Defending Le Mans GTE Pro winner Darren Turner spoke to The Checkered Flag about the new for 2018 Aston Martin Vantage GTE and believes that “It all looks very positive so far”.
The new car, which will make its WEC debut at the first round of the 2018/19 ‘Super Season’ at Spa in May, has already been seen testing at various locations around the world and Turner believes that the car is definitely something of an upgrade over the current Vantage GTE:
“With the new car, what we know so far is that its a very good step forward from what we had. The road version of the current Vantage was launched all the way back in 2006 and we started using it in GTE in 2011/12, so its going to be as good as its ever going to be by now! We know how good it is and the fact that its won pretty much everywhere is incredible, so the new car has big shoes to fill!”
“The new road car is a very big step forward in terms of the aerodynamics and the performance compared to the old model and the race car seems to be exactly the same. From a project point of view, we’ve had a lot more time to design, develop and learn about the new car.”
“It all looks very positive, we’ve done a lot of testing already. There’s no reason why it can’t be a winner; when this will happen I’m not sure, but it’s all very positive so far.”
The new Aston Martin Vantage GTE. Photo Credit: Darren Turner
As well as talking about the new car, Turner was also asked about his thoughts on the WEC ‘Super Season’ and he believes that it is something that in the long run definitely makes sense for the championship.
“With the super season, I found out about it during the Mexico WEC round last year. It does makes sense having Le Mans at the end of the season. From a practical point of view, that’s great.”
“This season is definitely a transition period for both the fans and all of us in the WEC. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just different.”
“When I heard Silverstone was originally going to be missing, I thought that wasn’t good at all. It’s Aston’s home race where we’d have lots of support. It was a bit disappointing but I’m glad it’s back. Once everyone gets to grips with the calendar format this year, I’m sure it will be fine.”
The 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season will begin on May 5 at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
