You’ve seen the new Aston Martin Vantage, now check out its GT3 cousin

This, ladies and gents, is the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 racer that will be taking on Le Mans and pretty much every prestigious endurance race you care to mention in 2024.

Weirdly the big reveal takes place, er, two weeks after the car made its racing debut at Daytona, where one car finished fourth in the GTD Pro class and the other two… DNFed. Ah well, early days.

This new Vantage GT3 uses the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, but of course it’s subject to Balance of Performance rules on track so figures of 656bhp and 590lb ft go out the window here. Think somewhere upwards of 536bhp and 516lb ft and you’re in the ballpark. Yep, less than the road car.

Now, take a moment to admire the aggressive aero package that has been designed to address - and brace yourself for some commendable honesty from Aston - the "old car’s more challenging handling characteristics".

Gustavo Betellli, lead GT3 engineer and AMR’s head of performance, explains: “The old car would dive a lot under braking, so we had to try and control the pitch with the rear suspension set-up. But this meant it was stiff, which made it quite snappy and, also over-worked the tyres.

“Working heavily on damper tuning, we have found a much better balance with the new car so we can generate the downforce without compromising the suspension set-up. The result is much-improved progression and greater stability in all conditions.”

Aston also claims the Vantage GT3 will have a wider operating window, and more frugal use of rubber means teams will have more options when it comes to all-important tyre strategies on race day.

With extensive use of CFD to extract more downforce without adding bags of drag, the grille is wider (because modern world) and can direct more air towards the brakes to aid cooling.

The nose - a single-piece clamshell made entirely of carbon fibre - features a shorter splitter, which shifts the centre of pressure rearwards to reduce pitch sensitivity and improve stability. Cutouts atop the front and rear wheelarches let high-pressure air escape, reducing lift and making the Vantage more slippery.

Meanwhile the suspension has been heavily revised, with double wishbones front and rear, adjustable anti-roll bars and five-way adjustable dampers. Alcon brakes are six-pot front and four-pot rear calipers, both clinging on to ventilated discs.

Everything else is pretty standard fare: a six-speed transmission comes in from Xtrac, there’s a mechanical limited-slip diff, traction control, a carbon fibre propshaft, Akrapovic exhaust system, FIA-approved roll cage… you know the drill by now. All in you’re looking at a dry weight of 1,265kg.

We look forward to it pulverising our eardrums at 3am at Le Mans in June…