Volante Rosso Acquires Vantage GT3 for Series Return

Volante Rosso will rejoin the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia field for next week’s third round of the season at Queensland Raceway with a newly-acquired Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

The Sydney-based team has been absent from the opening rounds of the 2024 campaign at Phillip Island and The Bend, having announced that it would miss the start of the season back in April owing to health issues for Bronze-rated driver Chris Batzios.

But now Volante has revealed a new tie-up with Aston Martin that will see it become the British marque’s official partner team for the Australasia region.

The squad is set to take delivery of an ex-IMSA Vantage GT3 in time for a shakedown at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday, ahead of the Queensland round on August 2-4. The car is set to be upgraded to the latest Evo spec later in the season.

“To join Aston Martin Racing as a Partner Team is the most exciting thing we’ve done in our time in GT racing,” said team principal Chris Papadopoulos.

“The Vantage GT3 is everything you want in a racing car. Not only has AMR done a fantastic job with everything they’ve added to make it a great race car, but they’ve started from a pretty sensational road car!

“Aston Martin is as serious about racing performance as we are so it’s been a great fit for us and they’ve really welcomed us into the fold from a car ownership and technical perspective.

“I think it’s fair to say every race fan has missed seeing an Aston Martin in the outright fight in Australia, so we couldn’t be more proud to be the team taking Aston Martin back to the top flight here.”

Drivers for the Volante Aston effort have yet to be confirmed, but the No. 14 car will be entered in the top Pro-Am class.