Aston Martin set to reveal 2018 WEC GTE contender in late November

A new Vantage GTE developed by the British manufacturer's motorsport partner, Prodrive, will likely be revealed alongside the road-going version of the car at a launch in London.

The official invite for the event includes an image of two Astons under covers, one clearly a racing car.

Aston has never made any secret of the fact that the current Vantage GTE, which can trace its origins back to 2008, would be replaced for next season.

But it has remained tight-lipped about the new GTE Pro racer with which it will defend its 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours class crown.

The car is understood to be powered by a four-litre twin-turbo Mercedes V8 developed by AMG, which has already been given a debut in the latest version of the Aston Martin DB11.

The racing car has been testing since the summer as part of an intensive development programme ahead of the start of the 2018/19 WEC 'superseason' next May.

The latest Vantage racer will be the first Aston designed specifically to a new set of WEC GTE regulations effective for 2016, which introduced new freedoms in order to make it easier to balance the cars.

The current car, with which Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen won last year's WEC GT drivers' title, was a reworked version of the previous design that was introduced in 2013.