Aston Martin AMR-ONE

Powered by an all-new 2.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder direct injection petrol engine and married to a bespoke carbon-fibre chassis, which was designed and built in-house at Aston Martin Racing in the UK.

The car was revealed for the first time in February this year and will debut this weekend in the opening round of the Le Mans Series at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet, France.

AMR-ONE has qualified 11th overall (5th in class) ahead of today’s gruelling six-hour endurance race at the famous French circuit.

Team principle George Howard-Chappell said that the feedback from “all drivers is that the foundation is very solid; we now need to concentrate on the set-up of the car to encourage its dynamics and pace.”

It’s not the only maiden entry for Aston Martin, as there are also two teams running a Vantage in the GT2 class namely the Young Driver AMR entry and Jota Sport.

Aston Martin returned to sports car racing in 2005 and apart from the LMP1 category, has successfully used this kind of endurance racing to develop the performance of their road cars.

You have to admire those sports car manufacturers who use the same chassis and engines to race as are in their road cars. It’s speaks volumes for the brand to run these drivetrains in race conditions over long distances and Aston Martin is one such company that puts it all out there for the public to gauge.