The Dubai 24 Hours and non-Championship 6H Abu Dhabi in January 2022 are set to welcome a new class to Creventic’s Championship structure.
Aston Martin Racing have committed to at least five customer cars for both races, with hopes of half a dozen or more, the class designated for the Vantage GT8R, the ‘enhanced GT4’ specification that sees the car get a power and aero boost, already campaigned successfully at the Nürburgring by Garage 59.
AMR would provide on-site technical support and a hospitality package for their customers in what is currently envisaged as a ‘Winter Challenge’ across the two races.
Ben Boudaire at AMR told DSC that confidence was high that a number of the brand’s existing customer teams will commit cars to the effort.
“The car is a significant step forward in performance from the GT4, around Dubai likely six seconds per lap faster, and the feedback from customers who have driven the car in GT8R spec is very positive.”
The car is then producing performance broadly similar to a current spec Carrera Cup Porsche.
Better still the GT8R package can be fitted to any current GT4-spec vantage in around two hours, and the car can then be returned to GT4 spec in around the same timeframe.
A new GT8R is priced at #225k with a number of options available including hot climate kit and polycarbonate windscreen.
The upgrade kit for a current spec GT4 is priced starting from £45k.
Whilst the car sits outside of current FIA homologation it can be raced in a variety of Championships including 24H Series, Britcar, GT Cup and VLN. AMR are also working on homologation for GT Cup Open and Super Taikyu amongst others.
Customer demand for the car as a track-day machine is also described by AMR as ‘healthy’.
The 24H Dubai takes place between 14-16 January 2022 and the 6H AbuDhabi takes place the following weekend on 21/22 January 2022.
