Aston Martin Racing could again field up to four Vantage GTE cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year.
The British manufacturer, which scored nine class wins out of 16 WEC starts between the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am classes last year, is aiming to finalize a similar program for 2014, according to AMR managing director John Gaw.
“Right now, I think we’re heading towards a reasonable program but nothing’s finalized at this stage,” Gaw told Sportscar365 last weekend at the 24 Hours of Dubai.
“It’s looking like two Pros and maybe 1 or 2 Ams. There’s lots of options right now and we may have some customer cars [not run under the AMR banner], which would be nice.”
It’s expected that factory drivers Darren Turner and Stefan Muecke will return to the wheel of one Pro car. The team’s single-car GT LM entry for the Rolex 24, meanwhile, will be completed by Richie Stanaway, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana.
Dalla Lana is among the gentlemen drivers currently in discussions for a potential GTE-Am effort, along with David Heinemeier Hansson, who tested a Vantage GTE on two occasions. AMR’s No. 95 entry, run in association with Young Driver AMR, saw fellow Danes Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen at the wheel last year.
“I’d like to be back,” Canadian driver Dalla Lana told Sportscar365. “It was a really good experience with Aston. This time, it would be about my personal schedule and figuring it out.
“I would probably go into the Am category if I did. The rules package there is clearer than it’s been. It looks like it’s all set up, I just need to say yes!”
AMR’s No. 96 GTE-Am entry, which won the drivers’ championship with Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall, could move to the European Le Mans Series next year to better suit car owner Roald Goethe’s business commitments.
As Gaw hinted to, it’s understood there’s at least one team evaluating a customer Vantage effort for GTE-Am. Two-time Dubai winner Khaled Al Qubaisi is known to be exploring a potential move to the WEC for his Abu Dhabi Racing program.
