excellent platform to build an international GT campaign on,” said Aston Martin Racing President David King.

“From WEC and IMSA, through the full spectrum of international and domestic GT3 and GT4 series, we expect to see Aston Martins racing and winning. Our clear aim is to build on the excellent tally of 26 championship titles in 2020.”

This article was updated to reflect Lynn’s status with Aston Martin Racing.