At the presentation for the new Vantage at the end of November, Aston Martin confirmed the four current official drivers as well as the arrival of Alex Lynn, the single-seaters driver who made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in the LMP2 class with G-Drive Racing (retirement following an accident for one of his teammates).

To support the winners in the LMGTE Pro class at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans - Darren Turner, who already had two class wins under his belt, Jonny Adam and the winners of the 2016 FIA Endurance GT Drivers Cup in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen - the British marque will put its faith in Maxime Martin whose father, Jean-Michel, won the 24 Hours of Spa four times between 1979 and 1992.

Unlike most up-and-comers, Maxime Martin quickly turned to GT, which allowed him to follow in his father's footsteps and claim the top step on the podium at the 24-hour race in the Belgian Ardennes mountains in 2016 with BMW. The Belgian driver - who recently announced on social media he was parting ways with the Bavarian manufacturer he'd been with since 2013 in order to compete in the DTM (German touring car championship) - is no stranger to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His last editions were in 2011 at the wheel of Kronos Racing's Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 along with Vanina Ickx and Bas Leinders (seventh overall) and in 2012 with OAK Racing's Morgan LMP2 he shared with Bas Leinders once again and David Heinemeier Hansson (seventh in LMP2 and 14th overall).

Maxime Martin will nonetheless have to wait until next year to take the wheel of the new Aston Martin Vantage set to replace the car of the same name that finally won its class in its very last attempt.

PHOTO (Copyright - Frédéric Gaudin, ACO/Nikon): Maxime Martin finished in seventh place at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans with Vanina Ickx.