Aston Martin shake-up
Aston’s new Vantage S actually out-accelerates the brand’s V12 flagship while costing about half as much — reviewers say the V8 is punching well above its price class (carbuzz.com). On-track the Vantage AMR GT3 Evo finished 15th overall and won SP9 Pro‑Am at this weekend’s NLS2, though the squad trailed the leaders by more than four minutes (dailysportscar.com). Meanwhile Formula 1 chatter warns the Aston AMR26 has a vibration fault that could bench the team for months if unresolved — a big reliability red flag for the season (motorsport.com).
Aston Martin’s official spec sheet lists the Vantage S with a hand‑built 4.0‑litre twin‑turbo V8 producing ~670–671 hp and 590 lb‑ft, a ZF rear‑mid eight‑speed transaxle, and a quoted 0–62 mph time of 3.4 seconds (0–60 ~3.3s). (astonmartin.com) U.S. first‑drive coverage puts the Vantage S coupe’s starting price near $194,500, while Aston lists the Roadster MSRP at $211,000 and CarBuzz shows an as‑tested Roadster reaching about $249,500 after import and options. (motortrend.com) Aston’s own DB12 S is rated at 690 hp and claims a 0–60 mph time of about 3.4 seconds, positioning the DB12 S power figure slightly above the Vantage S on paper. (astonmartin.com) CarBuzz’s comparison notes Aston’s V12 Vanquish uses a 5.2‑litre twin‑turbo V12 with 824 hp and that the Vanquish as‑tested carried a starting price around $429,000 and an as‑tested total near $552,600 — figures CarBuzz used to quantify the price gulf versus the Vantage S Roadster. (carbuzz.com) At NLS2 on March 21, 2026, Verstappen Racing’s Mercedes‑AMG GT3 — entered under the Winward/Team Verstappen Racing programme with drivers including Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon — took the overall win. (sportscar365.com) Walkenhorst Motorsport’s No.34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (entered with Christian Krognes and Mattia Drudi on the entry list) won the SP9 Pro‑Am classification but was classified 15th overall, finishing more than four minutes behind the overall winner. (gt-report.com) Sky Sports commentator David Croft warned the AMR26’s severe vibration faults could take “months” to resolve, describing the scale of the problem on air. (motorsport.com) Aston Martin reported restricting driver stints to avoid potential nerve damage — figures cited in reporting put practical stint limits at roughly 25 laps — while Honda called the engine vibration issue “extremely challenging” and said its engineers are investigating root causes. (motorsport.com) Adrian Newey has described the issue as draining team resources and confidence, and Aston’s pre‑season running was heavily curtailed (the package logged one of the lowest cumulative test mileages, on the order of a few hundred laps across sessions) as Honda works on a fix. (supersport.com)
