Expanding its international motorsport program, Aston Martin has created a new one-make series championship called the Aston Martin Vantage Cup. The series is set to make its debut in Europe first next year before expanding to Asia in 2021. The Aston Martin Vantage Cup will be run by R-Motorsport and will be based on a specially developed version of the Vantage V8. The race-spec Vantage Cup car will be priced around 223,000 Pounds (nearly Rs. 2 crore) before taxes. R-Motorsport plans to have a four cup racing series worldwide over the next four years.
The announcement was made at the Nurburgring with Aston Martin Lagonda president and CEO Andy Palmer at the press conference. Speaking at the event, Palmer said, "We are delighted that our R-Motorsport brand will continue to be so well represented in the international automobile sport. The Aston Martin Vantage Cup by R-Motorsport offers interested customers an ideal opportunity to further their racing ambitions."
The Aston Martin Vantage Cup car will be powered by the race-spec 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 motor
R-Motorsport already runs Aston Martin's DTM and Blancpain GT3 programmes, and will also be providing the logistical, technical support and hospitality on-site to competitors of the one-make series. The AF Racing AG subsidiary has also been a strategic partner of the Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar program since the project began. The carmaker has confirmed that the one-make championship's grid will be capped at 25 cars for each series.
The Aston Martin Vantage cars will be specifically prepped and will make more power than their standard versions. Power will come from the 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 in the race-spec guise. Power figures haven't been revealed yet, but we do expect to hear about it as we get closer to the series launch.
