R-Motorsport’s Aston Martin Vantage DTM has had a successful world premiere in Jerez. At 15:00 pm on Monday 4th March, Paul Di Resta drove the brand new DTM car on its first installation lap of the roll-out. After six laps, Paul and the team confirmed that everything was in the ‘green zone’ and that the car had successfully passed muster after only 90 days of development and construction.
On Tuesday 5th March, the first day of the joint test days with Audi and BMW, R-Motorsport will start an intensive test programme with the Aston Martin Vantage DTM. Paul Di Resta will drive the car on the first two test days.
“The car felt good right from the start,” said Paul Di Resta, reporting his first impressions gained at the wheel of the Aston Martin Vantage DTM car. “The team has done an incredibly good job of bringing such a beautiful and highly driveable racing car onto the track in such a short time. Right from the roll-out, everything was working perfectly, and I immediately had a good feeling in the car. I’m now looking forward to it to the first test session tomorrow.”
The Aston Martin Vantage DTM development project was brought to fruition under the operational management of Vynamic GmbH, a joint venture between AF Racing AG and HWA AG, in Affalterbach. To comply with DTM regulations, the dimensions of the standard Aston Martin Vantage production model had to be adapted for the DTM version. The Aston Martin DTM therefore comes out at 4.73 metres in length, 1.95 metres in width and 1.28 metres in height.
Another challenge was the development and construction of the new four-cylinder turbocharged engine. The two-litre engine is a mid-engine mounted behind the front axle.
R-Motorsport Team Principal Florian Kamelger: “The technical team has done a terrific job. Getting the Aston Martin Vantage DTM car track ready in well under 100 days has to be a DTM record. The car is an absolute stunner to look at, and the first impressions registered by Paul are promising. Although we still have a lot of work ahead of us before the season opener at Hockenheim, we can feel confident that we’ve got the basics of the car right.”
Paul Di Resta will start the test programme in the Aston Martin Vantage DTM car on Tuesday and Wednesday before Jake Dennis takes over on Thursday and Ferdinand von Habsburg on Friday.