The Vantage GT3.
KUALA LUMPUR: An all-Malaysian racing team has partnered with Aston Martin Racing Asia to spearhead its regional and international racing campaign in the GT Sports Car class.
Viper Niza Racing has armed itself with the latest generation and race-winning Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars in the next chapter of its racing history after seven years of competing in the touring car and prototype classes.
As a partner team of Aston Martin Racing Asia, the Malaysian-based Viper Niza Racing will also be managing and providing services for customer racing programs.
The team is led by owner, principal and driver Douglas Khoo and longtime endurance racing partner Dominic Ang.
Both the Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars will carry on with Aston Martin Racing’s successful legacy in sports car racing, and is built upon the marque’s latest generation 4-litre V8 twin turbo Vantage.
The Vantage GT4 is an entry-level race car and is less aggressively styled than the Vantage GT3.
The Vantage GT3 is a full-blown race car designed from the ground up and replaces Aston Martin’s most successful customer car the V12 Vantage GT3.
It offers customers the latest in race car technology, embracing all the experiences from years of engineering and competing in international sports car racing. The car produces in excess of 536hp of power and more than 700Nm of torque.
The heavier Vantage GT4 meanwhile, is modelled after Aston Martin’s standard production Vantage sports car and is engineered for gentlemen drivers, giving customers and enthusiasts a direct and hard-edged race car with competitive package, advanced aerodynamics and state-of-the-art safety features that can be maintained by amateur teams.
It is rated at more than 469hp and more than 550Nm of torque.
Khoo (left) and Tan with the Vantage GT3.
“Endurance racing has always been where our passion lies and we will continue to focus on long distance races as we have done previously in the TCR and Asian Le Mans Series,” said Khoo.
The TCR Seat Leon Cupra remains in our racing program moving forward, but sadly our time with the Ligier JS P3 LMP3 race car has come to its end as the car is no longer technically eligible to compete under current regulations,” he added.
Elaborating on the Vantage GT4 Customer Racing Program, Aston Martin Racing Asia director Weiron Tan said the company would continue to provide customer racing support.
“Customer racing is the backbone of sports car racing and there is no doubt we believe Viper Niza Racing has what it takes to do a good job and also be title contenders. We are there to provide support every step of the way,” said Tan.
Tan told StarCarsifu that the best way to explain the difference between the GT4 and GT3 is that basically the GT4 is 10% race car and 90% road car. “It’s an entry-level car for newcomers to come into racing, so that they don’t feel completely overwhelmed.”
The GT3 is the complete opposite of the GT4 as it caters to the more experienced racers. “It’s 10% road car, 90% race car,” said Tan.
The Aston Martin Racing works programme is fully outsourced to Prodrive, which handbuilds each race car according to customer specifications. Depending on the orders load, it can take the UK-based Prodrive around three to four months to put together each customer race car, said Tan.
Aston Martin Racing offers plenty of options for both models. The base GT4 starts from £200,000 and could be outfitted with up to £40,000 of options. On the other hand, the base GT3 starts from £550,000 and could come with £20,000 of options.
The Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars today compete in more than 20 major international race series globally which includes countries like Australia, Japan and China and also in the South-East Asian region.
In 2022, the Vantage GT3 took its first endurance race win at the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship’s new top GT class in the United States.
The Vantage GT3’s accomplishments include clinching its first major GT championship title in Japan when it won the 2021 Super Taikyu Series championship.
The Vantage GT3 also raced to its first overall class victory in the 2019 TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa.
That same year, the car went on to deliver the perfect score of a pole position, race win and fastest lap in the Donington Park round of the British GT Championship, as well as winning on its debut race in Japan at the opening round of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series.
The Vantage GT3 has also recorded a glorious class victory in the 10-hour US endurance classic Petit Le Mans; and scored a podium finish in the 2018 Gulf 12 Hours race at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Vantage GT4 track record meanwhile, include racing to a victorious debut where it won its class in the 2019 ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.
Keyword: Viper Niza Racing bets on Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and GT4 in pursuit of racing glory