Garage 59 to run Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in 2019
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| Garage 59 Aston Martin |
A revitalized Garage 59 racing team will take on the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2019 in a pair of brand new Aston Martin Vantage GT3s. The championship-winning British team, led by Team Principal Andrew Kirkaldy, will run one car in the PRO class of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and one car in the AM class. The team will also enter one car in selected rounds of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Garage 59 chose to run the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 as its predecessor, the V12 Vantage GT3, was a very strong GT3 car with great drivability. Based on the critically-acclaimed Aston Martin Vantage road car and powered by the same 4.0-liter turbocharged V8 engine, which has been optimized by Aston Martin Racing, the new Vantage GT3 is the perfect choice for Garage 59.
After a busy winter changing race car manufacturer and re-branding the team, Garage 59 is ready to get back on track, as Kirkaldy explains:
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“The Vantage GT3 looks great. It’s a very high-end GT car based on a strong foundation car so we have high hopes for the season ahead. We’re looking forward to working with Aston Martin Racing, along with new sponsors who will be revealed in the future. It has been an interesting and enjoyable process to re-brand the team. All you can see at the moment is the new logo but we’ll soon be ready to show you our new racing livery, which we are working on now."
Garage 59, which operates from a state-of-the-art Technical Centre in the East Midlands of the UK, was originally named after the McLaren that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 that bore the race number 59. It is also an auspicious number for Aston Martin as 1959 was the year that Aston Martin claimed its outright victory at Le Mans.
The team is currently at Paul Ricard in the south of France, preparing to run the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for the first time during a two-day test that starts tomorrow. Chris Goodwin, Andrew Watson and Jonny Adam will drive the car at this test but the full season driver line-ups of the two Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage GT3s will be announced at a later date.