French racer Matthieu Vaxiviere has joined Aston Martin customer outfit R-Motorsport for its 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup campaign.
The 23-year-old is the fifth driver to be announced by the Swiss team, with Alex Brundle, Jake Dennis and Aston Martin factory drivers Maxime Martin and Nicki Thiim already confirmed.
Vaxiviere raced in the World Endurance Championship last season with TDS Racing in the LMP2 category, and also contested four rounds of the GP3 Series with DAMS.
In 2014 Vaxiviere became a junior driver with the Lotus Formula 1 team (now Renault), which led to him finishing second in the Formula Renault 3.5 series the following year.
R-Motorsport plans to run a pair of Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3s in the five-round BGTS Endurance Cup, which includes stops at Monza, Silverstone, Paul Ricard, Catalunya and the 24 Hours of Spa in July.
“I’m really looking forward to start working for this fantastic project," said Vaxiviere.
"Not only Aston Martin has a very rich racing history, but I have also been given the opportunity to represent this brand alongside top drivers in a top team."
"I would like to thank [R-Motorsport co-owners] Dr Florian Kamelger and Dr Andreas Baenziger for their trust. But also, the people behind Jota and Arden for giving me this amazing opportunity."
"I will give everything I have got. This year will be extremely competitive and exciting and I hope to be successful for many seasons to come.”
R-Motorsport's double entry is being run in partnership with Arden Motorsport and Jota Sport.
The team's association with Arden was established through R-Motorsport's parent company AFS Racing, which was a technical partner on the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar project penned by Red Bull Racing designer Adrian Newey.
Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner founded Arden with his father Garry in 1997, and the British concern has since forged a partnership with Jota Sport that won the Le Mans LMP2 class in 2014.
R-Motorsport's sixth and final driver announcement will be made in the coming weeks.
Discussion about this post