2024 Vantage GT3 race car breaks cover: here's what's next for Aston

Published: 13 October 2023 Updated: 13 October 2023

► New 2024 Aston Martin Vantage
► Fresh spyshots reveal new look
► Styling changes plus new tech

Earlier this year, Aston Martin revealed it’d be returning to endurance racing’s top class with the Valkyrie hypercar – but it also announced a renewed GT3 and GT4 program too. And now we’ve got pictures of the racecar entering its final phase of testing. 

Pictured at Silverstone, it sits on a new supercar platform, and will be ready for the 2024 season. It’ll also qualify for new LMGT3 regs to be brought introduced in the World Endurance Championship. 

What else do we know? 

The new GT3 car will be based on a forthcoming, facelifted version of the Vantage supercar, and a closer look at these new pictures confirm what it’ll look like. Aston’s engineers have done their best to hide the car’s new styling, but eagle-eyed viewers will notice tweaked headlights that stretch further back than those on the current model. That matches what we’ve already seen on the road car.

In race-trim, CAR understands the new car appears to already be offering a significant improvement in performance over the previous one. 

Everything else you need to know

Our spies also captured the 2024 newcomer on test near Aston’s Nurburgring test centre in Germany. Tellingly, the prototype is wrapped in a camouflage that’s more marketing message than pure disguise: it’s a fluoro-green wrap emblazoned with the phrase ‘Thrill Driven.’

Hardly the most subtle wardrobe for a top-secret prototype to wear…

Expect upgraded new interior, more power from V8 Vantage

You can ponder more strange car camos in our feature here.

What can we expect of the new 2024 Aston Martin V8 Vantage?

We have now spotted a brace of Aston Vantages on test, providing enough evidence to decode the trends incoming. It’s a major mid-life update to the Vantage coupe and roadster models (below), seven years after they first launched in 2017.

New 2024 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster too

Even the light camo can’t hide the fresh style. Like the race car, the headlamps, in particular, are designed to give the Vantage a new face, replacing the thin horizontal lenses of the current sports car range with a more Astony, upright flowing light graphic.

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Look carefully and you’ll see a subtly different outline to the Aston Martin grille, too.

Front bumpers are in turn reprofiled while the bonnet appears to ditch today’s clamshell set-up for a more conventionally hinged hood. The test car features bonnet vents, presumably to better cool the Mercedes-AMG-supplied V8 engines.

New tech galore

Stylistically, the 2024 V8 Vantage is still very much a junior Aston Martin and it’s more of a detail makeover than a fresh start. But under the lightweight aluminium skin, more serious changes are expected.

New headlamps and bonnet vents for 2024 Aston Martin Vantage

Look out for tuned bi-turbo V8 power, with extra brawn expected as standard and the company has already trailed the new infotainment incoming on the DB12. It signals the end of Aston Martin making do with hand-me-down systems from Mercedes-Benz or Volvo, and represents a major investment for the brand.

More details on the new Aston Martin V8 Vantage as and when we get them.

By Jake Groves

CAR's deputy news editor, gamer, serial Lego-ist, lover of hot hatches

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