Aston's GT2 V8 Vantage has shown great promise; with a factory effort expected to add more pace to the car, AMR reports significant interest Stateside in the car for '09. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Aston Interest High

I caught up with Aston Martin Racing Director George Howard-Chappell while he was sitting at the back of the Drayson-Barwell transporter and asked if we might see more cars or engines from the marque next year.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in the Vantage GT2 car for next year. I’m here on a bit of a fact finding mission and hope to see some progress come of it.” AMR has been rumored to field a factory GT2 Vantage to accelerate the car’s development curve; provided that happens, I’d expect a few current GT2 entrants to take a much harder look at the English race car for 2009.

With a number of impressive showings from the Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 program in Europe, Howard-Chappell also noted that he’s been fielding a high volume of inquires about P1 engines for next season. “The ratio has been greater for calls about our LMP1 V12 engine, but that’s not something we’ll look to supply a large number of teams with. We’d rather keep a tighter control on where those engines go to insure Aston Martin as a brand is best represented.”